Earwig
Studios is located just minutes away from the central city at 41 Birkenhead Ave,
Birkenhead. The studio is set amongst a variety of restaurants, bars and cafes, with rear
parking available 24 hours.
 
The recording room has
excellent 'live' acoustics with a brick wall at one end to enhance and brighten sound. The
control room is spacious, comfortable and fully soundproofed from the recording room and
reverb chamber. Both rooms feature soundproof ventilation and the bandroom is isolated on
a floating floor. The social area, complete with kitchen facilities affords an inspiring
view of native bush reserve.
Musicians who have recorded at Earwig Studios include
Salon Kingsadore , Garageland , The Hot Grits , Legacy Of Disorder , 8 Foot Sativa , The
Broken Heartbreakers , The Whipping Cats , Steve
Abel , Fejoa Jam , Marco Liguori’s Stolen Paintings , Uncouth , The Exponents ,
Alistair Riddell , Goon , Tony Fuemana with Urban Pacifika , Clarion Choir , Surrealistic
, Riversedge , Fantababy , Superturtle , All Torn Up , Relentless Attrition , Sister
Morphine , Skivvy , Billy Squire and The Rye , Mike Scorey , The Hitlist , These Four
Walls , Roger Skinner , Figure 60 , Semtex , Alpha Plan , Smoothie , The Radio Kings , One
Black Shoelace , Lanky , AKDK , The Holidays
, Mordor , Fluid , Chicane , Rival State ,
Celadore , Milk Milk Lemonade , Honey Barbara , The Lure Of Shoes , Marble Fawns , Mr Fuzz
, The Coolies , and many many more.
Musicians who have used Earwig
Studios for livesound include The White Stripes ,The Handsome Family , Evan Dando ( The
Lemonheads), Andy Bird , Blam Blam Blam , The Mint Chicks , The Tuts , The Bored Gordons ,
The Roulettes , The WBC , Graham Brazier , The Motel Six , Infinite Flying Kick , Karen
Hunter , The Bads , The Heavy Jones Trio , Sinate , White Swan Black Swan , Grant Chilcott
, The Renegade Room at the Campus A Low Hum festival 2010 ,
and many many more.
24 TRACK &
ENGINEER
For $60.00 per hour ,
Earwig Studios offers either the MCI 2 inch 24 track. We have two MCI's on site , one that
belonged to Cat Stevens, the other to Bryan Ferry.We usually mix to the Studer A-80 1/2
inch 2 track and then master to DAT or CD (more details on this are found in the mastering
section).
Recordings can be transferred via Gareth from Northwest Digital at a cost of $150 for the
first hour, and $60 each additional hour.
All prices are
GST
inclusive.
 .....
As well as wide format analogue tape
recorders , analogue mastering , and Pro Tools compatability , Earwig Studios offer other
services usually not associated with studios in the mid to low range price bracket.
Upright Piano ,Fender Rhodes and Yamaha electric pianos , Hammond organ with leslie
speaker , 20m3 concrete reverb chamber , stereo plate reverb ,classic Urei and dbx
compression , Neumann U 87 microphone and Soundtracs 44 channell console .All items one
would usually associate with higher priced facilities.
We use:
* MCI 2inch 24 track
* Studer A-80 half inch 2 track
* Fostex D5 DAT recorder
* Phillips CDR880 CD recorder
* Revox B77 1/4inch 2 track
* Revox A700 1/4inch 2 track
* Soundtracs CM4400 44 channell console
* 2 X Urei LA-4 compressors
* 2 X dbx 160X compressors
* Aphex dominator II 720 limiter
* Focusrite platinum EQ/comp/limiter
* ART dual channell tube compressor
* Alesis 3630 stereo compressor
* TL Audio stereo valve EQ
* ART dual channell tube pre amp
* Concrete reverb chamber
* Stainless steel stereo plate reverb
* Roland SRE 555 tape echo
* Roland RE 301 tape echo
* Ibanez AD 220 analogue delay flanger
* Ibanez AD 100 analogue delay
* Alesis midiverb reverb
* Model 600 leslie speaker
* 2 X Ashley quadgates
* JBL quadgate
* Neumann U87 condensor mike
* Rode NTK tube condensor mike
* AKG C3000 condensor mike
* Fostex M88 printed ribbon mike
* 2 X PVM 480 overhead mikes
* 2 X AKGD112 kick drum mikes
* 4 X Shure SM58's
* 3 X Shure SM57's
* Seinheizer B504 snare mike
* CAD N10's and N11 tom mikes
The Engineers
Producer/Engineer
Darren McShane has an extensive musical background playing in live touring bands and
studio outfits. He has written for a variety of musical publications encompassing various
styles and forms of music. Darren spent three years as a DJ on 95bfm initiating The
Electric Chair - the inaugural import and new release show. Darren is currently
playing guitar and singing in Auckland band Superturtle , who will be
releasing their second album in April 2010. They have had four songs
in the KiwiFM top 10.
Gareth Van Niekerk from Nortwest
Digital is the in house Pro Tools specialist at Earwig Studios.
Backline Gear
Available (at no charge)
- Upright Piano
- Fender Rhodes electric Piano
- Yamaha electric Piano
- Hammond Organ with Leslie
- Roland Performance synthesizer
- 1963 Fender Precision Bass
- 1963 Burns Splitsonic electric guitar
- Burns Double Six electric 12 string
- Lomax 8 string Lap steel slide guitar
- Theremin
- Sweet tone Acoustic guitar
- Boss DS-1 distortion pedal
- Ibanez Tube Screamer Distortion pedal
- Cry Baby Wah pedal
- Small Stone phaser pedal
- Boss envelope filter pedal
- Holden Wasp 100 watt amp
- Vox Venue 100 watt combo amp
- Selmar combo amp
-
Fender Champion ( modified )
- Peavey 300 watt bass amp
- Sovtek 4 X 12inch quad box
- Marshall 2 X 12inch duo box
- Fane 2 X 15inch duo box
- Congoes , Cabasa , Vibraslap and various percussion
Lock Out Rates
A lockout day usually
starts at 10.00am and runs to 12.00 midnight, after 12.00 the $60 per hour rate applies.
| |
2 inch 24 Track |
| One Day |
$600
+ tape costs |
| Week End Rate |
$1,100
+ tape costs |
| 1 Week |
$2,800
+ tape costs |
| 2 Weeks |
$5,500
+ tape costs |
| 3 Weeks |
$8,000
+ tape costs |
| 4 Weeks |
$10,000 + tape costs |
Tape Costs
For most projects we use the MCI 2inch 24 track . We
mix to half inch two track tape , then master and compile to DAT tape and/or CD.
The tape can be bought or hired depending on budget and
whether the multitrack session needs to be archived after mixing . Tape hireage is only
applicable to projects that will be completed within
3 weeks of starting.Second hand or used tape may be purchased at a reduced price if
available.
For projects that result in recordings with long
durations yet low hours in the studios ( such
as choirs or acoustic ensembles doing full live tracking ) , tape cost can be
prohibitively high in relation to the studio fee.In these situations the client may prefer
to track digitally on Pro Tools . Though we prefer the sound of tape , in certain
situations digital tracking can provide an alternative.
For short (1-2 hours) one off sessions ( such as a solo
guitar/singer tracking , mixing and mastering in one short session) tape may be supplied
at no cost..Note that as with hireages the tape will not be archived.
Prices: note that these prices may vary
depending on the exchange rate with Australia at the time.
2 inch RMGI SM911
33
minutes at 15ips
$480.00
per reel or $16 per minute
Hireage is $3 per minute
Half inch RMGI SM911
33 minutes at 15ips
$160.00 per reel or $ 5.50 per minute
Hireage is $1.50 per minute
DAT tape is $15 for a 2 hour tape
TDK audio CD’s are $3
All
prices are
GST inclusive and current at
1st June 2008
Neumann U87ai
Floating Floor Band Room
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