http://seanmckennaphotography.blogspot.com/2011/02/new-work-old-black-berry-way.html

“Neil has a very welcoming, no nonsense feel that makes being productive in his studio easy and comfortable. His studio has high quality amps, drums and recording gear that you’d expect to see at a much higher day rate facility. He consistently goes the extra mile in adapting to the needs of his clients without sacrificing an iota of quality. If someone asks me where they should go to record a record, Old Blackberry Way is the first place I mention every time.” -Nathan Grumdahl (The Bombay Sweets, Teenage Strangler)

“Working at OBW with Neil is a pleasure. Neil is extremely attentive, patient, funny and 100% invested in your music and working with you to make sure it is the best it can be. He stays in the background when necessary and offers solid, well-thought out opinions when asked. My name is Andrew Broder and I approve of recording at Old Blackberry Way.” -Andrew Broder (The Cloak Ox)

“Neil is as concerned with how a record is going to sound in five years after it has been listened to 500 times as he is with how it will sound on first listen.” -Bruce Templeton (Magneto Mastering)

“We brought a mountain of music to Neil, and he handled it all very smoothly…helping us work out all the bugs making sure it translated well. He brought a lot of creative ideas to the table as well, and did a great job at helping us finish a project that seemed unfinishable. Did I mention that Old Blackberry Way is super cozy as well?” -Josh Richardson (Flavor Crystals)

“Old Blackberry Way, from the control room to the recording space, the mics, to the walls, the upholstery, the lighting…all feels right at home to Chatham Rise in our recording and mixing processes.  I know we are quite different in our approach and it has been good to work with someone who picks up on our vision early on…Neil Weir has a really strong feel for what we are going for sonically, and the band, we are all very happy with all that has surfaced from the sessions at OBW.” - Collin Axell (Chatham Rise)

“Working with Neil Weir is everything you’d want from an engineer. He creates a comfortable environment at his studio with an immense knowledge of equipment and recording techniques. I have recommended him many times to other musicians looking to record. Lastly, and maybe most importantly, he knows how to balance many different personalities that come from different bands in his studio. He’ll always be my first choice for an engineer.” -Nick Hoolihan (Switzerlind, Villa)

“The Old Blackberry Way recording experience was so rewarding as an artist because Neil is an artist who can easily understand your goals and facilitate them. Where we brought in specific requests he efficiently captured and honed our sound. When attempting more experimental ideas his approach was straight forward and scientific. It was a very exciting process of finding new potential in the material and the underlying frame work of our band. In the end his techniques and critical suggestions lent a certain magic in our mixes.” - Dylan Ritchie (Teenage Strangler, Prissy Clerks, NPCs)

Neil not only has an excellent pair of ears as an engineer, he listens to what the artists is trying to accomplish and has the keen ability to sort through musicians’ confusing verbiage. Every time we record there he has a new trick up his sleeve that keeps the mixes on the forefront of underground music. - Mike Blaha (The Blind Shake)

“Good mixing, cool dude, over all mega rad experience.” - Jeanne Oss (Driftwood Pyre)

“Neil has recorded four very different sounding bands I’ve been in over the past 10 years. For each band, he’s taken time to figure out what sound we were going for and nailed it each time. Neil knows when something needs to be added to a track and he knows when to stop you from adding more than the song needs. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard him say, “we can try it, but I think it sounds great as it is.” He’s usually right, but it’s nice to be given the freedom to add that fourth guitar overdub and hear for yourself how unnecessary it actually was. Also, the relaxed atmosphere at the Old Blackberry Way has always lead to recordings I’ve been happy with. I’ve never felt rushed and I’ve never had to leave with a mistake-filled song that we didn’t have time to fix.” - Jon Tester (Rabbit Holes)

“Neil understands my sonic goals and has the expertise and equipment necessary to accomplish them. He keeps it simple, too. His choices in the tracking and mixing stages of my recordings have given me the natural and nuanced final product I was after. Additionally, the Old Blackberry Way is a comfortable, unassuming environment to record in and it sounds great.” -Paul Doffing

The Old Blackberry Way welcomes sessions of all lengths and scope including tracking sessions and mixing sessions. To book a session or to talk more about recording, please call 612-203-3861 or send an email. 

A 50% deposit is required to reserve studio time. 

Credit cards are welcomed through PayPal.

Multitrack

Pro-Tools HD Native with Lynx Aurora 16 and Lynx Aurora 8 for a total of 24 inputs 

3M M-79 2” 24 track analog multitrack

Monitors

Focal Twin6 BE

Avantone Mix Cubes

Preamps

API 3124+ (2)

Great River MP-2NV

Sytek MPX-4Aii 

Hamptone HJFP2

8 channels of custom JFET pres

Outboard

Universal Audio 2-1176 compressor / limiter

Empirical Labs Distressor

Drawmer 1968 stereo tube compressor

DBX 160X compressor / limiter

DBX 160XT compressor / limiter

Roland Space Echo RE-150 tape delay

Echoplex EP-2 tape delay (tube)

ART VLA PRO stereo tube compressor

Roland SRV-330

Lexicon MPX 500

Microphones

Sony 37a large diaphragm tube condenser

Neumann U47 large diaphragm tube condenser

Neumann Geffel CMV 563 (2) vintage East German large diaphragm tube condensers with M7, M9 and M55K capsules - refurbished by Scott Hampton

Telefunken R-F-T M16 - large diaphragm multipattern tube condenser

Oktava MK-012 (2) - small diaphragm condensers with cardioid, hypercardioid, and omni capsules - modified my Michael Joly

Royer R121 - figure 8 ribbon

Beyerdynamic M160 - hypercardioid ribbon

Shure SM7B - large diaphragm cardioid dynamic

Beyerdynamic M88 - hypercardioid dynamic

Electrovoice RE20 - large diaphragm cardioid dynamic

Sennheiser 421 (2) - cardioid dynamic

Sennheiser 441- hypercardiod dynamic

Sennheiser 609 - cardioid dynamic

AKG D112 - large diaphragm cardioid dynamic

Audio-Technica 4050 - multipattern condenser 

Shure SM57 (3) - cardioid dynamic

Shadow contact mic

…and more…

Plug-Ins

Abbey Road Brilliance Pack

Abbey Road TG Mastering Pack

Abbey Road TG 12413 Limiter

Abbey Road RS124 Limiter

Soundtoys Native Effects

Waves Musicians II Bundle

Digidesign Real Tape Suite

Slate VCC and VTM

Massey Tape Head, CT4, L2007, and THC

Moogerfooger bundle

TL Space convolution reverb with a large collection of IRs

…plus all the usual stuff…

Amplifiers, Instruments, etc.

’62 RI Fender Jazzmaster

American Standard Fender Telecaster

late ’50s Harmony H165 acoustic

‘69 Harmony H165 acoustic

’73 Harmony acoustic

‘64 Fender Dual Showman

’64 Fender Concert Amp

Vox AC30 TBX with Celestion Blues

Marshall JMP (50 watt)

‘68 Ampeg SVT

’68 Ampeg Portaflex B18-N

Smokey Amp

Custom TL-606 bass cabinet with 400 watt EVM-15L

Custom TL-606 bass cabinet with 200 watt EVM-15L

Weber 2x12 speaker cabinet with one Blue Dog and one Silver Bell

Fender Showman 1X15 speaker cabinet

Kimball console piano

Hammond A-100 organ with Leslie cabinet

Yamaha Eclectone 205D organ

Slingerland Radio King 24” blue sparkle bass drum

Ludwig Club Date gold sparkle 20” bass drum and 12” rack tom

Leedy 16” gold sparkle floor tom

Slingerland wooden snare

Ludwig Acrolite 

Pedals, etc.

Z Vex Lo- Fi Junkie

Z Vex Mastotron

Ronsound Trem-O-Matic (Vox Repeat Percussion clone)

Ronsound Hairpie (70s triangle-knob Big Muff clone)

Crowther Hotcake

Way Huge Fat Sandwich

Electro-Harmonix Cathedral

Fulltone Full-Drive II

Mu-Tron Phasor II

MXR script logo Distortion+ 

MXR 10 Band EQ

Dunlop Stereo Tremolo

Baja Tech Bone Bender (Vox Tone Bender clone)

Sans Amp Bass Driver

Digitech Bass Squeeze

EH Memory Man

Boss MD-2

Boss HM-2

ProCo RAT

Colorsound Wah

Ernie Ball VP Jr. passive volume pedal

Lafayette Echo-Verb spring reverb

Roland Space Echo RE-150 tape delay

Echoplex EP-2 tape delay (tube)

Headphones

Furman HDS-6 Headphone Distribution System 

with 4 HR-6 mixing stations for individualized headphone mixes