studio details

ARTIST CENTRED

tollboothmusic is a small project studio formerly based in berkshire but now recently moved to central doncaster in south yorks.  established in 1998 by paul a davies, guitarist of eve & the garden and solo performer, tbm has always aimed to be a highly creative, safe and supportive environment in which songwriters could develop and record their ideas, without worrying too much about the financial constraints of a more conventional facility.

CREATIVE

though intimate and homely, tbm is nevertheless well specified with gear having been chosen over the years for reliability, speed & simplicity of use, flexible and adaptable to a wide range of music styles.  we've always tried to stay away from specialising in one particular style or 'signature sound', preferring instead to always try and find the sound in the artist.  

SUPPORTIVE

as an experienced recording artist, paul has learnt from, and is sympathetic to, the frustrations, anxieties, and pressure of the big red light.  the aim at tbm has always been to offer a friendly alternative.

INNOVATIVE

this flexible approach and creativity extends right through to how tbm intend to handle their charging as well, preferring to allow the artist to record first then worry about reimbursement later, even to the extent of recording charges being recouped from sales of product where appropriate.

THE GEAR

the multitrack facilities at tollbooth are based around mark of the unicorn (motu) hardware & software running on apple mac G5s 

for most tracking, mixdown, mastering / finalising or AV & post-production we have a full 36 simultaneous input/output Mark of the Unicorn 2408 & 24i/o system equipped Mac G5 running Digital Performer v4 sequencing software.  DP5 offers state of the art digital recording and editing and a highly intuitive user interface.  The new OSX environment offers the most flexible audio and MIDI routing yet allowing recording, mixing and mastering to be carried out efficiently and at unparalleled quality.  projects are routinely carried out at 44.1 or 48KHz, but rates of up to 192KHz are available on request.

however, we are in the process of adding a MOTU based mobile rig for much higher quality capture, again up to 192kHz.  centred around an Apple laptop and MOTU Travelers, we aim to offer up to 36 simultaneous channels.  the rig will be available for booking from summer 06.

the highly versatile VS machines are self-contained production systems allowing very high quality demos and tracks to be constructed quickly and cleanly.  the onboard effects processors allow mixes to be previewed very early in the recording process.  the virtual tracks on the machines (64 on the 880, and 256 on the 1680) mean that any number of radically different arrangements and orchestrations of songs can be tracked, and then using the automated scene system, recalled immediately.  they are also ideal for mobile recording sessions.

FLEXIBLE & COMPREHENSIVE

if you have material already recorded on adat, we have facilities to fly adat or tascam da88 format straight into the mac digitally via the MOTU 2408, with up to 24 tracks possible simultaneously.

we have a wide range of mikes available including rode, shure, akg, blue & groove tubes.  we have a full dedicated drum mike set which will handle even quite complex kits.  we have eight direct outs on our recording desk for the purest drum recording path possible.  at +4 balanced line level, we have 36 simultaneous inputs available straight onto hard drive.

joemeek (now tfpro) and focusrite input stages have been chosen for their musical feel.  the compressors are not harsh, but blend beautifully with the source material to give a very natural but controlled sound.

we can take in (and export to) ProTools projects using either WAV or SD2 files; MIDI projects, Reason files, REX2 files and most other audio formats can also be imported.

MOTU & DIGITAL PERFORMER

most projects are now directly handled on the Mac, using MOTU Digital Performer v4.6 Audio & MIDI sequencing software.  complex audio looping can be done using the in-built POLAR software, and we have a range of synths and soft synths for complex MIDI tracks, including the remarkable new Stylus RMX from Spectrasonics.  DPv4.6 is loaded with a wide range of plug-ins including some excellent compressors, eqs and reverbs.  we also have a Waves mastering plug-in suite to give you the best finish to your projects.

we have just recently installed a tc Powercore Element PCI card which allows many processor hungry tasks to be handled separately allowing more efficient track handling.  it also features some astonishing plug-ins of its own; big lush reverbs, EQs, mastering compressors, channel strips and amp sims etc.  we have also acquired Master X5 (finalizer on a card!) and the astonishing Character dynamic processor.

we also have the excellent MOTU Mach5 universal sampler with a massive sample library.  if you already have sample libraries, they can be loaded straight off CD into Mach5 and keymaps rapidly setup for playback.  virtually any sample format can be handled including; audio wav, exs24, akai, gigasampler and many others.

OUTPUTTING

we can currently mixdown and master to cd (red book), minidisc, dat or cassette.  we have a tc finalizer express mastering system as well as software based limiters and multi-band compressors.

we have very good relations with a local cd copy house who are very reasonable and produce very high quality work either to blank cd or with on-body print.  we can also  offer in-house small volume copying (up to apx 500 units) and printing for our own or outside projects.

we are also happy to take on artwork design projects and can output on-body CD print proofs so you you can see what your CD will look like before going ahead with large scale copying.

non-multitrack production work can also be done on cd, minidisc, dat and cassette facilities, with adat available via a hire company on request.  we can also provide you with mp3, SD2, AIFF, WAV, and iTunes AAC mixes of your projects.

up till recently, all these facilities were in two rooms, which made working cosy, but users so far seem to have related well to the intimate atmosphere.  we have moody lighting on hand for any shy singers, and all the work is handled in a sensitive and creatively supportive environment.  

however, tbm has recently moved to new and bigger premises and we are now ready to start taking on production work again.  contact us for details of rates and availability or click here for a basic ratecard.

OUTBOARD

monitoring is done through mackie hr624 series active monitors.  surround mixing is planned for sometime in mid 2005.  the control room has been carefully treated with Auralex Roominator DST kits to give a highly accurate and detailed listening environment.  our live room has a custom-built floating floor for exceptional sound isolation and damping.

we have a mass of reverb and effects processors, with a high emphasis on guitar processors due to my own disposition.  in one of the pictures above can just be seen the bicycle-saddle shaped line6 pod.  this is an incredible little unit (pictured below) which combines a pre-amp system, effects unit, and amp simulator all in one awesome sounding unit.  the system can be finely edited via a midi link to pc, but the nicest aspect is that there are big friendly controls on the front for just dialing in a sound quickly.  

the pod has pretty much replaced the sansamp gt2 system that we used to use widely.  the only problem with the gt2 was that none of the settings could be saved so returning to older pieces and trying to match the guitar sound was a nightmare.  however, there are still some sounds for which this marvelous little workhorse is still dragged out of retirement for.  we also have the bass version of the POD and a Roger Linn AdrenaLinn2 beat synched guitar processor.

INSTRUMENTS

we always have a number of guitars & basses on hand to noodle around on as well, along with; synths, drum machines (including a Korg electribe em1), samplers, guitar synth and the Roland HPD15 Handsonic Percussion synth!  there is also a Chapman Stick^® on hand for the brave and the reckless!

we have software instruments a-plenty, including; Absynth 2, Reason 2.5, Reaktor, Mach 5 sampler, Battery, Culture (world music v-instrument), Atmosphere, Stylus RMX and Albino 2 (as soon as AU support arrives).  plenty of samples and other sound sources.

EXTRA HELP & REMIXING

we also have a number of other musos who can be called upon at reasonable notice (and reasonable cost!) to add any extra sparkles you may have in mind.  these include bass players, keyboardists, vocalists and even violinists, cellists and even accordian players.  we can bulid a string ensemble up to about 8 players and choirs are never usually a problem either.  paul is also happy to put down tracks as well on guitar, bass, synths, Chapman Stick or hand percussion - just ask.

we are also happy to undertake remix work as well which can all be accurately time-sync'd in with your existing tracks using Groove Control and REX2 files.