Bearded Cat Production

Bearded Cat Production Analog and Digital Recording/Music Production Studio run by Brad Bensko and Kathleen Parks

01/05/2026

Some fun from yesterday cooking up some drum tracks for an upcoming album, featuring on the kit!

Just finished tracking some drums today for with behind the kit. Tried out a new (read: really friggin old mic) Elect...
01/05/2026

Just finished tracking some drums today for with behind the kit. Tried out a new (read: really friggin old mic) Electrovoice 642 backed away from the kit because I felt like experimenting a bit. These were used heavily back in the day for movies and tv to pick up dialogue and are very focused pickup patterns…..typically not something you’d use to mic a drum kit, but it turns out strategically pointing it at the kit gave a really great “slap” to the kick and snare.

11/07/2025

🌟It’s a big release day here at Bearded Cat!🌟

single “A Feeling This Fine”

single “A Bump In The Road”

Both of these songs, both recorded here at Bearded Cat Studio, are out in the world today, be sure to check them out!

Both Mastered By: John McLaggan at

10/15/2025

Just did the finishing touches on this 1” 8 track MCI JH-110B and it’s now working perfectly. I got it for next to nothing in very sorry shape and took on the project just to see if I could bring it back to life. I’m happy to say I was successful, but a lot of time, careful work, and expletives went into it!
One Inch 8 track is my absolute favorite format to record on, for the sonic quality but even more than that, the workflow. You have to make decisions and commitments to track layout, but to me, the payoff is well worth it. Most of my favorite records were recorded this way or with even fewer tracks, after all!
Here is an old unreleased recording of mine done on the studio’s original Otari MX70 1” 8 track about five years ago, and a breakdown of the track layout and performances I put on each track. It’s always nice to revisit old recordings and hear what I was doing, and I may still release this one after laying a vocal on it. It features the talented on violin, which is actually three different performances subsequently summed or “bounced” to one track, something that is done often on 8 track recordings.

Yours Truly: Bass, Drums, Guitars, Piano, Organ

Kathleen Parks: Strings

As far as I can remember, here are the nerdy engineering details:

Drums: D12 on Kick, Two Stager Ribbons for the rest

Bass: P Bass into an Ampeg B15, D12 mic (why reinvent the wheel?)

Guitar: Telecaster into Ampeg Reverberocket, Shure 545 mic (I say again, why reinvent the wheel?)

Acoustic: AKG D19

B3: Sennheiser 409

Piano: Stager Ribbons

Strings: AKG D19

FOR SALE:Soundcraft Ghost 32 Channel/8 Bus Console This was my main console until I recently replaced it with a Neotek...
02/02/2025

FOR SALE:

Soundcraft Ghost 32 Channel/8 Bus Console

This was my main console until I recently replaced it with a Neotek Elite. Fully functional, includes a patchbay with cabling to the ins and outs of the board. A few years ago I went through it and replaced the problematic insert jacks with gold plated Neutrik jacks for all channels and mix outputs and headphone outs, per the Creation Audio Labs recommendations. Includes custom made desk (pictured), power supply, and patchbay/associated cabling.

DM for info

FOR SALE: Otari MX-70 1” 16 track in good working condition. I’ve used this machine at Bearded Cat for many years and ...
02/02/2025

FOR SALE: Otari MX-70 1” 16 track in good working condition.

I’ve used this machine at Bearded Cat for many years and have recorded some fun records on it. Rock solid transport and hardly ever goes out of calibration, I hardly ever had to put an MRL on it after initially dialing it in.
Comes with a remote and a spare audio card for troubleshooting purposes.

DM for info

FOR SALE: Otari MX-70 1” 8 track I’ve had this machine for a little over ten years and it has never failed me, made ma...
02/02/2025

FOR SALE: Otari MX-70 1” 8 track

I’ve had this machine for a little over ten years and it has never failed me, made many records on it and it is hard to let go of, but since getting my 8 track MCI, I need to clear the space. Heads have been relapped by JRF, 70% life, so many, many more years of life left on this machine. Comes with remote, and if needed I can make a calibration tape to go with it. I will include a spare audio card for troubleshooting purposes.

DM for info

We’ve got a new (and most likely final) tape machine addition here at Bearded Cat, please welcome the almighty Ampex 440...
01/29/2025

We’ve got a new (and most likely final) tape machine addition here at Bearded Cat, please welcome the almighty Ampex 440! This is a C revision transport (in a nutshell, better tape handling), modified for use with B revision electronics.
This thing rocks and sounds fantastic. I’ve restored it from the ground up over the past year or so as I’ve had the time. I have a few different head formats for it (1/4” full track, 1/4” half track, and 1/2” 4 track) and will be doing a lot of cool projects with this!
One such project is a series I plan to start up in the near future is called “Full Track Fridays” where an artist or group will come in and record live to mono, just like in the very old days of recording. If something like this interests you, please feel free to reach out and inquire!
For now, here is a snippet of the first recording I made on this machine, a four track 1/2” recording with my friends Lucas and Olivia in

We’ve got a new (and most likely final) tape machine addition here at Bearded Cat, please welcome the almighty Ampex 440...
01/29/2025

We’ve got a new (and most likely final) tape machine addition here at Bearded Cat, please welcome the almighty Ampex 440! This is a C revision transport (in a nutshell, better tape handling), modified for use with B revision electronics.
This thing rocks and sounds fantastic. I’ve restored it from the ground up over the past year or so as I’ve had the time. I have a few different head formats for it (1/4” full track, 1/4” half track, and 1/2” 4 track) and will be doing a lot of cool projects with this!
One such project is a series I plan to start up in the near future is called “Full Track Fridays” where an artist or group will come in and record live to mono, just like in the very old days of recording. If something like this interests you, please feel free to reach out and inquire!
For now, here is a snippet of the first recording I made on this machine, a four track 1/2” recording with my friends Lucas and Olivia in

Busy day today tying up some loose ends! Pulling out the “obsolete audio rack” to do a cassette transfer from the 90s. ...
01/19/2025

Busy day today tying up some loose ends! Pulling out the “obsolete audio rack” to do a cassette transfer from the 90s. This Tascam 122MKIII is one of the best for this purpose and I’m happy to have it in the rack.

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Mystic, CT
06355

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