T

Where Modern Technology Meets the Feel of the ’80s

Studio Arsenal & Production Philosophy

At NaBa MUSIC STUDIO, technology is never collected simply for the sake of having more equipment. Every piece of gear is selected with a purpose: to create recordings that combine the precision, flexibility, and speed of modern digital production with the warmth, depth, character, and musicality associated with some of the great recordings of the past. The philosophy is simple: the future of recording does not require abandoning what made the past sound great. Instead, the goal is to bring those two worlds together.

Over the past several years, NaBa MUSIC STUDIO has continued to expand its production environment while developing a workflow capable of handling songwriting, music production, recording, mixing, mastering, orchestral arrangements, multimedia content, and scoring for short-form film and visual media. Primary recording and mix sessions are produced at 96 kHz / 24-bit, providing a high-resolution foundation from the beginning of the creative process through final capture.

Computer & Digital Production

The studio has recently undergone a significant computer upgrade with the installation of a new high-performance music-production PC built specifically for demanding professional audio sessions.

The current production computer includes:

• Intel Core i7 processor

• 20 processing cores

• 32 GB of RAM

• 2 TB solid-state drive

• High-performance architecture designed for large recording, mixing, virtual-instrument, and production sessions

At the center of the digital production environment is Avid Pro Tools Ultimate, which serves as the studio’s primary platform for recording, editing, composing, producing, mixing, mastering, and audio-for-picture work.

The upgraded system provides the processing power necessary to handle high track counts, complex signal routing, virtual instruments, high-resolution audio, automation, and hybrid analog/digital production while allowing the creative process to remain fluid.

Virtual Instruments & Orchestral Production

One of the newest developments at NaBa MUSIC STUDIO is the expanded integration of professional virtual instruments. Traditionally, the studio has relied heavily on hardware keyboards, samplers, workstations, instruments, and analog processing. The addition of virtual instrumentation now opens another dimension of creative possibilities.

The studio has incorporated EastWest Hollywood orchestral software to create lush orchestral arrangements, dramatic cinematic textures, powerful layering, and music designed for film, visual media, and large-scale productions.

Additional virtual instruments include professional bass, guitar, brass, and string libraries, including:

• Session Bassist

• Session Guitarist

• Session Horns / Brass instruments

• Session Strings

• Additional software instruments for arrangement, layering, orchestration, and sound design

The objective is not to replace traditional musicianship. Instead, these tools expand what can be accomplished creatively inside the studio, allowing a production to move from an intimate arrangement to a full cinematic soundscape while maintaining the musical identity of the composition.

Hardware Instruments & Sound Sources

The hardware side of NaBa MUSIC STUDIO provides an extensive sound palette spanning live instruments, sampling, synthesis, classic keyboard workstations, and modern production systems.

Current sound sources include:

• Yamaha electric bass guitar

• Fender Stratocaster electric guitar

• Akai MPC X Special Edition

• Akai MPC production systems

• Akai MPC Key 61

• Roland Fantom X6

• Korg Triton Extreme

• Korg Triton LE

• Korg M50

• Yamaha Montage M6

Together, these instruments provide access to an enormous range of sonic possibilities, including contemporary Gospel, Christian music, R&B, pop, hip-hop, trap, rock, soul, jazz, electronic music, orchestral arrangements, and cinematic production.

Rather than relying on one particular method of creating music, NaBa MUSIC STUDIO combines live performance, sequencing, sampling, synthesis, virtual instrumentation, and traditional composition techniques to develop a broad and flexible production environment.

Monitoring

Critical listening and mixing are handled through Kali Audio IN-5 three-way studio monitors.

The three-way design provides the separation, stereo imaging, frequency detail, and clarity necessary to make precise decisions throughout recording and mixing.

The monitoring philosophy at NaBa MUSIC STUDIO is centered heavily on translation. A mix cannot simply sound impressive inside the studio. It must maintain its balance, impact, vocal clarity, stereo image, and low-end control when played through real-world systems such as headphones, automobiles, televisions, home speakers, streaming platforms, and consumer playback devices.

The goal is not simply to create a technically impressive mix, but a record that communicates effectively wherever the listener experiences it.

Analog Tracking Chain

While NaBa MUSIC STUDIO fully embraces modern digital recording, the analog front end is intentionally influenced by traditional recording techniques that helped give many classic records their distinctive character.

For appropriate instruments and stereo sources, the signal path can begin with a Rupert Neve Designs RNDI-S active transformer direct box, providing a high-quality transformer-based front end before entering the primary recording chain.

The analog tracking chain includes:

• Warm Audio WA273-EQ microphone preamplifier

• Warm Audio 1176-style compressor

• Two Rupert Neve Designs 542 Tape Emulators

• Two Warm Audio Pultec-style tube equalizers

• SPL BiG stereo imaging processor for appropriate stereo sources

The WA273-EQ provides transformer-based analog character at one of the earliest and most important stages of recording.

Compression is generally approached conservatively. The philosophy is not to compress simply because a compressor is available. Dynamics are preserved whenever they contribute to the emotion, energy, and movement of the performance.

The pair of Rupert Neve Designs 542 Tape Emulators brings another important element of traditional recording into the modern studio. These units allow the signal to benefit from saturation, harmonic character, weight, and some of the sonic qualities associated with analog tape without the maintenance, calibration, mechanical wear, and operating demands of maintaining a traditional tape machine.

Following the tape stage are two tube-based Pultec-style equalizers. Although their equalization sections are often bypassed unless specifically needed, the units can still be used for the tonal influence of their tube stages and high-quality transformers. This allows the signal to benefit from additional analog color without unnecessarily altering the frequency balance.

For stereo keyboards, samples, pads, strings, orchestral elements, and other appropriate stereo sources, the SPL BiGprovides additional control over spatial presentation, width, depth, openness, and stereo excitement.

High-Resolution Recording

Audio is captured into Pro Tools at 96 kHz / 24-bit.

Working at high resolution provides the studio with a detailed digital foundation while allowing analog equipment to contribute its character throughout the recording and mixing process.

This combination of high-resolution digital recording and carefully selected analog processing reflects the central philosophy of NaBa MUSIC STUDIO: use the precision of modern technology while preserving the musical qualities that make recordings feel human, dimensional, and emotionally engaging.

Hybrid Analog Mixing

The studio’s mixing philosophy extends beyond individual tracks and instruments.

Rather than keeping the entire production exclusively inside the computer, NaBa MUSIC STUDIO incorporates a hybrid analog and digital mixing workflow that combines the recall, automation, editing, and precision of Pro Tools with transformer-based analog summing and master-bus processing.

At the center of the current conversion and routing system is the Universal Audio Apollo x16, providing multi-channel connectivity between Pro Tools and the studio’s analog mixing environment.

Mix elements and stems can leave Pro Tools through the Apollo x16 and enter the analog summing stage.

Rupert Neve Designs 5057 Orbit Analog Summing

At the heart of the studio’s analog mixing environment is the Rupert Neve Designs 5057 Orbit summing mixer.

The 5057 Orbit provides transformer-based analog summing and allows multiple stems from Pro Tools to be combined outside the digital environment.

Its analog architecture, transformers, and Silk circuitry provide additional options for introducing harmonic character, weight, depth, dimension, and cohesion into the final mix.

This stage is particularly important to the overall philosophy of the studio because it represents the meeting point between the digital and analog worlds.

Editing, automation, virtual instruments, recall, and detailed production remain available inside Pro Tools, while selected elements of the final mix are allowed to interact with analog circuitry before returning to the digital environment.

The objective is not simply to make a recording sound “old.” It is to capture some of the qualities that made great records of earlier decades feel large, dimensional, exciting, warm, and alive while retaining everything that modern production technology makes possible.

Master-Bus Processing

Following analog summing, the completed mix enters the studio’s Rupert Neve Designs master-bus processing system.

This stage provides additional control over the overall dynamics, stereo presentation, tonal balance, depth, and final cohesion of the mix.

Master-bus processing is approached with the same philosophy used throughout the studio: processing should enhance what is already present rather than completely reshape the music.

The goal is to preserve musical movement and dynamics while providing the polish, consistency, and professional finish expected from contemporary commercial recordings.

Final Conversion & Capture

After analog summing and master-bus processing are complete, the finished mix enters an RME ADI-2 series converter.

The RME conversion stage provides the final bridge between the analog processing chain and the high-resolution digital master.

The completed signal is returned digitally through S/PDIF to the recording system and captured back into Pro Tools at 96 kHz / 24-bit.

This final capture preserves the character introduced throughout the analog chain while returning the finished recording to the digital environment for final preparation, quality control, mastering, and distribution.

Why Analog Still Matters

Modern recording technology provides extraordinary power.

Today, an independent studio can edit with microscopic precision, recall entire sessions, automate hundreds of parameters, use instruments from around the world, create complete orchestral arrangements, and manage enormous productions from a single workstation.

However, technological advancement does not automatically make older recording techniques irrelevant.

Transformers, tubes, analog saturation, tape-style processing, physical instruments, analog summing, and careful gain staging continue to provide characteristics that producers and engineers value because of the way those processes interact with sound.

For NaBa MUSIC STUDIO, embracing analog recording techniques is not an attempt to return to the past.

It is about learning from it.

Many of the recordings that continue to inspire musicians decades later were created during an era when engineering decisions had to be deliberate. Musicianship mattered. Performances mattered. Arrangement mattered. Microphone placement mattered. Gain staging mattered. The quality of the signal path mattered.

Those principles remain just as valuable today.

The difference is that modern technology gives the studio the opportunity to combine them with tools earlier generations of producers and engineers could only have imagined.

The Next Three Years

The next three years represent the next major chapter in the development of NaBa MUSIC STUDIO.

The goal is to continue building a recording environment that embraces the speed, flexibility, precision, and creative possibilities of modern technology while moving even closer to the depth, warmth, physical interaction, and sonic character associated with some of the great recording studios of the 1980s.

At the center of that future expansion is the goal of installing a fully equipped 24-channel Rupert Neve Designs 5088 recording console with professional automation and extensive integration into the studio’s existing hybrid analog and digital workflow.

The 5088 would become the centerpiece of the recording and mixing environment, providing the hands-on experience and signal architecture of a world-class large-format analog console while allowing the studio to continue taking advantage of the flexibility, editing, automation, virtual instrumentation, and recall capabilities of a modern Pro Tools-based production system.

The objective is not to eliminate digital production.

It is to create a studio where digital and analog technology work together at an even higher level.

Future Monitoring & Microphone Expansion

The studio’s three-year development plan also includes a significant expansion of its monitoring and recording capabilities.

Future upgrades will include:

• A premium custom studio-monitoring system

• Additional high-end microphones

• Expanded microphone choices for vocals, instruments, amplifiers, acoustic sources, and specialty recording

• Continued development of orchestral and cinematic-production capabilities

• Select analog additions that complement the existing signal path

• Additional studio infrastructure required to support a large-format recording console

• Continued refinement of conversion, routing, monitoring, and hybrid mixing

Every future purchase will be approached strategically.

The objective is not to fill every available rack space or build a studio around the appearance of expensive equipment. Every addition must provide a legitimate creative, technical, or sonic advantage.

Technology should always serve the music.

The Long-Term Vision

The goal is not to recreate the 1980s or become trapped in nostalgia.

It is to understand what made so many recordings from that era feel powerful, dimensional, warm, exciting, and alive—and combine those qualities with everything modern recording technology now makes possible.

The studio of the future should not force an artist or producer to choose between analog character and digital precision.

NaBa MUSIC STUDIO is being built around the belief that both have tremendous value.

Digital technology provides extraordinary precision, flexibility, recall, and creative freedom.

Analog technology reminds us that music is not made by numbers alone.

The ultimate vision for NaBa MUSIC STUDIO is to create a recording environment where modern technology meets the feel of the ’80s—a studio capable of producing contemporary music, albums, singles, audiovisual content, orchestral arrangements, and film scores at the highest professional level while preserving the human touch, analog character, musical craftsmanship, and emotional connection that continue to make great recordings timeless.

At NaBa MUSIC STUDIO, the goal is to understand both worlds—and use each one where it serves the music best.