45m²
Control Room
Built in 2018 on the advice of Chris Lord-Alge, acoustics and design by John Brandt. The mains are soffit-mounted in the front wall, and playback is linear down to the lowest bass.
Recording studio for rock, punk and metal in Sirnach, Switzerland
Your band deserves a record you’ll be proud of for the rest of your life.
Recording, mixing and production for rock, punk and metal. At Störsender Studio in Sirnach, Switzerland, from pre-production to master.
3345
Producer and mix engineer
Hey, I’m Frank.
For 15 years I’ve been helping bands like yours at Störsender Studio take their songs from the first idea through recording to the finished master. Add to that more than 30 years behind the drum kit.
Technical questions, like choosing the right microphone, where it goes and which preamp it runs through, shouldn’t be on your mind while you record. That way you can put everything into the performance.
15years at Störsender
30+years behind the drums
“My student and friend Frank Acklin just finished building his new control room in Switzerland. Most important part is it sounds really good. The mixes translate very well.”
„Bei Frank treffen die Leidenschaft für die Musik und technische Brillanz aufeinander – zudem macht es auch immer riesig Spass, mit ihm Zeit zu verbringen – und das hört man!“What bands say.
„Was für ein tolles Erlebnis!!! Frank ist nicht nur sehr kompetent und perfekt eingerichtet, sondern auch die Ruhe in Person und hat einfach einen coolen Charakter. Wir konnten super im Studio zusammen Arbeiten und seine Inputs sind goldwert!!! GOLD!!! Dazu kommt, dass alleine die Rohaufnahmen besser waren, als alles andere was ich je zuvor in einem Studio erlebt habe. Frank the Tank ist dein Mann!!!!“
„Als wir das Studio zum ersten Mal betraten, wussten wir, dass wir am richtigen Ort waren. Das lag nicht nur an den angenehmen Räumlichkeiten und der top Ausstattung, sondern auch an Franks professioneller und doch lockeren Art. Das Endergebnis spricht für sich. Er hat das Album genau so umgesetzt, wie wir es uns vorgestellt haben.“
„Wir merkten bereits beim ersten Treffen mit Frank, dass wir uns mit einem Musikfan auf Augenhöhe unterhalten. Die Einrichtung und die Ausrüstung des Studios entsprachen genau dem, wonach wir gesucht haben: echte und hochwertige Hardware und kein klanglicher Einheitsbrei aus irgendeiner gecrackten Software. Frank hat ein super Ohr, dem kein noch so kleiner Patzer entgeht. Mit seinem Gespür für Punkrock, konnte er uns auch bezüglich Layout der Songs beraten.“
„Wir als Punkrockband haben bei Frank vom Störsender genau das bekommen, was wir wollten – ein fettes Brett, das einen umpustet, clean und doch schmutzig. Wir als erklärte Nichstudiomusiker haben super Inputs erhalten und sind von A bis Z top durch die Aufnahmen geführt worden. Besten Dank!“
“We could not have done Solid State Nation without Frank. His expertise as a producer combined with the excellent Störsender equipment and environment. The Studio is great and Frank's an awesome nice bloke to be around.”
„Das Störsender Studio ist hervorragend ausgestattet und toll eingerichtet. Für uns als Studio-Neulinge eine eindrückliche Location, die uns schon beim ersten Besuch ins Staunen versetzte. Die Zusammenarbeit mit Frank hat uns extrem viel Spass gemacht und uns als Band enorm weitergebracht. Unsere Songs konnten verfeinert werden und durch Frank Inputs und Ideen haben wir das beste aus den Songs rausgeholt. Wir können das Störsender Studio nur weiter empfehlen und werden definitiv wieder kommen!“
„Die Zusammenarbeit mit Frank hat riesigen Spass gemacht und war sehr professionell. Frank achtet auf jedes noch so kleine Detail und versteht sein Handwerk herrvorragend. Das Störsender Studio ist sehr gut ausgestattet und sehr schön eingerichtet. Wir sind mehr als zufrieden mit dem Ergebnis und werden für unsere nächsten Projekte sicher wieder mit Frank zusammenarbeiten.“Four rooms.
Fabrikstrasse 8, Sirnach, Switzerland
65m²
Live Room
The largest room, mainly for drums. Controlled and rather dry. Room mics in the lounge or the workshop make it sound bigger. Speaker lines run to every other room, so you can play together without the amps bleeding into the drum mics.
30m²
Amp Room
The old control room, also designed by John Brandt. For guitars, bass and vocals. The amp stays in the control room, the cab sits in here and is miked on remote-controlled stands.
Lounge
For waiting
For the morning coffee and the time until it’s your turn.
1 / 8 · Pre-productionProcess
From your songs to the finished production.
Pre-production
You upload your rehearsal-room demos and get an assessment with fresh ears: what already carries the song? Where do arrangement, phrasing and lyrics get stronger? Does the tension build, does the key suit the voice? You keep a veto on every idea. By the end, every song has its plan: which guitar goes through which amp, which snare fits which song.
Drums
Your foundation gets the most time: choosing kit and snare, tuning, miking, until it sounds right. You play without time pressure. Afterwards the best takes are put together and, where needed, the timing is fixed.
Guitars
Guitars come before bass, because a bass is easier to match to chords than the other way round. Thanks to pre-production, the sound for every song is already clear. DI tracks are always recorded too: if a song needs a different sound later, it gets re-amped without you having to play it again.
Bass
The key to the groove, and here it gets the care it deserves. Different amps, pedals and DI signals are combined until foundation and texture are right.
Keys, synths, FX
Often it’s exactly the cowbell or the bubbling Hammond pad that makes a song recognizable. The Hammond L100 with its Leslie 122 is right there in the studio.
Vocals
Before the first take, you find out which microphone puts your voice in the best light, which preamp matches it and which compressor brings the details of the performance forward. Then come lead vocals, backings and gang shouts, edited and, where needed, tuned.
Mix
Your tracks become finished songs, mixed through analog and digital gear in a room built for it. You listen to every mix in the client portal and enter your change requests right there, until no revision is needed.
Mastering
Attended session with Dan Suter at echochamber in Zurich. Your mixes get their final format, loudness and spectrum are optimized one last time, so they sound good on every system.
It all starts with a free first call.
Tell me about your songs and your plans. Afterwards you’ll know what your production can look like.
Request a free first call
Recorded at Störsender.
FAQ
Questions that come up a lot.
Why shouldn’t we just do it all ourselves?
A great option if you’re a band that would rather spend years on preamps, microphones, room acoustics, outboard gear, recording technique and mixing than on making music. All of that is expensive and takes a lot of time if you want to do it properly. I’ve already put in that work, so you can focus on what matters: your songs.
How do we know you’re the right person for our project?
Find out in a free, no-strings conversation. What sets me apart is my musicality, built over more than 30 years as a drummer and songwriter in bands. Add a deep understanding of the technical side, trained ears and 15 years of studio experience.
What if we only need recording or only mixing?
That works too. Just tell me what you need.
How does a production with you work?
At the start you get a link to your client portal. There you see the pre-production of every song, the recording progress, all dates and an audio player for direct mix feedback. The individual steps are listed above under Process.
What styles do you produce?
Rock, punk, metal and anything played on real instruments.
Friday evenings from 8:30 pm
Jam.
Since the studio opened, there have been regular jam sessions on Friday evenings. Fun comes first, style and skill level don’t matter at all. A good chance to meet new musicians or take a casual look around the studio.
Every Friday from 8:30 pm
Let’s Rock.
Tell me who you are and what you’re planning. The first call is free and with no obligation.
Request a free first call