Inside Kingsize Soundlabs: An Indie Oasis in LA

July 25th, 2012 by Bo Boddie

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When producer/engineer Dave Trumfio moved to Los Angeles in 2000, he was certain of one thing, and that was that he would not be opening another recording studio.

“After owning a studio in Chicago for ten years I was like, why would I build a studio in L.A. – land of a thousand studios…?”

At the time, Trumfio and his former partner had just divided up their gear and closed down Chicago’s Kingsize Soundlabs, a well-known studio that catered to independent bands and labels. It was there that Trumfio had recorded and produced indie luminaries such as Evil Beaver, The Mekons, Wilco, Alternative TV, and The Young Marble Giants.

However, L.A. held promise, so he loaded his MCI JH24, ECO Plate II, and some other choice gear into a U-Haul and drove across the country, planning on finding a decent mid-priced studio to call home on the west coast.

Upon arrival, some issues became apparent to the former studio owner:

“Coming from Chicago there was a different pricing structure – you could make indie rock records pretty easily – but out here nobody was really familiar with the $20K – $25K budget…and under! I was doing some major label work but it was mostly indie, and I needed a room that I could get for 5-600 bucks.”

For the first year, Trumfio was able to find some studios that met his gear and budgetary needs, but it quickly became obvious that he was going to have to bite the bullet and create his own space.

Kingsize 2.0

Kingsize Soundlabs was born (again) when Trumfio found an old building in Eagle Rock that – although it needed a lot of work – had potential. A former sweatshop, the place was a bit of a wreck: “…there were pigeons living in it, and a broken back door,” he recalls, “but the family that owned it really worked with us and helped out a lot.”

Kingsize Soundlabs Studio A, today.

After some elbow grease, Studio A was ready to go and became what is still-to-this-day Kingsize’s main workspace. Featuring a large tracking area with five different sized iso booths, the A room is perfect for tracking bands live.

The first iteration of the studio was based around the gear brought out from Chicago, as well as a Neotek console purchased from none other than the Mormon Tabernacle. This setup worked well for a little while, but the Neotek often suffered from maintenance issues, and after a few dicey moments in sessions, Trumfio decided to go for a hybrid approach, combining a Digidesign Control 24 with an Inward Connections summing mixer and a bunch of choice outboard gear.

At that time, this was a more unusual setup choice, but worked really well. However, after a couple of years of working in this more “modern” way, Trumfio realized he still wasn’t quite satisfied with the workflow. “I really liked the records I was making,” he says, “But there was something missing. It sounded good, but something wasn’t gluing – everything had to go through something, even if it was just through the electronics.”

The solution to this problem was one I think most of us dream about. In 2005, Kingsize Soundlabs acquired a Neve 8068, which was installed in Studio A, still the main tracking/mixing room at the facility.

Studio A Live Room

Being able to work with such a magnificent sounding board is a huge draw for a lot of artists on a budget, and so said, has meant good things for Kingsize.

And there are several additional studios now too: Studio B, which is currently occupied full-time by producer/engineer Rob Schnapf (Elliot Smith, Beck, Tokyo Police Club); Studio C, an overdubbing and mix room; and “Little Red Book”, a mastering studio owned and run by Capitol alum Mark Chalecki (Islands, A.A. Bondy).

The Soundlabs

On site at Kingsize there are also three additional smaller rooms, called the Soundlabs. Trumfio offers these rooms for monthly lockouts, and they can be configured to the tenant’s needs. Comprised of treated control rooms along with recording booths, the Soundlabs address what has become an important need for many producers, engineers, and composers, which is to have a well-constructed and affordable place to work.

Trumfio further expanded on this idea in 2009 with the opening of Kingsize Soundlabs North in nearby Atwater Village, featuring six additional Soundlabs. “Atwater specializes in music offices, soundlabs, and control rooms with iso booths, all at different prices and sizes,” Trumfio explains. “We can configure and provide the gear too if necessary. We opened three and a half years ago, and they’ve been rented ever since.”

As Kingsize has grown, Trumfio found that – again – he too would need a personal space to continue his own work; Studio A is more often rented out nowadays in the style of a traditional room-for-hire. The solution was Chateau Trumfio, located in Dave’s home in Silverlake. Also available for rent, but more often used for Dave’s own projects, the Chateau is a hybrid analog/digital mix room, based around Pro Tools, a Shadow Hills Equinox, 32 channels of 500 series EQ’s, and Avid Artist Series control surfaces. Along with an iso booth large enough to accommodate a drum kit, Chateau Trumfio offers a great option for a more private mixing and overdubbing environment.

One of the “soundlabs” at Kingsize Soundlabs North

Over the past 12 years, Kingsize Soundlabs has established itself as a real fixture of the studio scene here in Los Angeles, and it has fit in exactly where Trumfio envisioned it would when he first opened it: Kingsize offers a perfect blend of high-end equipment at a reasonable price point, where there are virtually no rental pieces, and an album can be made from start to finish without bringing any instruments or recording gear in from the outside.

With the addition of the soundlabs, Kingsize has again proven itself a recording company that’s very attuned to the modern client’s needs – which in L.A. now includes a ton of indie bands and critically-acclaimed major label artists, not just hyped-up pop stars. In the process, Kingsize has also created an on-site community of producers, songwriters, composers, and engineers all working together under the same umbrella, which in the age of the isolated private studio is a welcome opportunity for those lucky enough to get in.

For more on Kingsize Soundlabs – complete gear lists, and photos of all the rooms – visit them at http://www.kingsizesoundlabs.com. And scroll down for some photos.

Bo Boddie is a Grammy winning engineer/producer and composer. Visit him at http://www.boboddie.com.