Saint Etienne

The Happy Soul

The Yossarians

Altar Flowers

Lana Del Rey

Bombay Bicycle Club

Erasure

East India Youth

John Foxx

Mountain Song

NYPC

DENA

The Heartbreaks

MiSTOA POLTSA

English Heretic

Charlotte OC

Goldblade

Locean

Ex-Easter Island Head

Holly Johnson

ILL

Ten Mouth Electron

The Lone Taxidermist

The Box

The Box mobile studio is about recording as a personal service.

  • Record where you’re most comfortable; your usual rehearsal space, at home, or anywhere else.
  • Times and session lengths completely flexible based on your requirements.
  • Consultation and planning of your project carried out up-front at no charge.
  • No call-out cost within reasonable distance of Manchester City Centre.
  • Mixing services (including two free revisions) also available.

Unlike a conventional studio, I have no ongoing fixed costs, so I don’t need to make as many bookings as possible, and rush you in and out. Instead, all projects, times, and costs can be tailored to your specific needs.

You also won’t be taking a gamble on which engineer you get on the day. I am the only audio engineer you will be dealing with, so you can work out whether you want to hire me by listening to my work examples on this site.

All projects will begin with a free consultation, either in person or on the phone, to discuss your needs, your room and your expectations. I’m also happy to come and watch rehearsals or gigs within a reasonable distance of Manchester City Centre.

Recording with The Box, in a grim basement somewhere in Manchester:

bellPeppersTracking

The Box is a carefully-specified 20-inch rack cube that can be thrown in the back of a taxi, designed to provide maximum flexibility when recording anything anywhere.

If there’s a single mains socket in a room, then The Box (and the contents of The Trunk) will turn that room into a 24 track recording studio. Details after the photo.

theBox

Inputs
The 24 inputs in the top three units are dual XLR / jack inputs. Six of them also feature integrated active DI, and all inputs feature switchable phantom power. So any combination of line, instrument, and mic level sources can be connected with ease.

The units are all Presonus FP10 Firewire audio interfaces. These were originally intended for use as computer interfaces, but the pre-amps are superb, and feature direct analogue outputs for every channel. This means that there is only a single stage of analogue-to-digital conversion, when the signals reach the recorder.

Recorder
The middle unit is a Fostex D2424LV digital recorder. This records 24-bit audio at rates up 96khz, with zero latency direct monitoring. Standard recording functions such as overdubbing and punch-ins are fully supported.

While the unit is nominally 24 track, there are also a further 32 virtual tracks, for a total of 56. These can be used to store multiple takes, for example of solos or vocal parts for later comping, without using up the core 24 tracks.

The recorder can also automatically generate a click track, should that be desired.

Audio data is recorded to removable hard drives, which can be slotted into a matching bay in my mix studio. There is also a backup drive bay, and either or both drives can be taken off-site overnight to protect your recordings.

Mixer
The bottom unit is a Roland M240R line mixer, for monitoring purposes.This is completely isolated from the recording path, therefore introducing no colouration or noise to the recordings.

The M240R can be connected to speakers, though headphone monitoring is a more typical usage scenario. It also drives a couple of other units that are in the back of The Box.

Firstly, there is an 8-output headphone amp, to accommodate the monitoring needs of even large groups.

Secondly, there is a permanently patched in reverb unit that is isolated from the recording path. This enables players to hear themselves perform with some ambience (especially helpful for vocalists) while allowing the recording of the dry signal and the effect separately (or with no effect at all).

There are a further 5 effects returns enabling this functionality to be applied to any effects chain that you use in performance, but may wish to record separately from the main signal. This enables you to record with your usual live sound, while allowing maximum flexibility for the mix stage.

The Trunk
The Trunk’s contents are vary depending on the project, but it’s basically microphones, leads, mic stands, acoustic shields, signal splitters, and whatever else. Take a look at my Gear List page if you’re interested in specifics. The Trunk and The Box will turn pretty much any room into a recording studio.

Trunk1

Trunk2

 

 

Nothing more annoying than a rates page with no rates on it, is there?

Why no standard rate?
Because I believe that, ‘X hours in a studio for Y money’ is meaningless. That’s not what you’re here for. You’re here to get X number of tracks produced to a high standard within a given budget. And there are all kinds of ways of doing that at all kinds of budgets. Especially given that we can record anywhere at any time.

All that said, my current basic rate is £150 per day, to give a starting point. But still get in touch if your budget is lower, and let’s discuss your requirements.

Free consultation and planning
The best place to start is by getting in touch to talk about what you’re seeking to achieve. And we can work out a plan that fits your budget. All consultation and planning, whether on the phone, in email, or in person, is free. If we decide not to go ahead, then no problem.

So get in touch. My interest is in making great recordings of great acts, and I can almost always work something out.

email: thebox@johntatlockaudio.com

tel: 07921 056 521

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