MAJESTIC MUSIC STUDIO
Majestic Music Studio combines a fully renovated 1800’s farmhouse Bed & Breakfast with a world class Recording Studio. It is an entirely unique space designed to be comfortable, welcoming and to foster creativity. Musicians from all over the world can reside in our 4 star accommodations and realize their full potential in recording rooms built to showcase their talents. Located in the New Hampshire seacoast area it is 10 minutes from the ocean, 20 minutes from scenic Portsmouth & Newburyport and 1 hour from Boston & the White Mountains.
RECORDING STUDIO
The recording studio is a separate wing attached to the house. It was built by acclaimed designer Frank Comentale combined with work from Dave Malekpour of Pro Audio Design. It features 2 live rooms, a keyboard room and a booth/amp room, each with their own unique acoustics. The Control Room and Keyboard Room can each function independently to provide two simultaneous zones for mixing, recording & editing. The gear list is second to none, featuring mics by Neumann & Telefunken, mic pres by Neve, Api, an EMT plate reverb, live chamber, Yamaha baby grand piano w/Disklavier, a host of classic outboard gear and Pro Tools Ultimate & Ableton DAW with Avid S3/Dock control surfaces (see gear list).
GUEST HOUSE
The guest house is the original portion of the facility, built in 1803 and fully renovated to the quality of a 4 star Bed & Breakfast. It features 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and a lounge in the upstairs living quarters. Each room has 2 twin XL beds (which can be combined to king beds) comfortably accommodating 6 people. Additionally, 2 more can be accommodated in a sofabed. The downstairs features a full kitchen, dinning area, lounge with fireplace and a laundry room.
GEAR
Majestic Music’s gear represents the best of both past and present technologies with the goal of capturing the all the magic of a musical performance.
The studio features a collection of 27 microphones (Neumann, Telfunken, RCA, Royer etc), 21 keyboards, 7 vintage guitars, 14 vintage guitar amps, a Yamaha grand piano with Disklavier, a vintage Gretsch drum kit, 3 Ampex tape machines (MM1200 2” 16trk, 440 ¼”, 351 tube ¼”), a plate reverb, a live chamber and world class outboard gear.
Live Rooms:
- Room A: 32' x 18' (16' ceiling peak)
- Room B: 18' x 10' (11'6" ceiling peak)
- Booth: 12' x 6' (10' ceiling peak)
- Keyboard Room: 7' x 14' (9' ceiling peak)
ANALOG RECORDING
Ampex MM1200 16 track 2” (15,30ips)
Ampex 440B 2 track (1/4” 15ips)
Ampex 351 tube 2 track (1/4” 7.5, 15ips)
DIGITAL RECORDING
Pro Tools Ultimate HD Native (64ch IO)
Ableton Live Suite
CONTROL SURFACES:
Avid S3 & Dock
Ableton Push
Native Instruments Maschine
Plugins / VI's:
Waves Diamond, NI Komplete Ultimate, Slate Everything Bundle, Sonnox, Softube, Altiverb, Autotune, Melodyne, Sound Toys, McDSP, Izotope, Eventide, Plugin Alliance, MDW, Exponential Audio and more
AD / DA CONVERTERS
64 CHANNELS IO:
- JCF Audio AD8 (transformer based AD) (2 units)
- JCF Audio DAV8 tube DA
- JCF Audio 8 ch custom built DA (discreet transformer)
- Apogee Symphony
- Lavry (DB Tech) Gold MKII AD (2ch AD)
- Dangerous Music DAC DA (2ch DA)
MONITORING
ADAM S3A
Focal Alpha 65 (Keyboard Room)
Mackie HR 824
Yamaha NS10m Studio
Subwoofers: dual 15” in wall, Adam Sub 10
Monitoring: Dangerous Music Monitor ST
Dangerous Liaison (switcher)
Studio Headphone System: (6) Furman HDS16 (16ch headphone mixers)
MIC PRE'S
2 Neve 1272 (vintage, converted to mic pre’s)
8 API 312 (vintage)
2 Mastering Lab (tube)
2 Langevin AM16 (vintage)
2 RCA BA 73 (vintage germanium)
2 RCA BA 31 (vintage germanium)
2 Langevin 116 (vintage tube)
2 Langevin 117 (vintage tube)
4 RCA BA-21 (vintage tube)
COMPRESSOR / LIMITERS
Manley VariMu Limiter (6386 tubes, hi pass sidechain mod)
Pendulum 6386 Vari Mu Limiter
Urei 1176 blackface (vintage D model)
Urei 1176 silverface (vintage, Steve Haselton mod)
RCA BA6b (vintage)
Thermionic Culture Phoenix
Chandler TG-1(EMI recreation)
Focusrite Red 3 (VCA w/ transformers)
Dangerous Music Compressor (VCA)
Compex F760 (vintage w/transformers)
Elysia Mpressor
Summit TLA-100
Drawmer 1968 Mercenary Edition
Empirical Labs Fatso
Altec 436A (original)
Altec 436a (Abbey Road RS124 mod)
(2) DBX 160
Valley People Dyna-mite (stereo)
SPL Transient Designer TD4
EQUALIZERS
Pultec EQP 1A (vintage)
Manley Massive Passive (tube EQ)
Sontec MEP250 (vintage)
Amek Medici (stereo mastering EQ)
(2) API 550a (vintage)
(2) Altec 9061 (vintage)
EFFECTS
EMT 140 Plate (Martinsound upgrade)
Live Chamber
Bricasti M7 Reverb
Lexicon 480L
Lexicon PCM60
Eventide 2016
AMS RMX16
Ursa Major Space Station (vintage)
Demeter Real Reverb (tube spring)
Sony R7 Reverb
Sony M7 Multi Effects
TC Electronics 1210 Spatial Expander
Roland RSP-550 Multi Effects
BBE 422 Sonic Maximizer
MXR Digital Time Delay
Neve Portico tape simulator (2 channels)
RSP Saturator (tape, distortion effect)
Motion Sound R-3 147 rotating speaker
Echoplex tube tape echo (vintage)
GUITAR EFFECTS
ADA flanger (vintage), Electro Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man (vintage), Analog Man stereo chorus, H & K Rotosphere, Heil Talkbox, Maestro Phase Shifter (vintage), Roger Mayer Voodoo Vibe, MXR Flanger (vintage), Foxx Tone Machine (vintage), Roland Dimension C (vintage), TS7 Tube Screamer, Dunlap Rotovibe, Dunlap Wah, RMC3 Wah
MICROPHONES
Neumann U67 (2): 1 modified, 1 original
Neumann U47fet
Neumann KM54 (2) (cardiod, nickel capsule, tube, small diaphragm)
Neumann KM-88 (multi pattern, nickel capsule, small diaphragm)
Telefunken Elam 251
RCA KU-3a (2)
Royer R122v (2) tube ribbon
Royer R121 ribbon
Soundelux U99 (multi pattern, tube, large diaphragm)
Horch RM2J (Neumann U47 replica)
BeezNeez BC12 (2) (C12 hand made replicas)
Sure SM57 (3)
Sennheiser 421 (3)
AKG D112
Audix D4
EV RE-20
Yamaha SKRM-100 Subkick
Turner 211 Dynamic Bullet Mic (vintage 1940’s –blues harp etc)
Copperphone Mic (lo-fi vintage mic for telephone sound, loop effects etc)
GUITAR / BASS AMPS
Marshall JMP (vintage 1969)
Marshall JMP (vintage 1974)
Fender Deluxe Reverb (vintage 1965 blackface)
(2) Fender Bassman (vintage mid 1960’s blackface)
Fender Twin Reverb (vintage 70's silverface with blackface mod)
(2) Ampeg Gemini (mid 1960’s)
Ampeg V4 (mid 1970’s)
Ampeg VT-40 (combo 4x10” version of V4)
Ampeg Reverbrocket (mid 1960’s)
(2) Ampeg Jet (mid 1960’s)
Silvertone Twin 12 head (mid 60's)
Ampeg B15N fliptop bass amp (mid 1960’s)
Magnatone combo (1956)
THD UniValve
Plush 50w tube head with cabinet (70's botique amp with Fender vibe)
Marshall 4 x 12 cab (mid 1970’s greenbacks & JBL silver bell alnico)
Marshall 2 x 12 cab (Vintage 30’s)
Mesa Boogie 1x12 cab
GUITARS
Martin D-18 acoustic (vintage 1942) ^
Guild F50 acoustic
Fender Telecaster (vintage 1966) ^
Fender Telecaster (vintage 1960) ^
Fender Telecaster (vintage 1952) ^
Fender Stratocaster (vintage 1957) ^
Stratocaster (30thStreet Guitars, NYC custom relic)
Gibson Les Paul Jr (vintage 1959) ^
Kelly Telecaster (Built by Carmine St Guitars, NYC)
G&L ASAT maple neck, Tele style
Washburn A20v (1982)
Westone Paduak 1 (1981)
Fender Precision bass (1974)
Ovation Celebrity acoustic bass
Electric Sitar (Jerry Jones Guitar)
Cigar Box guitar (Don Roberge)
Banjo (Sekova)
Mandolin (antique)
KEYBOARDS
Yamaha Baby Grand Piano with Disklavier system
Hammond M3 Organ (with Leslie 147)
Wurlitzer 145 Electric Piano (1960’s, tube)
Fender Rhodes MK I Suitcase Electric Piano (1969) (revamped by Vintage Vibe)
Moog Minimoog (rackmounted)
Moog Memorymoog
Sequential Circuits Prophet 5
Oberhiem OBXA
Oberheim Matrix 1000 (analog)
Access Virus T1
Roland Fantom (sample playback option)
Yamaha Motif rack
Roland MKS 70 analog (mid 80’s)
Roland JD990
Roland MKS 20
Yamaha TX 816 (8 dx-7’s in a rack)
Korg Wavestation
Korg MicroKorg
Korg O1/W
Voce V5 drawbar B3 organ module
Yamaha CP33 88 note weighted action keyboard
Controllers:
Ableton Push
Native Instruments Maschine
Edirol PCR-M30 (32 note Midi controller)
Yamaha CP-33 88 note weighted action keyboard
Softsynths:
Komplete Ultimate, Sonik Synth 2, Hybrid, Atmosphere,Colossus
Exotic Instruments Library, many others.
PIANO
Yamaha C5 Grand Piano with Disklavier: Self Playing/Recording System: receives and sends midi. The piano can play itself from a computer midi track. You can record a performance while playing the piano (via midi), edit the performance in the computer then play it back through the piano, or use the piano as a midi controller to trigger other synths.
DRUM KIT
Gretsch 60’s Round Badge kit:
8x12 tom, 10x13 tom, 14x14 flr tom, 16x16 flr tom, 14x20 kick
Snare: GMS 5 x 14 maple
Snare: Beier 2mm 6.5 x 14 brass snare
Snare: Rogers Dyna Sonic (vintage brass)
High Hat: Zildjian K 14” medium
High Hat: Sabian B8 14"
Ride: 20” Bosphorus (vintage)
Crash: 16” Dream Bliss
Crash: Sabian XS 20” medium (bright)
Splash: Sabian AAX Ozone 10” (with holes)
Crash: Zildjian Azuka 13"
PERCUSSION
Shakers (many), cabasa, cowbells, tambourines (5), guica, Indian manjeera bells,, elephant bells,Indian ghungroos, ethnic hand drums (talking drums, Dohlak, Khol, Mridangam, Naal), Indian Ghatam, frame drums (4), bongos, jembe.
MISC
- Speck Electronics Xtramix mixer (keyboard mixer)
- Tonelux 16 x 2 OTB Summing Mixers
- Grenier Engineering (8ch vca’s controlled by Pro Tools)
- Radial JD7 Guitar DI, reamp, splitter
- DBX 120xp subharmonic synth
- JCF custom 4 channel guitar reamp for using guitar fx boxes with DAW tracks.
- Direct Boxes made from vintage UTC and Lagevin transformers.
- Midi Interfaces: Iconnectivity interfaces via ethernet allow large Midi setups to be put in any of the live rooms (in addition to the keyboard room).
- Inter Room Communication: A multi camera system (30fps wired) along with Furman HDS-16 mixer stations allows musicians to see and hear each other between rooms with near 0 latency.
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Good sound starts with clean power and grounding. The studio has it's own dedicated electrical system utilizing a military grade computer controlled motorized variac that maintains precise voltage (+-1%) with 0% distortion, Equitech balanced power, thick guage electrical wire and multiple grounding rods.
AUDIO WIRING
Our facility is wired primarily with oxygen free copper Mogami Cable and uses Audio Accessories patchbays to insure the highest quality sound.