“Loved my time at Gatos Trail! The most serene setting & peaceful environment to work in. The drum sounds are great and the finished mixes translate well outside the studio” - Joe Chiccarelli - 11 x Grammy Winning Producer (The White Stripes, The Shins, Elton John, Alanis Morissette)
One of our recording goals is to balance analog and digital technologies giving your record the warmth of analog with the editing ease of digital. To that end, at the heart of the studio is a classic 28 channel Neotek Elite analog console as used by Steve Albini, Chris Walla and Lindsey Buckingham among many others.
For outboard pre-amps take your pick of classics such as the BAE Neve 1073’s, API style 312’s or the Chandler TG2’s among others. Sculpt your sound with some great EQ such as our Pultec EQP1 or pair of Neve 551’s in addition to the Neotek’s amazing on-board eq’s. For compression we have our favorites such as the vintage LA3A’s, the Retro Sta Level and of course the DBX 161’s.
If you want to hit tape on the way in or out of the DAW for more analog warmth we have the Swiss watch of tape machines, the Studer A 827 ready to roll.
Studer A 827 tape machine
Chris Goss & Jonathan Hischke demoing Earthquaker Devices
Outboard Gear
Named after the tiny dirt road that passes behind the studio and built inside a rustic 1,200 square foot barn, Gatos Trail Recording Studio was meticulously crafted over 2 years of thoughtful acoustic architecture and custom wood working.
The walls are all adorned with artistically appointed, repurposed barn wood and the 13’ high ceilings are outlined by massive wooden beams. The live room, iso booths and control room have all been acoustically treated to give superior sonic results (especially for drums) and the surface of the live room back wall can be transformed from wood to metal or to a theatre curtain giving a variety of responses to fit your taste. There are oversized glass sliding doors in the control room and huge picture windows in the live room and iso booth 2 that allow you to view the desert landscape from all areas of the studio. Or if you prefer the dark, moody studio vibe the windows can be blacked out at your request.
To top it all off the studio is equipped with a powerful climate control system to keep you comfortable whilst making your desert record!
The studio’s name sake
Twin Shadow and producers BJ Burton, Nate Donmoyer & Wynne Bennett are greeted at Gatos Trail Recording Studio by owner Dan Joeright
*Please ask about any piece of gear on this list that you absolutely need for your session. Although rare, a piece of gear may be in the shop or in use at another location
Engineer Dave Curran and Big Business bassist Jared Warren in the Gatos Trail live room
CONTROL ROOM: 15' X 30'
LIVE ROOM: 25' X 30'
ISO 1: 12' X 5'
ISO 2: 12' X 5'
ALL CEILINGS ARE 13' HIGH
Mark Mckee, Austin Grant & Ray Little in the Gatos Trail control room working on Ben Hazlewood’s record
