Music Gear & Audio Equipment at The Cat Mansion

A hybrid analog-digital studio built for professional recording, mixing, mastering, and music production.

The Cat Mansion features a collection of microphones, analog outboard gear, instruments, and industry-standard software used to produce professional recordings, mixes, and masters. The studio space is fully acoustically treated by Music City Acoustics for accurate monitoring and clean recording, and the monitoring system is precisely calibrated with the IK ARC system to ensure mixes and masters translate accurately and consistently to real-world listening environments.

The studio blends high-end analog hardware with modern digital tools. SSL and Audient preamps, SSL and Distressor compressors, and an SSL Fusion Analog Master Processor provide the character and depth associated with large professional studios, while premium conversion via a Ferrofish Pulse 16 and Audient iD44 MKII ensures transparent signal flow between the analog and digital domains. Once in the box, a full complement of industry-standard plugins from developers including FabFilter, Soundtoys, Softube, Antares, Celemony, and Sonnox provides powerful tools for mixing, production, and mastering.

All permanent studio wiring uses Mogami Gold cabling and professional Switchcraft patching to ensure reliable, noise-free operation throughout the signal chain.

For artists working remotely, The Cat Mansion supports real-time collaboration using AudioMovers ListenTo, allowing clients to listen to sessions in studio-quality audio from anywhere and provide feedback as mixes and masters are developed.

Studio Highlights

Monitoring

• Neumann KH 310 monitors

• Neumann NDH 30 reference headphones

Analog Processing

• SSL Bus+ compressor

• Empirical Labs Distressor stereo pair

• Empirical Labs Fatso

• SSL Fusion Analog Master Processor

Microphones

• Royer R-121 ribbon microphone

• Soyuz 1973 large-diaphragm condenser

• Neumann TLM 103

• Soyuz 011 stereo pair

Conversion & Preamps

• Ferrofish Pulse 16 high-end AD/DA conversion

• SSL PureDrive Octo preamps (16 channels)

• Audient console preamps

Instruments

• UDO Super 6

• Access Virus TI2

• Yamaha Montage M8X

• PRS, Fender, and Gibson guitars and basses

Frequently Asked Questions

Does using analog hardware for audio matter?

In a word, yes. Using hardware to process, mix, and master audio offers advantages over just using software. Outboard audio hardware, whether it’s analog or digital, provides a very different experience than using a VST, even with a great controller. It’s immediate. It feels like an instrument. The hardware is obsessed over by engineers, and they have to get it right when they ship it, especially the analog equipment. A firmware update can’t change a bad electrical design. Plugins can sound really good, but they can’t be as immediate and accessible as hardware.

Will analog hardware make my music sound better?

Yes. The right hardware will absolutely make your recordings sound better. However, that doesn't mean you can't make a great song without a single piece of hardware. Analog hardware isn't necessary, but it adds a sonic character that most in-the-box production struggles to replicate. One of the reasons working with a professional studio is worth it is that you get access to the equipment without having to buy or rent and learn it.

Is audio hardware better than plugins?

There isn't a single answer to this question. A great plugin is a lot better than bad hardware. Some plugins are better at certain jobs than hardware alternatives, too. FabFilter’s brilliant Pro-Q EQ is a much better choice than hardware when you need precise, surgical, clean EQ. Plugins also save a lot of cost. Running 32 SSL channel strips in VST form is certainly a lot less painful than buying a 32-channel console. Really, “are plugins as good as hardware?” isn’t a great question. A better question is “when can hardware do the job better than a plugin?” Most of the hardware at The Cat Mansion is chosen specifically for the sonic magic it adds to a recording. At The Cat Mansion, we use hardware extensively for tracking, production, and mastering, but often in a more limited way (or not at all) for mixing.

Why do microphones matter if I’ve already recorded everything?

You can always re-record a performance if you're not totally happy with it. All else equal, a better mic will produce a better sounding recording. We'd love to have you come to the studio and make another recording using The Cat Mansion’s world class setup. If that’s not an option for you, nearly all recorded sources can be re-amped. Re-amping is the process of playing a signal through a speaker (and effects, if desired) and re-recording it through a microphone. The Cat Mansion has a fantastic setup for re-amping any source that you’ve recorded. The best results from re-amping come from recordings that don’t have any (or many) effects on them. Direct injection (DI) recordings of guitars, basses, synthesizers, vocals, and so on re-amp beautifully. This process is the next best thing and can create incredible results.

Is analog better than digital?

It's not possible to say universally that analog or digital audio processing is better. Analog is truly zero-latency. Analog is often a tiny bit unpredictable and impossible to recreate perfectly over and over. Analog isn’t really limited by processing power in the way that digital effects are. However, sometimes, digital effects do things that analog simply can’t. Outside of miking a room, it's hard to make a realistic analog reverb. Drippy wet spring reverb that clangs when you bump it? Digital can’t do that convincingly. There’s also a certain charm to a lot of early digital and its aliasing and artifacts that analog doesn’t recreate. So, again, like the debate between hardware and software, it’s much less about which is better and far more about which is best suited for the job at hand.