Nashville Recording Studio Mixes Old with the New
Caffeine Studio Mixes Old with the New
Berry Hill — Creative Caffeine Recording Studio in Berry Hill (south nashville) features vintage microhpones, a full-sized grand piano, recording drum kit and three separate recording systems.
The studio makes extensive use of wood, for aesthetics and sound. It includes an all-wood main tracking room with vaulted ceiling and wood in the keyboard room, utility booth, and vocal booth.
After World War II, some German manufacturers, such as Neumann, built microphones “that were unparalleled,” Brock said. The studio has several Neumann microphones and one Telefunken, which was the East German counterpart to Neumann.
Brock said he uses a combination of analog and digital recording formats so that he can stay on the cutting edge with digital and at the same time retain the warmer sound of the analog era.
Brock said there are some qualities to analog tape “that you can’t get on digital.” He believes live drums, bass and acoustic piano just sound better on analog tape. But, he added, the speed of digital is essential for less critical overdubs and editing, mixing, and archiving.
“We can use them separately or in conjunction with one another,” Brock said about the different recording systems. “We can accommodate any format.”
The studio uses converters to convert the analog signal to digital. Brock referred to it as a “hybrid” approach to recording.
The studio has two engineers on staff: Collin Peterson, studio manager and chief engineer, and John Mills, former chief engineer for Capitol Records in Hollywood.
Andy Leftwich, fiddle player for Ricky Skaggs and his band Kentucky Thunder, has participated in several recordings at the studio and refers to Peterson as a “musician’s engineer.”
“He’s great at troubleshooting and getting a real handle on how it’s supposed to sound,” Leftwich said.
written by Suzanne Normond Blackwood - Tennessean.com
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