About Unknown Artist Studio
Unknown Artist Studio is a just-for-fun hobby recording studio in Berlin. There's a lot of stuff that you might recognize from recording studios of the 70s, 80s and 90s.
Record it your way!
About The Studio
Maintaining old gear is expensive, or time consuming. Most of the time it's both. I don't do this for a living but because I believe that an environment filled with old equipment can put you into an exceptional state of mind.
There's something magic to the smell of tape, or manually turning knobs instead of pushing a mouse pointer over the screen. Physical limitations can unlock the special performance you've been looking for - if you have the time for this. Maybe you have a max track count of 24 or you don't want to cut up the takes because it would be a destructive operation that needs a razor blade.
Services
Experience the recording process like in good old times, when tape was rolling and you had to get it right. Non-linear or non-destructive editing was unheard of. Open a beer and rehearse just one last time while the tape spools back for your next overdub to punch into.
Analog - Digital - Hybrid
You can do any combination of an analog and digital setup with 24 tracks on 2" tape or 40 channels of analog to digital conversion through the Antelope and Apollo interfaces. You can even sync the tape to the DAW and vice versa if you want to get crazy and experiment.
Digital Goodies
Numerous professional plug-ins are ready for tracking and mixing. Most Soundtoys, Sonnox and Universal Audio UAD-2 plug-ins along with drums, keys and other virtual instruments from XLN Audio, Arturia, propellerhead and NI can be used among other little helpers.
Features
For analog or hybrid projects I use a vintage Harrison 32 channel inline console hooked up to almost every piece of equipment in the studio. The EQs on this thing are magic, so Universal Audio decided to model them as plugin for their UAD-2 platform.
Harrison 3232
If you have never seen a Studer machine handling tape, you should come by and watch. The machine is set up and ready and can be synced to the DAW. It features 24 channels on 2" tape
Studer A80
There are great plug-ins out there but sometimes you just need the real thing - like an AMS RMX 16 to dial away on the hardware. Experience the vibe of excellent outboard at your fingertips. The Eventide H3000's Magic Air preset can't even be found anywhere but in the original unit. Everything is rigged up and ready to support your creative process or shine in the mix.
Vintage Outboard
Selected Gibson, Ibanez, Fender and ESP guitars are readily available with a small but nice tube amp selection. A '68 VOX AC 30 with vintage Silver Bulldog speakers and EF86 tube modification in excellent shape is only one of the amps you can choose from. Pair a '90s JMP Marshal rack combination with a 70s cabinet? Lovely!
Guitars & Amps
With microphone signals being very low in comparison to line level signals it is most important to have the highest quality equipment at the very first stages of amplification. Apollo preamps are very transparent and a 610 channel strip and Neve style Lola preamp are great for color. For musical compression on analog projects, I built two 1176 blue stripe compressor clones.
First class signal chain
There are synthesizers ready to fire up if you need that. A fully loaded Korg Trinity including the coveted MOSS-TRI board is available togeter with a Komplete Kontrol S88 Master Keyboard. Need that one odd '90s sound from the Roland JV-1080? No prob. You can choose from a lot of stuff that is just waiting to be tried out.
Synthesizers
I don't buy microphones because of their brand; I like to buy what works. There are well-known large diaphragm mics like the Shure SM7B or the Electro-Voice RE20 - real workhorses. Oktava SDCs with various capsules, RØDE tube LDC, Sennheisers for guitar, and modded China ribbons with Lundahl output transformers complete the collection nicely. Everything works beautifully on something.
Mics
For premium leveling and monitor switching I like the audiophile Dangerous Music Monitor ST. You can't have anything color your signal in the monitoring path and this is simply the best monitor controller around. It also looks amazing in dim light!
Audiophile Monitoring path
There's no need to explain anything about a tape machine remote. It's something you've got to have in order to be able to punch in and out when recording. I thought this photo of the Studer A80 remote looks neat so you get to look at it.
Tape machine remote
Contact Me
I'd like to hear from you! Please understand though that I am doing this for fun and as a hobby only. Therefore it might take me some time to get back to you, especially if your request doesn't seem like fun at all ;)
You can use the form to send me a message. Please make sure that the email you enter is correct as I'll try and contact you through the address you provide. Rock on!