Ray Luzier moved to the Nashville area over two years ago to take part in its music scene, a way to keep his career as the drummer for Korn (as well as other artists including David Lee Roth, Metal Shop [now known as Steel Panther] and KXM) in high gear and let his family enjoy the culture – a change from Los Angeles, to be sure.
One of the first things he did in his new home was convert several rooms in the house into a recording studio and control room. Like many who create a home studio, Luzier had to find a way to make spaces not designed for sound accommodate music recording. He was able to do that using an array of products from Auralex Acoustics.
“I wanted a live room sound but it also needed to be manageable,” he says. “In the beginning, the acoustics in the recording room were out of control. The snare drum sounded like a cannon. I did what a lot of people do, like putting down carpets. But I also wanted natural light and the windows were another source of reflections.”
Luzier found the solutions he needed with help from the local Auralex representative and a combination of products from Auralex’s wide range of highly specific solutions-based products. These included Studiofoam Wedge panels, LENRD Bass Traps, a ProPanel ProCloud, MoPAD monitor isolators and SubDude subwoofer acoustic isolation platforms, ProMAX absorption panels and several elements of the freestanding Portable Treatment product line.
In addition, Luzier continued to use an Auralex HoverDeck V2, which he also used for the studio recording of the 2016 Korn album The Serenity of Suffering.
“The Auralex treatments calmed the room down considerably, but without losing any of the liveliness I wanted to keep there,” he says. “The wall panels and the bass traps completely smoothed the room out but kept the ambience I like. I have three drum kits all set up and miked all the time and they’re all on HoverDecks. That little bit of separation from the floor makes a huge difference. The drums breathe better on them.”
This kind of sonic control lets Luzier manage a complex career from his home studio, one in which he’s writing music and recording, often emailing Pro Tools sessions back and forth with clients and collaborators, including Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis and with KXM, the side project Luzier plays in with King’s X bassist/vocalist dUg Pinnick and Lynch Mob/ex-Dokken guitarist George Lynch.
“Because of the control Auralex gives me over my room and sound, I know that what I record here is going to sound the way it’s intended to when it leaves here,” he says. “Auralex really made my personal studio sound great.”
