Studios

TAC Studio

Cutting-edge resources to design and polish your portfolio

SFCM’s Technology and Applied Composition department offers the most state-of-the-art recording equipment. Refine your skills in areas including music production, recording engineering, sound design, computer programming, and multimedia. TAC studios boast iconic and emerging music technology and recording facilities, empowering you to gain expert fluency with tools used in the music industry and beyond. Our studios are designed to facilitate compositional exploration and professional engineering practice. TAC studios H, G, and Lab B are located at the Bowes Center for the Performing Arts, while studios A, B, C, D, and Lab A are located at the Ann Getty Center for Education.

Bowes Center for the Performing Arts

Studio H

Studio H is a professional recording and mixing studio which serves as the “mothership” of the entire Bowes Center, which allows you to create some out-of-this-world tracks. This space is connected to every performance hall and rehearsal room in Bowes and can be used to record projects all throughout the building. Studio H is home to both our digital Avid S6 and our analog API 1608-II consoles, as well as a Meyer Sound 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos monitoring system, making the studio perfect for audio recording, post-production, and spatial audio experimentation.

 

TAC Studio H

Equipment in Studio H currently includes:

  • Avid S6 Digital Console
  • API 1608-II Analog Console
  • LCR Meyer Sound Bluehorn speaker system
  • 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos Monitoring system with UltraX20 Surround speakers and 4 UP-4 Slim Top speakers
  • Empirical Labs EL8-X Distressor
  • 4 8ch Grace M108 Preamps (32 channels total)

Studio G

Studio G is our Tech Hall, a large recording and performance space which houses many of the TAC department’s concerts and large recording sessions. The room is designed with a cutting edge variable acoustic and truss system which allows it extreme versatility when it comes to recording and performances. The acoustics are so impressive that the Recording Academy hosted a listening event here for the GRAAMMYs in 2021.

 

Studio G at SFCM's Bowes Center

Equipment in Studio G currently includes:

  • 8 Meyer UltraX20 Speakers
  • 2 USW-112P Subwoofers
  • Yamaha QL1 Mixing Console
  • Motorized Variable Acoustics
  • Yamaha Disklavier Enspire
  • Ultravision Projector

Ann Getty Center for Education

Studio A

Studio A is a fully equipped, acoustically tempered recording and teaching space, and home to our 32-channel Neve 5088 Mixing Console. This room functions as a 5.1 surround sound recording and mixing studio that may be networked to any of SFCM’s performance halls or the TAC Live Room. Studio A is geared toward large-scale and advanced recording projects as well as clinics and master classes with visiting industry faculty.

 

TAC Studio A

Equipment in Studio A currently includes:

  • Rupert Neve Designs 5088 Mixing Console
  • Meyer Sound 5.1 Surround featuring 5 HD-1 speakers and 1 MM-10 subwoofer Bowers & Wilkins 803 Diamond Series Loudspeakers
  • Remote Microphone Preamplifier x 3 (24 channels total)
  • Rupert Neve Designs Portico II Master Buss x 3 (6 channels total)
  • Lexicon MPX-1 Multi Effects Processor

Studio B

Studio B is a fully equipped project and post-production studio featuring 5.1 surround sound playback, multimedia editing capabilities, and a collection of classic electronic instruments. Intended as a room for student projects, SFCM-sponsored professional projects, and technical ear training, Studio B provides the ultimate workspace for producing and mastering sound for film, game audio, and other multimedia.

 

TAC Studio B

Equipment in Studio B currently includes:

  • Meyer Sound 5.1 Surround featuring 5 HD-1 speakers and 1 MM-10 subwoofer
  • Buchla CBS Modular Synthesizer (1970)
  • Oberheim Xpander Synthesizer
  • Dave Smith Instruments Tempest Drum Machine
  • Doepfer A-100 Basic System 2 Modular Synthesizer
  • Moog Sub Phatty Synthesizer
  • Moog Voyager Synthesizer
  • Korg Kronos X 88-key Music Workstation
  • Sequential Prophet REV2 8-voice Analog Synthesizer
  • Ableton Push 2
  • Arturia Beatstep
  • AVID Artist Mix & Artist Control
  • Roger Linn Design Linnstrument
  • ROLI Seaboard RISE
  • Roland SVC-350 Vocoder
  • Roland VP-70 Voice Processor
  • DBX 166XL Compressor/Limiter/li>
  • Mackie Onyx 800R Analog Mic Preamp

Studio C

Studio C is a large, acoustically tempered space used for recording projects, electroacoustic rehearsals, visiting artist clinics, and interdepartmental collaborations. This room is connected directly to Studio A via analog audio and HD video. This room is generally used in tandem with Studio A or Studio B for recording and features a pristine Steinway Model B Grand Piano and Yamaha Upright.

 

TAC SONY Event

Equipment in Studio C currently includes:

  • Yamaha 01V96i Mixing Console
  • JBL 308P MKII Studio Monitors
  • Genelec 7370A smart active subwoofer
  • A selection of SE Electronics microphones for student use
  • Fender Deluxe Amp
  • Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol MIDI Keyboard
  • Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 Audio Interface

Studio D

Studio D is a small project room featuring a set of VDrums, several boutique synthesizers, and a soldering/electrical engineering station. This versatile room is intended for musical creation as well as open-ended experimentation with hardware.

Equipment in Studio D currently includes:

  • Nord Stage 3 hammer-action 88 key keyboard
  • JBL 308P MKII Studio Monitors
  • Scarlett Focusrite Clarett 8Pre interface
  • Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier amplifier head with Mesa/Boogie 1X12 Cabinet
  • Roland SE-02 analog synth
  • Roland D-05 analog linear synthesizer
  • Roland Rhythm Composer TR-08 drum machine
  • Roland JP-08 synthesizer
  • Roland V-Drums TD-25 electronic drum kit
  • Ibanez Gio electric guitar
  • Yamaha Digital Piano p-155

Keyboard Labs

The TAC department boasts two keyboard labs, both world-class digital audio production software and hardware. The TAC Labs host classes taught by industry leaders on music technology, film scoring, game audio, sound design, computer programming, and creative production techniques.

TAC Lab A (Ann Getty Center for Education)

Tac Lab A has 14 workstations, each equipped with a dual-display Apple iMac, Yamaha 88-key weighted action keyboard, AVID Fast Track Duo audio interface, and Arturia BeatStep MIDI controller.

 

TAC Digital Keyboard

TAC Lab B (Bowes Center for the Performing Arts)

TAC Lab B has 21 workstations, each equipped with a dual-display Apple iMac, Nord Stage 3 hammer-action 88 key keyboard, and Focusrite Red 4Pre audio interface.

Software

All of the TAC labs and studios are equipped with state-of-the art softwares, soft synths, and sample libraries to foster creativity in all aspects of music making. These include:

  • Ableton Live Suite
  • Adobe Creative Suite
  • Apple Logic Pro X
  • Avid Pro Tools
  • Cinesamples CineSymphony
  • Dolby Atmos Renderer
  • East West Complete Composers Collection
  • Exponential Audio Nimbus and Stratus 3D
  • FabFilter
  • Finale
  • FMOD
  • GRM Tools
  • iZotope MP Suite
  • iZotope RX
  • Madmapper
  • Max/MSP/Jitter
  • Native Instruments Komplete
  • Pure Data
  • Sibelius
  • Soundtoys
  • SPAT Revolution Ultimate
  • Spectrasonics Omnisphere and Keyscape
  • Spitfire BBC Orchestral Library
  • Touchdesigner
  • Unity
  • Valhalla Room
  • Vienna Orchestral Library
  • Wwise