Aarchon Records offers its artists and producers an unprecedented array of options when it comes to numerous national and international locations, hardened bunkering, rail transport, and quality technical facilities. At the hub of all this audio activity is the mother of all recording studio Motherships at Aarchon Records: Addams Black Studios. For almost two decades, Addams Black Studios has been a hotbed of technical and artistic activity as Aarchon artists from all over the world have entrusted the audio facilities of Addams Black Studios with their product.

Located in a remote corner of mountainous west Texas, Addams Black Studios provides for short-term or long-term project schedules. The location is accessible by four-wheel drive vehicles, aeroplane, or hovercraft and offers every possible amenity when it comes to developing product. The resort-like atmosphere is only a glistening patina over the state-of-the-art technical machinery that operates underneath. Anyone that enters the main entrance will quickly notice the system of human conveyers that “magically” transport an individual on moving paths through the mammoth complex. These are not ordinary conveyers as they are made from moving slabs of concrete using computerized hydraulics.

At the heart of the Mothership is the Addams Black Control Center. from here everything that takes place at the studios can be efficiently monitored and managed 24/7. The range of operational duties for the full-time staff is staggering. Several staff members are responsible for all catering and resort suite facilities. No detail is too small to be managed, from sanitizing hotel suites to checking the bass level in the mix in Studio J to adjusting the computerized ducting to keep the air free of cedar contaminants. Privacy is a high priority at the studios since many guests are high-profile artists and producers: numerous surveillance cameras operate continuously to ensure that no one invades the privacy of someone who is trying to generate product.

Enough cabling runs through the complex to reach 3% of the way to Alpha Centauri – which is over 100 billion miles. Power is generated from a system of turbines (left) that extract energy from a massive geothermal vent underneath the complex so that the entire energy grid is self-sustaining and produces no pollutants (except for the occasional end product). As with many of Aarchon’s other facilities, the entire compound can be lowered (and hidden) miles beneath the earth’s surface in case of nuclear attack or natural disaster (right).

Technically, Addams Black is second to none, which can be interpreted in many ways. Here we see a plasma core apparatus (top) used for generating input to a roomful of frequency analysis equipment (bottom). This type of technically marvelous system allows product-generation individuals to perform frequency spectrum analyses so detailed  that only dogs, bats, and other small animals can detect variations and anomalies. Indeed, checking mixes at dusk in one of the outdoor amphitheaters located at the compound is discouraged since emerging bat colonies will detect frequencies in the super-refined mixes and forego eating millions of pounds mosquitos in order to enjoy the artist’s product. Once every three months, the plasma core for each frequency analysis platform must be flushed and replenished using a special system of ducts and channels. Used plasma is taken from this system and launched into space where it is dispersed into the cosmos. New plasma is sucked from an underground pool near the earth’s core through the geothermal vent used to power the facility. The process is expensive, but it is well worth it since the cost is passed on the consumer. This frequency analysis step is only one facet of the overall process available to those lucky enough to schedule time at Addams Black Studios. Detailed frequency reports are generated electronically and can be examined by artists and producers from anywhere in the facility: studio monitor screens, resort suite rooms, wireless laptops, pop-up monitors in lounges and restaurants, projections onto neighboring cliffs (for the outdoors type).

Not everyone who produces product at Addams Black Studios has the privilege of working with the gargantuan, 365-channel Cyclops 11000 digital mixer. Shown above is a segment of the control room used to house the massive mixer complex. Each mixer channel is provided with its own manned station. The first seventeen of the 365 channels are shown here along with the central control units. The entire room is almost 800 feet long and for extremely complex mixes can have over 400 people operating the panels at one time. Using the system for symphonic recordings, each member of the orchestra can have his/her own dedicated mic. Flute too loud? No problem. The recording engineer can text message the channel 162 operator or speak directly through the voice-activated intercom system with its video monitor at station 162. Producers like to describe the system as having one channel for each day of the year (except leap year). But, for mixes that go beyond the 365 available in Studio A, Addams Black can interface its other Cyclops 11000 so that the two mixers can be used in tandem for a whopping 730 total channels. Plans to add a third Cyclops 11000 are in the works so that recording a 1000-person choir with dedicated mics will be possible. If a member of the choir hits a bad note, the person at the culprit’s dedicated mixer channel will be able to quickly detect the probelm and run that person’s vocal through some of Addams Black’s sophisticated pitch correction software right at the station, thus preserving the purity of the performance.

Dedication to quality occurs at all levels of the product-generation process. Installed in Studio C are some of the world’s most sensitive, high-performance microphones, the QuantumFlux 22D (pictured here). These microphones are so sensitive that they can capture the sound of dust particles hitting the mic surface. For this reason all persons using Studio C must operate in a dust-free, bacteria-free, “clean” environment, necessitating the use of the special “spermatozoa suits” as shown in the picture. Once, during a failure of Addams Black’s automated ducting system, a backup in a flow valve caused dust to bombard several 22D’s resulting in widespread panic when it appeared that World War II had broken out and the entire compound was lowered beneath the earth’s surface (for a short time) as a precautionary procedure. In most cases, recording, mixing, and mastering continued unimpeded and there was no stoppage in the generation of product. To prevent further mishaps, a failsafe system was put in place in order to detect if a true attack is taking place or whether it’s just one or more QuantumFlux 22D’s doing what they do best: providing the ultimate in recording fidelity. Such fine quality sound capturing would be lost without good quality monitor speakers and the Xerolith Phantoms are just such an item. These speakers can reproduce frequencies down to 0 Hz which is the lowest frequency t hat nature can produce. At the top end, the Phantoms can produce microwave radiation that can be detected on cell phones and satellite receivers. Needless to say, engineers always have to meticulously EQ audio to prevent these high fidelity artifacts from occurring.

Recording performances is not limited to indoor facilities as the ambience of the great outdoors is sometimes of artistic merit. Some artists prefer to lay down tracks in the Hanging Gardens area (Studio H). Others prefer more modest facilities as shown in the dark recesses of Studio R. And when the artistic requirements for a project indicate that underground recording will produce the best product, the facility can be lowered beneath the earth’s surface for the session(s).  

The final step in developing any product is to preview it in as many different venues as possible. For this, Addams Black Studios has spared no expense. Several different-sized preview auditoriums are available, the largest of which can seat four thousand people. At a moment’s notice, a large group of trained individuals can be hovercafted into the compound in order to check out the mix on the latest product under development. An outdoor amphitheater is also available. Each seat in a preview auditorium is equipped with an armrest joystick so that output from all the sticks in the room can be compiled and analyzed to determine where a product succeeds or fails. Whether it is a mixing problem or a mastering problem, feedback from a live audience “shipped in” to the remote location is invaluable in determining if there is anything lacking in the product. In addition, if the audience acts capriciously or maliciously toward an artist or product, the entire facility can be lowered beneath the earth’s surface to give them a fright and say, “Hey, this is serious business here. Don’t mess with our product.”