River City Studios, Ltd.

River City Studios, Ltd. Michigan's longest running recording and production studio - located in beautiful Grand Rapids! We'd love to hear from you! ft "live room"
(2) 200 Sq. ft.

Under new ownership and management as of 2012, River City Studios strives to establish the most comfortable, creative, recording and production experience possible for all artists. River City Studios and our staff specialize in audio production for: Music, Film, Television, Radio, Web, Video Games, New Media. After 35 years in business along with the combined experience and talent of our engineer

s that is rarely matched in today's world, we absolutely know how to deliver top "industry" sounding productions every day, that we can guarantee will compete directly along side (and in some cases exceed) anything you might expect to hear out of the bigger studio markets such as NY, LA, Chicago, Nashville etc. From platinum selling recording artists, to Hollywood movie productions, to our favorite home-town Michigan based music artists... we've done it all here at River City. For more information or inquires about bookings, the studios, our staff, equipment etc. please visit our website : www.rivercitystudios.com
or give us a call at (616)-456-1404. Equipment list:

Studio A:

1,000+ Sq. Attached ISO rooms
Avid Pro Tools 10 HD 3 -32 Input/Output. Apogee Rosetta 800 AD/DA conversion
Switchcraft Gold TT Bantam 96 point patch bay systems
Avid C24 - Pro Tools control surface
Tannoy System 800A time-aligned near-field monitor systems
Yamaha NS-10M near-field monitor systems
Vintage UREI 813b time-aligned mid-field "Mains" monitor systems
Urei 6250 and Hafler P500 power amps for monitors

Outboard compression (Always expanding, and subject to change) :

(2) Vintage UREI 1176 LN Rev E 'Blackface' compressor/limiters restored by Vintage King Audio
(2) Vintage DBX 160x w/Revive Audio 'Burr Brown' modifications
(4) Vintage Valley People 'Dynamite' dynamics compressors

Microphone Locker:
(2) Vintage original Neumann U87 restored by Vintage King Audio
(3) Vintage original Neumann KM84 restored by Vintage King Audio
(2) Neumann KM184
(1) Neumann TLM 103
(2) Peluso 2247 SE (U47) tube mic clones
(2) Royer R-122 ribbon mic
(2) Royer R-101 ribbon mic
(4) Vintage AKG C-414 B-ULS
(2) AKG C-414 XL-II (Matched Pair)
(1) AKG C-414 TL-II
(2) Vintage Sony C-48
(2) EV RE-20
(1) Shure SM7b
(1) Sennheiser MD 441
(7) Sennheiser MD 421
(1) Shure KSM 27
(7) Shure SM 57
(5) Shure SM 58
(1) Shure Beta 87
(2) Shure Beta 52a
(1) Shure "Green Bullet" Dynamic Microphone
(2) AKG D 112
(6) Sennheiser MK-416 shotgun microphones
(1) Neumann KMR-81 shotgun mic
(2) Oktava Mk-012 ('Bills Recording' Mod)
(2) Rode NT-1A
(1) Rode NT-2
(4) Crown PZM boundary microphones
(1) Audio Technica AT 4040
(2) EV 664 (ZZ-top Mic)
(3) Sanken wired Lavalier

Microphone preamplifiers (As of current. Always expanding and subject to change) :

(4) Grace Design 101
(2) Great River MP-1NV (Neve styled preamps)
(2) Original Universal Audio M610 tube microphone preamps with EQ (the good ones with the bigger-better power supplies + lower noise)
(2) Focusrite ISA 110
(2) Earthworks 1022 ZDT stereo mic preamps
(4) Focusrite Platinum Twin Track
(1) vintage Ted Fletcher designed JOE MEEK VC1Q mic preamp
(16) Avid C24 mic preamps

Outboard FX processing:
(2) Eventide H3000 SE stereo multi-fx (blue face & grey face)
(1) Eventide DSP 4500 stereo multi-fx
(1) Lexicon PCM 90 stereo reverb
(1) Lexicon PCM 80 stereo multi-fx + reverb
(1) TC Electronic 2290 stereo digital delay
(1) TC Electronic FireWorx stereo multi-fx
(1) TC Electronic D-Two stereo digital delay
(1) TC Electronic M-One XL stereo multi-fx
(1) Sony DPS D7 stereo digital delay
(1) Sony DPS M7 "stereo modulation" fx
(1) Digitech Studio-Quad multi-fx
(1) Yamaha R1000 mono reverb
(1) Boss SE-50 stereo multi-fx
(1) Vintage AKG BX-10 stereo spring reverb
(1) Ensoniq DP4 Quad multi-fx
(1) Akai S1100 stereo sampler
(1) Akai S6000 stereo sampler+fx

Instruments:

(Drums)
(1) Pearl MDX 6 piece shell kit w/ vintage Pearl 14x5 "Free-Floating" snare. (1)DW Performer 5 piece kit
(1) Sonor Custom 4 piece shell kit
(1) DW Custom 4 piece shell kit. (1) Slingerland vintage snare
(1) DW custom snare

Ziljian "K Custom" crashes, hi-hats, rides... various sizes. Paiste 2002 rides and crashes... various sizes
Sabian AAX hi-hat and rock crash

(Synthesizers, Pianos, Keys, and Drum Machines)

(1) Clavia Nord Lead 2 w/expanded voice upgrade and PCMCIA card memory card
(1) Access Virus kB (61 key semi-weighted keyboard version) w software version 3.2 and expanded voice option. (1) Kurzweil K2000 VP Edition with tons of additional loadable sound banks
(1) Kurzweil K2500
(1) Kurzweil PC 2X
(1) Roland JP-8000
(1) Roland JP-8080 rack mount synth w/external audio inputs to filterbank
(1) Roland Super JV-1080 rack synth module w/expanded x4 voice card. (1) Waldorf MicroWave I 'wavetable' rack synth w/orignal PPG analog filter bank
(1) Waldorf Q rack synth module (big, bright & yellow!)
(1) Native Instruments Maschine drum machine and groove sampler
(1) Native Instruments REAKTOR 5 modular synthesizer
(1) Native Instruments ABSYNTH synthesizer
(1) Propellerheads Reason version 5. w/tons of additive sound banks
(1) Propellerheads ReCycle 2.1
(1) Korg DDD-1 vintage drum machine
(1) MOTU Midi Time Piece 8x8 MIDI Interface
(1) M-Audio Midi Sport 2x2 MIDI Interface
(1) Vintage Hammond M3 organ w/Leslie speaker
(1) Yamaha C1 Baby-Grand piano

Guitars/Amps:

(1) Gibson Les Paul standard
(1) Washburn Idol WI-64
(1) Epiphone Les Paul standard
(1) Fender American Stratocaster
(1) Fender Jazz Bass

(1) Marshall JCM 900 tube 100w head
(1) Vintage Orange 2x12 cabinet

-Assortments of guitar stomp boxes:

Pro Co Rat, Pro Co Turbo Rat, Electro-Harmonix Big M**f, Metal M**f, Deluxe Electric Mistress, Boss DS-1, OS-2, PH-3, DD-3, CH-1. Metal Zone... We have a stock pile of stomp boxes. If we don't have it, we can get it. Tape Machines:

(1) MCI Sony JH-24 Two inch/24 track analog tape machine
(1) Studer A810 1/2 Inch-two track tape machine
(1) Ampex ATR-102 1/2 Inch-two track tape machine
(1) Otari 1/4 Inch-four track tape machine
(2) Tascam DA-88s DAT machine
(2) Panasonic SV 3800 DAT machine


Plug-ins:

Waves V9.1 Mercury (Native/w select TDM versions)
Waves SSL bundle (Native)
McDSP Emerald bundle (Native)
Slate Digital VBC, VCC, VTM, FG-X
Avid "Digi-Rack" and AIR plug-ins
SPL Transient Designer
URS Console Strip Pro (Native)
Softube Cl1B compressor ( TDM/Native)
Abbey Road TG12345 compressor package (Native)
Sonnox Oxford: Inflator, Transmod, Dynamics, EQ, SuprEsser


-Mogami gold, Canare "star-quad", Pro Co "Dyna-Mike" microphone & Instrument cabling
-Mogami & Monster 'Pro-Link" TT Patch Cabling
-Mogami & Gepco studio and rack wiring.

11/08/2025

Musician & Engineer Jeff Knol recording drums for West Michigan artist Shari Van Hart @ RCS!

Singer-songwriter Shari Van Hart is back at RCS 30+ years after her first record with us in ‘92! She is back and a bett...
11/08/2025

Singer-songwriter Shari Van Hart is back at RCS 30+ years after her first record with us in ‘92!
She is back and a better artist than ever. She’s writing & recording a new full length album with us and we can’t wait to share her music with the world!
Engineers: Austin Ruhstorfer & Jeff Knol at the helm.
Drums & Perc: Jeff Knol

From the hallowed halls on GoodrichTo the spooky studios on MonroeWe wish you a Halloween filled with tricks and treats ...
10/31/2025

From the hallowed halls on Goodrich
To the spooky studios on Monroe
We wish you a Halloween filled with tricks and treats
a of course a groovin' tempo!!

Join us today in wishing our chief audio engineer, Austin, a pop-rockin' Birthday! We can't thank you enough for your c...
10/28/2025

Join us today in wishing our chief audio engineer, Austin, a pop-rockin' Birthday! We can't thank you enough for your creativity, virtuosity, and originality that you bring to every client you work with! We love you, bud! Cheers to another year!

The Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Zapata Family recorded a beautiful song to perpetuate their culture throu...
10/13/2025

The Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Zapata Family recorded a beautiful song to perpetuate their culture through traditional Potawatomi music recorded at River City Studios.
This project apart of a larger preservation effort for Library of Congress seeks to help a community preserve their nations stories.

Thank you for choosing our studio to aid in your preservation efforts. It was an honor and pleasure to work with the Zapata family and be part of this historic session. Here is the feature from the May/June Library of Congress Magazine.
https://lcm.loc.gov/issue/may-june-2025/preserving-cultural-practices/
Photo credit - JW Newson

Let's start the weekend off by spotlighting one of our favorite narrators/clients to work with...Mr. Fred Stella!!Fred S...
09/19/2025

Let's start the weekend off by spotlighting one of our favorite narrators/clients to work with...Mr. Fred Stella!!

Fred Stella has had an extensive career in media and entertainment (both on-camera and in voice work) for over 4 decades. In the past 25 years he's both narrated and directed over 200 titles. As with several other West Michigan commercial actors, Fred got his start at Brilliance Audio, a formerly independent audiobook publisher in Grand Haven that is now owned by Amazon. Over time the model for audiobook recording has changed a great deal. Most narrators now have home studios and record by themselves. While Fred does this on occasion for small projects, he realizes that sometimes you need to call in the pros. For these he loves making River City Studios his partner. Not only is he assured of the highest audio quality, but Ace Engineer Joe McCargar doesn't just push buttons and turn k***s. He also acts as a disciplined director, making sure that Fred is delivering his best performance.

Over the summer of 2025 Fred and Joe worked tirelessly to produce 3 titles as they juggled tight deadlines with tight deadlines and their other projects. They are:

"The Last Adieu" The story of the Marquis de Lafayette, the Frenchman who was so inspired by the American fight for liberty that he joined Washington and other Founders in our Revolution.

""How to be Bold." A wonderful motivational book that encourages readers/listeners to take both historical and "everyday" heroes who have displayed unwavering courage in the face of slim odds as models for inspiration in dealing with life.

"Hidden Medicine" This effort, written by a psychiatrist, explains how the cultivation of spiritual practice ( from all world religions) can improve mental and emotional well-being when coupled with therapy.

These works, along with many other titles narrated by Fred Stella can be sampled at www.audible.com by simply searching Fred's name. He can be contacted at [email protected] should you have a project in need of a voice.

If you happen to be on the East side of the state, near Royal Oak tomorrow (Sunday, August 31st, 2025) head on over to t...
08/31/2025

If you happen to be on the East side of the state, near Royal Oak tomorrow (Sunday, August 31st, 2025) head on over to the Arts, Beats, and Eats Festival! https://artsbeatseats.com/beats
Our good friends and very talented musicians - Asamu Johnson and The Associates Of The Blues will taking the R & B stage at 2:15 p.m.

Featuring a variety of genres at over 9 stages throughout the weekend, Michigan Lottery Arts, Beats & Eats presented by Flagstar Bank showcases the finest local and national entertainment acts celebrating Labor Day Weekend in downtown Royal Oak!

Wishing our friends over at an amazing opening weekend of Dreamgirls! 🌟 Loved having you all in our space to capture th...
07/10/2025

Wishing our friends over at an amazing opening weekend of Dreamgirls! 🌟

Loved having you all in our space to capture these stunning promo pics. Can’t wait for everyone to see the show! 🎭

A sweeping and inspirational journey through 20th century American pop music, DREAMGIRLS chronicles one Motown group’s rise from obscurity to superstardom.

Not only is it about the music, but the behind-the-scenes reality of the entertainment industry – the business part of show business that made this musical a cultural phenomenon. Through gospel, R&B, smooth pop, disco and more, DREAMGIRLS explores themes of ambition, hope and betrayal, all set in the glamorous and competitive world of the entertainment industry. Now on stage from July 10th thru the 26th at Circle Theatre. For show details, tickets, and more, visit circletheatre.org!

Today is a very special day...It's National Ice Cream Sundae day, National Blueberry day, National Video Game Day-but th...
07/09/2025

Today is a very special day...It's National Ice Cream Sundae day, National Blueberry day, National Video Game Day-but the most notable reason for this day is that it's our own Ryan Elvert's Birthday!! Help us in wishing Ryan a Fantastic Day! We love you Ryan - thanks for your wit, your charm and your Amazing Engineering skills! River City Studios is fortunate to have you on our team!

Wishing the happiest of birthdays to our fabulous studio manager, Jackie! Thank you for everything you do for us at RCS ...
07/06/2025

Wishing the happiest of birthdays to our fabulous studio manager, Jackie! Thank you for everything you do for us at RCS and we hope you have a wonderful birthday! 🎂🥳

We rolled out the studio carpet for Bradley Sinclair this week 🎙️ ✨ Kicking off our studio rollouts with a little behind...
06/19/2025

We rolled out the studio carpet for Bradley Sinclair this week 🎙️ ✨

Kicking off our studio rollouts with a little behind-the-scenes glimpse from Mondays session.
Stay tuned for more!

STUDIO A ROLLOUT
Ft. Artist
Sound:
📸

Address

1935 Monroe Avenue NW
Grand Rapids, MI
49505

Telephone

+16164561404

Website

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The Run Down

At River City Studios we specialize in Audio and Video production for Music, Film, Television, Radio, Social Media, Video Games, and New Media. Driven by a standard of professional excellence and with over 40 years of experience, we guarantee that our work competes with any of the larger studio markets in the U.S. For more information about bookings, tours, our gear, staff, etc. please visit our website, message us on FB, or give us a call at (616)-456-1404.

www.rivercitystudios.com

Equipment list: Studio A: 1,000+ Sq. ft "live room" (2) 200 Sq. ft. Attached ISO rooms Avid Pro Tools 10 HD 3 -32 Input/Output. Apogee Rosetta 800 AD/DA conversion Switchcraft Gold TT Bantam 96 point patch bay systems Avid C24 - Pro Tools control surface Tannoy System 800A time-aligned near-field monitor systems Yamaha NS-10M near-field monitor systems Vintage UREI 813b time-aligned mid-field "Mains" monitor systems Urei 6250 and Hafler P500 power amps for monitors Outboard compression (Always expanding, and subject to change) : (2) Vintage UREI 1176 LN Rev E 'Blackface' compressor/limiters restored by Vintage King Audio (2) Vintage DBX 160x w/Revive Audio 'Burr Brown' modifications (4) Vintage Valley People 'Dynamite' dynamics compressors Microphone Locker: (2) Vintage original Neumann U87 restored by Vintage King Audio (3) Vintage original Neumann KM84 restored by Vintage King Audio (2) Neumann KM184 (1) Neumann TLM 103 (2) Peluso 2247 SE (U47) tube mic clones (2) Royer R-122 ribbon mic (2) Royer R-101 ribbon mic (4) Vintage AKG C-414 B-ULS (2) AKG C-414 XL-II (Matched Pair) (1) AKG C-414 TL-II (2) Vintage Sony C-48 (2) EV RE-20 (1) Shure SM7b (1) Sennheiser MD 441 (7) Sennheiser MD 421 (1) Shure KSM 27 (7) Shure SM 57 (5) Shure SM 58 (1) Shure Beta 87 (2) Shure Beta 52a (1) Shure "Green Bullet" Dynamic Microphone (2) AKG D 112 (6) Sennheiser MK-416 shotgun microphones (1) Neumann KMR-81 shotgun mic (2) Oktava Mk-012 ('Bills Recording' Mod) (2) Rode NT-1A (1) Rode NT-2 (4) Crown PZM boundary microphones (1) Audio Technica AT 4040 (2) EV 664 (ZZ-top Mic) (3) Sanken wired Lavalier Microphone preamplifiers (As of current. Always expanding and subject to change) : (4) Grace Design 101 (2) Great River MP-1NV (Neve styled preamps) (2) Original Universal Audio M610 tube microphone preamps with EQ (the good ones with the bigger-better power supplies + lower noise) (2) Focusrite ISA 110 (2) Earthworks 1022 ZDT stereo mic preamps (4) Focusrite Platinum Twin Track (1) vintage Ted Fletcher designed JOE MEEK VC1Q mic preamp (16) Avid C24 mic preamps Outboard FX processing: (2) Eventide H3000 SE stereo multi-fx (blue face & grey face) (1) Eventide DSP 4500 stereo multi-fx (1) Lexicon PCM 90 stereo reverb (1) Lexicon PCM 80 stereo multi-fx + reverb (1) TC Electronic 2290 stereo digital delay (1) TC Electronic FireWorx stereo multi-fx (1) TC Electronic D-Two stereo digital delay (1) TC Electronic M-One XL stereo multi-fx (1) Sony DPS D7 stereo digital delay (1) Sony DPS M7 "stereo modulation" fx (1) Digitech Studio-Quad multi-fx (1) Yamaha R1000 mono reverb (1) Boss SE-50 stereo multi-fx (1) Vintage AKG BX-10 stereo spring reverb (1) Ensoniq DP4 Quad multi-fx (1) Akai S1100 stereo sampler (1) Akai S6000 stereo sampler+fx Instruments: (Drums) (1) Pearl MDX 6 piece shell kit w/ vintage Pearl 14x5 "Free-Floating" snare. (1)DW Performer 5 piece kit (1) Sonor Custom 4 piece shell kit (1) DW Custom 4 piece shell kit. (1) Slingerland vintage snare (1) DW custom snare Ziljian "K Custom" crashes, hi-hats, rides... various sizes. Paiste 2002 rides and crashes... various sizes Sabian AAX hi-hat and rock crash (Synthesizers, Pianos, Keys, and Drum Machines) (1) Clavia Nord Lead 2 w/expanded voice upgrade and PCMCIA card memory card (1) Access Virus kB (61 key semi-weighted keyboard version) w software version 3.2 and expanded voice option. (1) Kurzweil K2000 VP Edition with tons of additional loadable sound banks (1) Kurzweil K2500 (1) Kurzweil PC 2X (1) Roland JP-8000 (1) Roland JP-8080 rack mount synth w/external audio inputs to filterbank (1) Roland Super JV-1080 rack synth module w/expanded x4 voice card. (1) Waldorf MicroWave I 'wavetable' rack synth w/orignal PPG analog filter bank (1) Waldorf Q rack synth module (big, bright & yellow!) (1) Native Instruments Maschine drum machine and groove sampler (1) Native Instruments REAKTOR 5 modular synthesizer (1) Native Instruments ABSYNTH synthesizer (1) Propellerheads Reason version 5. w/tons of additive sound banks (1) Propellerheads ReCycle 2.1 (1) Korg DDD-1 vintage drum machine (1) MOTU Midi Time Piece 8x8 MIDI Interface (1) M-Audio Midi Sport 2x2 MIDI Interface (1) Vintage Hammond M3 organ w/Leslie speaker (1) Yamaha C1 Baby-Grand piano Guitars/Amps: (1) Gibson Les Paul standard (1) Washburn Idol WI-64 (1) Epiphone Les Paul standard (1) Fender American Stratocaster (1) Fender Jazz Bass (1) Marshall JCM 900 tube 100w head (1) Vintage Orange 2x12 cabinet -Assortments of guitar stomp boxes: Pro Co Rat, Pro Co Turbo Rat, Electro-Harmonix Big M**f, Metal M**f, Deluxe Electric Mistress, Boss DS-1, OS-2, PH-3, DD-3, CH-1. Metal Zone... We have a stock pile of stomp boxes. If we don't have it, we can get it. Tape Machines: (1) MCI Sony JH-24 Two inch/24 track analog tape machine (1) Studer A810 1/2 Inch-two track tape machine (1) Ampex ATR-102 1/2 Inch-two track tape machine (1) Otari 1/4 Inch-four track tape machine (2) Tascam DA-88s DAT machine (2) Panasonic SV 3800 DAT machine Plug-ins: Waves V9.1 Mercury (Native/w select TDM versions) Waves SSL bundle (Native) McDSP Emerald bundle (Native) Slate Digital VBC, VCC, VTM, FG-X Avid "Digi-Rack" and AIR plug-ins SPL Transient Designer URS Console Strip Pro (Native) Softube Cl1B compressor ( TDM/Native) Abbey Road TG12345 compressor package (Native) Sonnox Oxford: Inflator, Transmod, Dynamics, EQ, SuprEsser -Mogami gold, Canare "star-quad", Pro Co "Dyna-Mike" microphone & Instrument cabling -Mogami & Monster 'Pro-Link" TT Patch Cabling -Mogami & Gepco studio and rack wiring.