5/6/2023. Yeah, well it’s been a while since I added to the news section. The big news is the studio project is coming along nicely. The control room is close to being done. The big room will be another six months at least. Finally it’s getting warm enough I can work upstairs. Hopefully I’ll have my mini-splits installed by next winter.

7/13/2019  Life is good, things are busy and I’ve settled into the new space and am loving it. I was hoping to take out the ceiling in the studio this summer, but alas, I have to do some foundation work so the fun stuff will have to wait.

4/10/2018  Yeeeee Haaaaa!!! The newest incarnation of Gruning Audioworks is up and running. The new space is fantastic and I look forward to building lots of stuff to make the world a better sounding place. Here’s a picture of the church:

Day four of moving day: The shop is coming together a little at a time. I’m hoping to be up and running in about two to three weeks. At that point I’m going to have a computer bud start a Gruning Audioworks facebook page. Also at That point I’ll be accepting rack projects and building them in the order in which they come in. Time to go move heavy things.

3/17/2018- ITS MOVING DAY! The big news is that this week we closed on a property into which we’ll move the shop and have some interesting studio space. The building is a former church built in 1855. It was initially built as a school, later to become a chapel and home of the local Catholic congregation, and eventually housing a few medical practices. I’m pretty excited about having a shop that I can move around without bumping into things. Eventually the upstairs will house the studio, which will be more than just a test lab. Time to move heavy things!

9/22/17- Just got back from New Orleans and all I got was this stinking chest cold. Such is life. I’ve been playing quite a few solo gigs lately and enjoying it immensely. There are a bunch of projects almost done so keep an eye on the store.

7/8/2017- A few months back I found one of Bernie Lehmann’s “Manouche” guitars on Reverb.com. I’ve been lusting after one of these for years and this one was moderately affordable so I pulled the trigger. It has radically changed my playing style, from what I consider an often understated, subtle approach to a more aggressive, dynamic, and much more instrumentally oriented style. Thanks Bernie.

It’s been a while since I added anything to this page so figured I’d change that. It has been a busy couple of years and I’ve been having huge fun, often spending seven days a week in the shop building stuff for clients and occasionally a little something for my own studio. For the most part my work has improved considerably since I began cobbling boxes together with salvaged parts a few short years ago. In any case, I continue to learn and am always on the lookout for inexpensive pre-amps that sound like expensive pre-amps.

I went to Berlin for the AES convention from April 23rd to the 30th. The convention had its ups and downs, but was generally a good experience and happily I ran into an old bud, Mark Drews who teaches recording in Norway. We had fun catching up on the last 18 years.

Much of this summer will be devoted to restoring and customizing two consoles; one that I’m building from the carcass of a Ward Beck 1202, and the other a 1970s vintage Quantum Labs desk. Lots of custom woodwork going into both of these. I will post pictures when they are done.

Damn…the summer is over and it’s getting chilly out. Of course my plans to spend the summer working on my consoles got blown out of the water. Instead I’ve been working on some extensive projects for various clients. I have a boatload of vintage modules in the shop including Langevin, Altec, RCA, Ward Beck (441s and 402s), and a few I’m forgetting. I’ve also settled on a standard VU meter for most of my cases. So look for a bunch of new designs in the next few months.

10/13/2014: I think most of the newer pairs will be fairly straight-ahead, un-complicated and just solid. I’ve started re-supplying the shop, standardizing some procedures to be more in touch with the rest of the world. I’m looking forward to working on some nice, solid, and beautiful boxes this winter.

10/22/2014: I’ve decided to stop taking in new work for a few months. Generally my clients are very patient people, but I just don’t think it’s fair to make them wait several months while I catch up on backlog. I hope to be caught up in three to five months and will be back to receiving new projects. Sorry for the inconvenience.

3/17/2015: Okay folks…I’m getting caught up so will be accepting new work on a somewhat limited basis. Call first as I plan on only working on one or two outside projects per month.