Studio

StarBird HQ is the home and studio of Mark Mariash & Beth Hamilton, located 2 hours NW of Toronto. Nestled in 15 acres of Sugar Maple, Pines and Cedar, here we enjoy the birds all day and take in the stars at night. 

The StarBird complex consists of two geodesic domes joined by a connecting foyer, creating a harmonious place to both work and live. The studio is a 625sq ft geodesic dome attached to our main living dome. This Scandinavian inspired space is where we create, teach and record music. The large triangular skylights and walls of whitewash and pine make for a creative and peaceful environment. 

Acoustics are full & rich and conducive to tracking "live off the floor". The recording system is located on the tracking floor for ease of flow and communication. Our set up includes an iZ RADAR Studio (Nyquist 96K), Midas analogue desk, Pro-Tools 12, outboard OSA mic pres and compressors. Condensers, ribbons and dynamic microphones include Josephson, Beyerdynamic and the "usual suspects" (AKG, Shure and Sennheiser).  Dave and Scotty at Advanced Audio Microphones have been supplying us with some fantastic microphones including a matched pair of 87's, a 47fet and their new 48 tube.

The piano is a vintage (1973) white Yamaha U3.

Ron Chilton - Engineer @ StarBird

As a freelance sound engineer, Ron has worked for artists such as The Tragically Hip, The Headstones, and Stars. He toured across Canada with the Canadian Country Christmas Tour 8 times, also performing duties like road managing and driving vans full of musicians through the Rockies in December snowstorms! He has also toured as road manager and front of house mixer with country star Jason Blaine. In studio, Ron is the head engineer at Cedartree Recording Studios where he has worked for 16 years with owner-prodicer Rick Hutt. He also performs the role of record producer for a steady stream of Cedartree’s clients. With his business partner, the musician Kenny Munshaw, he runs Chiltraks recording studios in Kitchener and Munshaw Music in Port Carling, Muskoka, while regularly mixing and engineering at Dollhouse Studios in Savannah, Georgia. Ron’s film and television credits as sound recorder and mixer include concerts televised on Hamilton’s CHCH TV, ‘The Dakota Sessions’ and ‘Pick a Puppy’ on CMT (Country Music Television). He mixed ‘Into The Wild’, a popular video series produced by Jared Leto about the band 30 Seconds To Mars. One of his main projects in recent years has been working with licensing companies Nightingale Music in Toronto and Soho Music in London, England, where he is mixer, mastering engineer, and editor of musical content that has been placed in Clash of Clans, ‘Murdoch Mysteries’, and numerous other media productions.