Spread over 2500 square feet, with pristinely designed acoustics, lots of natural light, and an enviable collection of vintage and modern gear, Brooklyn’s Hyperballad Music has become the kind of space that producer/songwriter Jonathan “JB” Benedict always envisioned setting up—a classic New York studio from which great music emanates.

Jonathan and his team work on original music for commercials, sound design, music supervision, and record-making, all while fostering a studio culture that nurtures creative expression for a diverse community of artists. His credits include chart-topping remixes for Rihanna, The Killers, Fall Out Boy, and Yoko Ono, as well as production and mixing work with Azealia Banks, Ruth B, and Grant, and Super Bowl spots for Google and Pepsi.

We caught up with Jonathan to learn about his studio setup, favorite pieces of gear, relationship with Vintage King, and his vision for Hyperballad Music.

What was your vision for your studio when you set it up and how has it evolved?

Early in my career, when I was working at Island Def Jam Records, I got to meet a lot of incredible artists, as well as the phenomenal people making the records in these legendary studios. I got the chance to go to South Beach Studios and sit alongside Tom Lord-Alge while he was mixing a record; Tony Maserati would talk to me for hours about Neve consoles; Phil Tan and I discussed things like mixing in the box versus mixing on a console—it was an incredible education. All the while I was writing songs and tracking artists at my personal space in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. 

During this time, I would invest my paycheck in equipment because my goal was to build a classic New York facility. It took many years of buying a piece here, a piece there, and waiting for my moment, but then I went independent, full-time, as a producer, and started to attract some other folks to the studio.

We started out making records, working with major labels like Columbia, Capitol, etc., and Rob Niederpruem—who was my studio assistant then, and is my partner at Hyperballad now—said, “Why don't we write some music for a commercial?” I was not good at deadlines so I didn’t think it was going to go well. [Laughs] But I said, “Sure, if you can get us in, I'll try.” Well, we won a commercial against music houses that had been in the business for decades, and then we won another and another, and over time started to get much more involved in what we call the music-for-picture side of our business. Over the years we’ve worked with a lot of brands like Google, Kate Spade, Ford, Volkswagen, BMW, Budweiser, Pepsi, Puma, Kettle One, and Maybelline, to name a few.

We do a mixture of work at Hyperballad now: there's some record-making; a lot of original music for commercials; licensing and music supervision, and, earlier this year, we worked on a score for a feature film that was just released in theaters.

Everybody who works at the studio has their own music project that they're working on as well—everyone is an artist, a producer, a DJ, or some combination of those. Our passion has always been making records, so it's really about maintaining a balance between making the records that we love, expressing ourselves creatively, and also doing music for commercials and film, which, to be honest, in its inception starts out in the same way—we're making music that we love and then, at a certain point, surrendering it over to a client, listening to them, and trying to help make the changes that they need in order to get it where they want it.

Tell us about the community that has grown around the studio.

Great question. One of the things that we take really seriously is studio culture and the environment that we're creating for music making. That's way more important than the gear; that's really where everything starts, so when folks come to Hyperballad, they will feel inspired, they'll feel really safe, and they will feel comfortable doing the work that they've come to do.

The community, for me, is the most important part– this is the heart of who we are and it's the thing I'm most proud of. We have evolved into a very special space, a safe space that a lot of folks feel very comfortable making music in and have made connections through—that is our strongest virtue. We have a really great team of people at the studio itself who are very respectful and compassionate, as well as being talented and good at what they do as music makers. We’ve also built up an incredible and still-growing roster of producers, beatmakers, mixers, singers, and top liners to collaborate with. 

We've been partnered with Gender Amplified for the past three years, and that’s been a great experience. We have weekends or three- or four-day blocks where we turn the studio over to female and non-binary producers to work on projects. Sometimes they're coming in to write songs, and sometimes there's a specific partner and goal in mind—for instance, earlier this year we were partnered with Serato, so the event was focused on creating a sample pack for other producers that would be featured on the Serato website. We've met some phenomenal artists and collaborators through these events, and it’s been very positive and exciting.

What is a typical day in the studio like for you?

Honestly, I feel like there are no typical days. I think if one is seeking stability, this is probably not the right business to be in, because it really does change drastically from day to day!

If I had to boil it down to a typical day, we probably focus on the business and communication side of things first; then we get into edits—for example, maybe there is an approved session that needs to be stemmed out, so we'll send that off. Later in the day, we move into working on the original music, whether it's for ourselves, for an artist, or for a commercial. So a typical day would encompass all of that: some communication, planning, organization, and file maintenance, and then finally we get to the real heart of the matter, which is making music.

Let’s talk about gear—what drew you to your Neve 8014 console and what do you love most about it?

When I met all these great producers through the label, what I noticed immediately was that folks were talking about Neve modules and consoles in this hushed tone of reverence. There was a sense that the folks that sought out Neve gear were in it to make art, and were trying to make the best-sounding recordings possible. 

I ended up getting a pair of 1272s racked by Brent Averill early on, and when I played a Minimoog through that, I was like, “That's the sound I've been looking for! That's what I've been missing.” That began my interest in Rupert Neve and studio gear from the ’70s.

Mike Nehra, who was my original salesperson at Vintage King, suggested I get an 80 Series console, which I didn’t think I could afford at the time, but he said he’d help me figure it out. And he did—he found a great Neve 8014 console for me, and it became the centerpiece of the studio. It was originally an unloaded board, and over the years I ended up filling it with all vintage modules. I acquired the BCM10 later, and now I have 1066 originals and AMS-Neve 1084s in the 8014, and I have all vintage 1073s in the BCM10. 

It’s one of the wonderful anomalies of music that we are still using this equipment that is so old but also so well-made, and that it continues to be relevant. Especially in a culture where so many things are disposable, I find that to be very cool and noteworthy. It's endlessly fascinating to me that we use these items from a different era and they often sound better than a lot of the gear being made today.

What microphones do you find yourself using most often?

I lucked out many years ago and got a really good-sounding Neumann U 67, so for several years that was kind of my go-to vocal microphone. Generally speaking, when someone first comes in, we put up a few microphones and try to figure out what the best match is for that person's voice. The U 67 was usually the winner in those kinds of shootouts.

I was doing a session at Jungle City Studios once and they had a Neumann U 47, which is a great mic that I had used a number of times over the years at different facilities, but I never felt like I had to own one. This mic at Jungle City, however, sounded so good… we were tracking saxophone and trumpet and it sounded fantastic, so that was the day I thought, “Okay, I have to get one.” The people at the studio told me the mic came from Vintage King, so I called up Darrin Fendley, who was my VK salesperson at the time. Now, because of the records that Vintage King keeps, he was able to trace back exactly what the breakdown was of that microphone: what kind of capsule, transformer, power supply, etc. After that, it took close to a year, but he was able to source a U 47 for us that had the same combination of components and we purchased it.

That is one example of Vintage King coming through with a great piece of equipment where there was a very specific goal—and not an easy one—in terms of what I was looking for. It took a little while, but Vintage King was able to come up with the piece that I wanted and that's kind of our go-to microphone these days for vocals. It’s interesting because this particular U 47 actually doesn't sound super vintage; it doesn't have that super wooly low end that a lot of U 47s have—it's a pretty modern-sounding version of a U 47—so in terms of doing vocals for hip-hop, R&B, or dance records, it's great. In fact, we even use it for some voiceover work. I've had engineers come in and ask for other mics and I tell them to try the U 47. They're surprised at first, but as soon as they hear it, they're like, “Oh yeah, we're good.”

Another mic I really like a lot is the RE20. We put that mic up in the control room and just track vocals right there, next to the console—it's a really great sound. The Coles 4038s also get a lot of use as overheads.

What monitors are you using and how did you decide on them?

For years, because I was in a smaller facility, I was using the Dynaudio BM6As and the BM15s, which are fantastic. The smaller ones, the 6As, are some of my favorite monitors ever, and we still use them in our Studio C. 

When I was building this facility I wanted to get something bigger, so I went down to Electric Lady Studios—Studio C, which is Michael Brauer's old room—and they have the ATC SCM50ASLs in there. I listened to those and just fell in love with them instantly, so that's what I ended up getting from Vintage King and we've been using those ever since.

We use the ATCs and also a pair of NS-10s—a classic studio combo. The ATCs bring the excitement and the joy, and everything sounds so good on them. You can hear a lot—they do reveal the flaws—but they don’t just reveal what needs to be fixed, they also make things sound really beautiful, and we get really inspired and excited when we're using them. The NS-10s are very honest and tell you exactly what's going on in the midrange; if something sounds a little bit harsh there, you can guarantee that it's going to be harsh somewhere else, so you have to take it seriously. 

We also have a little pair of Yamaha HS8 monitors in the live room and that's just for playback. Sometimes we'll just play a loop and sit at the piano and jam out over it, so those monitors are great for delivering that.

What are some of your favorite pieces of outboard gear? 

I have to give a shout out to the Neve 2254s—I've had at least two of these from the very beginning. I mentioned getting the 1272s, and around that same time I got a pair of 2254/Ds which are really obscure and no one knew what they were so they were incredibly cheap! [Laughs] It wasn’t from Vintage King, it was from another company that doesn’t exist anymore. The thing about Neve modules is, there are so many different varieties and different model numbers, so if a model number seems a little obscure, people sometimes get worried and think, “Oh, maybe that's not the good one. Maybe there’s something off about it.” So I got these incredibly cheap and they live in my console. I got a pair of 2254/Es from VK later and I use those all the time. The other thing I have to give a shout-out to is the Urei 1176—we have a Rev E and a Rev F and those get used constantly. 

I am really drawn to studios that have a sound—in terms of working with artists and clients, of course, we want something that's transparent enough that we can get whatever their sound is onto the record, but I also love studios that are known for a certain texture, and we have a little of that. I think part of it is that we track exclusively through the 80 Series console, often with an old AKG BX10 analog spring reverb on the reverb sends/returns, and sometimes with the onboard 2254s. So the consoles, the compressor, the reverb, all of that together creates a certain texture that I think helps define who we are. Obviously, the sound of the room itself and the kind of instruments that we're using comes first, but I think after that these pieces of gear help color it and spice it in a way that is exciting for me. I want to feel like whatever we're doing in the studio is a document of this moment in time. Maybe we're making history. Who knows? Maybe this is something that people are going to be obsessed with for many years, so anything that we can do to put a stamp on it, within reason, is really appealing to me.

How do you feel about plug-ins?

Plug-ins are pretty essential for the work that we're doing. For instance, when we’re doing work on commercials, we’re usually competing against other folks so we need to work very quickly and make sure that everything that we're doing, even if it's a demo, sounds like it could go to broadcast pretty much from the first stage, and plug-ins are really essential there. 

What is really exciting to me about plug-ins is that if we're talking about a Minimoog, or a Prophet-5, or an Oberheim OB-X8—sure, we can record that through an original LA-2A and a Neve console and that's all been done, but to take those things and then add a really interesting plug-in on top of that… now we're getting into kind of a new territory. So the idea of incorporating vintage equipment, especially things that require a lot of tone shaping like an 808 or 909 kick drum, and then taking the plug-ins, as well as the outboard gear, and creating unique textures and sculptures out of the sound is what really intrigues me. There are some really cool plug-ins out there that will do stuff like that. 

There's this plug-in called Mishby by Freakshow Industries, which is fairly radical in terms of what you can do. It's a little unpredictable, but it's wonderfully extreme in terms of how you can change the sound. We use the Soundtoys plug-ins and those are always very useful, as are the Valhalla reverbs and plates. One of the UAD plug-ins I use a lot is the Moog Multimode Filter. We have Moogs, so we can always use those and it’s a great sound, but to be able to get that filter on a certain channel and to be able to do the automation just the way that we want is really useful.

Again, to be able to use vintage pieces in tandem with the plug-ins is exciting because it's basically leading us to some new sounds that no one has ever heard before. Hopefully, we get the classic euphonic sound of the vintage gear with the new textures of the modern plug-ins, and we're in a new sonic space.

Do you have a go-to signal chain for recording, or do you use something different every time?

Since we do a lot of vocals at the studio, using the U 47 through a Neve 1066, with either the 1176 or the 2254 on it for level control, is probably the closest thing we have to a go-to signal chain. Sometimes I’ll add an LA-2A or a Pultec, and I often track through the bus outputs. 

When it comes to synths, I always use a Countryman DI going into a Neve channel. In fact, I actually have a lot of synths just hooked up to the BCM10, which is really cool. On the Routing Module on the BCM10, you have an aux knob where Position One is the mic input, and then Position Two is a second mic input. I have 10 synths wired up to that second set of inputs, so I'm able to basically flip the switch and go from a microphone in the live room to a synth in the control room. Either way, I'm still running through that same Neve channel, and it’s a very handy way to have several mics and several synths hooked up at once.

What's it been like working with Jacob at Vintage King over the years?

Oh, it's been fantastic! I feel really lucky because I started with Mike and then when the company was growing and Mike was way too busy, I started working with Darrin, who really shepherded me through this whole phase of going from a smaller facility to where we are now, which is a 2500 square-foot facility in Williamsburg. He helped me get all of the equipment I needed to make that transition happen.

More recently, I’ve been working with Jacob and he's been very attentive, and really takes a lot of time to discuss the equipment options for someone in my position and I'm really grateful for that. He’s definitely sent me some really great gear, but he's also been someone who's been willing to listen and incorporate my feedback, and help steer me to the right things. There's a lot of trust.

Are you working on any exciting projects right now that you're able to talk about?

I’ve been working with this fantastic rapper/singer named Rocky Snyda, and we have some records that hopefully are going to come out early next year. I'm also working with this young artist who goes by Mari World, and we have a number of tracks that we've finished that I'm really, really excited about.

I have my own music that I'm working on as well, including this project called Fete Sad Girls that I do with my partner Rob—we have some music coming out before the end of the year that I'm pretty excited about as well.

I’ve mentioned finding a balance between client-based projects and artist-based projects and that's the thing that I'm most thrilled about because I feel like we got the balance a lot better this year and there’s a lot of music coming out soon!

Want to learn more about Hyperballad's history? Check out our interview with JB for Vintage King's 30th anniversary! 

Jacob SchneiderIf you’re interested in purchasing any of the gear mentioned in this blog, contact a Vintage King Audio Consultant via email or by phone at 866.644.0160.