A Tour of the Studio. The Doghouse NYC. Music, Production, Recording.
In a conventional recording studio, the room controls you. It forces you to conform to its layout, its conventions, its equipment, and its signal flow. At the Doghouse NYC, music and creativity define the recording experience. The ability to work with speed, inspiration, and agility are the ingredients of a space where music comes first. By combining a world-class piano, custom drums, and an innovative and comfortable control room, the best of modern technology and time-tested craftsmanship have come together in this unique and flexible space.
TRACKING ROOM
Our founding premise is that music should come first. Our “Live Room” houses one of the finest pianos in New York City: an immaculately restored, six-foot two-inch, 1926 Mason & Hamlin “AA” grand piano. A strong and balanced instrument with excellent dynamics, it has a warm tone that is never muddy. To match our piano's exquisite quality, tone and power, we enlisted the skill of master drum-maker Frank Ascenza. Ascenza designed and built a kit which is versatile and dynamic; it is an exceptional jazz instrument with enough punch and growl to excel in more aggressive musical styles. Together in this room, the piano and drums have proven to be a happy pair.
The tracking room has a warm, natural sound, and a comfortable feel. It is neither excessively dead nor overly reverberant. Lush curtains and carpets make the room look and sound comfortable and intimate. The acoustics can even be adjusted for a balance of warm parlor tone and crisp studio clarity. We are proud of the tone and the energy that comes when musicians congregate in this space.
When necessary, we also have several spaces to isolate musicians and instruments in an ensemble setting. There is a vocal isolation booth between the live room and the control room. It is well lit and ventilated. Apart from this, our spacious control room, and MIDI/synth room have been successfully called into service as recording spaces when needed.
CONTROL ROOM
Our “music first” philosophy resonates in an open and inspiring control room. Unlike a conventional control room which leaves you staring at the back of an engineer's head, the Doghouse NYC employs a unique face-to-face arrangement which fosters collaboration, critical listening, and innovation. Whether working with a band or a composer, the control room embodies all that is best about the “one-seater” environment. There is no reason the production process can't be creative, fast, and fun, without sacrificing quality or professionalism.
For music to come first, we have found that technology must be invisible. It must transparently support the creative process. Therefore we have effectively made the computer invisible. No screens separate the composer, the musician, or the client. People should look at and listen to each other, not screens and consoles. There are no obstructions in this space; only couches, chairs and instruments. Music technology should be there when it is needed, but never distracting.
That said, behind the scenes lies a powerful recording engine sporting state-of-the-art Digidesign hardware running at sample rates up to 192 kHz, a pristine signal chain and multiple monitoring systems. Several computers run the latest in software such as Protools and Logic Pro on both PC and Macintosh platforms. FTP capability and high speed internet round out the services we offer our clients.
INTEGRATION
Separating a live room from a control room is sometimes a necessity, but we like to think that a studio should feel like a unified space—a little world with a singular function: making music. The various rooms in our studio are tightly integrated. Clients may find themselves recording in the control room and mixing in the tracking room. Even our MIDI Room is a mini recording studio, with monitors, a mixer and a vintage Fender Rhodes electric piano. This allows projects to be developed simultaneously and ideas to be explored and combined. Headphone feeds between rooms allow artists to adjust their own cue mixes to their liking and the entire system can be operated from almost anywhere in the studio making us flexible and efficient at any task we choose.
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We have combined the best of the new and the finest of the old when it comes to music production; years of experience playing and composing music in many styles, fine instruments, quality equipment, and a broad range of musical skills. It is all housed in a comfortable yet professional environment—a time tested recipe for creativity with uniquely modern innovations.
From our nineteenth century pump organ, to our hand selected Russian microphones, modified with large diaphragm Lomo capsules (the Russian replacement cap for the U47), from our studio mains; speakers designed and built by hand by Ed Long, (inventor of the near-field monitor) down to the fresh ground coffee machine, everything at the Doghouse NYC is extraordinary.
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