Having made a big splash with Ride during the ‘shoegazing’ period of British alt/rock during the late 1980s (and who reformed in 2014), frontman and guitarist Mark Gardener developed a strong interest in recording and studio production. Now, with Ride about to release a new album, Gardener has opened OX4, a multi-room studio facility in Oxfordshire, built by Studio Creations and with an SSL AWS 948 console as its centrepiece.

‘It constantly surprises me, the Ride phenomenon,’ Gardener muses. ‘We did a big thing first time around, but now we are playing bigger shows than we ever did back in the day. But I always thought one day it would level off, so in the interim I got heavily into recording, trying to demystify the process of being in the studio. It’s always been my thing, really.’

As part of ongoing upgrades and developments to its studio facilities, the Verizon Digital Media division – combining AOL and Yahoo! – has taken delivery of three Lawo mc²36 audio production consoles and a Nova37 Hybrid IP/Madi Plug&Play Audio Router for its studio facilities.

‘We are scaling globally, and the ease of interconnectivity  that Lawo provides has made planning for the future exciting and easy to understand,’ says Dan Brantigan Head of Audio. ‘I’ve been exceedingly impressed with Lawo’s willingness to customise based on client needs, and everybody there seems genuinely excited to work through hurdles and even teach programming and intricacies that other console manufacturers would shy away from.’

Kazbar systems recently completed design and construction of a new multi-room recording facility for English composer and music producer, Nicholas Lloyd-Webber – prompted by ongoing renovation at the Palace Theatre on London’s Shaftsbury Avenue requiring him to find a long-term location for his facility.

Lloyd-Webber describes the five-room complex – which is now up and running – as ‘incredibly flexible, whether for tracking, mixing or working to picture in all of the rooms at once or independently’. The fundamental requirement of the project was to provide the best use of available space, while maintaining a high level of sound isolation and acoustic accuracy.

The hometown of Confucius, Qufu is also home to the Nishan Holy Land commemoration site and cultural heritage destination. Recently it hosted the Mid-Autumn Festival Party for the China Media Group centred on a 60m-wide stage and large set served by an Alcons Audio pro-ribbon LR28 larger-format line array system.

With an audience of 5,000 seated in an arena 80m wide by 100m deep, several audio challenges faced the event’s audio director Liu Yibin – lead sound engineer for China Central Television (CCTV) and chief sound engineer for the event – Mr Xu. Because of the arena’s size, the FOH system had to be positioned and aligned very accurately. The festival site was also close to Mount Ni and the Nishan Reservoir, meaning strong breezes and changing humidity could cause problems with the sound.

The community radio station for the town of Aalsmeer in the Netherlands, Radio Aalsmeer installed a new mixing console and virtual radio software solutions from Lawo in its on-air studio. The move to digital working now uses a 16-fader Lawo crystal surface powered by a Compact Engine.

Value played a large part in the selection of crystal, according to Lennart Bader and Niels Tenhagen, self-employed broadcast professionals who began their respective careers volunteering at Radio Aalsmeer. Funds for the renovation came from generous donations by Rabobank and Schiphol Airport, so a keen eye was kept on costs.