Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Roots Music

Department of Appalachian Studies

Recording Lab

Recording Studio

LAB RATES

Standard Rate – $50/hr or $400/day

ETSU Alumni – $40/hr or $300/day

ETSU Faculty/Staff & Students – Please inquire for rate.

All rates include engineer.

Please submit all recording lab inquiries to Benjamin Bateson:

bateson@etsu.edu / 423.439.7474


Officially completed in 2008, the ETSU Recording Laboratory is a state-of-the-art recording studio on East Tennessee State University’s main campus. The recording lab is a roughly 950 square foot facility that features a spacious main tracking room, an isolation room, and comfortable control room. All of which is acoustically isolated from the rest of the building. The rooms are well treated with diffusion and sound absorption to make it an excellent sounding space for any type of recording for any genre of music. Since the studio was first built it has always been outfitted with high quality, state-of-the-art equipment. Please see the equipment list for more details.


ETSU students use the recording lab as a part of several audio production courses offered by the ETSU’s Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Roots music studies program. In these courses students learn about the physics of sound, studio signal flow, how to best record acoustic instruments, and how to use a digital audio workstation. Pro Tools Ultimate is the studio’s primary digital audio workstation and students learn to use it effectively for recording, editing, and mixing audio.

In 2016 the recording lab received a grant to replace the studio’s aging Digidesign C24 control surface with an API 1608 analog recording console. The console is the heart of the studio and provides 16 channels of high-quality preamps as well as provides more flexibility when recording and mixing. It has been a needed and welcome improvement to the studio space and has been valuable learning tool for students.

The recording lab can be rented for an hourly fee. ETSU faculty, staff, students, and alumni can rent the studio at a discounted rate. All projects are welcome from EP’s, Album projects, radio spots, dialog for TV/film, and audio books. The recording lab is capable of it all. Please contact Benjamin Bateson at bateson@etsu.edu for rates and availability.

  • Console

    API 1608 w automation 

  • Microphones

    AEA R84

    AKG C451B x2

    AKG C414 XLS x2

    AKG C3000B

    Audio Technica 4033 x2

    Earthworks M30 x2

    Neumann U87ai

    Neumann KM184 x2

    Peluso P28 x2

    Peluso P12

    Peluso 2247SE

    Peluso TR14

    Rode NTK

    Sennheiser MKH8040 x2

    Shure SM57 x4

    Shure SM58 x3

    Shure Beta 57a

    Shure KSM32 x2

    Shure KSM44

  • Preamplifiers

    API 512c x2

    Grace Design m801

    Speck Audio MP5.0 x2

    Vintech Audio 473

  • Compressors

    API 525 x2

    Daking FET III

    Distressors EL8-X x2

    Manley ELOP

    SSL 611DYN x2

    Tube-tech CL-1B

    UA 1176 x2 

  •  Equalizers

    API 550a x 14

    API 550b x 2

    API  560 x 4

    Manley Enhanced Pultec

    Chandler Ltd Tonecontrol

    RecPro Audio Pultec EQP-1A

  •  Conversion

    Burl Audio B16 Mothership

    Avid HD I/O 16x16 x2

    Pro Tools HDX 1

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