While wasting that first week, one good thing came of it, sitting amongst the many drums and few pieces of recording equipment I owned with barely enough room to play; it dawned on me that it would be great to have a bigger place to practice...maybe even a small studio. I started looking around for a space in January, 2007, and it wasn't long before I found a building for lease that I thought might work. It was a rather bleak scene but I could already envision the studio-to-be.

When building Two Sticks Audio, our goal was to highlight the things that make a space inspiring. First and foremost was to design a great sounding drum room. A room that wasn't too big but wasn't too small, with a medium-high ceiling and plenty of resonance, and a smooth top end. The kick drum should sound big and round, the snare should have as much crack as body, and the idea of wearing earplugs dismissed, because everything sounds perfectly balanced, no matter how dynamic the player. Basically, a very natural sounding room, with natural light and a controlled climate, because the more comfortable we are, the better we play.

Another feature we wanted in the drum room was to have access to choices. Most drummers bring in a few options, but don't have that many to start with and therefore end up borrowing or renting additional equipment. When you have all the options you'll ever need right in front of you, finding "the sound" shouldn't be a problem, not to mention it'll save time and money throughout the entire process of making a record.

Our Control Room was also designed with comfort in mind. Because it's the place that most of us like to hang out, it had to be spacious, even big enough to track in. It, too, has natural light and it's own controlled climate. Ever feel like a vampire when you walk out of the studio, not knowing what time of day it is or how many hours have gone by? We've all been there, but you have to admit...it's nice to know when the sun's going down...or coming up!

Having good isolation and plenty of visual contact is key. With today's recording practices not everybody has the chops to nail it on the first take, and therefore can't be in the same room as the other players. 4 different rooms were built to help isolate performances and instruments, but we've also made it possible to have everyone together in the same room. All the tracking options are in consideration of individual workflow needs.

Lastly, to round out the things that make or break a studio was to have good sounding headphone mixes, because bad sounding headphone mixes are a bummer! When you can't hear well, you can't play well! We wanted each person to have his or her own control of what they're hearing by offering independent mixers with pans and EQ, solos and mutes.

Two Sticks Audio was designed to accommodate the full band in a live tracking situation, the singer songwriter and their producer, or the individual multi-instrumentalist who doesn't want to have to reach that far to realize the potential of their ideas.