artist oriented recording

Artists who are seeking the ‘ultimate vintage analog recording experience’ will now be able to take advantage of Catherine North Studios’ exclusive new direct-to-wax cylinder recording service.

“We’re really excited to be bringing back a recording technology that hasn’t been used in almost a century,” says studio co-owner Duke Foster. His business partner, Michael Chambers, agrees. “Analog tape is great, but the ability to do multiple takes has really been abused in recent years,” says Michael. “Recording directly to wax cylinder is a more honest, artist-oriented approach.”

Sound purists will appreciate the complete absence of all electronics in the signal path. “At first, I was a bit concerned when Michael and Duke told me we were getting rid of all electronics at the studio,” explains Catherine North’s house tech Tristan Miller. “But when I realized the fidelity of sound transmission through mechanical coupling, I was completely blown away.”

An early example of sound transmission through mechanical coupling

The process offers many advantages from a production standpoint. “What’s really great about wax cylinder is the speed and simplicity of the process,” explains producer and artist Marcone. “You just basically position your musicians around the recording horn, get them to play the song as loudly as they can, and you’re done. My upcoming EP, Wax Cylinders From The Flood, took only 17 minutes to record.”

Jordan Mitchell, one of Catherine North’s in-house engineers and member of indie band The Rest, is also a fan of the wax cylinder approach. “After doing an A/B comparison between wax cylinder and digital recording, I was completely sold,” explains Jordan. “Our band is super excited about the sonic possibilities.”

Catherine North's Dan Hosh tests out the studio's new wax cylinder recording phonograph

Though wax cylinder playback machines aren’t currently available on the market, Tristan expects this to change soon. “Since there’s nothing left to repair at the studio, I’ve been able to devote more time to designing my TM-1200 Wax Cylinder USB Phonograph,” adds Tristan. “This device will provide an easy way for music lovers to transfer their wax cylinder collection to MP3 format. We’re hoping to start shipping units to retail by June 2011.”

"Finding NOS Edison cylinder blanks has been a challenge," explains Michael Chambers of Catherine North Studios.

Michael Chambers admits that the transition to wax cylinder hasn’t been easy. “Finding enough blank recording media to meet the growing demand from our clients has been a real challenge,” explains Michael. “NOS Edison cylinder blanks are really hard to find. But it’s worth the hassle, given the quality of the final product. You just can’t match those pure wax tones.”

In-house engineers Dan Hosh and Patrick Sirrs agree. “I can’t wait to get into the studio to record to wax cylinder,” explains Hosh, whose own band 1951 expects to release some exclusive wax cylinder recordings soon. “The artists we work with are just chomping at the bit to ‘cut some wax,’” adds Patrick.

Even Catherine North’s student intern, Sean Thompson, is excited about the shift to wax cylinder. “One of the first things I had to do here was test every single cable in the studio. Man, what a hassle… wax cylinder is really going to simplify things around here.”