Studio Feature – The Base Recording Studios

South Melbourne

The Base Recording Studios grew out of what was Life Saver Studios in 2004, changing its name to ‘The Base’ and renovating the kitchen, foyer and studios. They installed a ProTools HD system with Millennia, Universal Audio and Avalon preamps, added some great mics, and in 2007, a Yamaha C7 grand piano.

In July 2009 Phil Threlfall and the Base Studios joined forces, with Phil taking over as house engineer and installing his Amek G2520 (circa. 1987) analogue console, more outboard, as well as adding more toys to the mic cabinet and plug-in list.

The recording room is nicely balanced, with wooden floors and treated ceiling and walls – capturing a big drum sound is easy apparently and gives acoustic guitars, strings, horns and other un-amplified instruments a great sense of space.

The in-house Yamaha C7 grand piano is also a great asset to the studio, and sounds fantastic in the room. According to Mr Trelfall, when captured by a combination of tube mics up close and ribbons in the room, it always sounds great in the mix.

In the past few months, The Base has hosted sessions for K-Oscillate, Jerrico, Evermore, DoraMah, Bellusira, Nat Bartsch Trio, Anna Salen, Dennis Dowlut/Electric Empire, Pete Murray, Kingbayler, Compliments of Gus, My Cousin Jack, Ben Smith and many others. Phil’s no stranger to the recording industry, having worked with the likes of Jimmy Barnes, Marcia Hines, Human Nature, Guy Sebastian, Shannon Noll, as well as helping out local unsigned artists.

The Base Recording Studios: (03) 9690 3840 or phil@thebase.com.au

Studio Feature – North Studios

South Australia

Ben Petch’s North Studios is located at Loxton North, about 10kms out of Loxton in the Riverland of South Australia. Like many, the enterprise is the culmination of tools garnered over a lifetime of writing and playing music. After years of ‘toying around’ with Cubase and suspect PCs in tiny bedrooms, Ben decided to take the plunge and build a purpose built studio to house his newly acquired ProTools HD system, replete with C24 control surface and a Mac Pro. Ben ‘took a break’ from his day job as a vineyard manager to build the studio, which stands close by his main residence. The project took around four months to complete, but now includes a drum room and a vocal booth, combined with a 5.5m x 5.5m control room. Apparently a lot of the insulation was installed to take care of rain and hail noise on the roof, rather than to keep noise from escaping the studio. Ben reckons he’s pretty impressed with a product called ‘Epicrete’, which is apparently rolled onto cement surfaces such as the slab floor of the studio, to prevent any sneaky infiltrations of moisture into the building. Ben tells us he couldn’t have completed the job without the dedication of local builder, Craig Bartsch, or the constant acoustic guidance of Neville Clark of Disk Edits in Adelaide. Check the AT website for a quick flick of the finished results.

North Studios: 0408 087 877 or www.northstudios.com.au