Zeptepland

02/05/2025

One of my favorite tricks to energizing and beefing up vocals is to send already recorded vocals back out through an amp (colloquially, re-amping). This can add excitement, natural tube saturation, effects from the amp such as spring reverb and vibrato, and even effects from pedals if you so choose. Combine that with strategically placed microphones, and you can achieve a variety of textures to use in the mix. In this case, it was for because we needed something to add a little energy to the already recorded vocals. I love doing this through my vintage 1965 Fender Princeton Reverb. I placed a cardioid mic (Telefunken M80) centered & almost directly on the grill cloth to capture the fast transients that would be cutting through. For different distance / room flavors, I placed a ribbon mic (AEA N8) centered at 4 feet in front of the amp and a large-diaphragm condenser mic (AKG C414 XLS) set in omnidirectional pattern centered 8 feet in front of the amp. The right blend of the three should give us excitement, ambience, and movement in the mix.

01/31/2025

I'm very excited to announce that Zeptepland is now the home to a beautiful Yamaha U1 upright piano! Having a real piano in the studio has been a hallmark of Zeptepland since the beginning, so upgrading to a top of the line and expertly restored upright is an absolute dream.

Thanks to the team at Wichita Piano - the best in the business at restoration and tuning, Pianos Unlimited in Hutchinson for such a smooth and fun transaction, and for making the drive with Dani and I to go see & play it - it was love at first sight / listen.

01/08/2025

I've been doing a lot of amp miking experimentation lately. I always try to approach each project uniquely, but I have to move quick during recording sessions, so the more setups I have in my back pocket, the quicker we can find the right sound for the project. In this case, I'm trying out some different bass amp miking setups on my 100 watt Fender Rumble. When we're working on amp tone, I often step back to hear the bigger picture, so I've been really into placing a distance mic (in this case, a 414) where my ears perk up the most (which, in the case of bass amps, ends up being around 4 feet in front of the amp at varying heights, depending on the sound I'm going for). For close mics, I've always liked D112, 421, and SM7 the most, depending on the sound I'm going for. Paired with the right preamps (and the right tone of the instrument & on the amp), as well as the right placement of the amp (I've been liking it in front of this bunker trap which eats up some 300hz-500hz nastiness), I can usually achieve what I hear in my head with varying combinations of these mics. How will a ribbon mic fare in the distance position? Stay tuned, because now I can't get that pesky idea out of my head...and so the cycle continues...

12/18/2024

On behalf of Davy Trechak and myself, we hope you have a beautiful holiday season. Thank you for your endless support of Zeptepland, and we can't wait to share some amazing things in 2025.

Big thanks to:
🎥 - Thom Hays
🎤 - Madi Laughlin
🎤 - Aaron Newton

12/17/2024

Meet the newest member of the Zeptepland family. So excited to finally have an acoustic 12 string in the instrument arsenal! Thanks for the trade !

12/12/2024

And the upgrades keep on coming...VERY pumped to now have an PUMP 500 series compressor in the arsenal at Zeptepland! We'll have another here soon to complete the pair. Excited to hear this puppy in action as I mix the .band_ debut single!

12/11/2024

Hey, you! Subscribe to the Zeptepland newsletter TODAY! Our first issue will include our 2024 wrap-up, as well as an exclusive look at what's to come in 2025. https://zeptepland.eo.page/sjrg1

*once a month at most. we won't spam your inbox or sell your information.

12/10/2024

It was a pleasure recording Emily's vocals for this beautiful song! Give it a listen if you're so inclined, and go give Emily Judson Band a follow to keep up with all of the wonderful music she has in store!

Hold Fast Our official video for our new single ( Hold Fast ) Videography : Brianna Hymes Music & Lyrics : Aaron Hymes Featuring : Emily Judson Background ...

11/23/2024

Down to our final 4 t-shirts of this batch! 2 medium (1 black, 1 green) and 2 small (1 black, one green). $20 each. Might be a while before we make more so act fast!

11/23/2024

Have you been wanting to book studio time but are struggling to finance it? At Zeptepland, we're often willing to trade our recording, mixing, and/or general studio rental services for items that may fit our needs including pro audio gear, instruments, accessories & more!

11/14/2024

Just wrapped on a few projects with the immensely talented Emily Judson Band & her amazing team. Keep your ears peeled because there are fantastic things ahead!

11/14/2024

Congrats to .band_ on finishing recording their first two songs as a band at Zeptepland! On to mixing. Good things coming!

10/16/2024

Fun week in NY attending the AES (Audio Engineering Society) convention for the first time - reaffirming where the music industry is currently at, where it's going, and continuing to be educated on what's important and worthwhile on the business side as well as the technological side, so I can best serve and advise everyone who comes through Zeptepland in all facets of music production and the music business. I was also lucky enough to spend time in a couple of phenomenal studios (THUMP and the legendary Hit Factory), see the great Marcos Valle in concert, reconnect with old friends, make new friends, and be reminded of why I loved living there when I did. I came of age in New York, and somehow, as far away as I live now, I continue to.

09/06/2024

Owning a recording studio is an adventure. People sometimes ask "why don't you have this $10,000 microphone or that $8,000 piece of gear," but often don't realize there's so much more that goes into owning, operating, and repairing a working studio. It's not only the gear, it's the building itself.

The room acoustics and sound-proofing need to remain solid throughout the life of the studio. Buildings and foundations move and settle; materials degrade. So when something compromises the isolation shell and/or room acoustics, it needs to be dealt with swiftly and precisely. Replacing doors and seals, caulking, painting. Days like today don't involve any music whatsoever, only caring for the structure itself.

Add in maintaining the microphones, gear, and instruments, and taking care of the client amenities such as the pool and landscaping. Then there's booking, invoicing, accounting, phone calls and emails, website and social media, meetings, planning setups, studying for what needs to be bought or fixed, and the actual work of recording and mixing. It's a lot. Zeptepland isn't funded by outside investors like a billionaire, it isn't affiliated with a university or any other institution, it doesn't have anyone on staff besides myself. It's operated and maintained on my own personal blood, sweat and tears (and a lot of cables). It's my life's work and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

08/14/2024

Did you know that at Zeptepland, you have the option to record on a real upright piano? Our in-house 1964 Wurlitzer has appeared on countless recordings, spanning a wide variety of genres from jazz to rock to R&B. There's nothing like the real thing.

08/01/2024

I've had the pleasure of working on a handful of Wild Cow albums for my pals .omalley & over the years. Our latest collaboration is now out on vinyl through (link in my bio)!! Grab a copy while you can! Also streaming everywhere.

As always with Wild Cow, I mixed and played a bunch of instruments on the album. The mixes were all tested on the beaches of Oahu, so listen to this one out in the sun & by the water 🌴🏖️🌴

06/26/2024

Scenes from a session X. Spent a couple of days getting the foundations laid for 4 .band_ singles. With the band being massively inspired by 70s prog rock, I knew I wanted an early 70s Yes / Bill Bruford-style drum sound. The drums on those albums have a very strong center image with kick and snare sitting big and punchy. Being prog-inspired, Krysis has a big drum kit. Because the Zeptepland room is so pleasing for drums, it made sense to not close mic all 7 toms. Instead, I went for wider stereo mic arrays that were intricately placed in order to have both a very solid center image of kick and snare, and an expansive stereo image. With the help of giving me valuable input from his perch in Nashville, we settled on overheads in NOS configuration and added a single AKG 414 in wide cardioid in the middle to enhance the center image. At the front of the kit, I used the AEA N8s in Blumlein configuration. These ribbon mics tamed the bright cymbals and gave depth and low end definition to the kick and toms. Behind the drummer, I placed an AEA R92 about head-height and toward center image to add a little more body to the whole thing and have a mic that more closely mimicked what was hearing back there. Overall, we got a very well defined center image of kick and snare, great width on the toms and cymbals, and something that celebrated the inspirations of Krysis while still forging their own sound.