organ

Piano

This piano is an Aeolian player piano from the early 20th century. It came from a retired gentlemen farmer named Mr. Black who was giving it away on craiglist. I showed up to his house in a u haul van that was too small. “you didn’t think this through, did you?” he said, but afterward generously delivered the piano to us on a hay trailer. It has a warm low end, and a honky tonk midrange and high end. Great for Tom Waits-esque sounds, blues, country and rock. We also have an Aeolian tack piano that’s super funky.

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Mics

Mics

Mics at Buffalo Stack Studios include AKG 414s, 451s, Shure and Unidyne dynamic 57s, Audio Techinca 4033, M-Audio Sputnik, an old 40’s Altec “birdcage” ribbon mic, Electro-Voice RE20, Blue Mouse condenser mic, and SE large diaphragm condenser, among other funky stuff.

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Amps

Amps

We have a great collection of classic tube amps that record incredibly well. ’72 Fender Princeton Reverb, one of the most recorded amps in history, Vintage 60s Ampeg B-12 another highly regarded vintage recording bass amp, Vintage Silvertone 1484, made famous by Jack White for it’s distortion, a modified Weber Champ Clone, great for recording at low volume and for a great overdrive sound, a reissue Fender Vibrolux Reverb, which is utilitarian and clean, a cordovox leslie speaker, which is a clone of a fender Vibratone. Great Tone is where it’s at!

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Guitars

We have many choice electric and acoustic guitars, classics from recorded American musical history. Electrics- Fender Esquire, Stuart Tele (made by hand to early 50’s specs) Kauer Banshee (handmade FireBird style, but better), 1967 Guild Starfire hollowbody, Epiphone Granada hollowbody, Kay Vanguard, Gibson SG Copy. Acoustics- ’65 Gibson J-45, Gretsch Resonator, 1970 Martin D-28, 60’s Guild F212, Blue Ridge Classical, Guild GADM20, 1960s Yamaha FG-180, Silvertone Parlor guitar. Basses include 1966 Fender Mustang, Gretsch Electromatic, Kala Ubass, Teisco oddball bass, and a Kay ¼ size upright bass. We also have a uke, banjo, and mandolin.

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Board

Our DAW of choice is Pro Tools 10. Our board is a simple Allen and Heath ZED 16R, which is super user-friendly for visiting producers, and a sidecar Yamaha PM series modified to have direct outs, it sounds warm and explosive due to the giant transformers. Other outboard great includes a Tubetech MP1A preamp, RNC compressor, ART pro VLA compressor, Roland Space Echo, and our own spring reverb set up.

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keyboards

Keyboards

All of our classic vintage keyboards were found in various states of disrepair and have been brought back to life by Andy and the amazing Hudson Valley tech John Valesio. Collection includes Hammond B2, found on a porch, modified to include percussion unit with a Frankenstein leslie, a 54 key Rhodes that was found in an old music shop in Hudson, acquired for free because it was a mouse nest, a Wurlitzer that was donated by our friend Joe, a Hohner D6 Clavinet donated by Jeremy Baum.

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Drums

Drums

We have one vintage drumset that I acquired in 2009. It’s a 1960s Whitehall Japanese import that mimics the great American kits from the time. This thing records great and has a jazzy sound.

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Tape machine

Tape machine

Here is our 1970 Ampex 440C tape machine. It’s a 4 track ½ inch. This machine sounds big and wonderful and delivers beefy sounds for everything from live acoustic music to Motown. We can use this machine as a signal processing device, or to record basics, or live sessions limited to 4 tracks.

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