Currently In The Studio
We have a new name for our music production house. The studio will always be Fishtank of course, but the composition/production partnership of Josh and Davide has been named Samplify. We love the name!
Carl Cox returned to the studio for a couple of weeks in June to polish off his album. It is now mixed and mastered, ready to hit the public, we are all very proud of it. While he was here we also knocked out a deep dancehall stylee remix for latin superstar Miguel Bose.
The months of April and May were crazy busy! Josh composed the theme song for the new Tourism Australia worldwide campaign back in March, then spent the next couple of months working with a Sydney based orchestral arranger, then recording the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at Trackdown Studios. Josh then spent several weeks travelling the country with the ad's film production crew, acting as Music Director and vocal coach for the actors on set. Meanwhile Davide was back at the studio, putting the finishing touches on the first Samplify sample CD, the follow-up to his hugely successful Drum and Bass masterclass sample CD from last year. He then turned his attention to the sound design for the Tourism campaign, adding a top-class professional sheen to the job. it was mixed at Trackdown at the end of May.
News & Rants
Kickin it in 2010
Someone today insisted that I count exactly how many keyboards there are in the studio. I tried. I stopped counting at fifty, but it's about fifty five. It's a sickness, I know it's a sickness. But such fun. The Studio One mac has just had a software upgrade to Native Instruments Komplete 6, which was used to great effect in the demo process of our most recent job.
Davide Carbone and HD3, we welcome you!
It was a long time coming but we have finally upgraded the main system to Pro Tools HD3, on the fastest Mac we could get. We have also completely re-arranged the control room, creating more space and a killer vibe. It is truly great. The other news is that we have welcomed our old production buddy Davide Carbone back from London. Davide has moved into the front room, now called Studio Two. He has brought a sense of renewed inspiration and excitement to Fishtank. We have already embarked on a number of remixes as a team, with great results, and there is talk of a new FSOM. Good times!
Arturia ROCKS
How good is the Arturia Jupiter 8 softsynth? Another few weeks with it and I'll be considering selling my real one. Oh god, no I won't! Even saying that as a joke made me panic. Still, loving the soft version, I think it might be better than the real one (but don't say that too loud our you'll hurt Roland's feelings).
JGA.
About Fishtank Recording Studio
Hiding in Gardenvale behind the mild-mannered façade of a Californian bungalow, Fishtank Recording Studio is unlike other studios. The vibe is relaxed, we are in a quiet suburban street, there is unlimited parking space and we are a short walk from the Gardenvale train station. The studio is surrounded by a beautiful, lush garden; you can hear birds singing in the trees outside. Inside, despite the relaxing domestic setting, we are set up for very time efficient and creative work.
We have recently upgraded to Protools HD3 Accel, running on an 8-core Mac Pro, with Logic 9, and every soft synth and plugin you can name; it's basically the most powerful system imaginable. There are also two further Protools Mix+++/Logic Pro systems, so we can be recording in the main room and editing in two others, if time is getting tight. There are five separate recording spaces, varying from completely acoustically dead, through to a nicely live room with a sweet reverb, as well as a large, comfortable control room.
We are proud of our huge collection of vintage pre-amps and compressors, valve and solid state (Neve, Trident, Urei, Quad-eight, etc.), covering the sound of every decade from the late fifties till today, and a huge selection of mics, vintage and recent, again covering a span of decades and technologies all the way from an RCA 77DX ribbon through a handful of vintage Neumanns (M70, UM57, U87, etc.) to a pile of SM57's and 58's, and most things in between. Click on the STUDIO page above to see a full equipment listing.
We pride ourselves on our collection of fine instruments, ranging once again across the decades and covering most of the classics. Fishtank is a keyboard player's paradise; there is a Rhodes Suitcase electric piano, a Hohner Clavinet, a Steinway grand piano, a Yamaha upright piano, two Wurlitzer EP200 electric pianos, three Hammond valve organs (with two Leslie speakers), various vintage guitars and many guitar amps, and plenty of other assorted electronic musical gadgetry, including more stomp boxes than you could fit in two suitcases. We boast over 20 classic/rare analogue synths including Arp 2600, Roland TB303, Roland Jupiter 8, Roland Juno 106, Korg ms20, Korg Monopoly and, of course, a Minimoog, plus a dozen digital hardware synths and an assortment of drum machines both analogue and digital. Added to this is a comprehensive list of almost every drum loop on the planet in both audio and sample format. We also have full kitchen and bathroom (including shower) facilities, as well as free high-speed wireless internet. Everything listed above is included in one price.
