Gear
The goal at Frog Hollow is to make great, natural-sounding recordings. The gear here reflects that goal. We’ve got a wide variety of excellent microphones to catch the essence of whatever instrument or voice is in the studio. We pair these with some of the nicest preamps available, whether you’re looking for boutique-quality vintage vibe or pristine sonic accuracy. 30 channels of top notch A/D conversion ensure that your tracks are recorded in the highest fidelity.
Preamps
- Heritage Audio HA73 (8): I fell in love with this Neve clone a few years ago - sounds lovely and warm.
- Cranborne Audio Camden 500 (4): Since the HA73 are quite colored, I thought I should have some very natural, modern, distortion-free preamps to go along!
- RME UFX: 4 extremely neutral “Micstasy” preamps
- Focusrite Clarett OctoPre: 8 channels of Focusrite’s high-end preamps
Large Diaphragm Condensers
- Neumann U87ai
- Vanguard V13: This multi-pattern tube mic is a great workhorse and vocal mic
- sE Z5600aII (2): I had to get myself a second one of these multipattern tube mics because I find them so useful. This is probably my favorite vocal mic right now.
- sE T2 (2): multipattern mics fantastic on instruments, voices… just about everything!
- sE 4400a (4): These have been my go-to guitar mics for many years. The new T2 may win the job, but these are lovely mics.
- ADK T-Fet M7 (2): This “Munich” microphone is designed to capture the fullness of a U47 with the top-end of a U67. Lovely mics!
- ADK T-Fet 67: This Neumann U67-style multi-pattern mic is a great tonal choice for vocals.
- ADK T-Fet 251: A little less mid-forward than the 67, the 251 also shines on vocals
- ADK TC-251 AU (Tube): Adds a tube flavor to the the T-Fet 251
- Baby Bottle (2): Another favorite LDC instrument mic, especially good on strings and horns
- Rode NT1/RK47 mod: a bit of a fet47 for kick!
Small Diaphragm Condensers
- Audio Technica AT4021
- ALewitt LCT 140 air (4)
Ribbon Microphones
- Cascade FatHead (2)
- Golden Age R1 Active MKIII (modified): a surprisingly versatile vocal mic
- sE Voodoo VR1 (2): My favorite ribbons on acoustic instruments
Dynamic Microphones
- AKG D112
- EV RE20 (2)
- Shure SM7b
- Sennheiser MD421 II (2)
- Audix i5 (3)
- Sennheiser e609 (2)
- Shure Beta 52a
- Shure SM58 (2)
- Shure SM57 (2)
Monitoring
- Focal CMS 50 Near Field Monitors: awarded "best studio monitor" by 100 magazines in the 2009 mipa award
- Presonus Temblor T10 subwoofer: provides all the necessary support to hear the fundamentals of even the most bass-heavy mixes
- Avantone Mixcube: the new industry-standard "grotbox" for checking mixes for mono and low-fi compatibility.
- Yamaha NS-10M Studio: there’s a reason these are on the consoles of so many mixing studios.
- Slate VSX Headphones
- Audio Technica ATM40fs Headphones (4)
- Sennheiser HD 280 Pro HeadphonesThe controls
- Sennheiser HD 380 Pro Headphones
- AKG K240DF Headphones
Software
- DAW: LogicPro X
- Plugins by fabfilter, Soundtoys, iKMultimedia, iZotope, Sonnox, Black Rooster Audio, Valhalla, and more.
- Mastering in Wavelab
Acoustic Guitars
- Martin HD35: legendary Martin rosewood dreadnought tone, but expressive enough to fingerpick
- Martin D-18: legendary Martin mahogany dreadnought tone
- Martin OM-18V Guitar: lovely mahogany Martin tone in a smaller package. This has a wide string spacing.
- Anderson Walnut/Engelman OM: hand made in Massachusetts, this is a lovely, balanced guitar
- Taylor 214e-N: Hybrid Nylon string guitar that plays like a steel string but sounds like a Spanish/Classical guitar.
- Guild F2512E: Classic Guild jumbo maple 12 string. Jangle all the way!
- Guild BT 258E Deluxe: 8-string baritone guitar - for when you need a bit more depth and rumble.
- Guild M20: all mahogany small bodied guitar from 1962. This is the famous “Nick Drake” guitar
Electric Guitars
- Epiphone ES-335 Pro: a very nice remake of the Gibson classic
- Squier 40th anniversary telecaster
- Squier 40th anniversary stratocaster
- Michael Kelly Thinline tele-style with P90 pickups
- Chris Mitchell Guitars Ashlee (Les-paul style)
Bass Guitars
- Fender Jazz Bass: Geddy Lee Signature Model
- Gold Tone PBB Resonator Bass Guitar: this is a startling acoustic instrument with a nice humbucker pickup.
- Squier Mustang Bass: for when you need a little short-scale bass magic.
- Ibanez Roadstar PJ Bass: this cheesy red beast is slung with flatwounds and is my favorite bass. It just plays and sounds so good…
Keyboards
- Roland FP30X: 88 Key piano featuring Progressive Hammer Action with Escapement
Other
- Nick Apollonio Mandolin
- Nick Apollonio Cittern
- Tenor Ukulele
- Banjo
- Saxophones, whistles, djembes, shakers, etc…