Studio or a library? Steve Vai and his Harmony Hut

Studio Tour – Steve Vai’s Harmony Hut

It’s not surprising that Steve Vai, one of the last true guitar slingers is a gear head. In this report made by PremierGuitar, he shows us around his studio called the Harmony Hut… or is it a library filled with some very precious audio gear? You be the judge.

This home studio is great for meditation

He talks about how he had several studios already, but this one is different, because he didn’t want it to look like a studio. There are wooden shelves filled with books, nice looking fabric on the walls covering the sound absorbing foam underneath. Of course there are guitars hanging on the wall, there are even plants hanging off the loft that he calls the “meditation room”. Despite the looks, it’s an acoustically well designed room that’s a joy to mix music in.

Great analog gear

Most of the important and famous analog gear of the last century can be found in Steve’s hut, including old vintage Pultec EQs, API and Avalon microphone preamps, Compex, LA-2A, LA-3A and 1176 compressors, Eventide harmonizers, TC Electronic and Dytronics choruses, AMS and Lexicon reverbs, or custom built mastering EQ and Vac Rac tube limiters by Inward Connections.

Custom made mixing desk

He also shows his custom mixing console built by Tree Audio, with the console EQs put right above the faders, so he doesn’t need to change his listening position and getting out of the ideal listening zone in front of the speakers while mixing.

Yamaha NS tens are still it

Speaking of speakers, Steve Vai uses the golden standard of nearfield studio monitors: the Yamaha NS10, and behind them there’s an Ocean Way HR3 monitor system that – as Steve says – puts him right “into the sound”. His choice of DAW is Pro Tools.