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ABOUT ME

Ellery at the Kysten Studio desk

BACKGROUND

My passion for music production started in 2011 in my home country of New Zealand when I began writing, recording and mixing songs in my spare time while studying at university. This hobby grew into a career and has increased in scope along the way: expanding from recording in my bedroom to using professional recording studios, branching out from my own music to friends' projects to working with professional artists, and moving to the other side of the world.

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I'm now based in Tromsø, Norway and do most of my recording work here at Kysten Studio (pictured) or at my own studio in town, although I can mix and/or master your music no matter where in the world you are. I also mix live performances.

MY APPROACH

Generally I prefer to record as much as possible live, to preserve the energy of a full-band performance, but ultimately I take a flexible approach to recording depending on the needs of the artist. Likewise with creative input, I love producing artists who want someone to really dig into the songs and get the most out of them, but sometimes you just need someone to shut up and press record and that's OK!

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My approach to both recording and mixing is mainly focussed on energy and feel - I want to bring out those moments in a song that really lift you up or hit you in the face, and I like to build the mix or recording session around those moments.

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I generally mix with a hybrid setup, using a selection of analogue compressors and other processing as well as plugins to get the best of both worlds.

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I find it a huge privilege to be entrusted with people's musical projects. I love helping to craft a song into the best piece of art it can be, and I love that the end result is something the artist can keep forever, as well as sharing it with the world.

Ellery at the Kysten Studio desk
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MY STUDIO

I have a small 25 sqm studio in Tromsø where I do most of my mixing work. The space is acoustically treated and also serves as a budget-friendly option for recording. It can operate as a full-session studio for those who either don't have the budget or don't need all the space and equipment offered at Kysten Studio, or as a space to record extra parts for a session that was recorded elsewhere. I have had surprisingly good results recording drums in this space.

 

The song "La Meg Leve" in the EXAMPLES tab was recorded entirely at my studio.

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EQUIPMENT LIST

This is a list of equipment available at my own studio. For Kysten studio's list, visit http://www.kystenstudio.no/

 

Items marked with * are subject to availability. As long as I have plenty of notice, these are usually not a problem to organise.

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Instruments:

  • Mapex drum kit with Gretsch Catalina Maple snare

  • Sabian HHX Evolution cymbal pack (ride, crash, hi-hat, splash)

  • Yamaha BB-734A bass guitar

  • Ibanez AS-103 semi-hollow electric guitar

  • Ibanez AF-125 hollow body jazz guitar

  • Godin Velocity electric guitar

  • Ibanez EW20ASENT1202 acoustic guitar

  • Roland VR-09B keyboard

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Amps:

  • Ampeg Micro-CL bass amp & Bugera 2x10 cabinet

  • Fender Hot Rod Deluxe III guitar amp

  • Vox AC15 guitar amp*

  • Guitar effect pedals from Ibanez, Boss, Dean Markley, Way Huge, TC Electronic & more

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Microphones:

  • 2x AKG C414 XLII large-diaphragm condenser

  • 3x sE Electronics sE8 small-diaphragm condenser

  • 4x Shure SM57 dynamic

  • 2x Shure SM58 dynamic*

  • 2x Sennheiser e914 small-diaphragm condenser*

  • Shure KSM9 handheld vocal condenser*

  • Sennheiser e902 dynamic kick drum mic*

  • Shure Beta 91a condenser kick drum mic*

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Hardware:​

  • Genelec 8020D studio monitor speakers

  • JBL LSR310S subwoofer

  • Audient iD44 audio interface (20 mic inputs including external preamps)

  • Focusrite Clarett OctoPre external preamp

  • Presonus Digimax FS external preamp

  • GAP Comp-3A compressor (LA-3A clone)

  • FMR RNC compressor

  • FMR RNLA compressor

  • FMR PBC-6A compressor

  • Aphex 204 optical big bottom & aural exciter

  • Assorted headphones from AKG & Beyerdynamic

  • Mackie HM-4 headphone amplifier/signal splitter

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Software:

  • REAPER (up-to-date version, small business licence)

  • Virtual instruments from XLN Audio, AIR Music Technology, Brainworx & more

  • Plugins from Fabfilter, Universal Audio, Eventide, Soundtheory, Brainworx, Waves & more

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