I've got nothing but kudos for Tom (the owner) and Woodsound Studios in Covina. Woodsound's rooms are considerably bigger than you normally run across; and they come equipped with better gear for the same or less money than other places that come with nothing more than a mediocre P.A. and a funky smell. I've seen a Marshall 1/2 stack, a Hughes and Kettner tube combo, an @$$ kickin' Crate tube combo, Ampeg and Carvin bass amps, 2 nice new birch Yamaha Studio drum kits (plus one Rogers kit), no shortage of mics, stands, or cords, and more P.A. than you really need to rehearse with for like, $18 or $20/hr. That's a deal in my book. Studio A (the biggest room) even has an electronic keyboard and an upright acoustic piano in it- along with seating for about half a dozen groupies.
I don't know what "Tyler E." and "Aneesh S." are talking about (I think they're one in the same, or at least describing the same session?); but take it from me: I've been involved in L.A.'s music scene for many years; and have worked at recording sessions at Capitol, Whitney Recorders, and other top drawer studios over the years (where fortunately, I wasn't paying the bill), and I've rehearsed in more of the local studios than I can count, and (especially at their prices). no one I've seen has really got anything on this place.
While the offering of accompanying recording services is becoming more common nowadays at many studios, I haven't done so anywhere else yet, but I have done some tracking at Woodsound Studios in Covina a couple of times. Here's how it went:
A couple of months ago, we did a couple of songs multitracked LIVE with drums (4 mics), bass (DI box + unmic'd amp live), keys (DI box), sax (mic'd), guitar (mic'd), and vocals (mic'd). We had everything come back at us mixed through the P.A. monitors just as if we on stage. Being live performances, excessive bleed wasn't an issue, but the ability to mix and/or EQ tracks to some extent was. It not only sounded really good fidelity-wise (96k, 24bit), but tracks were separated well enough to work with individually. Tom recorded through some nice outboard gear and (I believe) a 32 track console onto a hard drive using Nuendo- giving me the session tracks as .omf files on a thumb drive to play with later. I downloaded them from the thumb drive on to my 'puter; and they open and function flawlessly on my Windows PC whether I'm using SONAR, Cubase, Nuendo, or Pro Tools.
Even if I had been inconvenienced by having to line them up or rename them later at home (which I didn't), considering the $25/hr fee , I wouldn't bitch about it like "Tyler E." felt he had to. That's only $5 more than just rehearsal time there goes for alone!
As a matter of fact, I liked the experience well enough that I returned to add a live 3 piece horn section to a different song that was previously recorded at an expensive pro studio. It took only 2 hours from walking in cold, to setting up, getting levels, recording the tracks, and leaving. Tom didn't even charge me for the time it took him to save the tracks to an .omf and put them on a thumb drive.
Two last things:
#1. Tom is about as easy going a guy as you could expect to meet. I'll bet it wouldn't be hard to find the names of plenty of pro or semi-pro players who will agree with me. He used to book bands and run sound at Covina's "Rude Dog Bar & Grill for years.
#2. Regarding the review by "Aneesh S.": How anyone could "make an artist do an electric guitar lead" against his will? LOL! What a weenie!
I plan to continue to use Woodsound Studios, and have no problem recommending this place to others. read more
