Cotton Hill Studios was designed by internationally renowned studio architect John Storyk — whose other clients include Alicia Keys, Whitney Houston, Issac Hayes, Stevie Wonder, Sony Corp. and RCA Studios.
The result is an open, inspiring atmosphere to work in — rather than some closed-in, claustrophobic control room.
We feature three fully-equipped studios, with superb acoustics, isolation booths, a large, tuned control room, floating acoustic “clouds”, and excellent sight lines.
Studio A: audio for video, original music, sound design, podcasting, and more.
Cotton Hill’s Studio A was built to inspire. The spacious control room is an inviting place for clients to relax, feel at home, and explore creative options. With its adjacent, over-sized studio, there’s room for music groups from a single guitar player to a major jazz band.
Looks aside, Studio A is fully-loaded with some of the most advanced equipment in the business. At its heart: an analog Trident 80C console, completely refurbished for optimum quality. The digital command center is a Pro Tools HD3 Accel system powered by a Mac desktop. Plus, we offer a wide range of plug-ins and outboard gear from Neve, Focusrite, Langevin, Urei and more.
In addition, with our ISDN capabilities, we can easily connect with studios and talent around the world.
Studio B: ideal for books on tape, radio spots, digital editing, and audio post.
A more intimate space with many of the same capabilities as Studio A, Studio B was added to meet growing demand in 2005. With a booth specifically built for voice-recording, Studio B is ideal for close interplay between director or client and talent.
With our internal network, projects can move seamlessly from one studio to another as needs dictate. That gives us plenty of flexibility for last-minute emergencies.
Studio C: digital editing, plus mobile capabilities
Powered by a MacBook Pro Intel Core 2 Duo and a Pro Tools LE system, Studio C is the perfect setup for digital editing. Plus, we can take it on the road. If you have an event or function that you need recorded, we will bring our mobile recording studio to capture the audio, and then edit as necessary for podcasting or other purposes back here at the studio.
Audio Equipment
Console:
Digital Audio Workstations:
- Digidesign ProTools HD3 Accel System
- Digidesign ProTools HD1 System
- Digidesign ProTools mBox2 Pro
Tape Machines:
- Alesis ADAT XT-24 tracks w/BRC
- Otari MX55 1/4" 1/2-track
- Otari 5050 BIII 1/4" 1/2-track
- 2 - Sony PCM R 500 DAT
- Tascam DAP-1 Portable DAT
- Teac DA-P20 Portable DAT
- Telex AC 4000 Duplicating System
- Sony UVW-1800 Beta SP
Monitoring:
- Genelec 1030A
- Tannoy FSM and PBM series
- Yamaha NS-10's
- Auratone Cubes
- Aviom Personal Headphone System
Power Amplifiers:
- Perreaux, SCS, Crown, QSC
Outboard Gear:
- 2 - Neve 1073 Mic-pre/EQs
- 2 - Neve 33115 Mic-pre/EQs
- 2 - Focusrite ISA110 Mic-pre/EQs
- D.W. Fearn VT1 Mic Pre
- 2 - Shadow Hills Mono GAMA Mic Pre
- 2 - Avedis MA5 Mic Pre
- 2 - Avedis E27 Equalizer
- Langevin Dual Vocal Combo
- 2 - Urei 1176LN Limiters
- 2 - Urei LA4 Compressor/Limiters
- Summit Audio TLA 100A Tube Limiter
- Summit Audio EQP200A Equalizer
- CraneSong STC-8 Compressor/Limiter
- Empirical Labs EL8-XS Distressor
- Drawmer 201B Expander/Gate
- 2 - DBX 160 VU Compressor/Limiters
- 2 - DBX 160A Compressor/Limiters
- DBX 900 Series Compressors, Gates, De-esser
- DBX 166 Dual Compressor/Limiter/Gate
- Lexicon 300M Reverb
- 2 - Lexicon PCM 42’s
- Lexicon LXP-15 v2
- Eventide H3000SEV
- Eventide H949
- Eventide Omnipressor
- Yamaha SPX 900
- Avalon U5 Mono DI
- Telos Zephyr ISDN
- Gentner Telephone Hybrid Phone Patch
Microphones:
- Neumann, AKG, Beyer, Sennheiser, Astatic, Crown, Shure, Electro-Voice, Pearl, and Crate
Instruments:
- Yamaha C7 7' 4" Grand Piano
- EMU E4 XT Ultra Sampler
- Ensoniq EPS 16+ Sampler
- Roland JV 5080 w/piano, bass and drums, and world expander cards
- E-MU Proteus II Orchestral
SMPTE, MIDI, Computers:
- Mac G5 Dual 1.8ghz Processor
- Mac G4 Dual 867mhz Processor
- MacbookPro Core 2 Duo
- Mark of the Unicorn MIDI Time Piece
- Digidesign Sync I/O
- 2 - Digidesign 192 I/O Interfaces
- Digidesign 96 I/O Interface
- 2 - 20" Apple Cinema Display
Software
- Digidesign Pro Tools TDM
- DINR Noise Reduction
- D-Verb
- Waves TDM bundle
- Focusrite D2
- Sony Oxford EQ, Limiter and Inflator
- UA 1176 & LA 2A
- Altiverb
- Reverb One
- Impact
- Filterbank
- D-Fi
- Antares Autotune
- Amp Farm
- Bruno Reso
- Drawmer Dynamics
Production Music/Sound Effects Libraries:
- Killer Tracks Music Library
- Chronic Tracks Music Library
- NJJ Music Library
- Hollywood Edge Cartoon and Premier SFX
- Sound Ideas 1000/2000 Series SFX
- Digifects SFX
- Hanna-Barbara Cartoon SFX
- In-house creation of custom music and SFX
We’re in the absolute center of the Capital Region — three minutes from the interstate system, under 10 from Albany International Airport.
To learn more about the Albany area please visit: http://www.techvalley.org
Our Facilities
