Best Recording Studio Santa Rosa Near Me

4worldlovers: Prairie Sun is a Grammy Award-winning recording phenomenon, that has brought audio, joy, and laughter to the entire world. Prairie Sun has been blessed to craft talented artists' passions, dreams and audio performances into masterpieces to be shared with the world!

If you come and work with us, our dedication to your musical goals quickly becomes apparent. As such, we honor all of our clients and prospective future clients such as yourself and hope to make you a part of the Prairie Sun story... Keep it rockin!


At Prairie Sun we've dedicated our core values to providing outstanding,

We have exquisitely maintained, vintage analog mics, consoles, tape machines, and outboard equipment. Part of the fun is using the same gear your heroes did to make your favorite records!


Total integration with modern DAW production tools, using fast, Pro Tools, top converters, and a continually growing collection of the latest and greatest plugins, in addition to our analog gear.

Prairie Sun's rate structure makes it possible for artists and bands at all levels of experience, affordable recording options. We've always been known to provide more value for client's dollars

Prairie Sun has been blessed to work with some incredible talent, as you can see from our Alumni Reel below. These extremely talented artists and thousands of others are what have made Prairie Sun legendary and for that we are extremely grateful!

One of the reasons for Prairie Sun's success, is that we offer affordable recording, no matter what your musical ability, genre or recording engineering experience is. Every project is unique and we go the extra mile to fulfill whatever our clients need. We must be doing something right, because we've rarely had to advertise. We are grateful to our clients for such unbounding, "word-of-mouth" love.

You've probably heard a song or two on the radio that you might not know was recorded, mixed, remixed or mastered at Prairie Sun. Because, well, we've been busy!

Here, we honor our Alumni's achievements and we are proud to have assisted in making their music, that has literally changed the world. And you can't say that everyday!

We can't list all of the audio projects and all of the wonderful talent that have used our services, so we decided to highlight just a small selection of artists that we're pretty sure you've heard of in our Alumni Reel. Nevertheless, all of our clients are Graduates and Alumni and whether you're a big-name artist or a local band, Prairie Sun treats you: "Just like family!"


Hopefully, one day, we'll be blessed to work with you and your musical aspirations.

We'd be honored to give your project the respect it deserves... So here's to you!

Prairie Sun rocks my world when I work there because it keeps getting better every time. From updated Pro Tools systems with new converters, to the latest plugins, to improved monitoring and a continued investment in the maintenance of their analog infrastructure, Prairie Sun remains my state-of-the-art studio of choice for its glorious array of vintage analog options combined with the best in contemporary digital technology. I always win at Prairie Sun and so does the client.

Prairie Sun has a special place in the hearts of many of my clients. It's not just about the gear and it's not just the relationships with the people, either. It's everything - the instruments, the people, the dogs - and yes, the gear too. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

"I have worked with Prairie Sun on numerous recording projects for the past 35 years. What a great experience to partner with a team of such talented and caring individuals who have great musical instincts, and enough guts to take creative risks; all the while being flexible enough to keep changing and progressing as an industry leader. Prairie Sun's the real deal! Relaxed environment, top quality equipment (both analog and digital), and a trusted staff that is both passionate and highly professional. I look forward many more productive years of creating music at my favorite studio, Prairie Sun."

4worldlovers: I have a broad palette of top-shelf instruments, microphones, preamps, and compressors to dial in exactly the tone we want whether it be modern or vintage, hi-fi or lo-fi.

With years of experience making albums, I can help you plan, organize, and run your session. I typically take a producer role in projects by offering feedback and direction on song structure, arrangement, parts, tone, performances, etc. But I’m happy to just engineer if you already know exactly what you’re going for.

The goal at the mixing stage is to balance the elements of a song and give the song the best sonic space in which to tell its story. All of the tracks should combine in a coherent, compelling way that enables the listener to be completely immersed in the song without any elements of the mix poking out at them. Sometimes that means enhancing tracks with processing like EQ, compression, reverb, delay, imaging, modulation, etc. Sometimes it means leaving a track well alone because it’s already perfect. Knowing when and how to enhance a track in the overall context of a mix is the key.

I have experience mixing in a variety of genres from pop, to folk, indie, rock, EDM, R&B, Hip-Hop, blues, and funk.

I can go experimental, add interesting textures, and make a mix sound larger than life, or I can get a song to sound as natural and organic as possible.

In addition to the extensive Logic Pro stock plugin and sample libraries, I have access to and experience with a whole host of third-party plugins and software instruments from Soundtoys, Softube, Output, Waves, Elysia, ValhallaDSP, Thephonoloop, Soniccouture, and Circles Drum Samples. I often patch in outboard gear or re-amp guitars for a more “realistic” sounding character.

Mastering is the last step in the production process. Mastering brings balance between songs within an album to give the album a coherent sonic character. The goal is for the listener to experience seamless transitions between songs, not be distracted by pronounced disparities in tone, volume, and dynamics.

Mastering also brings balance between the album and the rest of the world of music that already exists so that the album can be enjoyed alongside other albums in the same genre or playlist. Mastering gets the song sounding great in every playback environment.

One component of mastering is loudness. My goal is to strike the balance between loudness and dynamics that the client desires. I am mindful of the loudness war and the loudness normalization processes implemented by the various streaming services and can guide the client in crafting the most compelling and musical balance. If the client wants it loud, I have the tools and experience to deliver loud masters in the most dynamic and transparent way possible.

For recording and mixing, my hourly rate is $60/hr., with a 2-hour minimum. My day rate for an 8-hour day (excluding meal breaks) is $420.

For mastering, I charge $50 per song for albums with 5 or more songs, $75 per song for albums with less than 5 songs, and $100 for singles.

I’m David Lipps. I started playing percussion in the 6th-grade school band. I was classically trained and have a solid understanding of the fundamentals of music theory. I’ve played drum set for a number of bands in a variety of genres including indie, folk, rock, blues, and funk. I appreciate all genres of music with a leaning toward indie folk.

I’ve been recording, mixing, and mastering music since 2002. I have a passion for music and building community in the music scene.

A previous client described me in his album credits as the “doula” of his album. I think this is a powerful metaphor because birthing one’s creative ideas into the world can be a difficult but rewarding process. I love to support artists through that process.

I am fully engaged with each project and am kind, caring, empathetic, a clear communicator, direct but diplomatic, patient, and laid back. I have meticulous attention to detail (some might say OCD), a finely tuned ear, and the dedication and focus to bring a project to completion.

On an emotional level, my goal is to provide a welcoming, safe, positive container for my clients to fully express themselves through music. On a technical level, I want my clients to feel inspired by the sound that’s coming through their headphones so they can deliver the most genuine performance of their art. And then, after the song is mixed and mastered, I want my clients to feel like the final product is exactly what they had in mind, if not infinitely better.