Here at Nyquist, you can actually HEAR the difference! That’s because we have a full arsenal of cutting-edge gear. With the fast-paced advances in audio technology and development of new recording gear, we are committed to continuously update our equipment. What follows below is a boring, almost exhaustive enumeration, so for the non-techies (and non-geeks and non-gear-junkies for that matter!), please bear with us, or better yet, just skip this page altogether…

Note: When a particular gear says "Dexter-modified" (from our favorite cartoon show Dexter’s Laboratory), it means we have done "something" to the stock version to hopefully improve either its sound character or performance, or both, in a cynical slant to the "Klaus-modified" Neumann U87. We will not tell you here any detail on what was done or why it was done! Sorry… And no, we did not modify our U87, neither did the great mic guru Mr. Klaus Heyne!

Instruments

Our instruments are mostly top-class, and always in good playing condition. Our recorded drum sound for instance is one of the best anywhere in the country. Our clients and recordings easily attest to that. And our guitars and basses are regularly checked for intonation and playability.

Drums: Pearl Masters series drum kit (22" x 16" kick, 12" x 10" and 13" x 11" rack toms, 16" x 16" floor tom, 14" x 5-1/2" snare), Remo Pinstripe and Ambassador heads

Cymbals: Zildjian Edge Pro cymbals (16" crash, 20" ride, 14" hi-hats, 10" splash), Zildjian K custom 20" ride, Sabian 8" splash, Wuhan 14" lion china crash

Percussion: Remo tambourine, Rhythm Tech cowbell, tambourine, maracas, cabasa, studio shaker, eggz

Drum accessories: Pearl custom tom/cymbal rack, Pacific DP400 double bass drum pedal, A5 standard drum sticks, Regal Tip drum brushes

Guitars: Ibanez SAS32FM electric, Fender Squier electric modified (with Gotoh double-locking tremolo and tuners and DiMarzio Evolution (bridge) and Air Norton (neck) pickups), Washburn 6-string bass (with active pickups), Aria Pro 4-string bass (with active pickups), Takamine EGS-430SC acoustic (with piezo pickup and preamp), Kaifei stock steel-string acoustic (with piezo pickup), Yamaha classical (with piezo pickup and preamp), Lumanog mini-classical, D’Addario and GHS guitar strings (all electric guitars equipped with standard 9 to 42 gauge, and standard 10 to 46 on acoustic guitar)

Note: All our guitars are in standard tuning. If you will need an E-flat (or dropped-D) guitar with a Floyd tremolo, please bring in your own. Otherwise, it would take us a few good hours just to alter the tuning of our guitars.

Live Room Equipment

We use only the best brands for our guitar amps and pedals. Our P.A. equipment is more than adequate for the dimensions of the live room. And our headphones are of the default studio variety, not the ones you’ll find bundled with Walkmans.

Amps: Marshall JCM900 4501 50W combo guitar amp (Dexter-modified), with Groove Tubes valves, Fender Princeton 65W DSP guitar amp, Marshall MG10CD guitar amp, Hartke HA2500 bass amp head, Hartke 210TP bass cabinet

Effects: Boss GT-6 multi-effects pedal, Dunlop CryBaby 535Q wah pedal, DigiTech whammy pedal II, DigiTech BP200 bass multi-effects pedal, Zoom 505 II multi-effects pedal, Boss Blues Driver stompbox

PA/Monitors/Processors: Radio Shack MPA-250 power amp, Optimus 40-115 monitors, Behringer Eurorack MX1002A mixer, Alesis Nanoverb reverb processor, Samson Q5 headphone amp

Headphones: AKG K240, AKG K55, AKG K66, Sony MDR60CD

Cables and XLR/instrument connectors: Monster Cable, Neutrik, Planet Earth, Swan

Microphones & Preamps

We use industry-standard recording mics and preamps, the same ones you’ll find in top major studios elsewhere. You’ll find both vintage and modern varieties. Most of our rack mount equipment are of the boutique variety, and like our mics they are selected either for their distinct coloration or their utmost transparency.

Microphones: AKG C414, AKG C418 (x3), AKG C419, AKG D60S (x2), AKG D112, AKG D590S (x2), AKG D2200S; Audix F10 (x3), Audix F12, Audix F15 (x2); Neumann TLM-103, Neumann U87i (stock); Oktava MC012 cardioid (matched pair); Rode NTK, Rode NT1000, Rode NT3 (x2); Royer 121; Sennheiser E815 (x2), Sennheiser MD421; Shure SM57 (x2), Shure SM58, Shure SM58 Beta; Studio Projects C1

Preamps/Processors: ART Tube MP, FMR Audio RNP 8380, Gracie 101, Great River MP-1NV, PreSonus BlueTUBE (Dexter-modified), Studio Projects VTB-1, Vintech Neve Model 473, ART Tube Levelar, FMR Audio RNC, Empirical Labs EL-8 Distressor, Joemeek VC1Q (Dexter-modified)

Control Room Equipment

We selected a workhorse desk that’s been carefully modified to match a respectable A/D/A converter, and neutral, transparent monitoring equipment that’s comfortable to the ears even after extended listening hours. Our DAW is fully equipped to handle almost any audio or MIDI task, even HD video editing and SMPTE sequencing.

Mixing Desk: Mackie 1604-VLZ PRO (op-amps and biasing circuits Dexter-modified (rather heavily!))

Monitors: Event 20/20bas, SVI Audio full-range (crossover Dexter-modified), JBL Media100 nearfields and Media2000 subwoofer, Pioneer nearfields

Audio Interface/Converter: M-Audio Delta 1010 (x2)

DAW: IBM-compatible PC (ASUS P4B533 SE, Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz, 2GB RAM, 2×80GB + 250GB HD SATA, LG GSA-H10N DVD writer) running Windows XP Pro

MIDI controller: Fatar Studiologic SL-161 (with sustain pedal)

Software

We have carefully chosen the various software we use for our DAW, mainly considering audio quality, flexibility, and ease of use. For instance, Sonar and Samplitude are both comprehensive, great-sounding sequencer programs, and both are fast and very easy to use. As for plug-ins and softsynths, like our mics and preamps, we wanted to have a multitude of choices available at your disposal.

Sequencers/Samplers/Audio Editors: Cakewalk Sonar, Steinberg WaveLab, Tascam GigaStudio

Plug-ins by Akai; Algorithmix; Antares; Anwida Soft; BBE; Cakewalk; dB-audioware; delaydots.com; DSound; Elemental Audio Systems; IK Multimedia; iZotope; Kjaerhus Audio; KNZ Audio; Lexicon; MusicLab; Nomad Factory; Oberheim; Ohm Force; Prosoniq; PSP Audioware; rgcAudio; Silverspike; Sinus; Sonic Foundry; Sonic Timeworks; SpinAudio; Sonitus:fx; Sonnox Oxford; Steinberg; TC Works; URS; Voxengo; WaveArts; WaveMachine Labs; Waves; Yamaha

Software Synths by AAS; Arturia; Axxeom; Big Tick; Code Audio; ConreteFX; Dash Signature; Edirol; FXpansion; IK Multimedia; LinPlug; MHC; Muon Software; MusicLab; Native Instruments; Novation; RBC Audio; rgcAudio; Sonic Timeworks; Steinberg; Swar Systems; Synapse; TC Works; VAZ; VirSyn; Waldorf