Studio

Where It All Came From

I will never forget entering the control room of a professional music studio for the first time in 1991. A local radio station made it possible for me and my band to record three songs directly to tape - no overdubbing, no fancy effects. Just the four of us playing live with barely one hour of total studio time at disposal. No second take - you screwed up, you were done. Listening to our tracks on the beefy speakers in the control room seemed unreal. Never had I heard my own music like that.

I sucked as a musician but that moment I felt twice my size.

A few years later cassette tape based multi-track recorders became affordable and me and some friends had our very own, very fist recording studio. Sort of. It consisted of a Fostex X-18 4-track recorder, an Alesis Microverb III reverb processor, A Yamaha RY-30 drum machine and a cheap dynamic microphone. The drum machine had 16 pads and I had been pretty good at finger drumming, so we were able to write and “produce” our own demo tapes to book shows.

Later we would even sell those tapes as merch on our shows. What seemed like hefty limitations back in the day actually made us learn a lot and it definitely put the focus on good songwriting because there simply were no ways of making a third or second class song sound first class.

Today I keep a framed picture of that Fostex 4-track on the wall of my Studio to always remind me of the fact that fancy gear is not and had never been the key to good music.

Where It All Comes Down

Today I enjoy a nice creative space that is somewhere between being a “man den” and a decent home studio with whatever it might take to track and produce the next hit record. A broad selection of electric and acoustic guitars, basses, piano, keyboards, a great e-drum kit, a selection of amplifiers, effects and a vintage reel-to-reel tape machine. This space is all about the sounds and vibes of the 60' until the early 90's grunge era - the music styles that set the path for me as a musician.

The room is divided into two sections: One is for songwriting and inspiration, with an old digital 8-track recorder on a desk overlooking a river as it slowly runs by. The other 2/3rds are populated by the “real” studio gear. There's a strict rule: Only those songs that “work” on the small 8-track recorder will ever make it to the other part of the room. In my opinion, a song that doesn't work just on acoustic guitar and with one voice won't get any better no matter what is added in post.

Writing music on a simple 8-track recorder forces me to work on a song as a whole, rather than bits and pieces that are puzzled together on a computer.

The studio can be booked for recording sessions, mixing and mastering services. Thanks to it's unusual shape and despite the huge wall in the back, the room has a great sound of it's own.

Inquiries to studio@nickschreger.ch should include sound samples and a list of requirements.

This room has a wonderful sound for vocals and acoustic instruments!