How MUNA Built a Studio That Changed the Sound of Dancing on the Wall

The official credits state MUNA's latest album, Dancing on the Wall, was tracked at Top Secret Studios in Los Angeles. But a significant part of the record actually came to life in the band's own recording studio.

For the first time in its career, MUNA had a dedicated and very personal creative space with two working rooms, allowing keyboardist, guitarist and producer Naomi McPherson, guitarist Josette Maskin and vocalist Katie Gavin to write, record and experiment together or separately—all without the clock ticking in a commercial studio.

In this exclusive Guitar Center studio tour, the trio reveals how that freedom transformed its songwriting, recording workflow and production techniques while showcasing some of the guitars, amps, keyboards and recording gear that shaped Dancing on the Wall.

Reamping Expanded the Album's Tonal Landscape

Thanks to reamping gear acquired through Guitar Center, MUNA could send previously recorded tracks through different amplifiers and speaker cabinets, creating fresh textures and adding new dimension to guitars, vocals and other instruments.

"This is mainly what the good folks at Guitar Center have allowed us to do," says McPherson. "Now, we can capture things in so many different ways and expand the sonic palette beyond what we were originally doing."

Central to the band's reamping setup is a Roland Jazz Chorus-120, which McPherson says became one of the studio's favorite tools for creating fresh guitar and vocal textures.

The Synths Behind Dancing on the Wall

The studio's continually growing keyboard collection helps drive MUNA's adventurous approach to songwriting and music production. Among the featured keyboards in the video studio tour are the Moog Minimoog Reissue (for thick analog bass), Sequential Prophet-6 (synth leads, brass textures, custom patches), Korg Nautilus (workstation with expansive sound library) and Korg MicroKorg XL (the band’s “secret weapon”).

Building the Perfect Vocal Chain

McPherson offers a detailed look at the signal chain typically used to record Gavin's vocals.

“The Rupert Neve Designs Shelford Channels are some of my favorite pieces of hardware to work with,” says McPherson. “They are very musical, subtle and beautiful on lead and background vocals. For anything that kind of sings in that mid to high range, they are just amazing preamps. They also have built-in EQ and compression that you can engage or not. I don’t like to squash Katie's vocals too much because she's a very dynamic singer can go from very quiet to very loud, and I want her to be able to do that and not get too compressed. From the Shelford, I usually hit a Chandler TG2 preamp to give her vocals a little more gain and color.”

The Studio Setup Matters More Than Gear

While MUNA’s studio has an impressive collection of amps, synths, microphones and signal processors, the gear alone wasn’t the reason for the band’s expansive sonics on the new album. A huge factor was simply having a recording studio built with collaboration in mind.

"What I love about this recording studio is that we were able to design it for us," says Maskin.

McPherson adds that having a creative workspace where everything the musicians need stays permanently connected and ready to record dramatically changed the band's workflow, and fostered experimentation throughout the making of Dancing on the Wall.

Build Your Own Creative Space

It’s incredibly freeing—as well as financially and creatively savvy—to design a home recording studio specifically tailored to your songwriting, audio engineering and production style. We can help you start the process or add the right gear as your studio grows. Simply talk to one of our Gear Advisers or visit your local Guitar Center.

You can also get ideas from reading the articles on the Guitar Center Riffs Blog. Check out Five Essential Mics For Your Home Studio, The Best Studio Monitors of 2026, The Best Audio Interfaces of 2026, Hybrid Mixers for Live Performance and Home Recording and all of our other recording tutorials and product guides.