EMP Studios

EMP is a Vermont-based music, Podcast, audio post-production and sound design studio. EMP is Northern New England's premier Audio Post facility.

Designed and tuned by Fran Manzella (www.FMdesign.com), we specialize in audio post and music production. We've done sound design and film mixing for over 25 years, and know how to make radio and TV spots loud and proud. We're calibrated for both film and broadcast, and our custom Dynaudio 5.2 surround system coupled with the best acoustical design means if it sounds good here, it will sound good

anywhere. We have POTS and SourceConnect for remote talent direction. Our enormous SFX library has pretty much any sound you can imagine, and when we can't find something that sounds right, we make our own.

10/25/2025

I always wanted a Neumann "Fritz" Dummy Head binaural mic, but they are crazy expensive and I could never justify it. I have a few LOM miniature mics, so I put a pair of their Mikro Usi omni mics in a styrofoam head from Michael's Craft Boutique of Frilly Things and Potpourri. I am happy to announce that the smell of the place didn't drive me out before getting through the checkout aisle.

Omni microphones that are baffled from one another and spaced approximately the width of a human head create a great stereo image, especially through headphones. In fact, with the mics buried in the fleshy outer part of the ear (the pinna), a setup like Clyde- my poor-man's Fritz- allows an incredible 3-D sense of sound through headphones. It still creates a very realistic stereo image over monitors, and folds down to mono without much phase interference at all. But recordings made with this rig are scary when heard through headphones. You can distinguish whether sounds are coming from the front or rear as well as side to side.

Clyde has seen some s**t. Heard it too.

01/01/2025

When I got new monitors in order to meet the Dolby Atmos specs a few years ago, I replaced the Dynaudio BM15a 5.1 surround system I had been using as my primary monitors for almost 25 years. In order to continue to use the old speakers as nearfield monitors, they needed to sit directly between me and the new main monitors. Every time I wanted to use them, I had to walk behind the mixing board and set them up on tall stands. Not a huge deal, but the stands were kind of sketchy when they were as high as they needed to be, and it was inconvenient enough that I slowly just stopped using them almost completely.

I had been thinking for a long time about how awesome it would be to have motorized speaker stands. But the commercially available ones are stupid expensive, and as slick as it would be, it seemed really excessive. Then I found a pair of motorized sit/ stand desk legs on Marketplace for cheap. It worked better than I had even imagined. It still feels completely excessive, but the fact is I actually use them now. I only wish I had done this a few years ago.

The song is a rough mix I was working on for Frankie and the Fuse (https://www.instagram.com/frankieandthefuse/). The vocals are just scratch and the song still isn’t mixed properly, but it will be soon. They are an amazing band you should definitely check out if you get a chance!

06/05/2024

I am in need of a second Neumann U87ai for a big job starting later this summer. The cost of brand new U87s is silly, but the number of Chinese counterfeits on Reverb.com and eBay takes those places out of the running. I realize that finding one nearby is a long shot, but if there is someone locally who has been thinking about getting rid of one, please let me know. I need it by the end of the month, and I'm sure I can find a decent low milage used one from one of the pro audio dealers in MA, so that’s my expectation. I just figured that as unlikely as it may be, it’s easier to ask here first. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

08/01/2023

Slow and steady wins the race…

I have been mixing a record with Victor Veve and Micah Sanguedolce for the past few years. Okay, more than a few. It was originally tracked in Atlanta over a decade ago! Horns/ vocals/ guitars, MIDI, etc, were done mostly at my old studio and picked up when I moved to my current digs in 2015. We finally finished mixing it a couple of weeks ago.

Last Friday the three of us plus Ray Vega, who arranged horns and led the section (including Brian McCarthy and Chris Peterman if I remember correctly- I’m old. I forget things) and Dannis Hackney (who added additional drum parts) sat down for a listen-through to the final mixes before it gets sent off to be mastered. We chipped away at the mix with a standing mix session Friday mornings since pre-pandemic! I can’t wait to hear the masters. With amazing performances by everyone involved including DJ Logic, bass legend Oteil Burbridge and Shirazette Tinn on drums there was no way this wasn’t going to be an amazing collection. Some of the songs we listened through I hadn’t heard since we finished mixing them a couple of years ago! It was (as Victor said the whole project was intended to be) an awesome opportunity to just hang out.

06/26/2023

I get so used to working in squalor I forget how nice it is to work in a clean (for me anyway) control room.

04/10/2023

New snare day! Dunnett Classic 14 x 6.5. It sounds like it looks: heavy and fat and shiny.

10/05/2022

New Snare Day!
Well, new snare week anyway. I've been selling unused stuff on reverb.com primarily to justify buying new stuff on reverb.com so I can sell it again on reverb.com later on. This one might brake that cycle.

It's a Dialtune snare, and if you're a drummer or studio owner who hasn't heard of it yet, you will. The idea of a cable-tensioned drum isn't new, but this take on it certainly is. Not only can you adjust the tension perfectly equally on all the top lugs simultaneously with a single dial, another dial on the other side lets you do the same for the bottom head. From splatty low tuning to marching snare high tuning in a few seconds without a drum key.

The other game changer is the way the rim locks on to the lugs. Spin the dial counter clockwise to loosen it all the way and the rim can be unlocked and removed. A different head can be swapped and tuned back up in less than a minute. It's ridiculous.

It makes it a snap (a twist?) to tune the drum to sound best for the song, whether in terms of *precise* pitch or whether it needs to be just generally lower or generally higher. Even if you ultimately opt for a totally different drum, this can be used to figure out what pitch the new one *ought* to be.

It's a 10 ply Keller Maple shell, DW 3-way butt plate and throwoff, PureSound snare wires, and precision machined, patented lugs and rims. A Kevlar cable is used to change and maintain tension, is amazingly durable and doesn't stretch. The drum holds tune perfectly and the cable is easily replaceable if/ when it wears out. I really wanted a brass one, but there is a waiting list a mile long, so I got what was available. I'll probably get a brass one at some point. They also come in acrylic. For now they're all 6.5 x 14 but different sizes and materials are in the works. It is unsane.

02/09/2022

Argosy 70 Series Console For Sale- $225

Originally designed for the Avid C|24, I adapted it to fit 2 Avid S1s and an Avid Dock. I am having a new desk made and I need to get rid of this. It has been modified with a few holes drilled for monitor arms, but is in overall excellent condition and 100% functional. It’s hard to see, but there are rack spaces behind the right hand computer monitor, both horizontal and vertical. The rack spaces currently hold a patchbay and a Dorrough meter. None of the gear in it is for sale, just the desk itself. But it makes even small tabletop surfaces/ mixers look and feel more professional. Ergonomics are one of the biggest issues with studios, and this desk solves most of those issues. The padded armrest supports a keyboard/ trackpad/ mousepad perfectly while still providing a slightly angled tabletop (better view, fewer destructive acoustic reflections) for whatever small format mixer you currently have. A huge cable trough in back allows for hiding all cabling. It is built like a tank and disassembly is not easy (if you want to take responsibility for taking it apart and putting it back together you can disassemble it before taking it). Fits in a pickup truck or van as is. I am not shipping it. Buyer needs to pick it up here. $225- almost 90% off new.

I cannot decommission it for a few weeks until my new one is ready. A 50% deposit will hold it until it’s ready to go. We would have to agree on a date/ time, but I am very flexible. If you are genuinely interested, I will work with your schedule. Approx. 68” wide, 44” deep, 29” at the armrest and 37” at the monitor shelf.

12/09/2021

Musicians wanted for a sonic experiment:

I got this little contraption online from a guy who 3-D prints all kinds of unique microphone accessories. It is simply amazing! This holder allows for two (one forward facing and one rearward facing) Schoeps CMC6 cardioid capsules to share a single fig.8 capsule for perfectly phase coherent M/S stereo recording that adds rear information to the typical M/S stereo mic technique. Played back through a really good surround system, it feels like you are literally in front of (or behind, or next to) the source. The sense of space and placement of players is so real it’s disconcerting. It’s a recording like you’ve never heard before. I feel like how the guy who first saw moving pictures must have felt.

I want to try this out with a small group of musicians in a circle. A group of three to five players of any genre who are used to mixing themselves live is essential. Acoustic or electric. Vocals or instrumental. I don’t care. All I ask is that the musicians be good and in tune, the song well-rehearsed, and the tune something that folks would want to listen to. If you’d like to be part of this little experiment, send me a DM. I’m not looking to make any money from it. The busy ramp-up to the holidays has abated and I have time. Let’s do this!

I am *so* grateful there are people so much smarter than me figuring out solutions to problems I never even considered. And then, even better, 3-D printing those solutions and selling them inexpensively online. I know Ambisonic mics are available and this isn’t a new idea, but while I could afford to buy some of the cheaper mics available, the only ones that would compete sonically with these Schoeps cost a fortune. This is like finding buried treasure and I am dying to put it to a real test!

09/07/2021

The twentieth anniversary of 9/11 is this weekend. Twenty years since that beautiful September morning. My mom was in town to help with our toddler and brand new 5-day old daughter. My mom’s a painter and she planned to paint the late summer Vermont landscape from our house in Hinesburg. She was a couple of days in to some early changing maple trees when she was compelled to scrub the canvas and do this mixed media piece instead (you kind of need to zoom in to appreciate the details).

I was excited when producer Max Johnston at Goat Rodeo (an audio production house based in Washington DC) asked me to work with Garrett Graff to start recording a new podcast series about 9/11. Garrett is former editor at Politico and the author of the NYT bestseller, “The Only Plane in the Sky”. He has done more research and conducted more interviews with politicians, police and fire fighters, justice officials, and survivors of 9/11 than just about anyone. He’s been in the studio the past few months working on an amazing and insightful podcast series entitled “Long Shadow”, delving in to exactly how that day unfolded and- at least as importantly- its subsequent ramifications.

The series examines the timeline of events, the thoughts and decisions of the people in charge, those who took charge (quite possibly without authority), the hijackers themselves, and myriad other details that really help make some sense out of the senselessness of that day, or at least puts it into a new comprehensive perspective. Cut together with great original music and sound design, archival audio and interviews, it’s riveting and it’s out now. We just wrapped the last pickup lines for the final episode.

It’s called “Long Shadow” and it’s on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all the usual places you find podcasts. It’s really worth a listen.

07/06/2021

Maybe I ought to just get a Martin…

These are the two “Martiniest” Gibson acoustics I know of. Gibsons are typically known for having shorter scale length necks than Martins. The shorter scale means less string tension and the different length means different harmonics are accentuated/ de-emphasized and they just sound different from one another. On the left is a square shouldered J-30. It’s more similar to a Marin D-18 in some ways than to many others of its own brand- long scale neck, mahogany sides and back and a Sitka Spruce top. The other is my brand new (to me) Advanced Jumbo Reissue- originally Gibson’s answer to the Martin D-28- with another long scale neck, but like a D-28 with Indian Rosewood sides and back and a Adirondack Spruce top. Both still have the woody, full midrange Gibsons are known for, but more of the big bottom and shiny top than they often do- and Martin Dreadnoughts usually do.

I’ve always joked that I like Martins for songs that make me want to laugh and Gibsons for songs that make me want to cry. These make me laugh until I cry.

06/07/2021

I'm hoping to hire someone with woodworking skills to build me a new desk for the studio to incorporate 3 Avid S1s and an Avid Dock. I have a really good idea of what I need and want, but there isn't anything commercially available. If anyone knows a good builder who has the time and interest to give me a hand I'd be grateful. Thanks in advance!

Address

199 Hegeman Avenue
Colchester, VT
05446

Website

http://www.eganmedia.com/

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