My friend Francis Preve sends pictures and details of his new “convertible” studio. He claims this is shameless self-promotion, but I call it aesthetic envy — and for another reason to be envious, Gabriel & Dresden’s Tracking Treasure Down (for which he did a remix) just hit #1 on the Billboard Club Charts. Not too shabby, saying you have a #1 single. Maybe it’s the shoes. Maybe it’s this studio. I love the slim-line M-Audio keyboard in a drawer.

Fran sends the details, for your enjoyment:

1. Studio rig: Live 5 + Logic Pro on an iBook 1.33 / 1GB RAM (Yamaha HS50M monitors not pictured)
2. Desk: Available from Target/Amazon for $149: Manhattan Oak Veneer Desk (on sale at brick & mortar, but beware: assembly is more difficult than programming a DX7 via the LCD alone)
3. Accessories: LaCie FA Porsche drives (250GB each) in corner, Blue Mic Snowball, iPod, and Pink Hello Kitty CD case. Ed: No link to the Hello Kitty case, so for that you’re on your own!
4. Single Made Here: Tracking Treasure Down remix (Francis Preve Mix) hit #1 on Billboard Club charts yesterday (June 22, 2006)
5. Next Single on its Way: Fran: “Just used this exact rig it to remix Gabriel & Dresden’s NEXT single.”

6. Next Book: “Also the laptop used to write my next book The Remixer’s Bible

Fran has also done a lot of development, including developing the sound content and presets for Live 5 and Operator, Polysix presets for KorgUser.net, and other stuff he doesn’t want me to tell you about. (Also confidential: the super-secret location of his condo hideaway. And I practically publish my address.)

Okay, I’ll just join in this shameless promotion of Fran. Here’s his album:

Tracking Treasure Down

(Yeah, I know I was just knocking Apple DRM. So I’ll burn and re-rip. Actually, that’s an interesting question … I can compare my AAC recompressed version to the original, and compare that to Fran’s master. Will be anxious to see what frequency content gets lost / artifacts introduced in the process.)

And his upcoming book:

The Remixer’s Guide

Now, I’m happy to do that for other readers, too, in exchange for taking your crib public. So send in your studios, if you like!

Now, just to further demonstrate the advantage of tuck-away keyboard drawers (hmmm, I may need to get one of these attachments for my desk, which is from, cough, Pottery Barn):