Suspect Studios is a commercial recording facility located in San Jose CA. The studio offers Pro Tools recording with its HD3 system as well as Alesis ADAT and HD24XR recording systems. The facility features a 36-input, fully automated Amek "Big" console, Genelec 1037B, Dynaudio BM6A and ADAM A7 monitors. Mic preamps include products from API, Chandler Ltd., Crane Song, Summit Audio, Pendulum Audio, Neve, Vintech, Focusrite (Red Range), Avalon, Millennia Media, Universal Audio, GML and D.W. Fearns. Outboard processing includes dbx, SPL, Empirical Labs, Summit Audio, Drawmer, HHB Classic, Apogee, TLA, TC Electronics and Universal Audio. The studio also features a large collection of new and vintage microphones, including two Blue rebuilt Neumann U-47 tube mics, the Telefunken USA ELAM-12, a Soundelux ELUX 251 and the Korby Audio KAT 3 tube microphone system with replaceable capsules.

Studio owner David Gakle's fascination with recording technology goes back to his live band experience in the late 1970's. "Back in the day" he recalls, "I was playing drums in a band playing the club scene in the Bay Area. I was the only guy in the band who had decent credit, so I ended up buying most of the band's PA system. When the band folded after a couple of years, I was left with a garage full of speaker cabinets and power amps. So I kept some of the gear, sold some of the gear, and bought enough stuff to setup a small ½" 8-track studio in the basement of a rented house. It's been downhill ever since."

The studio expanded in size and technology in the following years, as it moved from 1" 8-track to 1" 16-track, to 16-bit (blackface) ADAT to 20-bit ADAT into Pro Tools; and went from a totally manual console to VCA automated faders to the extensive "Supertrue" automation package offered with the Amek. The current facility is 2,000 square feet and offers two isolated control rooms, a main recording room (14' X 15' with 9-1/2' ceilings) and a warehouse area with 16' ceilings that serves as a "big" drum room.

"As an analog guy, working with Pro Tools has been a learning experience for me, "says Dave; "when we first got into it we were using a MixPlus system with 888 Interfaces, and I hated it. Notwithstanding the editing capabilities, I thought the recordings were two dimensional and flat as a paper plate. Then we upgraded to the HD3 System and the 192 Interface, and the system sound improved dramatically, like night and day. Coming from my background, I've had to adjust to plug-ins and find all the discussion about whether the vintage recreations sound like the original hardware to be pointless. The studio has some of the classic compressors (LA-2A, 1176, etc.), and the plugin versions are not even close. I think better discussion questions should be: 1) does a plug improve the sound of whatever track it's being applied to, and 2) is it a useful tool to assist in shaping the sound? Having said that, some of the higher end plugs, like the Sony Oxford Dynamics and Reverb packages, and the URS graphics and dynamics, sound fantastic."

The bottom line, ultimately, is to have the tools to capture the magic that sometimes appears in the unique confines of the recording studio; and towards that end Suspect Studios offers an impressive collection of tools and toys.