Business Details
31 Years
experience
Professional Recording Studio in Philadelphia
Studio Crash has been a premier recording studio serving Philadelphia for over 25 years. Founded in the mid-1990s by musicians Ed Hamilton and Dave Falciani as a high-end personal studio, we opened our doors to the public in 2000. Under chief engineer Michael Harmon, a multi-Grammy winner, we relocated in 2011 to a custom-built 3,700-square-foot facility featuring a 840-square-foot live room, isolation booth, and advanced acoustic design. Our room-within-a-room construction, floating floors, and decoupled HVAC system ensure pristine sound isolation. We combine world-class equipmentincluding Neumann microphones, Pro Tools Ultimate, and vintage outboard gearwith decades of engineering expertise to deliver radio-ready recordings.Our clients benefit from tactile mixing consoles, real-time plugin processing, and a team dedicated to maximizing sonic potential. With a history of recording diverse genres and a commitment to technical excellence, we provide an environment where creativity thrives. Our facility accommodates large ensembles while maintaining acoustic separation, eliminating the need for excessive overdubbing. We prioritize transparency in our processes and pride ourselves on helping artists achieve their vision through both cutting-edge technology and time-tested techniques.
Services
Recording Sessions
Audio Editing
Mixing & Mastering
Studio Rentals
Equipment Rental
Details
- Year established: 1995
Highlights and features
- We have over 25 years of experience in professional music production.
- Our custom-built studio features advanced acoustic design and isolation.
- We utilize industry-leading equipment including Neumann microphones and Pro Tools HDX.
- Our engineers have multi-Grammy winning expertise and technical mastery.
- We maintain a transparent, client-focused approach to recording sessions.
Services
Recording Sessions
Our custom-built 3,700-square-foot facility features a 840-square-foot live room with 14-foot ceilings, isolation booth, and two amp closets. Room-within-a-room construction and floating floors ensure perfect sound isolation. We accommodate full bands or solo artists seeking professional-grade recordings.
Mixing & Mastering
Using Pro Tools Ultimate with HDX acceleration and tactile D-Command control surfaces, we deliver polished mixes with real-time plugin processing. Our engineers apply decades of experience to shape recordings into radio-ready masters with precise frequency balancing and dynamic control.
Equipment Rental
Access premium microphones including Neumann U-87s, vintage API preamps, and Waves Mercury plugins. Our inventory includes dynamic and condenser mics, outboard gear, and instruments for professional-grade recordings. All equipment maintained in optimal condition for studio use.
Studio Rentals
Book time in our purpose-built space featuring separate control room, live room, and isolation booth. Designed for acoustic accuracy with non-correlated room ratios and decoupled HVAC systems. Ideal for tracking sessions, overdubs, or mixing projects in a professional environment.
Audio Editing
Enhance recordings with precision editing using industry-standard tools. Our engineers provide comping, tuning, timing correction, and noise reduction services. We refine raw tracks into polished material ready for mixing, ensuring technical excellence while preserving artistic intent.
People
Ed Hamilton
Co-Founder
Co-founded Studio Crash in the mid-1990s as a high-end personal recording facility. Brought professional musician perspective to studio design and operations before transitioning engineering responsibilities to specialized staff.
Dave Falciani
Co-Founder
Original co-founder who helped establish Studio Crash's reputation for quality sound production. Collaborated with Ed Hamilton to create a musician-centric environment that evolved into Philadelphia's premier recording destination.
Michael Harmon
Chief Engineer & Owner
Multi-Grammy winning engineer with platinum-selling credits. Joined Studio Crash in 2000, became owner in 2003, and led relocation to the current 3,700-square-foot facility. Oversees technical operations and maintains engineering excellence standards.
Questions
What services does Studio Crash offer?
We provide recording sessions, audio editing, mixing/mastering, studio rentals, and premium equipment rental. Our services cater to both full bands and solo artists seeking professional-grade music production.
What makes your studio acoustically superior?
Our room-within-a-room construction, floating floors, decoupled HVAC system, and mathematically optimized room ratios create ideal acoustic conditions for accurate monitoring and pristine recordings.
Can I bring my own equipment?
Yes, while we offer premium gear rentals, clients are welcome to use their own instruments and equipment during recording sessions in our fully equipped facility.
How do you handle large ensemble recordings?
Our spacious 840-square-foot live room with 14-foot ceilings and multiple isolation areas allows recording large groups with proper acoustic separation, minimizing overdub requirements.
What payment methods do you accept?
We accept major credit cards, bank transfers, and cash payments. Payment terms can be discussed during your initial consultation with our booking team.
Reviews (5)
Lucas Beltran
Dec 18, 2021
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Studio Crash was my first time recording in a studio. It was a very good experience and amazing service. Michael is an extremely helpful person and will explain just about everything you need to know. I will definitely go back in the future!
Joe Stanton
Apr 18, 2021
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Michael Harmon did an OUTSTANDING job remixing/remastering two albums of mine. Needless to say, will be going to him for mixing/mastering on the next album and cannot recommend this place enough to any musicians looking to take their project to the next level!
Karl P.
Jan 10, 2021
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So after relocating to NYC I came down to visit Crash (pre-covid) to pick up some audio files. The new facility is amazing with the control room having a perfect monitoring room. The whole construction of the studio level ups far beyond any other medium-large set up I seen and revivals if not, beats many NYC studios. It is hard for me to describe how amazing it is but let me quote their webage so I won't paraphrase anything.
"The New Studio Crash is a beautiful recording studio built from the ground up to be world class in the field. With a nice large control room, a huge 840sq
"The New Studio Crash is a beautiful recording studio built from the ground up to be world class in the field. With a nice large control room, a huge 840sq
Len Cava
Aug 17, 2020
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Amazing studio to record, edit, mix with sampling, and mastering! This studio has it all! Michael is truly a Philadelphia gem! Highly talented with sound engineering, very easy to work with, a super comfortable and friendly environment. Michael comes highly recommended by me! I worked with Michael 10 years ago with an old band I was in. This year, I decided to record a solo alternative rock album with 12 songs and I knew Michael worked wonders on previous songs. He easily worked with me on how to export WAV files from logic on tracks I recorded at home and imported the tracks into pro-tools with
Marwa Marie
Feb 03, 2020
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I have been recording at Studio Crash for almost a year now. I highly recommend Studio Crash to anyone that is looking to take their music project to the next level. Studio Crash is a wonderful clean safe good vibe environment to work in. The quality and professionalism of the sound and engineering is incredible. I am very satisfied and continue to create my projects there.
