General Info

We call ourselves a boutique recording studio because we strive to provide the capabilities and amenities of a large multi-room facility, but by catering to just one client at a time, we are able to devote the attention and focus one would find in a dedicated project studio. We work on projects of every size, from quick demos to full scale album productions. In every case our priorities remain the same: achieving the best possible sound quality while creating an environment in which the artist can relax and create. Founded by producer / engineer Erik Herbst in 1997, The Panhandle House focuses principally on album production for the independent or smaller label artist. Our clients typically come from the North Texas area, but many also travel here from around the country for our unique production environment. Although we record digitally to Pro Tools to take advantage of its superior editing capabilities, the key to the sound we record is firmly rooted in the analog world. Our unique live room is asymmetrical, faced with cedar and rich in diffusing elements which allow acoustic instruments to breathe. Our signal path is simple, utilizing quality microphones and Neve Class A or other outboard preamps feeding directly into Apogee converters. We mix through our Neve 8058, a vintage, all discrete analog console, not in the box, relying heavily on discrete and tube based outboard analog compressors and equalizers, not digital plug-ins. In fact, there is not a single IC in our console. It was entirely hand built in 1976, and has been beautifully maintained, most recently completely recapped and cleaned in 2006. We also realize that modern music production requires the tools only found in advanced DAWs. We choose Pro Tools HD3 with 32-channels of Apogee 192kHz converters.