About
the Studios
MetroGnome
Studios are based at two locations in the royal county of Berkshire, South
of England in the United Kingdom, amongst beautiful Tolkienesque countryside,
where we drew our inspiration for the composition of the One Ring album.
Many long hours are spent here, burning the midnight oil, and often beyond
until the dawn chorus starts.
Both
studios were purpose built for the One Ring project, and some items are
duplicated at each location so that the only things we have to transport
between them is ourselves! This working method also ensures that James
and Kevin can work independently on seperate pieces of music, knowing
that they will sound the same regardless of the studio they are created
in.
We were surprised at the number of people who were interested in the studio
technology and instruments used in the production of the album, and so
for your interest, we have produced the following rather technical looking
(and tongue-in-cheek!) list:
- 15
different African Drums
- 2
Headed Troll (guardian of the studio)
- 2
x African Elds
-
2 x Atari 1040ST ISC
- 2
x HP 8210i CD Writer
- 2
x Roland Super JV-1080
- 2
x Sony MDS JE-520 Minidisc Recorder
- 2
x Sony Playstation (essential for between engineering mixes)
- 2
x Turtle Beach Maui Sampler card
- 2
x Yamaha DB50XG Wave Daughterboard
-
4 Speed Pro-Line Ceiling Fan (to keep us cool, coloured lights incorporated)
- A
Palantir (in need of attention, sold as seen)
- African
Tong-Vibes
- Akai
S3000 Sampler
- AKG
and Sennheiser Studio Headphones
- AKG
C1000S Mic
- Alesis
LT Reverb
- Alesis
SR16 Drums
- Aphex
c2 Enhancer
- Barney
Dog (featured in Prancing Pony)
- Bats
(flying kind, very awkward, they just would not do as they were told)
- Birds
native to Berkshire
- Bodrahn
- Broken
Sword
- Brook
(babbling in the Mirror of Galadriel)
- Candles
(for inspiration)
- CR5
Chorus/Phaser Unit
- Crescent
Moon (to watch over us)
- Crickets
(can be heard in the Mirror of Galadriel)
- DBX
Noise Gate (cannot be heard anywhere)
- Dragons
(friends of Smaug who gently breathe scented smoke in the studio)
- Dungeon
Keeper (1&2)
- Event
Darla 24 2in/8out PCI Hard Disk recording
- Fatar
StudioLogic SL-880 Keyboard
- Friendly
hobbits
- Hunky
PC's
- Jack
Daniels whisky (48 empty bottles, 1 half full)
- JBL
Control Monitors
- Kawai
K1 Keyboard
- Kawai
Q80 Hardware Sequencer
- Korg
01/W
-
Large Boots (DM's)
- Large
Spider (yes, a real one, guess which track!)
- MI-4600
Synthesizer
- Neuman
TLM103 Mics
- Neuman
U87 Mics
- Night-time
Forest (more scary than in the Blair Witch project)
- One
ring (two actually)
-
Patrick Eggle custom built electric guitar
- Phillips
CDR760 CD Writer
- Phonic
BKX8800 8-2 Mixing Desk
- Pretty
Gooseneck Lamps and downlighters
- Quality
Japanese Fireworks (second-hand, only used once by previous owner Gandalf)
- Rain-Sticks
- Real
Thunder (as opposed to that from the local 7-11)
- Rice
biscuits (fishesssszzzsszzss)
- Roland
D-10 Keyboard
- Roland
R5 Rhythm Composer
- Roland
S760 Sampler
-
SADIE Pro CD Mastering Software
- Samsung
Fax machine
- Seated
Gandalf (for more inspiration)
-
Shure SM58 Mics
- Sony
DAT Recording decks
- Sony
MZ-E3 Minidisc
-
Soundcraft Spirit Studio 24/8/2 Mixing Console
-
Spirit Absolute 2 Passive Nearfield Monitors
-
Steinberg Cubase VST 3.7 MIDI Sequencing & Hard Disk Recording
- Steinberg
Recycle
- Steinway
Grand Piano
- Symphony
Orchestra
-
Tandy PZM Mics
-
Tascam 246 4-Tr Recorder
- Tascam
488 8-Tr Recorder
-
Tascam R8 Reel-to-Reel Tape Deck
-
Technics RS-BX501 Cassette Deck
- Technics
SB-F920 Studio Monitors
-
Technics SU-3500 100w Amplifier
- The
Cyderhouse Public House (a.k.a. The Prancing Pony)
- Timpani's
TL Audio Finalizer Mastering unit
-
Tom, Oreo, Star and Bart (the horses from Red House Farm, featured on
Flight to the Ford)
- Too
much spilt beer (not enough in our mouths)
- Tree
branches (for that authentic Entishness)
- Turtle
Beach Tahiti Sound card
- Wave
SE Software
- Wind
Chimes of various sizes and types
- Yamaha
01V Digital Mixing Console
- Yamaha
MU100R
-
Yamaha QY10
-
Yamaha R100 Reverb
- Yamaha
Semi Acoustic Guitar
- Yamaha
TX81Z FM Synth
- You
(very important, required for listening)
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