Desert Air Recording
finely granulating your songs and vision since 1957

 

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     We do everything from tracking through mastering here in our concrete and sheet metal studio.  We also record your live gig, or bring our studio-in-a-box to your house.
     It's all done on a patchwork of low-end gear that keeps growing despite our efforts to be minimalistic.  There are piles of tangled cables, boxes full of cheap headphones (some of which work), blue sparkle guitars and drums, and stuff everywhere that is more important the more it looks like junk.  And the walls are decorated with rusty gas cans found on our 40-acre ranch here in the desert of southern Colorado.
    If you want to know how it sounds when your music or spoken word project is dragged, kicking and screaming, through our frighteningly transparent system (which has been infiltrated by digital sand), drop us a line.
     Are we any good?   Please listen and tell us what you think...
 

Studio Recording (complex production) - Wake Up (by Denise LaNay)

Vocals are intentionally buried and textural. We don't ever want to mix this song again. While we're minimalists with our recording setup, that doesn't mean it won't take 30 parts to make a song as good as it needs to be.

 

Studio Recording (minimal production) - Wonderful (by Andy Ard)

This was recorded over a couple days in our studio.  Andy played the acoustic guitar and sang, then we recorded everything else on top of that.  We wanted to keep the production minimal, so the bass line took a while (since it had to melodically reflect every nuance of the song, and the song is way more intricate than it seems on first listen).

 

On Site Recording - Country Song (Sometimes) (by Tequila Mockingbird)

Recorded at the band's rehearsal space (offices in a La-Z-Boy warehouse).  The drummer was in a separate, windowless room and everyone was connected with headphones.  This album used every available recording track, requiring two Roland workstations to be linked.  In theory it's a straightforward hookup, but we don't recommend it unless your schedule allows sleeping in (since you'll lie awake every night gripped with the fear you didn't bump each vocal take to the next virtual track).

 

Live Recording - Yodelin' Rhythm & Blues (by Halden Wofford & the Hi*Beams)

Recorded live at the Skylark Lounge in Denver, CO.  Since our studio was still under construction, this was mixed and mastered in the tiny back room of a trailer.

Past clients include...

Mary Beth Abella (folk/pop)
Andy Ard (pop)
Atomic Pork (melodic punk)
Big Crappy Robot (ska)
Bret Billings (country)
Black Greg (indie garage rock)
Carolyn's Mother (rock)
Tom Copson (progressive art rock)
Curious Yellow (indie rock)
Double Down (pop/rock)
Robert Eldridge (experimental jazz guitar)
Janet Feder (experimental classical guitar)
Todd Grayson (bar folk)
Nora Heffernan (singer-songwriter)
Marty Jones (acoustic honky tonk)
Mason Kinard (acoustic folk)
La Candela (salsa)
Erin McCabe (folk)
Rhonda Mouser (acoustic folk)
Bob Rupp (rock)
Rachel & Andy (pop/rock)
Rachel's Playpen (pop/rock)
Katey Sleeveless (gothic folk
Tequila Mockingbird (bar rock)
David Tolk (piano/synth)
Victoria Woodworth (country)
Bradley Weaver/The Bad Directions (cowpunk)
Halden Wofford (techno goth-country)
Kevin Yost (country guitar)

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