Studio ServicesWHAT We Have To Offer:

The main thing we have to offer is a convenient way to have me record on your project when it is not practical for me to fly with my percussion to you. I have been blessed with a great home in Shaker Heights 10 min from the center of Cleveland Ohio. My recording space is what amounts to a ballroom on the 3rd floor of our home; a completely open space in a large “L” shaped room. Many artists have recording gear but few have rooms that feel and sound this good, the sound is lovely. My good friend and engineer *Dale Peters (bassist from the classic rock band “The James Gang”) has a great pair of ears and a creative music sensibility. Dale has a organize a wonderful remote recording set up that allows him to stay flexible and cost effective. We have a wide selection of microphones and large and small monitor speakers.  The space is large enough to record small groups live as well. There is a great sounding Yamaha grand piano and a few guitar and bass amps that everybody seems to like.

WHO Is Welcome:

The main focus for doing this was to be able to keep on collaborating with my musical colleges from around the world after moving from NYC. There are always new collaborations and new artists to share a musical experience with and I always look forward to that. Some projects offer a natural fit for the facilities and my musical vision of what works for me, others may not. The most honest way to approach this is to simply make a connection, have a talk and share some music and some feelings about the spirit and sound of the project.

WHY Do It?

Most importantly, I love and feel it is sacred to share music as a group in real time. But being a multi-percussionist interested in painting a sonic panoramic musical view makes the ability to overdub a necessity (after the basic tracks have been recorded). When I lived in NYC, carting a small portion of my available instruments with the help of a cartage company, paying for the studio, the engineer and me… can get costly. By offering the studio in my home, I have access to hundreds of my instruments and the comfort of a no stress environment that is pleasant to work in, for a price that is much more affordable. Half of the instruments I would never travel with because they are too costly to ship and fragile, but they sound great in my house.

HOW We Do It:

Since the decline of the recording industry most artists are finding out that it is better to grow your own. Selling your own recordings over the web and grass roots networks can be very profitable. Depending on where your home is, Hong Kong, Marrakech or Nashville, it may not be practical for me to get to you with my gear or for you to get to me in Shaker Heights, but you are welcome. If you have music that you think I might sound good on, just sent it to me as a MP3 and we can discuss our options and see what makes a good fit. Whether you can be with us at the recording or not, it is still possible to get your feed back by sending you rough mixes of the recording as we are doing it, that seems to be rather painless and convenient. We can also SKYPE as the session is going on as well.

WHAT You Get Back?

Some people bring or send a hard drive of their session and we just open it up and record.

Others simply send me a stereo MP3 of the track and we import it and I overdub to that. In any case what you get back is a disc or hard drive of all the tracks files in what ever format you need. There is always a stereo or mono room mike recording in addition to the close miking of each instrument that offers a nice sense of special continuity that you can mix in, as you like. I also feel that it is important for me to include a rough mix of the my parts to show the imagery of what I had in mind. Most artists find that this rough mix is very helpful.

CAN YOU Record With Your Own Gear?

Absolutely, Dale can assist or you can do it on your own. Most people who bring their own gear to engineer, bring their own mikes and mike preamps themselves. We simply just patch into my power amp and speakers for playback. I have everything else you need, headphones, simple mike cables and stands.
Best to call and have a talk, things are changing all the time regarding equipment and interfaces.

*Dale Peters is a Grammy award-winning engineer/musician and former Director of Remote Recording for Westwood One. He has recorded hundreds of albums and live concerts for artists including Aerosmith, Prince, Jack Bruce, Sting, Miles Davisyoi, CSN, Madonna, Neil Young, Pat Metheny, Bon Jovi, Robben Ford and the Philadelphia Philharmonic.