Speechless... Horrible.

Thank goodness you had it insured. Keep those serial numbers handy in case any of it ever winds up on e-bay!

Rauol, I"m so sorry to hear about this happening to you. It's the kind of thing that makes us all shudder, and hope it never happens to anyone else. What is even more astounding is your location; who'd think it would happen somewhere THAT remote!

I don't list my studio address on my website for reasons just like this, I only list the PO Box address, and there is no such thing as a walk-in or "studio tour." No, thanks. Late night callers who want to "Check out" the place always get my answering machine, and my caller ID screens everyone. No 'Anonymous" or blocked calls get through either. Only known clients get in, and I keep it all to a minimum. (No entourages, and no one wandering around unattended. My space is very small, and it's only for mixing, editing & mastering anyway.)

I know that's small consolation, but it's worth repeating whenever these things happen. Hope you can list the serial S here, and on ebay. I'd love to see the bastards caught.

Last but not least, if you are starting all over again and shopping for speakers, I'd suggest you give the Lipinski 505's (or the pricier 707's) before buying anything just yet. It took me a long time to get my mixing/mastering space just right, and the Lipinski 505's did it for me. They're $3k per pair, but worth every penny, IMHO.

Good luck, however you go. (And post those serial S!)

Can't answer your question and what to use, you'll be a better judge for that.

It's a shame to hear this.

That is real downer. Especially when the asshole who took it wouldn't know a EQ from a the syringe he is probably shooting up on. I can only sympathise...

JoeH wrote: Rauol, I"m so sorry to hear about this happening to you. It's the kind of thing that makes us all shudder, and hope it never happens to anyone else. What is even more astounding is your location; who'd think it would happen somewhere THAT remote!

I don't list my studio address on my website for reasons just like this, I only list the PO Box address, and there is no such thing as a walk-in or "studio tour." No, thanks. Late night callers who want to "Check out" the place always get my answering machine, and my caller ID screens everyone. No 'Anonymous" or blocked calls get through either. Only known clients get in, and I keep it all to a minimum. (No entourages, and no one wandering around unattended. My space is very small, and it's only for mixing, editing & mastering anyway.)

I know that's small consolation, but it's worth repeating whenever these things happen. Hope you can list the serial S here, and on ebay. I'd love to see the bastards caught.

Last but not least, if you are starting all over again and shopping for speakers, I'd suggest you give the Lipinski 505's (or the pricier 707's) before buying anything just yet. It took me a long time to get my mixing/mastering space just right, and the Lipinski 505's did it for me. They're $3k per pair, but worth every penny, IMHO.

Good luck, however you go. (And post those serial S!)

Lately I have not had too many "gee we want to see your studio" phone calls" but for a while it seemed like everyone wanted to see my studio. Most were just curious people who were potential clients but I did have a few scares like the Rapper who showed up at 10 pm at night with his "crew" and wanted to see the studio and have me listen to a few tunes to see what could be done with mastering" He was unplanned for and I was ready to go to bed after a hard day of mastering. I told him that I did not have the studio setup and that everything was turned off and he should come back, with an appointment, and I would be more than happy to talk to him. He did just that and became a good client but I don't enjoy having people show up with "guests" at 10 pm unannounced.

Just after we built the studio someone tried to break in buy using a crowbar or big screw driver to break the door knob by prying it upwards and outwards. Some damage done to the door frame and door knob but they did not break in.

I got a client who use to just show up at odd times. He would never call ahead but just come by and knock on the door. One night about 11 pm he came buy to so some "last minute mastering" I told him that the studio was closed and that I was on my way to bed. He put his foot in the door when I tried to close it. I told him that either he take his foot out of the door or I was going to call the cops. He would not budge so I grabbed my portable phone and started dialing 911 but he saw that I was serious and took his foot out of the door. He called and apologized the next day.

A couple of months ago I got a call about doing some mastering for a person. He asked a lot of questions that started getting me suspicious like what specific kinds of equipment did I have including model numbers and how many computers did I have, did I do this full time or did I have a "day job" was I going on vacation anytime soon could he come by and see the studio and would it be possible to do this late a night since he worked two jobs and he only had time late a night for a visit. Lots of red flags went up but he turned out to be legit just a bit strange.

My back street neighbor's house was broken into last summer. The burglar spent about 3 hours in the house going though every drawer and closet in the house. He probably would have been there longer except the owners showed up unexpectedly for lunch and he had to make a hasty getaway though the neighborhood. Besides doing a lot of damage to their house (broken glass all over the place) he made off with some family heirlooms which were never recovered. The police theorized that he had been watching the house for weeks to see when they were home and what their normal schedule was and decided that they left early and came home late and never went home for lunch EXCEPT the day he chose to burgle the house. They finally caught the burglar and it turned out he lived in an apartments right across the street from my house. His motive was money and he needed it to support his drug habit. He is now in prison serving a good long sentence.

You just never know.

We have an good alarm system and good locks and it was worth every penny to have them installed and maintained.

Rauol, Sorry about your loss. Hope you recover without any problems.

Your stories give me cold chills, Thomas!

I've always been under the impression most burglars are "Smash and grab" Junkie-types, who take a pillow case and fill it up with what they get from tossing the drawers in the upstairs bedrooms. Then they get out with what they can carry within 2-3 minutes. Most are scared shitless as well, either already cranked on chemicals, or stealing so they can buy more.

What you describe (and what Rauol went through) sounds more like a planned, calculated operation. (A variation of the old "Moving truck in the driveway while you're away on vacation" trick.) I have a pact with two of my closer neighbors that I will NEVER be moving without letting them know first, so if they DO see a van or strange vehicle without my presence, sound the alarm ASAP.

Aside from my gear and computers, there's nothing here that's of any real value. Even my 2 yr old P3 computer is probably worth about $200 on the open market now. No cash (HA! rrrrright!), no jewelry (Ha again! Who's got $$ for THAT stuff? ;-) and no silver or coins of any value. My tv is too big to carry out the window, and they're welcome to my DVD player (Sony - $80 - hardly irreplaceable.) I figure the 2-3 minute burglars don't know enough about the audio gear to make it worth sticking arond for. My main concern is the mindless vandalism that occurs while they're trashing places.

And as much as the expense seems extravagent, an alarm system is the best way to stop (or at least slow down) potential theives. Put a sticker in every window and on each door, by the locks, doornknobs, etc, announcing the fact that your premises are protected should a break-in occur.

I still think most of these are junkie-driven crimes of opportunity, and the less easy we make it for them, the safer we are. They'll move on to the next target instead. Hopefully.

Get
a
big
dog.

Just a quick status, another house on my road got broken into also. And one of the kids was caught. May or may not be the same people that broke into the studio.

No word on the equipment but I did get one heck of an adt system installed. I got an alternate rig setup...sounds good for what I have to do. The biggest pisser is the loss of the cranesong...I want that back more than anything. The rest I can deal with.......

Another nice addition was a mossberg rifle.....at 9500 feet in the rockies it can be handy, especially with a 400lb black bear in the woods behind my house. I'd like to have him as a pet....and a studio guard.

I dont let anyone know there is a studio there. Rarely if at all do I bring in clients....they dont like the drive and that has been a good deterrent. But now it is fort knox........

The album came out ok.......thanks for the concern..........

Looks like I will be getting most of my equipment back, except the cranesong. The cops caught the other thief last night trying to pawn off the bryston, B&W's, and the vari mu up in Fort Collins......I had the serial numbers and descriptions listed with the police. Luckily the items were of enough value to get listed with the state patrol and I got the call. I was very happy, but the cranesong was not among the items and the kid is too far gone to remember where and when he sold it.......

But with the damage done to the place I should get enough from my homeowners to get a weiss or another cranesong......I enjoyed the hell out of that eq.

The studio was rebuilt over the weekend......luckily I did some mastering for a carpenter and traded him construction for mastering his bluegrass band.....so i got a deal on wood and some log accents, I'll stain it and we'll be back in business.

So its good to have the gear back and the alarm system goes in today tomorrow. I got the cadillac system.........too much stuff to loose.

Thanks to the Ft Collins PD! I am going to do a project for them as a thanks. A CD they can give to kids at xmas..........

That's good news, Raoul. I've been watching this thread as it quite literally hits close to home. Glad things turned around on this for you.

8-) 8-) 8-) 8-) 8-)

Great that you got most of your stuff back. Maybe the thief will "remember" where the rest of the stuff is. A good alarm system is literally money in the bank.

CHEERS and have a great weekend celebrating.

I made a point to get an alarm system that is the best money can buy. I have worked in alot of shady places in my day and never thought the hamlet of evergreen would be that vulnerable....the road up to the house is not the easiest to ascend bt they did one hell of a job.......now I just have to get the bmw back in shape..that was trashed.....

I think the big dog approach is safe and effective. I've got 3 dogs, one of them is big enough to scare off any unwanted visitors. I'm glad to hear most of your gear was recovered. Best of luck getting back to business.