Sonic Ranch
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![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/SonicRanchOrchard.jpg/240px-SonicRanchOrchard.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f6/SonicRanchNeveConsole.jpg/240px-SonicRanchNeveConsole.jpg)
Sonic Ranch, in the border town of Tornillo, Texas, is the world's largest residential recording studio complex.[1] There are five studios designed by Vincent Van Haaff[2] on a 1,700-acre (690 ha) pecan orchard,[1] which borders the Rio Grande and Mexico. Located 30 miles (48 km) east of El Paso, Texas, in the border town of Tornillo,[1] there are five houses on the property where artists stay while recording. The studio was founded in 1989 by the current owner/director Tony Rancich[1] around a large traditional Spanish hacienda, which is an adobe structure that was built in the late 1930s,[1] with pine-tree vigas as the ceiling structure. Some rock bands have noted the calm, rural wilderness and easy access to Ciudad Juárez across the border.[3][4][5][6]
Studio complex[]
The Neve Control Room (designed by Vincent Van Haaff) features an 80-channel vintage Neve 8078 Console with 31105 mic pre/EQs.[7] The left side of this console was the original West Coast Motown board which was used to record many Motown artists,[1] including Diana Ross, The Temptations, Gladys Knight, Bubba Knight, G. C. Cameron, James Jamerson, Marvin Gaye, and The Jackson 5. Madonna purchased the console[1] and had it in her studio Brooklyn in Hollywood in the early 1990s, where Yoshiki Hayashi purchased and put it together with another 8078 into its present form by Pat Schnider[8] and Wess Dolly. Sonic Ranch acquired this console in 2006. The Big Tracking Room that is connected to this control room is 36 by 47 feet (11.0 m × 14.3 m) and has 22-foot-high (6.7 m) ceilings. There are two isolation booths in the Big Tracking Room and two isolation booths in the large 36-by-31-foot (11.0 m × 9.4 m) Control Room.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/SonicRanchAStudio.jpg/220px-SonicRanchAStudio.jpg)
The A Studio, which was the first studio to be established at Sonic Ranch, is partially subterranean and features a 40-channel E/G SSL console with vintage Neve outboard mic pre/EQs and has four tracking rooms with differing acoustics and dimensions.
The Stone Room is a five-sided room made of travertine stone, with a slanted latia ceiling which optimizes acoustic diffusion.[9][10] When stripped of baffles and carpets, it serves as an echo chamber during mixdown. The center tracking room, leading to the Drum Room, has carpets and absorbable material between the traditional vigas in the ceiling structure which shortens the decay time in the room and makes it suitable for vocals and electric guitar tracking.
The Drum Room has a wood floor,[9] a slanted wood ceiling and wooden doors which can be opened or closed to adjust the ambiance of the room. The top room, which descends into the control room, contains a 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 1978 K. Kawai piano and a 1961 Hammond B3 with a Leslie speaker.[9]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/SonicRanchAdobeStudio.jpg/220px-SonicRanchAdobeStudio.jpg)
The Adobe Studio was designed by Vincent Van Haaff within a hundred-year-old adobe structure with a vaulted wooden ceiling. It contains a vintage Neve 8088 console with Class A 31102 mic pre/EQs which were designed by Rupert Neve in 1977.[11] The Adobe Tracking Room is 30 × 28 × 16 feet (9.1 × 8.5 × 4.9 m) and has geometric ceiling panels, corner and half rounds, and massive ceiling trusses to enhance acoustic diffusion. This studio is on a property that contained one of the original "Custom House" crossing points from Mexico into the United States.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/SonicRanchMixRoom.jpg/220px-SonicRanchMixRoom.jpg)
The Mix Room was designed by Vincent Van Haaff[10] and is in the left wing of the original Spanish hacienda. It is 20 feet (6 m) wide and 40 feet (12 m) deep and contains a 64-channel SSL G/G+ console. It resides next to the swimming pool in the hacienda patio.
The Mastering Room is in the center section of the Spanish hacienda and is 18 ft (5.5 m) wide and 27 ft (8.2 m) deep. It features a Rupert Neve-designed Masterpiece.[9] The Mastering room has wooden panels and colorful fabrics from Brussels and Paris woven into its acoustical design.
Equipment[]
Sonic Ranch has a collection of over 55 vintage and modern guitars, 50 vintage and mod amps, 4 modern and 3 vintage drum kits, 54 guitar pedals, 1927 Steinway and 1978 K. Kawai grand pianos, and a 1961 B3 organ with 147 Leslie.[1][10] The mic collection includes 3 Neumann U47 Long Body Chrome Tops, 2 Neumann M249s, 2 Neumann KM 53s and 54s, 2 Steven Paul Audio Modified Neumann U67s, 2 Neumann M269s which are the European version of U67s, 3 Neumann U87s, 3 Telefunken ELAM 251s, 2 Telefunken ELAM 250s, 2 AKG C12s, and 2 Coles 4038s.[10]
List of artists recorded[]
Following is a list of some of the artists who have recorded songs at Sonic Ranch:[12]
- Fiona Apple
- Enrique Bunbury
- Alex Campos
- Arion
- A Silent Film
- Akron Family
- Aneeka
- Animal Collective
- Ballyhoo!
- Band of Horses
- Benny Ibarra
- Beach House
- Big Thief
- Billy Gibbons
- Blacklite District
- Bon Iver
- Broncho
- Bullet for My Valentine
- The Burning of Rome
- The Black Angels
- The Blackout
- Brand New
- Cannibal Corpse
- The Chamanas
- Cloud Nothings
- Cody Jinks and the Tone Deaf Hippies
- Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band[1]
- El Cuarteto de Nos
- The Devil Makes Three
- El Mató Un Policía Motorizado
- Gregg Rolie
- Grouplove
- Gungor
- Taking Back Sunday
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs[1]
- Enrique Bunbury[1]
- Gogol Bordello
- Johnny Rawls
- Smith Westerns
- Sublime with Rome
- Mudvayne[1]
- Ministry
- Nico Vega
- At The Drive-In[1]
- The London[1]
- James Vincent McMorrow
- ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
- Hanson
- Hello Seahorse!
- Your Vegas
- Damageplan
- DevilDriver
- Dead Sara
- Old 97's
- Sparta
- Sleepercar[1]
- Snarky Puppy
- Tesla
- Intocable
- Zoé
- Kalimba
- Yuridia
- Ely Guerra
- Into the Presence
- Jumbo
- Jenny Lewis
- Oh Sees
- OV7
- Prong[9]
- Plastilina Mosh
- Erik Rubin
- Moderatto
- Motel
- Kids These Days
- Jello Biafra
- Girl in a Coma
- The Blackout
- Camera Can't Lie
- This World Fair
- Nevermore
- Shearwater
- The Warning (Mexican band)
- The Mountain Goats
- Elefante
- Flogging Molly
- Kids in Glass Houses
- Jesus Adrian Romero
- Lennon Murphy
- McFly
- MercyMe
- Natalia Lafourcade
- David Garza
- Deep Blue Something
- Rorschach Test
- Flotsam and Jetsam
- N17
- Reik
- Red Sun Rising
- Skinlab
- Explosions in the Sky
- The New Mastersounds
- The Maine
- The Madden Brothers
- of Montreal
- Parquet Courts
- Passafire
- Poliça
- Portugal. The Man
- Prehab
- Purple
- The Dirty Heads
- Dirty Karma
- Swans
- Radius
- Otis Clay
- Barbara Carr
- Starbomb
- Waxahatchee
- The Lawrence Arms
- Midland
List of producers / engineers[]
Following is a list of some of the producers and/or engineers who have recorded and/or mixed songs at Sonic Ranch:
- Alvaro Lopez
- Andrew Scheps
- Andy LeMaster
- Bill Reynolds
- Chris "Frenchie" Smith
- Chad Copelin
- Charles Godfrey
- Colin Richardson
- Dan Carey
- Dave Sitek
- Mike Major
- Evan Peters
- Jarrod Evans
- Stephen Short
- Jason Perry
- Alejandro Ponce
- Chris Coady
- John Congleton
- Jim Gaines
- Joe Chiccarelli
- John Hill
- John Travis
- Kiko Cibrian
- Mark Lewis
- Mario Caldato Jr.
- Manuel Calderon
- Nick Launay
- Peter Walsh
- Rob Halverson
- Ryan Hewitt
- Randall Dunn
- Reid Shippen
- Ettore Grenci
- Christopher Schoemann
- Marco Ramirez
- Tony Battaglia
- Jeffrey Pringle
- Phil Vinall
- Jason Suecof
- Justin Leeah
- Paul Leary
- Erik Rutan
- Robert Manning
- Justin Morris
References[]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "The Best Little Music City in Texas". Vanity Fair. March 26, 2009. Archived from the original on March 28, 2009.
- ^ "Waterland Design LLC". Waterland.com. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ "Spring Music Preview". rollingstone.com. 2009. Archived from the original on March 23, 2009.
- ^ "Hanson to Debut New Songs on Fall Tour". Billboard.com. 21 August 2009.
- ^ "Exclusive Yeah Yeah Yeahs talk new album". SpinMagazine.com. 12 February 2009.
- ^ "Girl in a Coma Gets Adventurous with Sonic Ranch album"". El Paso Times. 2008. Archived from the original on 2010-05-09. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
- ^ "Sonic Ranch recording studios -:-:- FUTURE STYLE -:-:- electronic machines and trend artists MUSIC magazine". Futurestyle.org. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ [1]
- ^ a b c d e "Sonic Ranch - una storia texana" (Review on Sound&Lite Italian magazine) (in Italian). Sound&Lite, soundlite.biz. November 2008. pp. 114–117.
- ^ a b c d "Sonic Ranch... una storia texana" (Updated review on Sound&Lite Italian magazine) (in Italian). Sound&Lite, soundlite.info. January 2009. pp. 101–102.
- ^ "Sonic Ranch ropes world's first Masterpiece". Legendaryaudio.com. Retrieved 29 November 2017.
- ^ Cortez, Mia R. (July 2011). "Behind the scenes at Sonic Ranch". What's Up Free Entertainment Weekly for El Paso, Juarez, Las Cruces. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24.
External links[]
- Recording studios in the United States
- Companies based in El Paso, Texas
- 1989 establishments in Texas
- Tornillo, Texas