SoundBank Studios Invests in the Future

Talco, TX (July 29, 2024)—Talco was just another quiet East Texas town until 1936, when the state’s largest oil deposit up to that time was discovered nearby. Almost overnight, the population ballooned as the town took to calling itself “the asphalt capital of the world” and oil derricks extended to the horizon. Eventually the boom days ended, the industry moved on and the town rightsized itself back into a sleepy destination—a process that left a pale brick, single-story bank sitting empty on Talco’s main drag until local entrepreneurs Malachi and Drea Sandoval stumbled across it.

The Sandovals had long wanted to bring more music to the area by opening a destination recording studio—a place where musicians could get off the beaten path, explore the Texan countryside and create. The bank fit the bill perfectly, and they snapped it up for a song. “We are such lovers of music; it got us together as a couple, so we’ve always shared that,” Drea Sandoval says. “To find an avenue into the industry was really cool, and I felt like it was divinely led.”

The multi-room facility was soon dubbed SoundBank Studios. At first, the couple took a DIY approach to renovating the site, but soon changed course. “After rebuilding walls a few times, we quickly learned that we needed an expert that understands and lives music, design, and engineering,” Malachi shares.

The Sandovals asked recording engineer Rick Rooney, president of Planet Dallas Studios, for a recommendation and were soon talking with California-based acoustician Carl Yanchar, who in turn brought in frequent collaborator Jonathan Deans of recording studio design-build firm Wavespace. “They have a rare combination of skills,” Yanchar says. “Having them execute not only construction but also wiring design, system integration, and acoustic installation ensured a streamlined process and helped elevate each aspect of the project.”

Together, the Sandovals, Wavespace and Yanchar Design and Consulting developed a floor plan to accommodate three control rooms, including a Dolby Atmos mix room, and a large tracking space into approximately 4,500 square feet, together with four iso rooms, multiple machine rooms and associated sound locks. Client amenities include a kitchen and a lounge.

“I didn’t know what we were going to do with the bank vaults until Jonathan came in and helped us,” Malachi Sandoval admits. “We decided to turn one into a vocal booth and the other into a C room for stereo mixing and preproduction.”

Taking pride of place in the 500-square-foot A room is a 56-channel SSL 4000 G+ console, which was customized for SoundBank and given a clean bill of health by Bruce Millett, the Desk Doctor, based in Burbank, Calif. The SSL desk may be a focal point, but the eye is also drawn to an impressive four-bay rack of new and vintage outboard gear and a pair of soffit-mounted ATC SCM110ASL main monitors.

The outboard rack offers plenty of preamp and processing options. If a client doesn’t want to use the SSL mic preamps, well, there are 28 channels of 1073/1084-style channels from Neve, BAE, Heritage Audio and Aurora Audio, not to mention multiple Chandler Limited EMI recreations plus numerous channels of API/ CAPI. The rack is also stacked with equalizers and compressor/limiters from Pultec, Manley, API, Empirical Labs, dbx, Retro, Tube-Tech, Altec and others. The mic closet offers pretty much anything a client might desire, including a pair of Neumann U 87s, a handful of Coles 4038s and both Bock and Telefunken 251s. The A room’s Avid Pro Tools rig is paired with Lynx Aurora converters.

Malachi spent the last couple of years educating himself on the premium audio equipment that he was going to need for the new venture. “I learned a lot on the internet, and I also met Taylor Kimball, who is now managing the studio with us,” he says. “Taylor turned me on to his salespeople at Sweetwater and Vintage King; I was able to make some amazing purchases through those guys.” Kimball, a locally based producer and engineer who has worked on a string of projects with Texas country-rockers such as Koe Wetzel, Treaty Oak Revival, and Wyatt Flores, has also merged his stash of pro audio gear, instruments and amplifiers with the studio’s collection.

For the guitar amps, Kimball had Wavespace integrate an amp head patchbay routing system which would allow the facility to send any guitar amp heads to pre-miked guitar cabs in the live room and iso booths, allowing for quick access to a wide variety of guitar tones. “Being able to react to a sonic idea or texture on the fly was huge for us; swapping amps with cabs and having that variety accessible in the control room has been a game changer,” Kimball adds.

There’s other networking involved in the facility as well. “We also integrated a video routing system with PTZ cameras throughout the facility. At the touch of a button, not only can you ISO record every room, but also livestream full-resolution sound from the SSL,” Deans says. That enables artists to broadcast live to YouTube, Twitch or other platforms or record behind-the-scenes action. “Nowadays, it’s all about content capture.”

Meanwhile, the Dolby Atmos room is outfitted with 11 Meyer Sound Amie speakers and a pair of Amie subs. A pair of Macs are on-hand—one for Pro Tools and the other operating Dolby’s RMU software; the room passes 128 channels from Pro Tools into the RMU. “We do the classic Atmos pitch and catch via Dante,” Deans elaborates.

While the building’s structure resulted in some parallel surfaces, Deans continues, the flat fabric finishes in the rooms mask a mix of acoustical treatment: “Behind the fabric, there are different angled panels, with some of the surfaces absorptive and some diffusive.

We didn’t want to over-absorb or try to correct something in the frequency domain, then end up with problems in the time domain.” In the live room, he adds, “There is what we call a soffit trap for bass trapping around the perimeter, and one wall has a curtain that you can pull back to make it live or dead.”

The result was a room that met everyone’s criteria. “After listening to the A-room and seeing the room measurements, we were really thrilled with the results,” says Kimball. Tuning the main monitors required minimal effort thanks to Yanchar’s acoustic design, he adds: “They made very light adjustments, just sweetening. Those ATCs sound incredible.”

SoundBank Studios got off to a flying start when it opened in February 2024 and has been solidly booked since. “Our very first band was Ole 60, a young band from Kentucky who are blowing up right now,” Malachi Sandoval reports. Kimball engineered, produced and mixed “Next to You,’ a new single by the group, whose debut EP went straight to the top of the Apple Music Country Album and iTunes charts.

Renowned Record Plant Studio Shutters

The Sandovals have positioned SoundBank as a destination studio, marketing the facility’s considerable amenities in tandem with another of their properties. “We have a ranch with a five-bedroom house and a beautiful attic space, which we’re also turning into a studio—we’re trying to make it a writer’s retreat,” Malachi says. “It’s secluded, with lakes and amazing fishing. We’re still also working on an outside bar and patio space at the studio, so we’re trying to put together the total package.”

“We wanted to create a versatile creative space,” Drea Sandoval agrees. “If you want solitude, alone time and recuperation, it’s there. If you’d like to hang out and fish, that’s also there. It’s a good Texas experience.”