Capel Sound Studios

Located in Capel Sound on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Capel Sound Studios is a professional team of experienced sound engineers.

Our engineers have years of recording time under their belts, producing artists from all over Australia and overseas. They are also musicians that understand the process of creating only quality results, which is a core value of the business.

Bringing the highest professionalism to business projects they draw on a wealth of knowledge working as key directors in creating quality results without blowing out the budget.

A musician playing an electric guitar on stage, with another musician partially visible holding a bass guitar nearby. The stage has a black curtain with small pink and purple lights.

Dave Walker

Studio Manager & Engineer

Dave Walker is Studio Manager and engineer at Capel Sound Studios and a producer, musician and music mentor with extensive experience across studio, live and community music.

He has been recording and producing music since 2008 and since 2022 has led recording, artist development and education programs at Capel Sound Studios, including Music Production Fundamentals and Storyline.

Dave has worked extensively with emerging artists and First Nations musicians in regional and remote Australia, including Bush Bands Business, Sand Tracks, Black Rock Band, remote recording projects and touring. More recently, he produced Mulga Bore Hard Rock’s debut album Sweet Home Mulga Bore and worked as monitor engineer at the 2026 Desert Harmony Festival in Tennant Creek.

A male singer passionately performing on stage, holding a microphone with a drummer visible in the background, stage lighting illuminating the scene.

Dan Swan

Studio Owner & Engineer

Dan Swan is the owner and an engineer at Capel Sound Studios, with more than 20 years’ experience across recording, production, songwriting, live music and performance.

A multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter, Dan has worked across a wide range of styles both as a performer and behind the desk. His professional experience includes studio production, live audio, post-production and projects with the Mushroom Group, alongside many years working with independent and emerging artists.

At Capel Sound Studios he plays a central role in recording, rehearsal, artist support and community music programs. In 2026 Dan worked as FOH Engineer at the Desert Harmony Festival in Tennant Creek, adding to his experience delivering complex live and community music projects.

A man with a red beard and long hair tied in a top bun with a scrunchie, looking downwards with a focused expression, sitting indoors by a window.

Thomas Marshall Gregory

Producer & Engineer

Tom is a lifelong musician with over 20 years of playing, born and raised on the Mornington Peninsula he’s been exposed to many talented performers from the area. Tom has been a performing artist for nearly 15 years playing venues all around Melbourne and Australia with hardcore and metal bands including Along Shorelines and Scourge.

Being in bands when he a teen led him quickly to the studio as a recording artist, where he fell in love with the process of bringing a song to life. Tom has recently completed a Bachelors Degree in Music Production at Collarts, where he sharpened his technical skills including becoming ProTools Certified and racking up over 10,000 hours in Ableton Live. In learning Ableton, Tom discovered a passion for working on a wide variety of electronic music becoming an expert a Sampling, Synthesis and Midi programming.

Tom is a lover of all music having worked on Country, Rap, Pop, Metal & EDM.

Capel Sound Studios is a purpose-built recording facility designed to remove friction from the creative process and deliver consistently high-end results.

The studio now operates on a fully redesigned signal flow and monitoring architecture, meaning faster session setup, lower tracking latency, and greater flexibility when capturing performances. For artists, that translates to better feel, better focus, and better takes.

The studio comprises three dedicated spaces:

The Control Room
The control room has been professionally treated and calibrated for accurate monitoring and decision-making. With upgraded routing, monitoring control, and room correction, what you hear is reliable and translatable. The space is comfortable and functional, with tea and coffee facilities, running water, and a relaxed environment suitable for long recording, mixing, and mastering sessions.

The Dead Room
The dead room is intentionally free from problematic reflections, making it ideal for vocals, voiceover, acoustic instruments, and isolation duties. This space is critical for clean, professional recordings and allows complete separation when required, such as isolating bass cabinets or tight vocal takes during full band sessions.

The Live Room
The live room is acoustically treated to capture natural, musical room tone while maintaining control. It is designed for full band recording, including drums, and supports a wide range of recording styles, from tight modern productions to more open, organic performances.

Together, these spaces allow for full band tracking with isolation, hybrid recording workflows, and seamless movement between creative stages.

Recent upgrades mean sessions run more smoothly, downtime is reduced, and the focus stays where it should be: on the performance.

Studio Layout

Floor plan of a house with labeled rooms: control room, dead room, bathroom, and live room. The control room has a sofa and two chairs. The live room has a round table with chairs, a side table, and some plants. The bathroom is small and contains a toilet.

Gear List

Monitoring

  • Yamaha NS-10M

  • Dynaudio MKII

  • ADAM Audio A7X

Interfaces and Conversion

  • Universal Audio Apollo 8

  • Focusrite OctoPre

  • Focusrite Scarlett 18i

DAW and System

  • Apple Mac Studio (2022)

  • Avid Pro Tools

  • Apple Logic Pro

  • Ableton Live

  • A comprehensive professional plugin suite

Outboard and Preamps

  • Universal Audio 6176 Preamp and Compressor

  • Warm Audio WA73-EQ (Neve-style channel strip)

  • JLM Audio TMP-8 Preamps

  • JoeMeek TwinQ Preamp and Compressor

Microphones

  • Microtech Gefell UM70 (pair)

  • RCA BK-5B Ribbon (pair)

  • Warm Audio WA-47 (U47-style)

  • AKG C214

  • AKG C1000 (pair)

  • Shure Beta 52A

  • Shure SM57 (x5)

  • Shure SM58 (pair)

  • Calrec CB20C (pair)

  • Plus additional specialty microphones

Guitar Amps and Modelling

  • Fender DeVille

  • Fender Deluxe

  • Fender Tweed

  • Kemper Profiler

Guitars

  • Maton Acoustic

  • Martin Acoustic

  • Fender USA Telecaster

  • Cole Clark Mistress

  • Plus a rotating selection of additional instruments

Drums

  • Gretsch Catalina Birch 6-piece
    Bright, punchy, and versatile

  • Ludwig Keystone Oak/Maple 4-piece
    Deep, dark, powerful tone

Snare Collection

  • Gretsch 14x5 Birch

  • Ludwig Blackrolite 14x5 Aluminium

  • Cast Bronze 14x6.5

  • Pearl Masters 14x6.5 Maple

  • Ludwig Black Magic 14x5 Brass

  • Sonor Artist 14x5 Steel

Pedals

  • A wide selection available to suit session needs

Close-up of professional audio equipment rack with multiple audio processors and mixing units.
Close-up of a professional studio microphone mounted on a stand against a dark background.
Close-up of a cymbal on a drum set in a dimly lit setting.