"I collect sounds," Kirk said, sitting in the parlor of his home and recording studio in the West End neighborhood. "I like to make recordings and capture songs. I am not one of those guys who edits together a song from 26 takes."

He is a skilled recording engineer, with several albums to his credit. But he is quick to say that he does not consider himself to be a producer. He doesn't care for the term. It's not what he does.

Kirk is credited for "recording and mixing" on the CD jacket of his latest project, Mortal Flesh - an astonishingly accomplished solo album by singer Martha Bassett.

"Robert really makes it a point not to be 'the producer,'" Bassett said. "When we were doing the album, I asked him what he thought about a vocal part. He just looked at me and said, 'Well, that sounds like a good question for your producer.' He likes to make the musicians figure out what is right or wrong."

Kirk, 47, owns and operates Treehouse Mobile Studios, part of which is indeed mobile - he transformed an ambulance into a studio - and part of which is scattered around his big old house.

Such oddity suits Kirk, who is a gifted, storied character in his own right. He is, after all, a man who once turned his tiny apartment in New York, complete with sound reinforcement, into a recording studio.

"I felt like I was making records in a box, he said, laughing. "I can assure you there is no future making records in a one-bedroom apartment."

Kirk was born in Kinston, but spent part of his childhood in Winston-Salem; his grandfather was Haddon Kirk, a former vice president of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. In 1966, he moved to New York, where he lived for 37 years.

He said he was 9 when the first signs of his becoming "an audio geek" appeared.

"My mother gave me a set of drums and a small Sony tape recorder," Kirk said.

"I immediately started making tapes of myself banging on the drums. From there, I started taking apart the telephone and hooking it up to the tape recorder. Looking back, the course of my life was set in motion right then."

Kirk worked as a disc jockey in North Carolina during his college years - he still maintains a radio show at Guilford College - then he headed to Rome for two years. He studied photography, fell in with a crowd that revolved around fashion models, and began shooting fashion. This career shift took him back to New York, where he worked for designers Perry Ellis, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein.

His career as a fashion photographer also led him into a friendship with Pete Townshend of The Who.

"We met at some fashion thing, had way too many beers and, over a Guinness and a handshake, I was hired to be the tour photographer for Pete's solo tour for his album Psychoderelict," Kirk said. "And that tour kind of jolted me back into reality. I realized that I really loved being around music and musicians."

So Kirk decided to move back to Winston-Salem in 2000 to integrate himself into the music scene. En route, he bought the ambulance.

"I drove past this used-car place, and there was the shiny ambulance sitting there," he said. "I drove on; then something made me go back. I kicked the tires, looked in the windows, and suddenly thought that it would make a perfect mobile recording studio."

Being initially known as "that long-haired guy with the studio in the ambulance" was Kirk's introduction to local musicians. He would back the ambulance up to clubs and record local bands performing live, mixing in real time so he could provide the bands with a CD at the end of the evening. His ability to mix - and mix well - on the fly led to him be hired to "engineer and mix" proper albums for such local musical acts as The Finks, tommygun, Clare Fader & The Vaudevillains and Bassett.

One thing that distinguishes Kirk's work is his love for analog recording as opposed to digital recording, which has become the music-industry norm. Kirk also makes a point of using vintage recording equipment. He owns tape machines from Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland Studios and from Carnegie Hall, and several of his microphones were used to record Sarah Vaughan, Barbra Streisand, Little Richard and Janis Joplin, among others.

"Robert gets this warm sound that you really don't hear anymore," Bassett said. She added, laughing, "Plus, all the girl singers love him for his mikes."

"I'm not out to challenge the digital age, but I do think that there is much to be gained by capturing music made by comfortable musicians playing in real time," Kirk said. "I love the magic that occurs with spontaneity."

Kirk paused, smiled as his dog, Rufus, had his way with a chew toy, and sat back to survey his rooms of equipment. A look of total contentment spread across his face.

"I don't think for a minute that I will get rich recording," he said. "But I know I have done my part in the process if the song sounds good with my eyes closed and my heart wide open.

"There is a lot to be said for feeling fulfilled."