Carmel’s Spirit Vision Studios offers vintage gear and a whole lotta love.

It’s easy to roll right by the white picket gate leading to the entrance of Spirit Vision Studios. Tucked away behind the back-left corner of the Carmel Youth Center, one blink and you’d miss it.

But within the cozy, dimly lit space, you’d see the attention to detail. In one of the three small rooms there’s a wall of vintage guitars, and even more amplifiers on the ground beneath them.

“We’re gear junkies,” says Ben Rosett, one half of the Spirit Vision team. The other is Ian Jennings, a San Luis Obispo native, bassist and graduate of CSU Monterey Bay’s Music Recording Technology program.

Clients who buy studio time have access to the pair’s entire vintage gear collection, which includes a 1965 Sears Silvertone tube amp, a 1966 Fender bass, a sunburst ’70s Peavey bass T-40, a Fulltone super-analog tape delay and one of their personal favorites, a Sound City amp that was only made for a few years in the ’70s.

Most folks wouldn’t have a clue what these guys are talking about. Comparing the sounds of these various guitars and amps is like wine tasting, Rosett says, as he plugs a super-rare Ibanez guitar into a Sound City amp to demonstrate its pre-grunge raunchy overdrive. Once you know what’s going on, the nuances become clear and definitive.

Every object in the Spirit Vision studio has a purpose. A couple of comfy couches in the front room set a chill loungy vibe, while framed Picasso and Jackson Pollock prints add inspiration.

“Sometimes getting messy helps the whole creative process,” Jennings says.

Comparing the sounds of various guitars and amps is like wine tasting.

One of the studio’s crown jewels, a 1975 Rhodes Mark 1 electric piano, stands prominently near the entrance. Sometimes bands come to record without planning for any electric piano parts, Jennings says, but when they see the Rhodes, they write new parts in.

Across from one of the couches is a table where a mixing console (controls levels and equalizers for every instrument) might normally belong. But Rosett and Jennings didn’t want to create a traditional recording studio. Instead, they use analog hardware with mic preamps, which boost the mic signals, and a summing mixer, which streamlines the finished tracks into one file. The analog hardware adds more variety, creates warmer tones and dresses up the sound.

“We didn’t want to be like those traditional sterile studios,” Jennings says. “Many great albums come from characteristics you can’t get by playing notes. It’s all about vibe.”

Before becoming Spirit Vision, the space fell into disrepair and was vacant for several years. Even earlier, it was a recording studio owned by Clint Eastwood and Hollywood composer Alan Silvestri, who donated a couple pieces of equipment to Spirit Vision. Silvestri and Eastwood composed Flags of our Fathers at the studio.

Rosett and Jennings met at CSUMB in 2009. After a stint in a short-lived band, Rosett formed prog-rock instrumental outfit Strawberry Girls, and Jennings joined. Rosett had been recording out of his Salinas garage when Ernest Griffin-Ortiz the Carmel Youth Center director and a friend of Rosett’s dad, approached Rosett about the available space. The pair put together a business proposal, presented it to the Youth Center board and obtained a business license in 2012. Also, they’ve done all the renovations, from painting to installing laminate flooring.

After a slow start, Rosett and Jennings expanded studio services to also include video, photography and design. They’ve produced commercials for clients including the new Carmel restaurant Affina and Sotheby’s Realty; now they’re trying to break into the wedding market.

However, they still consider their audio production services the cornerstone. “Our goal is helping [clients] get to where they need to be without them knowing where that is,” Rosett says. “We are different [than other studios] because we try to be more invested as producers and friends.”

Musicians who have recorded at Spirit Vision includes singer-songwriter Cowboy Starr, country prodigy Delaney Ann and folk musician Talmon Owens, who cut his full-length debut under Rosett’s leadership.

“I’d been sitting on songs for a long time that I wanted to record as an EP, but Ben motivated me to make a full-length album,” Owens says. “[Rosett] would listen, then have tons of feedback. I thought it was going to be a simple acoustic album, but he turned it into a fun long project – Ben was the full band.”

As deep as he gets into the music, Rosett says not to read too deeply into the name Spirit Vision. “It doesn’t really mean anything, but it sounded cool,” he says. And here, the sound is the most important thing.

SPIRIT VISION STUDIOS is housed inside the Carmel Youth Center in Carmel. Rates range from $40/hour to $3,000 for a 10-track LP. 235-8427, www.spiritvisionstudios.com.