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Most
beautiful destination recording studio in the world. Allaire is located
two hours north of New York City and is accessible by car, bus or
train. The studios are the creation of photographer/musician Randall
Wallace and are situated at Glen Tonche, a stunning mountaintop
estate built in the mid-1920’s by Raymond Pitcairn.
There are three studios at Allaire: the Great Hall, with its sweeping views of the Catskill Mountains, will house an eighty input navy blue SSL 9000J console; the Neve Room, which overlooks New York’s Ashokan Reservoir and the Pro Tools-equipped Project Studio. Allaire is a residential studio offering finest equipment
(new and vintage), great sounding rooms and full-time technical
support. The comfortable and tastefully furnished accommodations
include tennis, heated pool, jacuzzi, archery, hiking and a game
room with over twenty pinball and arcade games! The on site chef
can prepare delicious meals tailored to suit the specific taste
of each client. Veteran engineer/studio manager Mark Mckenna and his superb staff look after some very special artists who have recorded/mixed there -- Norah Jones, David Bowie, just to drop a few names! Craig Street with engineer Husky Hoskulds had just finished mixing the Gipsey Kings and were thrilled with the sound of the SSL 9K. The production team used the Great Hall itself as a live reverb chamber, making use of the room's nearly 90,000 cubic foot volume for natural reverb. A smaller space, the nearby men's room, was also used as a chamber; watch out - even the bathrooms can be mic'd up at Allaire! Craig and Husky dug the Augspurger monitors, and the dinners at sunset weren't bad either. Tim and Neil Finn (of Split Enz and Crowded House fame) brought their band (and families) all the way from New Zealand to Allaire for a month's work with famed producer/arranger/engineer Tony Visconti and engineer/Pro Tools operator Mario McNulty. Tim, Neil & Co. made use of the Neve Room for tracking before moving to the Great Hall to complete overdubs. The artists and producer made use of Allaire's extensive instrument collection to enhance the recording; Banjo, mandolin, cello, upright bass, electric and acoustic guitars by Fender, Gretsch, Gibson and Martin, dulcimer, harmonium, mellotron, Vox Continental organ etc all made their way onto the tracks.
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The Neve Room (pictured above) All activity in this studio takes place in a common area - there is no separation between performers and producer/engineer. This room features a classic Neve 8068 with Studer Gold Edition A-827 16/24 track recorders and a wide assortment of outboard gear and microphones. Just outside and up the stairs, the Project Studio features Pro
For the gear
freaks, Allaire has upgraded one of its Pro Tools systems to an
HD rig with two 192 I/O's, Sync I/O and Rosendahl Nanosyncs. They
have also acquired a rare Dumble Overdrive Amp with Dumbleator.
This amp is the choice of guitarists like Carlos Santana, Larry
Carlton and Robben Ford and is one of the world's rarest and most
sought after amps. In
addition, Allaire hosts an instrument collection containing over
150 vintage guitars, 75 non-guitar string instruments, 50 guitar
amps and 40 analog keyboards! Choice gear,
great hospitality and the down-to-earth vibe of this studio coupled
with the amazing views (high, about 2000 feet above sea level, overlooking
this big reservoir. Look for hawks and eagles in the sky) is outstanding!
The on-site
accommodations are superb --chef on demand, exquisitely decorated
bedrooms... Good going Mark and staff! If you don't have your directions
to the place, there's always a freindly Britt fetching you to the
hilltop mansion on Glen Tonche!
Please
Direct inquiries to:
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