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In The Studio... Compact Audio has a lot of fine recording equipment. Gear is very important. We always make a game plan for what equipment will be needed long before we start tracking your project and in the event there's anything we need, we order it in or rent anything exotic the project will require. Our goal is not to impress you with some massive gear list which you would be lucky to use 1% of. Our goal is to use the best of tried and true tested gear that you will actually make an incredible sound impact in your project! Let the quality speak for itself and ... just listen to what we have to offer. Of course, if you need to know our complete list, call us and we'll be happy to "run it off"!  Protools Digital Audio Workstation (DAW):
The standard of almost all major studios. Track & mix your project right the first time while keeping your options open.
Able to integrate, import or use other DAWs such as Cubase,
Nuendo,
Sonar etc. Previous tracked sessions or guide
tracks in Cubase, Logic, Adat, Tape and other session
formats are importable into Protools.Quality, efficiency & flexibility: Once captured using the highest quality pre-amps & D/A converters available your audio never leaves the digital domain. 96 Tracks. All 24-bit tracking. 36 recording inputs simultaneously, plenty and then some to record a band directly off the floor or at a live event! Safe non-destructive editing: Experiment with song and mix variations on-the-fly, safely punch, edit & perfect all performances. All sessions backed up on regular basis. Time compression. Pitch & beat correction. It's not just that our systems can do this, this is our second nature, we are the editing King's. Fully Automated: Complete mix, FX & instrument automation. Re-activate sessions months later with all settings instantly recalled and if desired, you're sessions can be completely transferred to major studios world-wide (including our own associates) for further enhancing (i.e. re-mixes, overdubs & producing.) Excellent mixes: The heart of any quality mixing session these days is comprised of two components- talent (above) and gear. Aside from the incredible set of features Protools offers for mixing, plugins and plugin DSP are almost everything. We have slaved 1000s of hours over the years learning the best plugins in the world. And of course we have Tons of DSP to boot. Mastering: Countless books have been written on this subject and we've read them all twice. It is the last critical step in production that like many other aspects of producing, can make or break your project. We go through a very refined analysis carefully deciding every shape and color we add to your final product. Our Mastering is done using industry standard hardware such as Apogee Digital Audio Converters, Apogee Clock, Optimizer & the one and the only - Apogee Dither process. There are several other tools such as Waves, Bomb factory Platinum Pro, Ozone, and several other guarded processes. We often use a hardware radio simulation test as well as listen on over 10 pairs of speakers!. All of the virtual and hands on toys you can imagine: POWERFUL audio & Virtual instrument plug-ins, sequencing, sampling library & looping tools, etc. Dedicated in house FTP/ Web / Audio & Video Server: Broadcast audio & video feed live of your recording session live to anyone around the world and let them collaborate on your project. We use this indispensable service daily to communicate with clients, producers, etc. How  often is it that a band member
or team member can't physically at the studio for
whatever reason, now they sit by any computer and listen
in, watch and verbally communicate just like being
there. We also use the server to transfer back
large audio sessions back and forth to other studios
around the world.The ultimate in full-kit drum sound engineering & editing: Eddie Fisher has  recorded drum tracks, used beat & timing correction,
sample replacement and looping
for more than 10 years
with artists and studios
around the world. One of the best live kit sounds available in the
Maritimes, 15 years drum recording experience! Great house Kits
- our Maple Custom Master series, was made custom for and played by
Oracio El Negro's.
We use 18 individually tracked high-end mics on drums.
5 different snare drums to choose from. We have also teamed
up with Sabian Cymbals to bring you a variety of
cymbals. We also offer "RC Drums" (Remote
Controlled Drums) if you are not able to
physically be in Halifax for your drum session, you can
direct it from your PC.
See more here regarding Eddie as a
drummer & recording artist.
Some EFX, IO, Mics, Instruments & Tools used at CA. 
Nice and quiet ISO box
Some of our mics....   We don't bother with cheap mics. Mics include: Large Diaphragms all high end: SEs (The bombs), Audio Technical 4050, AKG Vintage & matched 414s, Neumann TLM 103, U87, Shure, 2 Rode NTs, Audio Technica 4033, 1 Audio Technica handheld condenser, etc. Dynamics include: 11 Shure 57s, 1 B52, 1 D112e, 1 Shure 91, Bayer 203, 2 Senhesier 421s, 1 Senhesier 903. 5 Shure 58s, 1 Shure Beta 58. 1 Audio Technica 25 Pro. Small Diaphragms all high end: Please see photo above.  The
old Mackie retired in the old location...
2 awesome 88 weighted key
controllers. Maudio Keystation Pro, Yamaha Clavinova, 1
76 key Roland.
The OLD BEAST - great for fat, dirty drums. |
We are currently looking at finishing another Control
room which will be "Studio B" which will share the ISO
room. We currently use our upstairs office for
working on editing when the main control room is busy.
Our Live Protools Rig.
