Tell us about the history of your studio?
The studio has been in commercial operation since 2006 and we’ve been going strong since. We do a combination of music projects and voice over/post production projects. Our vocal capability has really been our forte since we began. We made a conscious effort to position ourselves as THE PLACE TO GO for the highest quality vocal recordings in the country.
How many rooms does the studio include and what are they ideal for?
We have a vocal room, a recording room and control room. We are a small studio compared to other large tracking studios. We find that larger studios are not necessary to complete projects. Their purpose these days is to track large ensembles like orchestras, etc, but all our projects are centralized in our studio. We have even placed all our noise computer equipment out of the control room so that the space is completely silent. All you can hear is the music. That’s the way it should be.
What recording gear is available to use?
Most notably, we have a Wagner U47w microphone and a modern Neumann M149 Tube Microphone. We also have the standard microphones that you’d expect to see in a recording studio like AKG 414’s and Shure SM57s. We have Shure SM7b’s and Neumann KM184 pen microphones, Royer 121 Ribbon microphones, Sennheiser MK416’s for voice over recording, and many more. We have some great compressors. We have an UA 2-LA2 dual compressor, 2 LA2A’s, an F96 Brook, 2 distressors. We have a Neve 1073 pres, 8 channels of API 3124’s, Chandler TG2’s, also. We have a Pro Tools HD Omni rig and we also use an Apogee symphony IO that has 24 in and 24 out.
Who are your in-house engineers and what is their experience?
Our in house Producer Engineer is James Englund. He’s been working as a professional engineer and producer since Crash Symphony Productions started in 2006.
What separates you from the rest? Why should people come to you?
We are not going to pretend to be the cheapest studio. We are not. However, our clients get what they pay for. Extreme attention to detail and commitment to bringing the project to the absolute best that it can possibly be. Our location is amazing. We are literally 5 minutes walk from North Sydney and the Sydney CBD. Access and parking are all free and the bus stops right outside. It sounds trivial but that’s a huge thing. We’ve really made a huge financial investment to ensure that no other studio can beat our sound. We’ve also adapted ourselves to the modern era by integrating video and audio in close proximity. So many of our audio clients needed video to sell their audio product, so naturally we have started filming a lot of the recording process, doing simple video clips and have even got a small green screen in the studio.
What have you learned in your time working at Crash Symphony Productions? How has your experience shaped the way you go about your work?
I’ve learned that every project is different and that clients don’t want to have a producer thrust their own idea on to them. They want to be presented with options that they can accept or reject while being made to feel comfortable.
James Englund has created an app called Audio Engineer that’s filled with recording tips, search for it on the Apple App Store.
