Having existed for nearly 8 years in it's current location near downtown Iowa City, and nearly 20 years running in the Iowa City area, Minstrel Recording has been the choice of a broad range of local and regional musicians for their Production Projects. From Solo instrumental to large group recording, our spacious studio provides several and varied isolation booths and a larger Main recording roo
m to facilitate recording of all intrumentalists at once, together, or in isolation with clear sight lines throughout the studio. Nearly 20 years of Iowa City music history has been documented at Minstrel Studios, ranging from Rock, Reggae, World Beat,Jazz, AfroCuban, Folk, Soul Beat, Funk, and Metal. Many of our clients who continue to expand their careers into National, International and Festival touring , return to Minstrel to continue their successful recording careers. We provide frequent services to out of state studios in tracking local talent for projects taking place somewhere else in the Universe as we know it. Our studio has become the first choice of University "Masters" projects through the School of Music,the U of I Latin Jazz Ensemble annual recording projects some 5 years running, as well as Univesrity of Iowa Faculty projects often released nationally, and receiving praise from the likes of Downbeat magazine and Academic Music Dept. Other credits to the studio include Radio Theater Productions including "La Noche te da Sorpresas", a 32 episode nationally distributed Spanish Radio Theater Production lasting nearly 4 months in Production. Numerous recordings appear in Movie and Television soundtracks including "King Corn", a critically acclaimed documentary which follows the life of an acre of corn, through it's various conduits to many harmful products such as High Fructose Corn Syrup. Employing a full complement of Professional microphones including SoundDelux, AKG, EV, Beyer Shure, Octava, Sennheiser, Altec, Cascade, Audio Technica, Blue Bird, and Crown, we are able to take on projects of any size and complexity. Our "front end" is commanded by the 32 input British Class A Soundtracs Logic VCA Automated Recording console for the warm tones you seek. Plus, a complement of Outboard preamplifiers including Neve, Focusrite, Orban, Aphex and Univeral Audio for critical applications. Our spacious rooms provide a desirable Acoustic Soundstage while accomodating Acoustic Separators for improved "live room" isolation. Having been around for a while, we even still have our big ol' humble 24track analog recorder poised to jump in the signal path for those seeking some authentic sounds of days gone by. Of course, Digital is the call of the day and we meet it with up to 32 channels of simultaneous digital A/D provided by the legendary Motu 1296 and 24i sidecar and Focusrite Saphire. We have several options for interface into our Digital Audio Workstation driven by Steinburg Nuendo and ProTools. Automated fader mixing is available via the Mackie (HUI) Control Surface for those that would prefer to get they're own hands on the mix! We provide Multitrack Mobile Recording and Limited Professional Sound Reinforcement Services. We offer digital transfer service for a range of audio media, reel to reel tape, cassette tape, and LP. If you need a Rehearsal Space, we may have time available for you. If you'd like to see how your band sounds before plunging into a full production, we offer specials for
Short Pre Production Recordings which may leave you pleasantly surprised with some keepers! Our way of inviting you in to get a feel for our facility. Our sizable Control Room provides comfort for many in the listening process, and our lounge is a good respite from the session with two couches and a kitchenette fully stocked with all the necessities for a comforatable session. Reference monitors are also provided in the lounge so as to keep your ear on the project while making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. All this in a comfortable, spacious and laid back environment condusive to enhancing your musical conciousness and creation without distraction.
