QDS Studios

Two sound addicts have created the recording studio of their dreams - and yours - in the heart of Paris.

Built for excellence.

When Jordan Kouby and Frédéric Vectol purchased this former textile studio, they weren't exactly newcomers. QDS Studios is the culmination of their rich experience of working in studios. They oversaw the development from A to Z with acoustician Michel Deluc & Christian Malcurt. The result: acoustics which are thought-out and completely mastered. Each wall, each angle was designed with one goal: that no one could say "Yes, but..." They aimed for excellence without compromising character; the studio's sound is truly unique.

QDS Studios houses two recording and mixing studios.  

Atmos studio : Our new studio is designed to cater for all surround formats, including Dolby Atmos, with 9x column loudspeakers in the horizontal 360' plane, 4x height loudspeakers with a height Sub, plus 4x Sub stack in the front wall as LFE channel.

Studio A, the main studio, is a vast 70m² (753 ft²) room that strikes you with its warmth. A superb brick wall, wood floors and accents, and at the back, an alcove with walls entirely built from stone. A stone room is ideal for recording drums - satisfaction guaranteed!

On the other side of a glass divide is the control room with impressive attributes: a vintage EMI-Neve desk, Protools HDX with Lynx Aurora convertor, and vintage pre amps, compressors, limiters and effects you dream about. For example: vintage Telefunken pre amps (V76/80, V77), also Pultec, Urei, LA-2A's and more. You'll find a subtile combination of vintage and modern gear.

Studio B is perfect for mixing. It's equipped with an SSL 4048G+ console with Ultimation and Recall. There is also a large collection of vintage and modern outboard gear, 5 bays of the finest (Pultecs, EAR, Urei, GML, etc) a set of vintage reverbs AMS RMX, EMT 240, EMT 245 and AKG BX10. Capture options are Studer (quarter-inch) and Lynx Hylo mastering converter. The room can be set up with a 5.1 monitoring system controlled by a Martinsound MultiMAX surround controller.

A 7m² Iso booth is connected to Studio B and is good for recording vocals and other overdubs. It can be easily linked to Studio A's main live room, which isolates amps during live sessions.

Studio A&B offer the latest Mac Pro equipped with HDX card, Black Magic 4k card and an arsenal of plug-ins with octo UAD card.

On the backline and mic side, it's Ali Baba's cave: RCA44 classic ribbon mic, RCA DX77, 2x Neumann U47 and 4x Neumann U67 and a pair of KM56s. We have a Hammond B3, Farfiza, Clavinet, Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Twin reverb, Vox AC30 and more. Outboard includes an EAR 660, AMS, EMT140 and a Gates SA-39 compressor straight out of the 1950s. Without a doubt, This is Paris' most complete and eclectic selection of guitars, keyboards, amplifiers, pedals, mics and outboard.

In QDS Studios, everything is interconnected in a type of "intelligent" building which makes you want to arrive early and stay late. It is already the cream of the crop in french recording studios.

All studios are wired with optical fiber high speed internet and 4K SDI video, we are set up for remote recording, film scoring and direct broadcasting.

Jordan and Frédéric have another passion: vintage! Their hobby has given QDS Studios a "cosy industrial" ambience, with huge factory lamps and shelves filled with vinyl.

QDS Studios is an independent studio, so its rates are very affordable. Majors have recorded here (Kanye West, Babyshambles, Beck, Gregory Porter, Franck Ocean...) as well as independents (Rover, Keziah Jones, Anthony Joseph, Elliott Murphy, Mashrou'Leila, Stuck in the sound...). There are two in-house sound engineers: Jordan and Frédéric as well as loads of big names who have already recorded here: Stephen Street, Mark Plati, Mike Hedges, Haydn Bendall, Phil Délire, Dan Black, Helik Hadar, Darrell Thorp.