About The Studio

Atlas Lab Music is the working journal of a small recording studio. One tracking room, one control room that used to be a pantry, and a borrowed upright piano that has never been in tune twice in the same month. Most of what we record is indie and folk: songwriters with an acoustic guitar, bands who want the drums to sound like a room rather than a sample library.

The site exists because we kept writing the same notes on the back of track sheets. Which microphone pair worked on which guitar. Why a plugin that sounded wonderful on Tuesday felt like a costume by Friday. Which cheap piece of gear earned its place and which expensive one never left the case. Those notes are the posts here.

What you will find here

Session notes on tracking acoustic instruments, drums and voices in rooms that were never designed for it. Honest write ups of plugins and microphones we actually use, including the ones we stopped using. Occasional pieces on mixing decisions, which are mostly decisions about restraint.

We do not publish spec sheets. If a piece of gear is in a post, it is because it went through a session and had an effect we could hear and describe. Where something disappointed us, we say so, and we try to say why rather than just handing out a score.

How we work

Everything here is written by the people doing the recording, usually a few days after a session while the detail is still fresh. Prices and availability move constantly, so check them yourself before you buy anything on the strength of a post. If you think we got something wrong, write to us at [email protected] and tell us what you heard instead. Several posts have been corrected that way.

No sponsored posts, no paid placements, no coverage in exchange for loan gear. If that ever changes, it will be stated at the top of the post in question.