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OUR STUDIO

Your host: K. Burnshee

Welcome to Resaro Studios. This is where it happens. We got about 30 squaremeters in the basement were we do all our recordings. It's just one room, but it works well for us. Equipment? Let's roll:

The heart: Apple Mac G4, Logic Gold, Audio Delta 44 soundcard (4 in 4 out). Everything works excellent thanks to Bjarne Nyquist who helped us set it up. Logic and the CD-burner software is all I got in this computer. Don't want to mess it up with other software. This one is strictly for music. Lately I've been reading about software for synths and pianos, but to be honest, I'm a bit afraid I won't get it to work, and then the setup I have now will be ruined... We'll see.

Monitors: Yamaha NS3, cheap, sounds big, works excellent for me.

When it comes to recording, my learning is that you need a good micpreamp. I've got a Focusrite Twin Trak, which is excellent! Two channels micpre and compressor. Then I've got a Fatman, micpre with compressor (one channel), with "readymade" compressor settings for kick, snare, vocal, bass, guitar and keyboard. We use it a lot on bass, but also on vocals. (Fatman is all valve.) I also have a small "valve-micpre-boxe", ART Tube, which I don't use anymore.

Michrophones! Rode NTK Valve, Rode NT1, Rode NT 1a, Rode 1000, Beyerdynamic MC 834, Shure 57, AKG D112, Sennheiser 421, AKG 1000C, TSM 87 (a very good, cheap dynamic mic which I use on electric guitar a lot) and two CM2 condensor michrophones, small. From a swedish manufacturer.

On vocals it's mainly Rode NTK and Beyerdynamic. But we've also used the Rode NT1 a lot. The difference? On vocals, I'm not sure. It's small nuances. It depends a lot on how Thornside sounds that day. When it comes to miking vocals, I think you can get away with almost anything. (As long as you got a good micpreamp.) On drums and guitars it's more difficult. On our latest recordings I had Rode 1000 and Rode NT1a as overheads (as soon as we can afford it we will buy another Rode 1000... or a NT1a. As every recording magazine will tell you, the overheads need to the same kind). AKG D112 on bassdrum and Sennheiser 421 on the snare. The Sennheiser gives the snare more room I think. And I like that. Shure 57 on snare is a massiv "schmack", which is good when the drummer sticks to 2 and 4. Tomas Berquist, our drummer, is a "Steve Gadd"-type of drummer some times, and there's a lot going on on the snare. The Sennheiser picks that up excellent.

On horns, saxophones and trumpets and trombones, it's even more difficult. First we recorded every horn into separate michrophones, which makes it a hell to mix. From now on it's the horn section in front of ONE mic (preferably the Beyerdynamic).

Keyboards: an old Ensoniq SQ1 as motherkeyboard, and then the sounds from the rackversion of Proteaus 2000. That's the only synth we got. Besides that we have a digitalpiano, Korg SP 200.

We also got a drumset, a bass and 11 electric guitars (that's Burnshees headache), and for those of you who are into guitars:

- My favourite must be the Ibanez AS 80, which I bought new 1982. Before that I had a Ibanez AS 200, the "John Scofield" guitar, we had the same yearmodel. But, as you do when you are young and poor, you sell stuff. So I sold my AS 200. Then I bought the cheaper AS 80, but that's a very fine guitar too. Last year, when I was in New York, I bought a brand new AS 200, "John Scofield" signature. Sad to say... It's not the same as my first one. The rest?

I have a

- Gibson Les Paul Custom Shop "Catalina"

- Gibson Nighthawk

- Gibson Blueshawk

- Fender Stratocaster American Standard (red)

- Fender Stratocaster American Standard (2002 model, sunburst)

- PRS Tremonti (a very good guitar!)

- Ibanez George Benson

- Ibanez 70's hollowbody jazz-guitar (Gibson ES 175 copy)

- Ibanez Roadster (an old messed up guitar, with paintings on it)

Amps: Mesa Boogie, subway rocket, Laney LC 30, Laney LC 15 (valve! Love valve!), and a couple of others...

HOW WE DO OUR RECORDINGS

Me and Thornside compose, then we record the song with drum machine some poor bass playing by me, and some guitar tracks just to capture the feel. Then our drummer and bassplayer Tomas Berquist comes in and play drums, live, all over it. 4 channels is all we can record at the same time. So we got 4 michrophones on the drumset (two overheads, kick and snare). Then he plays the bass. And then I get him to do some percussion and occasionally some keyboards (he can play everything). Then Thornside comes and we do the vocals again, unless the first take still is the best (sometimes that's the case). Sometimes Thornside has made some horn-arrangements, which we also record with hornplaying friends. Then I'm all alone, and I can sit in the studio hour after hour and lay my guitar tracks, do some editing, do the mix, invite more friends to play or to sing, and I can do my guitar solos over and over and over again.

It's a wonderful time. But sometimes, as I'm sure everyone who has his or her own studio recognize - I hate it.

Well. Any questions? I'll be glad to answer them

Yours Sincerely

K. Burnshee

of Burnshee Thornside Enterprise

© Burnshee Thornside