Through our combined decades of experience, we have learned to get great sounds, in short order, working quickly and efficiently without ever impeding the creative process. While employing both time tested methodology and experimental boundary-pushing creativity, we strive to “make the technology transparent,” an approach that allows us and our creative partners to remain focused on the music, never bogged down with technicalities in the course of a productive artist process.
We provide recording, mixing, mastering, producing, and everything in between. We can guide your project from start to finish, or any step along the way.
New to recording studios? We’ll make you comfortable and sound better than you could have dreamed possible. Studio veteran? We know how to get great sounds fast and keep things moving efficiently so you can focus on your artistic vision. We’ve spent time engineering in professional studio facilities in New York and Nashville and know how to provide top level of service
Audio engineering is our passion AND profession. This isn’t a hobby for us. We’re not guessing.
Looking to settle in for a few days/weeks to create your magnum opus double LP? We can do that. Looking for a quick demo for cheap? Yeah, we got you. Doing some recording of your own and need a professional mix and/or master? We’re here for you, at every stage of the process from the first press of the record button (or space bar) to the final master delivery for digital distribution, CD, Vinyl or cassette.
Engineer Bio:
Ben Collette
A hobby that began in high school has turned into a life’s work for Ben Collette. A youthful fascination with audio recording and music led directly to taping concerts in high school and college. It was only natural that a subsequent internship with the Phish organization would evolve into the position of audio engineer with Trey Anastasio in 2004. Over the following years, Ben assembled and managed a home studio for Trey, assisted on sessions at Anastasio’s Barn Studio, and even traveled the country doing multitrack recordings of Trey’s live performances – including his orchestral concerts with the likes of the NY Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall.
Ben assumed the responsibility of the recording studio at The Barn when Phish reunited in 2009. There he was able to continue honing his skills, including (certified) expertise with Pro Tools as well as working in the analog realm, using the studio’s 64 channel API Legacy console, classic outboard gear and analog reel to reel tape machines. Over the past decade, through his engineering work with Anastasio and Phish, Collette has had the opportunity to work in professional studios from Nashville to NYC, including legendary Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL. He has worked alongside renowned engineers and producers such as Bob Ezrin, Bryce Goggin, Elliot Scheiner, Glen Robinson, John Siket, Jon Altschiller, Paul Kolderie, Steve Lillywhite and Vance Powell. He has engineered sessions with artists such as Gogol Bordello, Snarky Puppy, Bela Fleck, Susan Tedeschi & Derek Trucks, Larry Campbell, Tony Levin, Jerry Marotta, Andres Forero, Peter Apfelbaum, Christian McBride, yMusic, John Pattatuci, Steve Jordan, Celisse Henderson and Herbie Hancock.
In 2019, “Between Me And My Mind,” a documentary about Trey Anastasio’s creative process debuted to critical acclaim at the Tribeca Film Festival with a limited theatre release to follow. The film captures two years of Anastasio’s life, from studio to stage, and features many appearances by Collette. Working closely alongside Anastasio in his Barn Studio on the “Ghosts Of The Forest” album, traveling to Phish band member home studios to record a song for Phish’s annual NYE gag, TAB rehearsals in NYC and closes with a scene of Phish as a band in The Barn, writing and recording what would become their halloween “musical costume” album, Kasvôt Vaxt i Rokki.
In 2007 Collette and O’Dea established Tank Recording Studio in a cozy upstairs loft in Burlington’s Old North End. Consolidating their unique skills and experience to provide affordable professional audio services to Burlington and beyond. With a mission to “raise the bar” for audio fidelity in their home city/state, the pair built out the studio from a bare bones “rehearsal” style room to a full production facility with an extensive array of instruments, microphones and unique analog and digital recording/processing equipment that is unparalleled in the immediate area.
Since opening over a decade ago, Tank Recording Studio has provided recording, mixing and/or mastering services to clients totaling well into the triple digits. A vertiable “who’s who” of local artists have made their way through TRS such as Anachronist, Aram Bedrosian, Ben Dunham & The Backline Collective, Blues And Lasers (feat. Grace Potter’s bandmates), Soule Monde (Russ Lawton & Ray Paczkowski of TAB), Kat Wright, James Kochalka, Josh Panda, Jennifer Hartswick, Nick Cassarino, Waylon Speed, Rough Francis, Henry Jamison, Heloise & The Savoir Faire, and Japhy Ryder. In addition to their focus on local artists, in recent years their clientele has expanded to include more regional/national artists like Eugene Hutz & Gogol Bordello, Dev, Peter Apfelbaum, Bela Fleck, William Parker, Cabinet, Guster, moe., The Vacant Lots, and Rosie Carney. Collette and O’Dea have also been tapped quite often for live recordings, everything from concerts at Higher Ground and Burlington Discover Jazz Festival to capturing live comedy albums at the Vermont Comedy Club for Comedy Central Records.
Engineer Bio:
Rob O'Dea
Rob O’Dea has spent the better part of his life devoted to music. Playing, studying and recording has honed not only his eclectic tastes, but an array technical skills that complement those of his co-founder and partner at The Tank, Ben Collette.
Rob grew up in West Orange, NJ and his first performance was at the age of 5 for the school choir. Moving on to saxophone and percussion for the Elementary school’s orchestra, he soon took to playing bass guitar by middle school, gravitating to the sounds of late 70’s/80’s/90’s rock, grunge, metal, Hip-Hop and anything on MTV/radio. Living in the NYC area inundated O’Dea with a plethora of music in a wide variety of genres. High school jazz band introduced O’Dea to the upright bass and more music theory. Around this time, he also acquired his first multitrack recorder – a Tascam 4-track cassette recorder. Rob capped off his high school experience by winning the “Battle of the Bands” – performing songs by Living Color (“Cult Of Personality”) and Rush (“La Via Strangiato”). O’Dea went on to study Jazz performance and music theory at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ.
The summer after graduating Rutgers, Rob embarked on a small northeast tour playing upright bass with bluegrass band “The Hub City Comfort.” The tour stopped in Burlington for a few days to busk the Church Street Marketplace, but Rob never left and has called Burlington home since 1996. Upon moving to VT, O’Dea soon embedded himself in the local music scene performing bass, keys and drum machines with The Helicopter Consortium, Deep Soda, Chakrabarty Overdrive, Heloise & The Savoir Faire, Michetti and Josh Panda & The Hot Damned. In 2007, O’Dea played bass guitar on a 26-city national tour for Phish keyboardist Page McConnell.
In 1997 O’Dea began working for the archive and management team for Phish, assisting archivist Kevin Shapiro with audio production and I.T. support. His musical background, in conjunction with the technical, organizational and I.T. expertise acquired , landed him a job as a studio manager and engineer with Joe Egan at Egan Media Productions (EMP) in Colchester, VT.
For twelve years Rob cut his teeth at EMP as an audio engineer, working in one of the areas only large commercial audio production facilities. His duties ranged from facility management – both technical and otherwise – to full on audio engineer, working on countless voice overs, film mix projects, commercial audio production, and field audio for commercial and film in addition to music projects.
O’Dea’s clients during his tenure at EMP included Cartoon Network, Comedy Central, NPR, Ben & Jerry’s, Nike, Dealer dot Com, CNBC, VT Air National Guard, University of Vermont, Lake Champlain Chocolates and the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Musical artists include Death, Joe Bonnamassa, Grace Potter, Martin Sexton, Lowell Thompson, Rough Francis and Vorcza.
All of which refined O’Dea’s ability to work quickly and comfortably in the studio in a way that keeps in mind the technical arc of a project while considering the emotional needs of an artist or client. The rising arc of Rob’s career dovetails with that of his partner Ben and, by extension, that of The Tank.
