The Studio:
Imagine stepping into this legendary studio for the very first time. 2″ master tapes Sharpie’d with names like The Microphones, Mirah, Kimya Dawson, Karp, Calvin Johnson, and scores more fill up the tape closet.

You can practically smell the tube gear from the doorway. Glance over at the vintage hollow body Gretch bass that used to belong to Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, and then relax on the most comfortable couch in the Pacific Northwest. We’ll be busy making sure your session goes really well AND that you’re having fun.

Who Are We?

Bob Schwenkler is the man responsible for single handedly bringing Dub Narcotic Studio from a private, K-artist-only myth of a studio to an accessible-to-all haven of 2” tape, tubes, and ribbon mics.

The terms studio genius and studio wizard aren’t thrown around lightly in the music business but we’ve heard both a good number of times about some of the many albums he’s recorded, mixed, and mastered.

“All of the mixes are amazing, thank you so much! I’ve seen the phrase  “Bob’s a genius!” written in a couple of e-mail exchanges with Hardly Art (Sub Pop subsidiary).“-Seapony

Ephriam Nagler has toured extensively with some pretty amazing bands like Cursive, Felice Brothers, and The Velvet Teen. It’s no accident that he’s also garnered high praise behind the console at Dub Narcotic.

“I have worked with Ephriam before so I knew what I was getting into. However, it’s hard to express how impressed I am with the mastering job he did. Not to mention my producer (David J of Bauhaus) said it’s one of the best mastering jobs he’s ever heard. He plans on hiring Ephriam to do his new album.“-Darwin Meiners

Equipment:

We’ve got computers and we’ve also got tape. Unlike at most other studios though, our tape decks are in constant use. Our Ampex MM1100 is dubbed by many engineers as the sound of rock (it’s also great for not-rock though), and if creamy tube-spiced analog goodness is your thing you can record to our 1954 Ampex 4 track. We’ve got lightly used 2″ tape for $75 a reel to put analog squarely within your reach.

There are plenty of mics to satisfy any sonic vision, from the old-radio sound of oldies era Shure Bullets to the smoothness of Neumann mics. We have tube microphone preamps and compressors for all, Space Echo and Echoplex tape delays to turn the feedback all the way up on, and a most agreeable selection of spring verbs including the big cheese of them all, the AKG BX20.