Ice Cream Factory Studio

01/03/2025

So flattered to be included in this illustrious list and nominated for an Austin Music Award for the second time! Thanks and while my little room is up against some pretty legendary spots, I’m hopeful for another plaque this year!

12/22/2024

Enjoy this new song from fine folks!

DEADLINE is now out there finding its own way in this world, and you can help it out by streaming it at your favorite spot, point your friends/enemies its way.

Recorded, mixed and, mastered by Matt Parmenter at Ice Cream Factory Studio….We have a ball every time over there.

Give it a spin or two. Happy holidays, y’all.

11/18/2024

Happy from DFW airport, on my way to Egypt where there probably won’t be any fun microphones. Today’s feature is an end address SDC from Sony circa 1985. I wasn’t so sure about this one until I put it behind the drums on a very short stand and obliterated it with an 1176. It’s not a favorite flavor mic for drum tracking, and probably cool for a lot of other uses but I kinda just want to leave it right where it is since it’s getting such nasty nice tones without harsh high frequencies. The 355 is a little rare, 350s are a lot more common. Gotta go get on a plane. Have fun, be safe, use a weird mic in a weirder spot while I’m gone, wouldya?

11/06/2024

Just so you know.

10/21/2024

What is this, a microphone for ANTS? It’s once again, and we’re revisiting something I did back in ‘92 that I wanted to try again. Back then I had a cassette boombox and a Sony electret lavalier mic that I would drop inside the sound hole of a parlor acoustic guitar (‘63 Norma from Sears, specifically) and it sounded way better than I expected, like a real recording from a studio! I’ve used that trick a couple more times, but not with a proper lav mic, until I got this nice Sanken COS-11 the other day. Tracked acoustic with it yesterday and it sounded great paired with a Sony C-48, though it has a little woofy low frequency distortion that made sense for the song we were tracking, but wouldn’t necessarily work every time. This setup also makes a really decent acoustic mic solution for live tracking acoustic near other loud sources. Despite being omnidirectional (with the cutest pop filter), it does a pretty good job of picking up mainly the inside of the guitar. If you have a lav hanging around, try it in non-traditional places!

10/16/2024

I made this fun little funky tune using only one AKG D12 from the 1960s, played all the instruments myself, and created an extended version of the track for your enjoyment. I've published it to a new platform I'm trying out. Check it out and if you feel it, drop a buck to own some original music just like the olden days.

Listen to Lost Souls by icfstudio. Funky, soulful instrumental jam featuring Matt Parmenter on all vintage instruments, including Hohner Pianet N, Hammond B3, bass and drums. All instruments recorded with a single 1960's AKG D12 microphone at Ice Cream Factory Studio.

10/14/2024

Back in Japan for this with THREE Sony C-48 mics, two early serial numbers that have lived together for many years (since the 70’s, I think), and one that’s from a production house that decided to grind off their marks. The C-48 has been compared favorably to the vintage Neumann U87, with similar polar pattern, bass rolloff, and pad options. The capsules are a little different than the 37 and 38 in that they use a double sided capsule to make the patterns rather than a mechanical switch as the predecessors did. They have an EQ curve that’s similar to the C-38 but much lower noise floor and more inherent gain. So far they’ve done duty on drums overheads and directly over the kick, in front of clean and driven guitar amps, on vocals, and acoustic guitar, with stellar results all around. I think I’ll be putting these up as new primary drum overheads, they really sound sweet up there.

09/03/2024

KUTX song of the day, whipped up right here at ICF! https://kutx.org/song-of-the-day/parker-woodland-ladder-at-your-window/?

The Austin rockers share their debut LP 'There's No Such Thing as Time' this Friday alongside a release show at Mohawk that same night.

08/05/2024

Happy belated from Grundig, intrepid rebranders of the magical Sennheiser MD408, baby brother of the revered MD409 that everyone loves on guitar. These little dudes are basically the same idea with a little less low frequency response, which is often a good thing. Also, they lock together to make stereo pair with a center or 90° detent OR snap apart and mount on separate stands. They’re pretty versatile as dynamic cardioid mics go, I’ve used their Sennheiser branded twins on guitar, horns, vocals, snare, toms, bass, and percussion. This pair got shorter cords (the original leads were absurdly long and flimsy) and nice Neutrik XLR jacks to replace the funky kleine tuchel connectors, along with a 3/8” to 5/8” adapter for western mic stands. If you’re in the market, this pair is up for sale, I’ll be listing them soon for like 185 bucks or something, which is like the price for one MD408, so, pretty good deal!

08/02/2024

Have you been down on your luck? Commiserate with the Texas String Assembly fellas in their new video, featuring Sabrina Ellis (who was absolutely amazing in their vocal session that we tracked one fine evening) taking this tune to the stratosphere.

07/29/2024

This happens to be my mom’s birthday too. Among her many artistic skills she’s a highly accomplished seamstress and quilter, so when I asked for covers for my microphones, she stepped up big time, making very nice, durable covers with custom embroidered lettering, one large bag with a drawstring. She also designed custom music stand covers for the Manhasset stands that are normally noisy and reflective when they’re too close to a vocalist’s mic. I asked, she measured one and came up with a Velcro closure for the back, so they’re easy to slip off and wash. She’s a gem and I’m a lucky guy to have such a talented, kind-hearted mom. She’s not an online kind of person, so if you have nice stuff to say about her I’ll pass it along manually when I talk to her. If you want to buy custom music stand or mic covers for your studio, school, orchestra, or whatever, hit me up and we’ll figure something out!

07/22/2024

Sony C-37P! The FET version of one of the greatest microphones ever made in Japan. This I get to show off the newest mic that made a full weekend of sessions delightful. We tracked drums, two acoustic guitars, vocals, piano, vibraphone, and percussion with this beauty and it was amazing on everything. The only spot where I didn’t love it was on the 1956 Supro Spectator cranked up to 10. The RCA BK-5B was the better choice for that sound. This relatively small bodied large diaphragm cardioid (or omni) mic has a -8dB pad switch, low frequency rolloff options in settings from M (unfiltered) through V2. It was one of the first transistorized microphones, and is a little darker with slightly lower output than the later C-38B, but on most sources it’s still very flattering and clear. Looking forward to putting it through the paces on more piano and drum sessions soon!

07/15/2024

We’re back to Japan for another with a sequential serial number pair of 80’s C-535P cardioid pencil condensers! Some folks say they’re KM84 killers, but I think they have a slightly different character, more in line with Sony’s other high end condenser mics of the time. They sound phenomenal on vibraphone, acoustic, and drum overheads, and I’ll be trying them on snare and piano soon as well. The -10dB pad is handy for loud sources, though they handle a lot of spl before noticeable distortion. These ones are the end address version, the 536P is the side address. Standard +48V power gets them running.

07/08/2024

Happy from good old and this beat up, beautiful, perfect sounding MD409 U3 from the 80’s. When the capsule in this mic is healthy, it’s very full range, and sounds like a high end voice-over dynamic. They tend to go thin with age and use, but this one still sounds great. Covered in tour markings, bumps, scrapes, engraved, it’s just a bunch of personality in my opinion. If you want the classic 409 sound without the price tag, my shootout against the new e906 has the two sitting sonically in very close proximity. The newer ones miss a bit of the top end of the older ones, but they also have a high boost/cut switch so it’s possible to make up some of that high end in the mic.

07/01/2024

Happy from the DM6, a new supercardioid condenser mic that is making my life easier every time I track with it. Clear, detailed, “realistic” in a way that’s more of what I want to hear in a finished kick sound and less of the boxy, unvarnished sound of the kick. I find that as an inside mic paired with the TUL F47 I favor for the outside, I’m getting everything I need out of the vintage walnut kick that’s been on deck most often these days. I put it up against a large selection of kick and kick-related mics for a shootout and it was at the top of the list beside the sE V Kick for inside kick mic duties. The mount is a super elegant swivel that I now want for every mic in the collection. It makes positioning simple and very quick. This one’s a keeper!

06/27/2024

We made this super fun track with Nakia, and the video just dropped! If you want to know what a Texas cowboy bear drag fever dream feels like, hit play. Lots of 80's influences in the music too, so if that's your jam, well, this is likely to be your jam!

Official Music Video for "Signal" by NakiaStream "Signal" - https://ffm.to/nakia_signalNakia's Website: https://nakia.net/Nakia on Instagram: https://instagr...

06/24/2024

Happy courtesy of a little known company called MBHO. We’ve featured the MB 301 before, which is a unidirectional ribbon in the same vein as the Beyerdynamic M260, but with a different magnet setup. This is one of their condenser offerings, named the Authensis AXIS CS, which obviously describes the swivel head capsule. There is essentially no information about these mics other than that they were custom made for a German company called Sonos, and are marketed as high end conference mics, but even stranger is that there’s no manufacturer marks on these, nor any info beyond what can be gleaned from MBHO’s site (they sell the swivel as an accessory to their capsule-body line, like the Neumann KM100 series, but these are fixed and unremovable). MBHO has some shared DNA with Beyerdynamic and Schoeps, and sonically there are similarities. Wide cardioid condensers with a super sleek looking swivel head, very nice full range sound, and they’re fantastic on piano, acoustic, and other sources where an SDC makes sense. Hard to pin down an age on these, but it seems like maybe 80’s. This is also the debut of my sweet new light box for photos (happy birthday to me!). Things are getting profesh around here!