If you have been looking online or on Facebook for a studio to record your next piece of music or other audio project, you probably noticed it’s not so easy to find practical information about such places. We have a decent collection of very capable studios in Albuquerque that can meet your needs for a lower price than what you’d pay in a large city. Running a studio is an act of love and that is exactly what these amazing people bring to the table when you hire them to do your next project. I took the time to find all the information you need to know before making the call and booking your first day of recording. Click on the name for the link to their contact pages.
Rio Grande Studios
Owners and operators Drew Newman and Ken Riley have 30+ years’ experience between them in the music business. Having worked in big name studios like Electric Ladyland and others in big cities like LA and New York. This studio is heralded “The Best In The Southwest” which their attention to detail, passion, and drive behind their business makes the title ring true. The featured picture on this post is from their “amp room” with awesome vintage amps. Although their business is fairly new at only 1 year old, these guys are in it for the long run and they mean business.
Years in Operation: 1 year
Rates: $$$$
Equipment: Raven MTX Console; AKG, Neumann, ADK microphones; LA-2A, Neve 1073s and 1272s, SSL, API, Ampex are just a few names in their list of outboard gear; Fender guitar amplifiers
Past Clients: Aaron Gillespie, Bad Suns, Bones Owens, Lionsgate Entertainment, The Gershom Brothers
Alta Vista
Herman Martinez owns and operates this beautiful purpose-built studio pouring time and money into his passion for over 50 years. They use ProTools to allow clients to take their projects to industry studios with ease.
Years in Operation: 50+ years
Rates: $$$
Equipment: Audient 48 Channel Console; Neumann U87s, AKG c414 microphones; Korg Keyboards; Fender guitars; Wurlitzer organ; Roland V-Custom electric drums.
Past Clients: Al Hurricane and many more
John Wagner
John Wagner and Dick Orr have decades of music experience combined and won numerous awards. Their studio offers many services like Video post-production, CD duplication, and Audio for broadcast on top of their general recording service. They use Sonar for its high quality and workflow capabilities.
Years in operation: 20+ years
Rates: $$$$
Equipment: Presonus Console; Sonar; Neumann, Akg
Past Clients: info unavailable
Elephonic
Elephonic won the 2016 New Mexico Music Award for best song with Cali Shaw. Their location in north Albuquerque is convenient for Rio Rancho, and Santa Fe. Really positive reviews on Facebook from happy clients.
Years in operation: 9 years
Rates: $$$
Equipment: Neumann, AKG, Royer microphones; Protools C24 Console; Pre’s and Compressors by Avalon, and Vintech.
Past Clients: Cali Shaw, George Thorogood, Kyle Martin, Meredith Wilder
Evilesq Records/Jimmy J Music
24-Hour availability, nice environment, and a professional attitude. Jimmy Medina and Eric Esquibel have a combined 12 years’ experience. Their dedication and hard work is apparent in their work product despite their seemingly short experience. Jimmy works with all genres and is a multi-talented musician as well as engineer and producer. Other services such as drum repair and drum tuning are available.
Years in operation: 12
Rates: $$$
Equipment: info unavailable
Past Clients: Throw the Temple, Sulk Candy, Arcade Rivals, Jonny James, Ace Virtuoso
For those of you that are on a very limited budget, there are a couple of incredibly budget-friendly options. Sometimes it’s not the fancy equipment or the fancy room you look for but rather the care, attention to detail, and talent.
Maple St. Records
Manuel Sandoval, Zach Spalsbury, and Drew Mitchell come from diverse musical backgrounds. Being quite young they have 10 years combined experience in production. Their aim is to bring Albuquerque into the national music spotlight and create an establishment where musicians can come be creative and collaborative. A lot of passion and aspirations have gone into their business and you can hear it in their product.
Years in operation: 2 years
Rates: $
Equipment: Rode NT1, Shure SM57, SM58 microphones; Focusrite Sapphire Pro 40; Logic X
Edgar Wonder
Yours truly. I also do production aside from writing for The ABQ Reviews. My philosophy when it comes to making music is “make it your own”. I’m all about the vibes and I’m all about the mood.
Years in operation: 3 years
Rates: $
Equipment: 1989 Soundcraft Series 500 console; AKG c414, Neumann TLM102, Shure Beta52, SM57, microphones; FL Studio, Presonus Studio One 3
Past Clients: Ruben Vail, The People, Isogood, Stereo Test Record, Ouija Mama, Sweet Nothin’
These are great but you missed the biggest one.
Santa Fe Center Studios on San Pedro Blvd SE.
This facility matches anything in Dallas or other majors.
They have been producing Grammy winning music, providing film ADR, and making clients giddy with results for many years.
Doug Geist also has been paying forward by training generations of new engineers. He has the best ears in town.
http://www.facebook.com/Santa-Fe-Center-Studios-In-Albuquerque
Thanks for your Input, Bob! . I wish i’d gotten a response from Santa Fe Center Studios when I tried contacting them through their Facebook. I also left a voicemail on the phone number provided but i have yet to hear from them. It was a struggle to get much information from most of the studios I contacted. As you know, people in our town can be a bit standoffish. This was a particularly troublesome article to write since (I assume) the studio owners have very busy schedules. However, the list is going to be updated constantly as more information becomes available and more studios reach out! Thanks again and thank you for reading
Oh Ok thanks for the reply! Will look forward to you getting the tour there. They may be jammed. They have had clients fly in as far as Japan. Who knows. I see them mostly for VO work I do for spots all over.