Producer/Engineer Alex Sterling on curating a versatile microphone toolkit for every production need.

Alex Sterling, Founder of Precision Sound Studios has built his business on being a versatile, client-focused engineer with a knack for efficiency and facilitating the sonic needs for every project. Precision Sound’s diverse clientele includes artists such as Cindi Lauper, J Balvin, and Zach Bryan, performers Laurence Fishburne, Jessica Chastain, and Michael J. Fox, and corporate clients such as Netflix, HBO, and Amazon. This breadth of work demonstrates Sterling’s experience, professionalism, and detail-oriented approach to engineering and studio ownership.

One element of his methodology in all of these projects is the selection of recording tools that provide him with the critical combination of detail and clarity that is required in recording. After working on project after project, Sterling has found trust in a favored collection of Schoeps microphones that provide him with what he needs for his diverse and demanding work.

​The secret sauce of Sterling’s approach is how he balances his detail-oriented aesthetic with a strong creative instinct. He is a person that embodies a professional attitude and process of continual improvement, ever striving to achieve a more perfect workflow and optimization of the work of audio engineering. Precision Sound was built prioritizing a carefully designed listening environment and stocked with a producer’s wishlist of select microphones and recording equipment, all in the service of Sterling’s creativity and vision for the studio. “I’ve worked in every corner of the business – live sound, recording, mixing, mastering, and audio restoration – and one thing that links all of them is that you can do your best work when you have a clarity of workflow and trust in your tools that allows you to chase excellence,” he explains. “Precision Sound serves such a wide range of clients and although each gets a bespoke approach, they all benefit from a streamlined production process that favors high quality and an assurance of a professional and creative outcome.”

“That mix of detail and artistry is something that sometimes feels missing in the conversation around audio production – often people seem to think you have to choose one at the expense of the other. My approach is more holistic – it’s finding the feeling inherent in sonic detail and choosing tools that allow me to bring it forward in the most musically appropriate way possible.”

Sterling’s holistic approach has informed how he has outfitted Precision Sound as a studio space. A thoroughly contemporary audio production environment in terms of acoustics and technical integration, the studio is filled with a curated mix of modern and classic recording equipment in line with his exacting standards. “We’re living in a golden age where the tools and techniques of recording permit tremendous creativity and options” he explains. In my case, I have a very intentional approach when capturing instrumental sources in my work, and I have a ​ substantial relationship with Schoeps microphones.”

For more information about Schoeps Microphones, please visit: https://schoeps.de/en/