Designed by award winning producer Tom Dobrzanski, Monarch is a modern studio facility built from the ground up with incredible attention to detail. Please have a look around, and feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Control Room
The Room
The large comfortable control room is built around a 32-channel API 1608 analog console that surrounds a 16-channel Avid S3 digital mixer. The desk also houses our patch bay and an assortment of classic preamps for additional sonic options. A center gear rack is filled with the high-end boutique and classic outboard gear you would expect from a world-class studio.
Monitors
Monitoring is provided by Barefoot MM27 mid-field speakers. They feature an innovative integrated subwoofer design with dual opposing subwoofers keeping the monitor fixed in space to provide a rock solid image. Engineers find these speakers easy to learn and use. As a second reference we have industry standard NS10 monitors powered by a Studer A68 amplifier.
Quiet
The recording computer, console power supplies, and 2″ Studer tape machine are all isolated in our machine room to keep all of the machine and fan noise outside and the control room silent.
Acoustics
Acoustically, the entire recording studio is built using room-within-a-room construction creating excellent isolation between the different spaces. The inside of the control room is treated with extensive bass trapping, absorption, diffusion, and angled walls to create an incredibly accurate listening environment.
Air
A dedicated air system feeds the control room, supplying constant fresh air and keeping it at any temperature you like. In response to COVID-19 we have upgraded the filters in our HVAC system to MERV13 hospital-grade filters, and added portable IQAir HyperHEPA filters to our control room and tracking rooms.
Comfort
There is a desk and large couch at the back of the room making the control room an incredibly comfortable place to work, even for larger groups. The studio is lit with Philips Hue lighting, so the tone and colour of all lighting can be customized to create the perfect mood for your session.
Tracking Rooms
The studio features four more isolated rooms for tracking: a Live Room, large iso booth (called the Piano Room), Vocal Booth, and an Amp Room. The tracking rooms feature great sight lines, and all rooms are connected with speaker and instrument lines for flexible and creative setups.
Live Room
The Live Room is the main tracking room, and has a large window that provides lots of natural daylight. It has a custom designed ceiling cloud made of diffusion and absorption, helping to make the room sound even larger than it is. Two of the walls feature real brick, and have six hinged acoustic panels that when closed offer a more bright lively sound, and when open, a more dry and controlled sound.
Vocal Booth
The Vocal Booth looks into both the Live Room and Piano Room and as its name implies, is a great place to isolate vocalists.
Amp Room
The Amp Room is an ideal place to isolate guitar or bass amplifiers while tracking with a live band. With ample instrument and speaker ties, you can be anywhere in the studio with your pedal board or amplifier head next to you, with your cabinet or combo amp isolated.
Piano Room
The Piano Room is often home to our 7’6” Yamaha C7 Grand Piano and Hammond B3 Organ/Leslie cabinet. The piano can also easily be moved into the Live Room for recording, or to free up the Piano Room for tracking other as your session requires.
Headphones
Headphones are controlled with an Aviom headphone system. This allows each musician to quickly dial in a personalized headphone mix so that they hear exactly what they need to perform their best.
Instruments
There is also an assortment of vintage instruments and amplifiers included as part of the studio rental, including Wurlitzer, Roland, Moog, and Nord keyboards, and guitar and bass amps from Fender, Vox, Marshall and Ampeg. We also have an inventory of in-house rental guitars, basses, drums, and cymbals – a list is available on our equipment page.
Lounge
The studio also features a private artist lounge. It includes a kitchen with complimentary coffee, tea, and light snacks, as well as a microwave, toaster oven, and fridge. There is also cable television, video games and foosball, as well as a private covered patio. Wifi is available in the lounge and throughout the studio.
