Wanna see Snoop’s mobile-studio bus?
In case you missed TLC‘s reality show, Street Customs, on Nov. 15, Snoop Dogg had his old Sprinter van converted into a mobile recording studio. It was a first for the car-remodeling company, West Coast Customs, featured on the show.
“We‘ve done a lot of projects involving extreme high-end car audio, and a number of mobile stage trucks with performance and DJ rigs, but professional recording gear has a whole different set of requirements,” West Coast Customs‘ Chad Utt says.
The van went from a beat-up shuttle vehicle with six rows of seats to a kick-ass mobile studio. First things first, West Coast Customs called Mackie, who outfitted the van with a Sony Vaio SZ491 2.16 GHz dual-core laptop running Mackie Tracktion 3 Ultimate Bundle software; Mackie Control Universal Pro, Extender Pro and C4 Pro control surfaces; Onyx 1200F FireWire interface; and 1521Z 15-inch active loudspeakers.
The van also does double duty as a video lounge. To that end, there‘s a Sony 46-inch Bravia flat panel display, Blueray DVD player, PlayStation 3 console, HR624mk2 studio monitors and an HRS120 12-inch studio subwoofer. And people sitting at stop lights next to Snoop won‘t be complaining from the racket, either: West Coast treated the entire van with Dynamat acoustical sound dampening material.
“Snoop is totally stoked,” Utt says. “He was looking around the van and saying ‘man, I gotta shut down my other studios and go on the road.‘ Everyone who sees it is just amazed. It‘s not some all-cosmetics project, just for TV. It‘s fully functional and it sounds awesome. This is the real deal.” Check it out!
