The whole world is your recording studio with Spire
Midway through last year I started hearing a lot about a new product called Spire Studio from iZotope, the award-winning company that makes recording and production software. I was curious and checked it out (which didn’t take long since the device is about the size of a softball).
Spire Studio is a super portable, powerful, and pro-sounding 8-track recorder that comes with:
- a great-sounding built-in microphone
- two phantom-powered XLR jacks
- long battery life
- its own wifi, so you can control the device from the Spire app on your phone without any latency
- and — when pared with that app — tons of great sounding effects, looping capabilities, and more
I’m planning to do a much fuller review of Spire Studio down the line, but SPOILER: It’s an incredible device, perfect for demoing ideas ANYWHERE you are, sharing sessions long-distance so you can collaborate on songwriting and arrangements, capturing live sessions, or even using elements from your demos in your final recordings (since you can export WAV files of all individual tracks).
And when I say anywhere, I mean it. The small size and battery life means you can record at the top of a mountain, in a hotel room, at the park, on a train…
Wicked simple setup. Inspiration strikes, press the soundcheck button to get a good level (which takes a matter of seconds), hit record, then edit, mix, or export what you made at any point afterwards, right from your phone.
Spire Studio on the road — capturing the musical culture of Floyd, Virgina
Because Spire Studio is the ultimate tiny recording studio, the folks from iZotope have taken it on the road, literally, in a cozy van (outfitted as a small studio) that makes appearances at music festivals, conferences, and more.
One of their recent stops was in Floyd, Virginia, a town steeped in musical history that is centered around a small-but-vibrant musical community.
Colin Thurmond, Product Marketing Manager for Spire Studio, says:
The musicians of Floyd, Virginia just brim with joy and energy. Ideas fly through the air and there is no shortage of inspiration and impromptu collaboration happening – literally – every 10 feet on Main Street. It was amazing to have Spire Studio there to capture hundreds of creative moments from a community and culture responsible for the birth of Americana music.
Check out the video above to see Spire Studio in action and to hear the people of Floyd play the hell out of their instruments.
If you want to see where the Spire Studio van will be stopping next, go HERE.
That page has their tour route, a playlist of tracks recorded with Spire Studio, a number of live music videos and tutorials, and more.
Looks like the next stop is in Kansas City, MO for Folk Alliance International. CD Baby will also be at FAI in February, so if you’re around, come say hi and be sure to check out the Spire Studio van too!
Chris Robley is an acclaimed singer-songwriter and award-winning poet from Maine.
His Beatlesque indie-pop and milltown Americana songs have been praised by The Associated Press, No Depression, KCRW, The LA Times, Boston Globe, NPR, American Songwriter, and others.
His poems have appeared in Poetry Magazine, Prairie Schooner, The Poetry Review, and more.
Robley has received a Maine Literary Award in Poetry, Boulevard’s Emerging Writers Prize for Poetry, and in 2016 was selected by former US-poet laureate Robert Pinsky as a finalist for the Dorset Prize.