Inside June Audio: The Utah Studio Where Post Malone and The Killers Record
I drove five hours to Provo, Utah, to tour one of the best studios I've ever seen — June Audio Recording Studios, the room where Post Malone, The Killers, Benson Boone, John Legend, Anderson .Paak and Kaskade have all made records. The engineers walked me through every rack, every mic — and yes, they told me Post Malone's exact vocal chain.
This article is the written version of the full video tour. Watch it here, then keep scrolling for everything we learned:
A 1905 House Hiding a World-Class Studio
June Audio doesn't look like a typical facility. Part of it is a house built in 1905 that has lived many lives — locals still remember buying shirts there — and part is a purpose-built studio finished in 2019. The old drum room became the lounge (stocked with Dr Pepper and ice cream), and the building now holds two full studios plus a synth-packed production room.
The 1905 house: leaded windows, mountain light, and a century of history
That contrast is the charm: you write on a couch in a century-old living room, then track through a modern API console twenty feet away. And because Utah has very few rooms this size, June Audio hosts everything — string quartets, jazz bands, hip-hop sessions, and arena-level acts like The Killers.
The Gear That Makes June Audio Special
Studio One: API 2448, ATC mains, and that blue ceiling
The centerpiece of Studio One is an API 2448 console — 32 channels, fully analog, with digitally controlled flying faders — paired with ATC mains (on long-term loan from Kaskade) and Barefoot nearfields.
But the personality lives in the weird stuff:
- A 24-track 2" tape machine (a lovingly refurbished Sony) used for extra-beefy drum sounds — they'll even slow the tape down for weight.
- A vintage mono RCA broadcast mixer, modded for tracking, that kick and snare get slammed through.
- A Tascam cassette 4-track: mixes get mastered onto cassette when an artist wants "that crunchy sound without using plugins."
- A Mäag Audio Magnum-K — set a range and it simply stops compressing past ~4 dB. Mäag is a Utah company, as is Spectra Sonics, whose 610 sits in the engineer's top-five list.
- Even $50 tin-can contact mics from Etsy, velcroed to stands, that sound shockingly like ribbons.
The 24-track tape machine — drums go here to get heavier
"We'll throw a mic on the floor, obliterate it through this, and parallel it in — and it ends up being our favorite mic."
Inside the Mic Locker
The mic locker: every yellow bin is another microphone
The locker reads like a museum: vintage Neumann U67s from the '60s (made in West Germany — two vintage, two reissues), a beloved ELA M 251-style Upton, an SM7, Coles 4038 ribbons, a rare RCA BK-5 "snow cone" and a Samar stereo ribbon hand-built in Salt Lake City.
The daily workhorses are exactly what you'd guess: U67s "all day," the 251 for vocals, plus 57s, 58s and 421s.
Post Malone's Vocal Chain (Yes, the Real One)
The section you searched for. When Post Malone flies in, the chain is almost embarrassingly simple:
- Microphone: his own Sony C800G (sometimes a Neumann U47)
- Preamp/channel strip: Avalon VT-737
- Compression: none — "just keeping it nice and clean"
- In the box: Auto-Tune and some reverb
That's it. No wall of hardware — a great mic, a clean front end, and a finished vocal sound built in the mix. (The engineers joke that beer is technically the first stage of the chain — "natural compression.")
Where the vocal chains live: the API and the outboard racks
The house engineer's go-to chain for everyone else: Upton 251 → Neve-style pre or LaChapell 583 → LA-2A or Tube-Tech CL 1B → Distressor. In the production room it's Coil Audio preamp → Black Box HG-2, with a crunched parallel pencil mic for texture.
Want the other 87 chains?
Over 5 years I interviewed 100+ Grammy-winning engineers and asked every one of them: what's your vocal chain? The result is the Vocal Chain Bible — 88 real chains (Drake, Beyoncé, Kanye, Travis Scott, Post Malone…), searchable by artist, genre or microphone, with free plugin alternatives for every chain. 187-page clickable PDF.
Get the Vocal Chain Bible — $4860 Guitars, 15 Drum Kits, and a Wall of Pedals
A fraction of the 60+ guitar collection
The instrument room is why touring artists love this place: 60+ guitars, 15 drum kits, walls of amps, and every pedal velcroed to the wall — grab one, use it, smack it back. Moog synths, a Yamaha C7 grand, Rhodes, Wurlitzer and a B3 round it out, so bands fly in with nothing — Post Malone included. His favorite house guitar, a Gibson J-45, is kept in a case, off the wall. "You've got to pay extra for it. Maybe."
Studio Two hides my favorite trick: flippable walls — reflective on one side, absorptive on the other. Rotate them for a live-room sound or a tight one. And the best feature costs nothing: floor-to-ceiling views of the Wasatch Mountains, so you always know when the sun — and the session — is going down.
Full Gear List from the Video
Everything the June Audio crew name-checked in the tour, with links to check current prices:
- Sony C800G — Post Malone's vocal mic
- Avalon VT-737sp — Post's channel strip, clean and simple
- Neumann U 67 (reissue) — the studio's everyday workhorse
- Telefunken ELA M 251E — the "251 sound" of their favorite vocal chain
- Shure SM7B — engineer's top-three vocal pick
- Coles 4038 — drums, vocals, acoustic guitars
- Sennheiser MD 421-II — toms and amps, all day
- Universal Audio LA-2A — smooth optical compression for vocals
- Tube-Tech CL 1B — the alternative vocal compressor
- Empirical Labs Distressor — the back end of the house chain
- Black Box HG-2 — "the best tape-style saturation I've seen"
- Mäag Audio Magnum-K — the compressor that knows when to stop
- Retro Instruments Sta-Level — vintage-style tube leveling
- Barefoot Footprint01 — the nearfields next to the ATCs
- Gibson J-45 — Post Malone's favorite guitar in the building
Boutique pieces from the video that you won't find in regular stores: Upton 251, Coil Audio CA-70s, Spectra Sonics 610, Samar stereo ribbon, and the one-of-a-kind broadcaster preamp. Some links above are affiliate links — buying through them supports the channel at no extra cost to you.
FAQ
Where is June Audio located?
In Provo, Utah — one of the largest recording facilities in the state. It combines a 1905 house with a modern studio building completed in 2019.
Which artists have recorded at June Audio?
Post Malone, The Killers, Benson Boone, John Legend, Anderson .Paak, Brandon Flowers and Kaskade, among many others.
What is Post Malone's vocal chain?
A Sony C800G (or Neumann U47) into an Avalon VT-737 with no compression on the way in, plus Auto-Tune and reverb in the box. Clean capture, character in the mix.
What console and monitors does June Audio use?
A fully analog API 2448 (32 channels, flying faders) with ATC mains and Barefoot nearfields.
How can I recreate these vocal chains at home?
Most hardware in these chains has faithful plugin emulations — and free alternatives. The Vocal Chain Bible maps every stage of 88 pro chains to paid and 100% free plugins, so you can rebuild them in any DAW.
Related Reading
- The Ultimate Mic Guide — every mic in June Audio's locker (U 67, SM7B, C800G), explained.
- The Best Audio Plugins of 2026 — rebuild these hardware chains in the box.
- The Speaker Bible '26 — the monitors (ATC, Barefoot) behind records like these.
- The Only 10 Free Plugins You Actually Need in 2026 — free stand-ins for the hardware.