The Acoustic Refuge is a unique recording environment located on a six acre estate with three great sounding rooms. Great care has been taken to outfit the studio with top of the line equipment that will give you a completely professional sound. We have an amazing 48 foot long hall with giant windows above that open you up to the natural world. And for those who are further inspired by the outdoors, you can take a break from recording and enjoy hiking trails, streams, and meadows. Our clients get a great vibe being here from our rustic wood and stone interior to the engineer/producer/musician that will listen to your music and ideas with an open mind and honest insight.

The Rooms
Pictured above is our hall featuring highly diffuse non-parallel stone and wood walls. It measures 48.5 ft long, 13.75 feet wide, and rises to 16.5 feet. Flooring is slate and oriental rugs. Ceiling is wood.

Pictured below is our piano room with carpet on top of concrete flooring. Walls are sheet rock with sound diffusers. It measures 22.5 feet by 22.5 feet with a ceiling rising to 10.25 feet.

Our control room (picture available upon request) has a hardwood floor with rug. It measures 22.5 feet by 11 feet and the ceiling rises to 10 feet. A hand built quadratic diffuser sits behind the mixing desk. There is also a huge chestnut table for a production team.

Equipment
We offer digital recording using world class analog to digital converters. We are capable of tracking a full band playing live (24 tracks at once) with monitoring that has zero or negligible latency, so you can focus on the performance. Mixing can be done precisely using any of several digital audio workstations or done in combination with solid state and tube mixers for a classic analog texture. We have microphones that offer some of the most accurate as well as some of the most natural reproduction of acoustic music.

Contact us about specific gear requirements or details. Listed below are brands that we currently use.

Microphones by Neumann, Gefell, Sennheiser, Royer, Earthworks, Audio Technica, Shure, and Audix.

Preamps by Gordon, Millennia, Earthworks, and TL Audio.

Mixers by TL Audio (16 ch), and Ramsa (24 ch).

Monitors by Dynaudio and Yamaha

Compressors by Millennia and Avalon .

Reverb by Lexicon, Waves, and Anwidasoft

A/D/A Converters by Apogee.

Software includes Sawstudio, Protools LE 003, Cubase, and Reaper.

Plug-ins by Waves (Platinum), Universal Audio, Sonalksis, Sonoris, Anwidasoft.

Control Surface by Radikal Techologies..

Acoustic treatment by RPG and Real Traps.

Booking Time
To book time at the studio you need to pay for 15% of the project up front. We do not book all styles of music and our main interest is in folk, jazz, blues, funk, classical, and pop. We will send you a contract that will have the specific dates and times that we all agree on. We may ask you to send us a really rough sample of your music.

Rates
Rates vary according to the type of project. For example, we charge less for recording a solo singer/guitarist versus a full live band that requires a more sophisticated setup. We also offer discounts if you book blocks of time or if you are a student here. We give free estimates and are always ready to answer your questions. We can even assist with some preproduction ideas if you send us a rough version of your music..

Other Fees
Musical accompaniment is extra.

Materials such as reference CD’s, session backup CD’s, and archival CD’s are extra.

Use of our guitars requires a fee for re-stringing (and advanced notice).

Sessions using our Yamaha U5 piano require an additional fee for tuning (and advanced notice).