Maskens' Mobile Studio 

September, 2011

We had a great day at the annual Prosperity Trade Show put on by the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce at the Morrow building in Peterborough.

Maskens' Mobile Studio shared a booth with Event Digital Productions. We had a great turn out and a good time too. There was a lot to do to get ready for the show but it was worth it!

We've had a busy summer putting together a promotional video for Elmhirst's Resort, more on that to come. And yes we've had some new additions to the studio including FXpansion's DCAM synthsquad and Geist. We've also got our first hardware analog synthesizer ordered and it should be in next week, more on that to come but the real excitement though is for Aaron (owner) & Jacinthe (fiancee). They are getting married October 7th and have been very busy getting ready for the joyous occasion!

July, 2011

Musician new to recording?

Check out our "Before you record" three-part article for some tips and things to consider.

Part I : Making a choice

Part II : How to record

Part III : Prepare to record!

July , 2011

Exciting times this summer for Maskens' Mobile Studio! We recently had the pleasure of recording a country music artist, our time was tight we only had 2 hours to set up record and mix, in the end, the results turned out alright! Have a listen here. We also had the opportunity to record the CD release party for Chad Driscoll. The concert took place at the Gordon Best, we set up perched on the balcony took a stereo feed from the FOH mix and mic'd the room. Chad put on a great performance of both originals and covers. One of the covers was videoed, which afterwards was synced to the audio recorded by Maskens' Mobile Studio and the video will be submitted to a contest being hosted by CBC. You can check out some clips recorded from that night on our recording samples page.

Here's what Chad had to say about us:

" Maskens' Mobile Studio recorded our live CD release party. The quality was top notch as was the work ethic and flexibility. True professionals and I'd highly recommend Maskens for any more studio needs.

Thanks again for all your help.

- Chad "

The gear update!

Maskens' Mobile Studio recently acquired a Cakewalk (by Roland) A-500 Pro MIDI keyboard controller. I must say, this is a fantastic piece of kit. Superior build quality, 49 keys, control surface with transport section, 9 rotary encoders, 9 sliders, and 8 dynamic pads along with additional buttons and features. Great integration with Sonar X1 64 bit, and it has the option of being USB bus powered or connected via MIDI and powered by a DC jack. This unit has replaced and surpassed our previous Yamaha KX-61 keyboard controller.

In other news, Maskens' Mobile Studio is excited to possibly be involved in a promotional video for Elmhirst Resort. Stay tuned for more news to come!

And lastly on a personal note of excitement!

Aaron Maskens and Jacinthe-Laure LeBel are getting married this fall in early October!

April, 2011

Well it is a new year for Maskens' Mobile Studio and there are some exciting things to report! The most recent projet we've completed was a recording for CBC radio! It went well, they had contacted Maskens' Mobile Studio for an onsite recording of an interview for DNTO. Another project recently completed was for Peterborough Volkswagon. The project involved creating an audio CD which encouraged welcomed new car owners to the Volkswagon family and encouraged them to come back for service. The CD would start to play when the new owner starts the car for the first time.

We've also begun to specialize in custom jingle creation for businesses to advertize either by radio or other audio/visual media. Examples of this are being posted and more will be upcoming.  We've also posted a youtube video where Aaron explains a few basic tips for setting up your Windows 7 digital audio workstation (DAW) for optimal performance with real-time audio.

Maskens' Mobile Studio has also been working on some new creative music targeted at the video game genre which can be heard in our studio samples section.

On the studio expansion side of things, there are several new acquisitions for the studio this year. We've picked up an Akai Synthstation25. An excellent portable keyboard MIDI controller which can be connected to your DAW via USB. It can also work in stand-alone with an iPod Touch or iPhone for hammering out ideas and inspiration.

Maskens' Mobile Studio has one of the greatest selection of front options (mic's and pre's), if not the greatest in the Kawartha's. We also have the largest sample library and plugin selection in the area as well. Continuing in this tradition we've added some interesting plugins to our toolset. Beginning with Fabfilter's Total Bundle, this bundle contains some top notch mastering and creative plugins!

Native Instruments' Razor which is loaded into their famed modular softsynth Reaktor. This softsynth uses additive synthesis to obtain some highly unique sounds commonly associated with the "Dubstep" genre of music.

In order to expand our sound palette with more traditional samples we've obtained Garritan World Instruments as well as several instruments for Kontakt 4 from Precision Sound.  Garritan World Instruments is a diverse library of over 350 expressive and exotic instruments from around the world. From Precision Sound we've licensed the Lyra (Lyre), Persian Santur, Indian Santoor, Moldova Cimbalom, and Kloo Mandolin. These instruments have been beautifully sampled and sound fantastic!

December 2010

Important Note: As of January 1, 2011 our new flat rate for all services will be $35/hr

Maskens' Mobile Studio is now a proud member of the Greater Peterborough Chamber of Commerce!

Along with some other minor software acquisitions we have also acquired an exciting new piece of equipment which we are pleased to announce, the Universal Audio LA-610 Mk II channel strip. The mic preamp in this channel strip was the same piece of hardware used to record classic albums by Van Halen and Frank Sinatra. This channel strip is the first all-tube outboard piece of studio hardware owned by Maskens' Mobile Studio. The unit is comprised of a 610 mic pre section with two shelving EQ's and an LA2A - style Teletronix T4 optical compressor section.

We now look forward to offering our clients the GREATEST number of front end options of any studio in the Peterborough and the Kawartha's area in terms of variety and tonal palette with our mic preamplifiers, channels and microphone collection.

Maskens' Mobile Studio has also been building up a pool of voice-over talent to add to our business services offerings. If you need a professional sounding voice recording of a message read, or spoken word for radio, teaching materal or another audio related application contact us today.

October, 2010

        Maskens' Mobile Studio has had a busy and successful summer. From the acquisition of some more equipment to supporting local artists in Peterborough's Top Talent Search to working with Parks Canada making a promotional music video!

        Earlier this summer we had the pleasure of working with local jazz group "Magpie", which was a great experience. Maskens' Mobile Studio mixed and mastered one of their songs and it is posted on our recording samples page. Maskens' Mobile Studio partnered up with Peterborough's Top Talent Search recording the final performance on August 18th at Little Lake Music Fest (see photo below).  The audio component went on to be integrated with the video captured that evening by Event Digital Productions. The video's can be seen here and the audio we have on one of our sample pages.

         The most exciting collaboration of the summer was probably working together with a videographer from Parks Canada. The goal was to create a music video promoting the Trent Severn Waterway and it would be safe to say we succeeded! Staff at Parks Canada were pleased with the results and apparently the video even caught the attention of Oasis HD. Maskens' Mobile Studio was responsible for the recording and editing of all the audio for the music video and Kevin, the videographer, wrote the lyrics and was responsible for all of the video. Unfortunately we can not post the final version of the video due to it now being property of Parks Canada, but we are able to post a sample of the video which is what we've done here.

          Maskens' Mobile Studio also completed some audio work for local businesses like Primerica and is working on an ongoing project for the Peterborough Volkswagon Dealership. We also have been and are working with a few local musicians, more details on that to come. 

          Lastly, we've had a few new additions to the studio equipment-wise. Maskens' Mobile Studio has acquired a pair of two american-made clean, high gain preamps. These Grace m101's will add yet another flavour to our musical tool-box.

Along with these preamps, we purchased a pair of Japanese made multi-pattern large diaphram condensor microphones. These Audio Technica 4050's will sound good on almost anything, designed to capture sound naturally, not overhyping a particular area of the audio spectrum.

 We've already had the pleasure of recording a grand piano with these new additions to the studio. And last but not least, we've updated our Native Instruments arsenal to Komplete 7 and acquired possibly the best virtual grand piano made to date, Alicia's Keys.

          Our website has also had some significant revisions made to it in light of the success of this past summer. Browse around and don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

                    - Aaron Maskens