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THE STUDIO

Vatican City Sound is a professional recording studio owned and operated by master musician and recording artist, Mike Pope. Located in a quiet town west of Baltimore, and within a short drive of Washington DC, Baltimore and surrounding areas, VCS uses both vintage analog and modern digital tools, offering our clients the convenience of modern processes with some of that vintage "secret sauce!" It's the best of both worlds! Live acoustic recording is our passion and we focus on making a big sound in an intimate setting.
COMPUTER & SOFTWARE

  • Rain Recording Ion AFX with 8 Core XEON Processor running at 3.6 GHz, 16GB RAM

  • RME Fireface UFX digital audio interface

  • Avid Pro Tools 11

  • (2) Universal Audio UAD-2 cards with assorted plugins

  • Waves Gold bundle

  • Waves L3-16 Multimaximizer

  • Native Instruments Komplete 10 Ultimate

  • Windows 7 Operating System

MICROPHONES
HEADPHONE MIXES

  • Vatican City Sound boasts the only headphone distribution system of it's kind created by Michael Pope Design

  • What's Included?  One custom analog distribution hub and five mix stations, one with four outputs for a string quartet.

  • 5 Individually adjustable personal analog mixers with full talkback and dimming capability allow all the musicians to hear the way it works best for them with no latency.

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OUTBOARD GEAR

  • (1) Vintage (1961) AKG C12A tube condenser mic

  • (2) AKG 414 XLII condenser mics

  • (2) Shure KSM 32 condenser mics

  • (2) Shure KSM 137 condenser mics

  • (1) Neumann U87Ai condenser mic

  • Assorted dynamic mics

ROOMS

  • Main Room: 18'x20' with hardwood floors, aborptive ceiling, and diffused walls allowing mics to be placed farther from source for a natural light acoustic ambience, or closer for a tight, dry sound.

  • Drum booth: 8'x6' with sliding glass door for sightline to main room

  • Vocal Booth: with sightline to main room

  • Control Room: 12'x10'

  • Performance space equipped with closed circuit video. (audience up to 30, with chairs)

  • Guest room/relaxation room for out of towners with TV and internet access! 12' x 10'

  • Full bathroom with shower

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  • (2) Focusrite ISA 428 mic pres with digital card

  • (1) Avalon VTSP 737 VT mic pre

  • (1) Avalon AD 2022 mic pre

  • (1) Aphex Tubessence mic pre

  • JBL LSR2300 series Monitors

  • Closed Circuit Video

  • Video Recording Equipment

INSTRUMENTS

  • 1985 Baldwin SD-10, 9 foot concert grand piano. Maintained in concert regulation.  Tuning for sessions available for an additional charge.  (We keep it in good tune anyway, but for a recording it should be perfect!)

  • 5 piece Yamaha Oak Custom drum set with vintage Zildjian Ride, crash and Hi Hats.

  • Ensoniq SD-1 synth

  • Roland JX-8P synth with programmer

  • Wurlitzer Keyboard

  • Vintage Accordion

  • Assorted guitars, basses and percussion instruments.

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