It was not too long ago that a feature on home taping would primarily be based around the home studio as a 'hobby'. However, times change and as equipment becomes smaller and cheaper we come to the point where many serious musicians have home recording equipment that would put most 'professional' studios of five or 10 years ago to shame.

More specifically, it was the advent of Fostex's B16 16-track recorder which opened the flood gates with its price tag of £3,000 and a ½" tape format.

The system has become even more popular as companies who commission songwriters to produce Muzak (for commercials, short films, etc) now prefer or even expect the songwriter to have his own multitracking facilities. A typical example would be for a client to come to the songwriter with a 'brief' of the ad — he will usually be given the script, containing both visual cues and voice over, and a sketchy explanation of the type of music desired will then ensue.

One person who is in the unenviable position of having to decipher and realise the ad man's demanding requests is Patrick Wilson. He is a 28 year old musician/songwriter who has been working at producing such masterpieces for the past three years. Starting out with parental help and with Tascam's 80-8 eight track recorder as the studio's backbone; he has endured the eccentricities of production houses and come out with his head still in one piece.

In his basement flat in sunny Brighton, Patrick has built up his home studio to the point where the quality of recordings he is able to produce suffices as a finished master. In the space of one small room (16'x 16'), he has a 16 track facility, not surprisingly with Fostex's B16, Soundtracs 16-8-16 desk, Teac's 32-2B ¼" mixdown machine, with monitoring on JBL L110s with a Quad 405 power amp and a pair of Auratone C5s. He uses the B16 with its optional remote control (which he says is worth every penny...), mounted on a mike stand over the mixing desk. Microphones are simply two Calrec phantom powered CM1050s, and he has a portable Nakamichi cassette deck (more of which, later).

On the outboard gear front, his flagship and more recent acquisition is the Quantec Room Simulator reverb. This is a most unusual item for a home studio, in fact most professional studios would sacrifice life and limb to be able to own a Quantec. However, before you jump to any conclusion as to Patrick Wilson's financial status ("Rich Bastard!", "He must be a thief!", "I wonder if he would like to marry my sister?" etc), his justification for such an investment is very sound in both my eyes and his bank manager's — so read on.

The other pieces of outboard gear pale in the shadow of the Quantec, though they are equally as necessary and usable: a Drawmer DL221 dual compressor limiter, Drawmer DS201 dual noise gate, Dynacord DDL12 digital delay, and a couple of graphic equalisers (Teac).

Then moving swiftly to his instruments, Patrick is a devoted Yamaha DX7 user. This, although not the most expensive instrument of the lot, does prove to be the 'backbone' of his set-up, for it is his favourite 'feeling' keyboard. From the DX7's MIDI bus, he controls an Emulator 1, Juno 106 and programme sequences on Roland's MSQ700. Other instrumentation is SCI's Drumtraks, a Tokai Jazz Bass and a Fender Stratocaster.

To come back to the Emulator, this is where we get the justification for a Quantec reverb. Most of the music which Patrick is commissioned to do requires 'real' instrument sound (from woodwinds to upright bass etc). He finds the tone of the Emulator 1 unconvincing on its own.

I was even having a listen to the new Emulator 2 the other day, and although it is a superb instrument, it still requires the naturalness of Quantec reverb to bring it to life.

I was given an audio demonstration of this, and when played alongside 'real' recordings of classical or light MOR, the Emulator does indeed require that certain something that Patrick finds the Quantec alone is able to provide. Not only that, but he also has learnt to rely on specifications less and less over the years, as reverbs such as the AMS look better on paper, and indeed can have a more striking effect on vocals, but their unnatural ability to produce reverb up to the highest audible frequency detracts from the reality of true reverberation only acting on the midrange. Therefore, a Quantec is what it had to be, since Mr Wilson's musical endeavours are primarily concerned with instrumental reality, and instrumental music in general (whether it be Classical/Rock, or high tech Electrofunk).

However with all the current praise for the E2 at the expense of the E1 (emphasising the E1's failings of only 8kHz bandwidth and two second sampling), I was stunningly reminded of what the E1 can achieve in the hands of an expert — non-existent looping of sounds, hard, powerful strings, 'Fairlight' choral sounds, exciting percussion — in fact, although having a Drumtraks in his possession, Patrick finds he reverts to drum samples on the E1, sequenced by the MSQ700. In this way, he can have more control over drums sounding more unique, and this is where he finds having his portable Nakamichi cassette recorder so handy — he played me some of the samples of drum sounds he had taken from friends' drum kits and various other sources (drum solos off records etc), with the results sounding very much like complete drum kits — rather than the unnatural separation associated with drum machines.

Even though Patrick has such an extensive studio in his flat, he still finds it essential to do his writing on a Portastudio to keep all the ideas in proportion with one another.

"I bought Teac's excellent 244 Portastudio primarily for writing on — with all the different things to think about with the 16 track, one can sometimes lose track of the bare foundations of a piece. You may come across a great sound on the DX whilst laying down a track, and it is hard not to use it just for the sake of it, thus distracting or over-elaborating."

Another interesting quirk is that Patrick also has a normal-ish hi-fi in another room, and it is with this that he does any demonstrating or discussion of his work with clients.

"It is essential to hear the music in the context of its final destination — ie, on the radio or television-type mediums. If the client hears the recordings in the control room, they will have a little bit of a let down when they hear the finished product over the radio in their car. It's surprising how many people can't understand why £10 car speakers don't sound the same as my JBLs powered by a hundred watt Quad power amp, and so my Sony hi-fi works a treat and keeps everybody happy."

I enquired as to how he found working with 16 tracks on half inch tape, and what, if any, were its limitations?

"The B16 is simply a wonderful piece of engineering. My previous machine divided half inch tape into eight tracks, consequently one might expect something approaching half the quality over 16 tracks — but this is certainly not the case. I never bounce tracks as I often mix certain things 'live' from the sequencer triggered to a time code on tape, and so first generation recordings are all I ever need. The time code is always recorded on track 15, so I usually try to leave track 15 free for good measure. So as far as recording quality limitations go, there are none worth mentioning out of the ordinary."

As most of the instruments are DI'd, the two Calrec mikes are found to be sufficient for most purposes — sampling into the Emulator, recording acoustic guitar or a bit of vocals etc. One thing that Patrick does, notwithstanding direct injection of instruments, is to put everything through the Drawmer dual noise gate before being recorded. In this way, he has absolute control over noise levels. The other Drawmer item, the Dual Compressor Limiter, is hardly ever used.

"One thing that I am very aware of, is the need for dynamics in music. Just as a touch sensitive keyboard such as the DX7 can add a new dimension of expression to sounds, so can the manipulation of the dynamics in a complete composition, adding intensity or relaxation as seems necessary.

"I would like to emphasise the relevance of the Roland Juno 106 in my set-up too, even though it may seem meek in the shadow of the Emulator. I use it to a large extent for its quality of tone, especially with its chorus. I find myself using it live in the final mix, triggered from the MSQ700, as the Soundtracs desk has enough inputs to facilitate more than the 16 tracks's outputs."

As for the control room's construction, this was deceptively preconceived, as there are residential lodgings both above and on either side of Patrick's flat. An inner shell was built within the largest of the flat's four rooms. First he 'tore out' the floorboards, and filled the resulting void with cement, then reinstated a floor and then secondary walls and ceiling above and behind which was 'dumped' a ton of sand. The result of this exercise was to reduce escaping vibrations by 80% at minimal cost (since he did it himself).

"The original quotation I was given for the work was more than it would cost to buy a castle on a hill somewhere where you wouldn't have neighbour problems, so I just asked around about how its done, and did it myself."

The final result of Patrick Wilson's endeavours are recordings of a calibre that could conceivably have been recorded at any top notch studio. This is primarily due to careful attention to detail, and a lot to do with the Quantec. With so much achieved already, I wondered what the future might have in store for him.

"I believe that the role of technology in music has hardly begun. Things are still a bit gross, like having to change chips in the Drumtraks for different sounds, all that sort of thing as will as the music itself. I am looking forward to working with much more rich sounds, things with rougher edges but more tonal excitement.

"My next project to embark on is recording some Heavy Rock — all those rough edges really excite me — all this sequencing will have improved considerably in a couple of years and the human ear will desire human sounds. However, until then, I will carry on producing the music I am asked to produce, and remain grateful that I can be paid for what I regard as experience.

Patrick Wilson can be contacted on Brighton (Contact Details)