One of my objectives in the design of the studio was to have the absolute least amount of gear possible. In an age where imported, mass-produced recording gear and instruments are so incredibly cheap and it is so tempting to want to equip oneself with as many tools as possible, I wanted to get back to an age where the gear was largely handmade, cost a serious fortune (which it still does for the real-deal stuff), and was built to last a lifetime. To that end, I've resorted to designing and building most of the studio gear myself.

One aspect of the studio that may surprise those familiar with how this stuff works is that my entire operation is high-impedance, unbalanced, and totally transformerless, inspired by the hi-fi approach the Sax brothers pioneered with their Mastering Lab in Hollywood in the 1960's. Another thing is that I don't use equalization. If I had to characterize my overall recording aesthetic, I'd say that I simply prefer raw, natural, unaffected sound. Which isn't to say that I won't put a little compression on a lead vocal or tape-delay the echo chamber, go for a slightly dirty bass sound; hell, even flange a whole mix if the feeling is right. But as for the audio shenanigans that became very en vogue a few decades ago and still haunt popular music; no thanks.

Finally, I'd like to emphasize that although I often come across as an audio elitist and indeed run in some extremely pretentious audiophile circles, I firmly believe that whatever sounds good is good and this is just my particular path.