Located on a steep bluff overlooking the Deep River, this studio offers stunning views of the river and surrounding countryside from just about any position in the building. Owner John Davenport has finally realized his dream of building this one-of-a-kind ground-up studio, first designed by Wes Lachot in the late 1990’s. John’s engineering, assistant engineering, and/or production credits include some of the top names in the music business (John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, etc.)
This design was the first in a series of designs utilizing purist tri-axial geometry, based upon the equilateral listening triangle and developed outward from there (designed from the inside out, as it were), that eventually culminated in the design for Manifold Recording about 10 years later.
The river view is made possible by a series of folding “biffusors” that can be adjusted to different positions depending upon the acoustic requirements of the session. In the right closed position the biffusors are diffusive in the upper mid and high frequencies and absorptive in the lower-mid and low frequencies, utilizing RPG quadratic residue-based FlutterFree made of American cherry. Flipped 180 degrees to the left closed position the biffusors become absorptive at all frequencies. When opened 90 degrees, the entire wall is essentially transformed into a 20 foot wide picture window looking out directly toward the river, while providing the room with a mix of absorption and diffusion. At one end of the Tracking Room is an Iso-booth capable of housing either a full set of drums or the Kawai grand piano, and at the other end of the room is a masonry fireplace. The unique ceiling cloud uses a combination of absorptive and diffsorptive elements, continuing the tri-axial theme.
The Control Room employs this same type of cloud treatment, and in addition roughly 50% of the walls are outfitted with RPG diffusive treatments and tuned bass-trapping elements. All of these treatments - plus the front wall segments and credenza - are made of American cherry, and finished to match the API Legacy Plus analog console (with moving-fader automation). The main in-wall monitors are ATC SCM200’s, tri-amped and powered by a pair of P4 amplifiers with analog 3-way crossovers, with a total of 850 watts per side.