Install

Supported By

Nashville’s Art House Studios Goes Commercial With ADAM Audio

GRAMMY Award-winner Charlie Peacock's personal studio relaunches with S3X-H mid-field and A7X near field monitors

During 25 years as a personal production facility for GRAMMY Award-winning record producer, performer and songwriter Charlie Peacock, Art House studios in Nashville has hosted hit-making sessions by Switchfoot, Holly Williams, the Civil Wars and numerous other artists.

After Peacock took a position at Lipscomb University, Australian singer-songwriter Nathan Tasker and his wife assumed leadership and have now relaunched the facility as a commercial studio, completely refurbishing and re-equipping the studios, including new ADAM Audio S3X-H mid-field and A7X near field monitors.

“We have the S3X-Hs in our A room, which is a big control room designed to hold a bunch of people,” says engineer Ciel Eckard-Lee. Ciel began working at the facility several years ago, after graduating from Nashville’s Blackbird Academy, and is now the operations manager at Art House.

“We have a pair of NS10s for reference, but the S3X-H monitors handle most of the workload in the A room. We also have a smaller B control room, where we have the A7Xs. That room functions as a writing space, a mixing space and a tracking space.”

Art House studios

At the center of it all at Art House is recording and mixing engineer Richie Biggs, who began working at the studio on the second Switchfoot record after Peacock signed the band to his Re:think label. Biggs was also part of the creative team on both GRAMMY-winning albums by the Civil Wars.

“Richie has his own mix room and flips through monitors on a weekly basis,” says Eckard-Lee. “He uses S3X-Hs on his tracking sessions and he had some smaller ADAM monitors as well,” he reports.

“The imaging is fantastic with the S3X-Hs, and I really like the clarity in the top end – and it never feels harsh. I can listen at loud volumes and really enjoy it, throughout the whole production process,” Eckard-Lee continues. “And the monitors are really accurate. When we are working and we’re tracking, we’re always able to achieve something that will translate out of the room extremely well.”

ADAM Audio’s X-ART (eXtended Accelerating Ribbon Technology) folded ribbon tweeter enables users to work for extended periods without fatiguing the ear.

“There have been times where I have been working 17 hours a day as we were getting the studio rolling. I found myself listening to the ADAM monitors at pretty loud volumes just because it feels great. And it’s not tiring; they are very clear, and not harsh. I like the low mid-range, too. We don’t run a sub in the A room, but the low-mids—the punchy area, like kick drum and bass—really translate well.”

“We’re huge fans of ADAM Audio monitors, and the fact that their US headquarters is right here in Nashville makes it even better. We got together with them and tested a number of monitors in our main control room before settling on the S3Xs and A7Xs,” adds Eckard-Lee. “The team at ADAM Audio, especially Adam Sheppard, gave us tremendous support of our vision for the studio. They’ve been very accommodating throughout the process of re-thinking the studio, and we’re very fortunate to be partnered with such a great team.”

Art House studios reopened for several select projects in September 2016 and will officially relaunch as a commercial facility at the beginning of 2017.

ADAM Audio
Art House studios

Install Top Stories

Supported By

Linea Research is a leading designer and manufacturer of high performance power amplifiers and DSP controllers for the entertainment, live sound, installed sound and commercial sound markets.