A couple years back, I moved my studio to a new location and renamed it the Screaming Larch Recording Studio (whoopie!). Below are some pictures to show you what it looks like along with some gear lists.


The Guitars

Being a Rock 'n' Roll junkie, I am rather fond of my guitars. So, lets start out with those.

The flagship of my collection is a 1983 Fender Stratocaster Élite in classic tuxedo black and white with a maple neck (pictured at right). I typically run this thing through an original Pro-Co RAT distortion box and then through my effects rack before sending the signal on to a 1983 Fender Stage Lead amplifier. Also included in my guitar rig is a Dunlop Crybaby wah pedal, a Boss FV-100 volume pedal, and a Heil Talk Box.

Serving unplugged duty is a 1988 Ovation Legend acoustic/electric guitar (pictured at left). Although equipped with a pickup, I usually record this with open microphones.

Filling out the low end is a 1993 Fender Precision Bass, also in black and white (pictured at right). If I'm in a particularly destructive mood, I'll run it through that Peavey XR-600B amp and Traynor speaker cabinets you can see lurking in the background.



Drums & Percussion

2006 has been designated as the Official Screaming Larch Year of the Drums. The new studio space finally gave me a chance to build an acoustic drum kit (pictured below). And what a gnarly drum kit it is, weighing in at 22 pieces. Yes, 22 pieces...

	--	Tama Superstar shell kit
		22" kick, 5.5" snare (plus a 4.5" Tama maple snare), 12" & 13" rack toms, 16" floor tom
	--	16" CB700 floor tom
	--	Electric drums:
		3 8" Kat pads, 1 10" Kat pad, and 1 Roland PD9 drum pad triggering Alesis DM Pro and D4 drum modules.
	--	Remo Klong Yaw
	--	Remo Djembe
	--	Latin Percussion Aspire bongos
	--	Latin Percussion tambourine
	--	Cymbals:
		Zildjian K Custom 15" Dark Crash Zildjian K Custom 17" Dark Crash Zildjian A 20" Ping Ride Zildjian K Custom 8" Dark Splash Zildjian A 8" Splash UFiP 14" Experience Series Real China Zildjian A 14" Mastersound Hi-Hat

I've been using Remo heads on the toms and Evans heads on the snares. Sticks, brushes, and mallets come from ProMark, Vic Firth, Vater, Zildjian, and Regal Tip. All hardware is from Tama, DW, Latin Percussion, and Bumpkin Bilt.

As if that weren't enough variety for a drum kit, I also have some miscellaneous percussion instruments to throw into the mix (pictured at left). For truly off-beat sounds, how about Latin Percussion Tablas, an 8" Barclay Dumbeck, a Latin Percussion Talking Drum, a hand-made Nepalese meditation bell, a Tibetan prayer drum, a pair of shakers, or perhaps some hand-carved wooden spoons?


Keyboard & PA

I don't have a lot of call for synthesizers, but when I do, I pull out my old Kawai K4 (pictured at right). It's a bitch to use, but it does make some very nice sounds. You may also notice the Fatar MP117 Pedal Keyboard Controller slinking along on the floor. That thing is totally cool for dropping in a simple bass line while playing guitar.

In addition to covering destructive bass duties, the aforementioned Peavey XR-600B amp and refurbished Traynor speaker cabinets (again shown lurking in the shadows) handle the signal from the K4 for live purposes.


The Microphone Collection

My dear, ol' Daddy once said to me, said he, "You can't be a rock star without you got a microphone." Well, it wasn't long before I learned that, to capture the sound of all those instruments I bought, I was going to need a bunch of microphones. So, I have assembled a basic mic kit (pictured below) to cover all my recording bases.

	--	B&K 4007
	--	AKG C3000
	--	AKG C3000B
	--	AKG C1000S
	--	Sennheiser MD421
	--	a trio of Shure SM57's
	--	AKG D330

Recording & Mixing

And here's where it all comes together. Once I've got all those groovy sounds coming through the microphones, they all get recorded and mixed at the heart of the Screaming Larch Recording Studio. Before I lay the gear list on you, a point of order: I am in the process of replacing my piece of junk mixer with a brand new Mackie 32x8 board. I've got the meter bridge for the top and the stand for the bottom. The middle part (the mixer itself, i.e. the important part) is hung up at the factory waiting for a power supply that doesn't have lead in it. (I don't know whether to curse the manufacturers or the regulators.) I've even got all the new (and expensive) balanced wiring that I'm going to need. I'm ready to go, but I ain't got my mixer! Anywho... The Mackie will have about a bazillion LED's on it. So, when it gets in, I'll post a super-cool looking photo. Until then, the studio is currently sporting the following.

	--	Alesis 1622 Mixing Console
	--	Alesis ADAT XT 8-track Digital Tape Deck
	--	2-Track Recorders:
		HHB CDR-850 CD Recorder Sony 59ES DAT Deck Sony 75ES DAT Deck Sansui SC-1110 Cassette Deck
	--	Outboard Gear:
		Studio Technologies Mic-PreEminence Mic Preamp Rane FMI14 Flex Mixer Input Module dbx 166XL Compressor/Gate Alesis 3630 Compressor/Limiter Rane MPE14 Equalizer Alesis Quadraverb Plus
	--	Monitoring:
		Nakamichi R2 Receiver Amplifier Yamaha NS-10M Studio Monitors (nearfield) Bose Interaudio 3000 XL Speakers (farfield) AKG K240 Monitor Headphones
	--	Power Supply:
		Furman AR-1215 AC Line Regulator Furman PM-8 Power Conditioners

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