The latest version of the Merging Technologies Pyramix digital audio workstation incorporates High Order Ambisonics audio spatialisation plug-ins from French technology research institute, b<>com.

A provider of DAWs and the Audio-over-IP converters Horus and Hapi (Ravenna/AES67), Merging approached b<>com, the leading player in the market offering a professional solution suitable for working with the High Order Ambisonics format. In order to incorporate Ambisonic technology, the teams at b<>com developed a software suite that can be incorporated into postproduction workstations. This suite will allow content creators to position sources in a sound environment and apply spatial processing to them (rotation, focusing, masking). These audio plug-ins carry out most of the processing, from capture to output on speakers or headset (binaural).

The High Order Ambisonics (HOA) audio format is ‘scene-based’, as it describes the audio field as a whole (horizontal and vertical planes). The precision of the sound environment depends on the number of components used to describe it. Ambisonics provides flexibility in processing because it is independent of the playback system.

According to Merging Technologies Project & Regional Manager, Maurice Engler: ‘This software suite fits perfectly into the tools we want to make available for producing immersive soundtracks. It was also developed in collaboration with French users of Pyramix, particularly regarding the 3D panner. Our studio customers appreciate having an easy way to work with this exciting new audio format on their professional tools.’

‘The production of audio content in Ambisonic format is a major challenge in the development of immersive content, particularly in virtual reality and 360 video,’ says Jean-Yves Aubié, Manager of the Advanced Media Coding lab at b<>com. ‘With this software suite, we offer an effective, professional-grade solution that can be fully integrated into most audio postproduction workstations on the market.’

Known for his work with Taylor Swift, Don Henley, Maren Morris, Megadeth and Peter Frampton, multiple Grammy-nominated producer/engineer Jeff Balding has installed Genelec 8351 three-way Smart Active Monitors (SAM) and a 7360 SAM subwoofer in his studio.

Balding recently became one of the latest members of the music production community to set up a facility in Nashville’s Berry Hill district. In addition to the Genelecs, the studio features a 32-channel API 1608 recording console, Burl B80 Mothership AD/DA Interface and Universal Audio plug-ins for Pro Tools among other equipment.

‘I’ve had the 8351s for a little over a month now, and I feel excited to go into the studio to work on them,’ Balding says. ‘I like how they make me react to a mix, and I like the detail I hear on them. As you know, the rule of thumb with speakers is if you can’t hear it, you can’t fix it. And with the 8351s and the 7360As I feel like they give me the detail I need.

‘I’ve currently been using them on tracking/mixing sessions for singer/guitarist Phillip Phillips and mixing sessions for Don Henley’s Hyde Park performances. I am impressed with the proprietary GLM AutoCal technology, and it has some very flexible user features. It’s also proven to be accurate when I take mixes out of the studio. The combo of the 8351s and the 7360As is like having a great sounding set of big soffit-mounted monitors in a near-field package, and for me that’s a perfect scenario.’

Genelec’s 8351 three-way Smart Active Monitor (SAM) was developed in response to the need for increasing audio perfection for close-field recording and mix environments. Offering unique size and technological innovations, the 8351 claims new ground in electro-acoustic engineering, through its integration of mechanical and acoustical design, and signal-processing.

More: www.genelec.com

Operating a recording studio, a booking agency and a music label, Austria’s Balloon Studios has historically used large-format analogue mixing consoles up until 2009, when an SSL Matrix was installed to streamline its workflow. Now, in the company’s 30^th year, engineer and company CEO Thomas Jelinek has returned to analogue working with the acquisition of an 24-fader SSL AWS 948.

‘I missed direct recording to all channels and mixing with EQs,’ says Jelinek, reporting that the new desk is already transforming the way he works, and will offer his multi-faceted music business greater flexibility.

The AWS offers 48 line inputs, 24 SSL SuperAnalogue mic preamps and stereo/dual mono channel strips for a true inline console workflow. ‘I used to have a 256-channel console before I changed to the Matrix’ he reflects. ‘It made sense for me to move to a controller work surface at the time, but as a true analogue guy I am very happy that at last I have the board I really want.’

Jelinek began his studio business in 1989 immediately after finishing school. In the early 1990s, it started gaining traction as a label and then an agency as the company worked on a number of albums with BMG and Sony.

‘These were the good times of the music industry,’ Jelinek says. ‘It was more music production with a little artist management, but in 1995 we had a big win working with one of the first big discotheque compilations. You couldn’t get these types of tracks on CD or vinyl at the time, so we started making and distributing them - and we hit number two in the Austrian compilation charts the following year. It was a big break for us as a record company – we did 25 volumes of that compilation series which ran until 2004. Now we are a label, booking agent, and studio.’

Most of the time Balloon works with DJs and in the club music scene so it’s never been a typical band recording studio, but the AWS will change the game: ‘The AWS is the real deal console: the EQs, the preamps, the compression – it is all so incredible. It’s just amazing what we’re getting sound-wise already and the AWS channel strip is just brilliant’ explains Jelinek. ‘I’m an old-school producer from the 1990s who learned on analogue with direct access to EQs and everything else, so I needed a great sounding console that allowed me direct access to the channels again. Now I have one.’

The future looks bright for Balloon; in 2019 the label is looking to sign more producers and DJs working within the club scene and for the first time in a long time, the studio will open its doors to live band projects. ‘DJ work has always been our speciality, but I am now offering bands recording and mastering sessions which I am only able to do because of the AWS,’ Jelinek explains. ‘I haven’t been able to do that for ten years, and now I am really excited at where we can go with it.’

More: www.solidstatelogic.com

Bel Heritage Designs is has announced the BF-20-500 Stereo Flanger, a 500-Series version of the company’s classic analogue rack effects unit used during the 1970s.

Designed by Bel founder and ex-Genesis guitarist Mick Barnard, the original rackmount BF-20 quickly became the ‘flanger of choice’ for many top recording artists, including Phil Collins, The Rolling Stones and Yes, as well as for prestigious recording studios such as Air Studios, RSK, Townhouse Studios, Metropolis and Miloco. Meticulously recreated, the new unit is based fully on the original design, including use of SAD512 bucket brigade (BBD) delay devices.

As well as a manual mode, the flanger envelope can be triggered by its audio threshold setting, which works in conjunction with a decay setting, or set to cycle automatically using the rate control. When used with the threshold trigger, the trigger source can be the audio programme of an external source via a front-panel jack. The effect can also be controlled using external control voltages (CV).

The BF-20-500 will be available in March 2017 through select resellers worldwide, with a retail price of US$1195.

More: http://belheritagedesigns.co.uk

A tireless advocate of cutting-edge recording technologies, audio engineer Michael Bishop has earned ten Grammy wins in a career spanning almost 45 years. He served as the Chief Recording Engineer for Telarc Records until Concord Music Group abandoned in-house production, and is now a partner in Five/Four Productions with former Telarc colleagues, Robert Friedrich and Thomas Moore.

His most recent projects include the recording of two new pieces by Jonathan Leshnoff, a traditional multitrack studio session with Eighth Blackbird, and the hip-hop/orchestral fusion of Pharrell Williams with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Although he’s never advocated ‘documentary-style’ recordings, Bishop is riding the movement of traditional classical recordings towards movie soundtracks.

Citing Steve Reich, UK bass music, Japanese Idol, pro wrestling and surreal porn as his inspirations, Bo Ningen frontman Taigen Kawabe playing is also aware that his Japanese lyrics confuse non-Japanese audiences: ‘I like how people can use their imagination to figure out what I’m singing about, or focus more on the sound itself,’ he says. ‘With, say, 1000 people in a venue, isn’t it more interesting that each of them is processing the soundscape differently in their minds?’

The psychedelic rock foursome recently revised its own soundscape with the addition of an Audient iD22 USB audio interface to their recording set-up. ‘I would say the mic preamp surprised me the most,’ the singer says. ‘It’s super-clear and can capture such a wide range of frequency.’

Having met in London and formed nine years ago, the band has toured with The Fall, Primal Scream and Kasabian, and worked with fashion brands Alexander McQueen and Yoji Yamamoto. ‘Doesn’t fit into one particular genre or music scene, is one of the strong points we have as a band,’ says Taigen, citing ‘Slider’ as a good ‘taster’ track. ‘If it’s more about the live experience, try Daikaisei Parts 2 & 3 which we normally play at the end of our set,’ he adds.

For studio recording of both instruments and vocals, everything has previously gone into a Soundcraft MPM mixer and to an audio interface. ‘I’ve just started to plug straight into the audio interface directly – especially the microphone – after I changed to the iD22,’ Kawabe explains.

He is unafraid of breaking boundaries in the recording studio: ‘I like to use something you’re not supposed to use for mixing to process the sound and mix it with original sound – cheap guitar pedals, or I’ll record something with the laptop mic, for example.’

Kawabe has been using the extra outputs afforded by the iD22 audio interface to connect to his mixer to process the sound. ‘Before using iD22 I always had a dilemma between the sound you hear from the mixer, and the sound you recorded through the audio interface when I record and process the sounds.

‘Capturing the right sounds/vibes/performances is definitely challenging all the time – it can’t be just clean or tidy,’ he explains of the band’s studio phi;osophu. ‘People normally perform differently in the recording studio too, so it’s really difficult to find the nice spot in between “energy from performing live” and “production magic”, but this is the most interesting and fascinating point of making a record.’

With the vocal chain running from a SM58 beta mic through a Boss RE-20 echo and (1980s) Boss VB-2 vibrato to a DI or other audio interface, Taigen has plans to buy a good condenser mic before making the next band recordings: ‘I would be more than comfortable with a combination of a good mic and iD22 mic preamp to record my vocal or some re-amp/production stuff for the recordings on the final release.’

After nearly a decade in the UK, he’s recently begun writing more songs in English: ‘Singing in English is like learning a whole new instrument – it’s a source of new inspiration and ideas. I come up with totally different rhythms and melodies when I sing in different languages.’

Bo Ningen has played festivals in the southwest of England this summer, after a whirlwind tour in their homeland.

More: www.audient.com

Renowned composing and sound design duo Brains and Hunch (Tom Haines and Chris Branch) have invested in two sets of Genelec 8351 SAM monitors, provided by HHB Communications.

A set of 8351 SAM monitors – also known as The Ones – was delivered by Scrub (HHB Communication’s post division) and initially installed in a spare studio space at the company’s facility in the heart of London's Hoxton district with little to no acoustic treatment. Previously, the untreated room experienced booming low frequencies whenever monitors were introduced. However, once the 8351s were installed, the built-in SAM technology and GLM software automatically measured and calibrated the monitors to deliver a perfect sonic performance.

The Ones are now housed in a purpose-built room by Chris Walls of Level Acoustic Design, where they were quickly recalibrated to perform optimally in the new space. The initial pair of 8351s made sufficient impact that Haines and Branch have now purchased a second pair for an additional studio space.

As well as being the owner of Cape Town nightclub Fiction – where edgy bands and DJs play late into the night in the cellar of 150-year-old building – Ebenhaezer Smal (under the aliases Haezer & Embassy) has established his name on the South Africa and international EDM scenes with an sound evolved from his collaboration with Bob Rifo of The Bloody Beetroots and Black Tiger Sex Machine. More recently, he’s taken to his synth-packed studio to record his first album, Exit.

The studio occupies a large, treated room and is centred on an iMac, Audient iD22 USB audio interface, a Culture Vulture distortion unit, Moog Little Phatty synth, Dave Smith Mopho and Waldorf Blofeld desktop synth and an Edirol Midi keyboard controller. ‘It’s far from perfect, but it works for me,’ he says. ‘I also make use of my Tascam recorder and sample from my SL1200 turntable.’

‘I normally rig my synths via the Culture Vulture into my iD22,’ he explains. ‘My analogue synths are all connected via USB to my iMac for Midi control via my Midi keyboard.

‘I’m very impressed with the clean in/out signal and ability of the iD22 to handle a “hot” signal from distortion unit without any artifacts. I use the built in stereo/mono check button all the time, too. I love this function and it keeps my phasing and stereo/mono balance in check.’

Making an album marks a new direction for Smal, who despite not taking himself too seriously, does admit to leaning ‘towards the darker sounds of a genre’, generally steering clear of what he describes as cheesy or fluffy. ‘Most of my tracks I’ve made for club use,’ he explains. ‘This is the first time I’m making songs to all fit into a body of work meant for listening to one after the other. Telling a story of sorts and taking the listener on a journey through different genres and moods.

‘Music for me is a form of escapism. If people feel anything I’ll be happy. Everyone has their own interpretation of music and what it makes them feel.’ He’s certainly experimented and evolved making Haezer difficult to pigeonhole, so he’s reluctant to suggest just one track to showcase his vibe, before his album release in early 2017. ‘A good start would be ‘Minted’, ‘Mind Off’, ‘More’ and ‘Fire Walk With Me’,’ he says.

‘My biggest motivation to start the day is to better myself and create. Just create. I see music as art and if I can better my art every day and never be stagnant, I’ll be a happy man.’

More: www.audient.com

A distinctive addition to Mexico City’s architectural profile, a striking seven-storey building is the new home of Estudio 13.

Featuring a three-storey glass wall and dramatic, balcony-like profile, the facility has been designed by WSDG to house the triplex 7,000-sq-ft recording facility – two full control rooms and ettendant live recordingrooms, and a Piano/Rehearsal Room featuring a Bösendorfer Imperial piano.

Specialising in sample library recording and the development of virtual instruments, Vienna Symphonic Library has opened the main rooms in a new large-scale, high-end scoring stage and studio complex, Synchron Stage Vienna.

Two SSL Duality δelta analogue consoles, an L500 Live console, and a high-capacity Dante Network via SSL Alpha-Link MX converters and SSL Network I/O products, form the technical backbone of the studio.

When designing their ‘green’ 5,000-sq-ft Victorian home in the Washington, DC-area, Matt MacPhail and wife, Ann Lyles MacPhail, were committed to using sustainable, efficient building techniques and materials.

They were also set on a having professionally designed, acoustically superlative recording studio to serve their thriving audio production business, News At Eleven Productions.

Chandler Limited has released the Curve Bender Mastering EQ plug-in for Universal Audio’s UAD-2 software platform by Softube.

Chandler Limited’s Curve Bender hardware EQ is based on the vintage EMI TG12345 consoles) used to record The Beatles’ Abbey Road and Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon albums at Abbey Road Studios) reimagined for the modern recording environment. A powerful tone sculpting equaliser, it features 51 frequency points. Softube’s plug-in emulation is ‘circuit-end-to-end’, including filter inductors, germanium transistors, transformers and circuit nonlinearities. Ths approach allows the Chandler Limited Curve Bender Mastering EQ plug-in to retain the hardware counterpart’s harmonics and signature vintage tone.

The Chandler Limited Curve Bender Mastering EQ plug-in for Universal Audio’s UAD-2 platform is available from UA’s Online Store and adds features not found on the original hardware, including Mid/Side functionality and channel linking.

More: http://chandlerlimited.com

Counting all major US television and movie studios among its clients, as well as ad agencies in Hollywood, New York, Chicago and more than 60 countries worldwide, the Chicago Music Library has in excess of 60,000 tracks to licence. Constantly building on this resource, the company’s team of composers and engineers is constantly producing new tracks – adding to one of the world’s largest catalogues of classical music.

Key to the library’s recording session is Metric Halo ChannelStrip: ‘I use ChannelStrip every single day because it has a solid sound and everything I need, set up in exactly the right way,’ confirms Executive Music Producer, Robert J Walsh.

Walsh was the composer and music producer for the original Marvel Animation television series and features for 1982-1988 – including Spiderman, Transformers, GI Joe, Robotix, X-Men, and Defenders of the Earth among many. Previously, he was the Warner Bros Animation composer from 1979-1982 and then helped Stan Lee and Friz Freleng with animation scoring for TV and the internet.

‘Metric Halo ChannelStrip has a “sound”, and it’s the kind of sound that gives a track a well-defined heft,’ he continues. ‘Like a great hardware unit, it enables us to dial in exactly what we need quickly, without a lot of fuss. For example, the equaliser bands are easy to work with and give noticeable results with even a small boost or cut. I also use the compressor and limiter a lot and the controls are similarly responsive. But it goes a bit beyond the standard grab and dial routine somehow.’

The Chicago Music Library team recently acquired the rest of Metric Halo’s plug-ins (via the Production Bundle) and is becoming acquainted with Dirty Delay, HaloVerb, Precision DeEsser, TransientControl and Character signal path modelling. ‘I’ve already had a chance to use Metric Halo Dirty Delay quite a lot,’ Walsh reports. ‘I love the extra layer of edge and distortion that it has – it really puts things in a unique sonic space and gives a track personality. Like ChannelStrip, Dirty Delay’s interface is amazing.’

More: www.mhlabs.com

Responsible for recording the surrounding region’s most successful and influential artists, South Estonia’s oldest audio production facility has installed a Neve Genesys G48 hybrid mixing console and DAW controller.

The installation at Clockwork Studio sets the console up with Barefoot MicroMain 35 main monitors, outboard from the likes of Neve, SSL, dbx, Empirical dbx and Lexicon, and recording options including Pro Tools 12, Steinberg Cubase Pro 8.5 and a Tascam MS-16 16-track tape deck with Tascam DX-8DS noise reduction.

Relocating his Hinge Studios from Chicago to Los Angeles gave producer Craig Bauer an ideal opportunity to make some changes to the studio setup and workflow.

Having been located in Chicago – where he worked with the likes of Kanye West, The Clark Sisters, Justin Timberlake and Kurt Elling – over 20 years, one of the improvements he has made is adopting a DAD AX32 AD/DA converter, multichannel preamp, monitor controller and audio router from NTP Technology.

The unit plays a central role in the new studio design: ‘I conducted an extensive shootout of various converters and the AX32 became the clear winner,’ he says. ‘And not only in terms of the ‘sound’ of the conversion, but also the amount of flexibility the AX32 offered for my Pro Tools rig.’

Mixing ‘in-the-box’ allows Bauer to create a studio setup where he can control everything hands-on from his Avid S6, and via the Eucon control protocol the AX32 and S6 integration happens seamlessly: ‘I have fitted my AX32 with AD cards, each with eight microphone preamps, and being able to control every parameter of the mic pres directly from the S6 surface is perfection,’ he says. ‘I never have to leave the centre position or turn my back to the speakers to adjust a parameter. Further, integrating the AX32 Pro Mon monitor controller license for complete control of my monitors, cue and talkback directly from the surface is indispensable.’

Adding Dante AoIP option was also a game-changer at the Hinge Studios setup: ‘The flexibility in Dante combined with the DAD software is very powerful, and it solved a long-standing annoyance as well,’ Bauer reports. ‘I can now route audio directly from my Mac into my control room monitors without having to quit or change anything in other audio applications while mixing. Subsequently, I can reference a track from a streaming site, iTunes, or browser simply by selecting a different monitor path from my S6. That’s not just a small thing in terms of my daily workflow, that’s huge.’

More: www.digitalaudio.dk

Focusrite Novation Inc has appointed of Craig Lewis to the position of Director of Sales for Focusrite and Novation.

In his new role, Lewis is responsible for all Focusrite and Novation products from he wholly-owned US subsidiary of UK-based manufacturer, Focusrite Audio Engineering, with the exception of Focusrite’s Red and RedNet product lines. Focusrite Red and RedNet will continue to be handled by National Accounts Manager, Kurt Howell.

The announcement was made by Focusrite Novation Inc. President Phil Wagner, underscoring the ongoing growth and expansion of the Focusrite and Novation brands and their sales channels in the US. ‘Craig is well respected,’ Wagner says. ‘He is an exceptional addition to our expanding team. Craig’s industry accomplishments demonstrate his dedication and expertise in both MI and pro audio market segments, making him uniquely qualified for this new role. We welcome him aboard, and look forward to his contributions into 2017 and beyond.’

More: www.focusrite.com

Crane Song has released the Solaris 19-inch D/A converter

Building on the popularity of the Avocet IIA Monitoring controller, Solaris uses the same fifth-generation Quantum D/A conversion technology. The unit offers three analogue outputs, including two stereo balanced outputs and a headphone amp output. Digital input sections include AES, SPDIF, optical and USB, operating at up to 32-bit/192kHz resolution. An LCD function displays input source, sample rates and works as a level meter.

The Solaris delivers impressive performance with the lowest jitter reduction in the industry with less than 1ps.

The Crane Song Solaris is available to order in the UK exclusively through KMR Audio, and retails at £1,415.83 ex VAT (£1699 inc VAT).

Working with Dynaudio’s Pro division, Digital Audio Denmark has developed the ProMon licence to turn its AX32 and DX32 audio router/converters into monitor controllers. Pairing Dynaudio’s expertise in loudspeaker monitoring systems with DAD’s in audio routing and distribution, the two companies have announced high-end monitoring systems for music, film, post and broadcast production, as well as audio mastering.

ProMon 2 is a complete audio monitor control solution that offers stand-alone monitor control functionality covering a wide range of functionality for music recording studios, location music recording, as well as post production environments of any size and type.

When adding the ProMon 2 licence, a wide range of additional monitoring control features are added to DADman software, enabling AX32/DX32 to operate as a powerful processor with full control of signal routing, control room speaker levels and monitor cues in any channel format including stereo, 5.1, 7.1.4, Dolby Atmos and other 3D and immersive audio formats. The control and configuration is managed by the new DADman 5.1 software, which also serves as a control center enabling devices compliant with Avid Eucon or Midi to operate the monitor functions.

Multiple monitors and cue outputs in various channel formats can be configured and controlled from one or more hardware MOM’s (Monitor Operating Module) with individual cue mix functionality and dedicated monitor mixing, adjustable parameters include level, pan, cut, mute and even downmix from, for example, for a 7.1 multichannel format. All setting and configuration can be saved and recalled, allowing monitor configurations to be changed quickly and easily.

‘I am very happy about this new partnership with another great, Danish audio company,’ says Dynaudio Pro Product Manager, Sebastian Rodens. ‘It’s a perfect match, as many DAD and Dynaudio products actually share space in many pro audio facilities already, only in different parts of the monitoring signal chain. Once we had investigated the ProMon monitor solution in depth we instantly knew we had found the perfect monitor control centrepiece. It is quite simply the ideal companion to our monitors.’

‘With the audio routing capabilities of AX32/DX32, it was a logical next step for us to look into expanding the functionality with a dedicated focus on monitor control,’ adds Digital Audio Denmark Sales Director, Mikael Vest. ‘The result was ProMon, which has been a great success, so when Dynaudio suggested a partnership to develop this specific area even further, we were immediately intrigued. Dynaudio has produced world-class monitors for audio professionals for years and working together with them on a monitor system where each company contribute with their particular fields of expertise that complement each other is extremely promising.’

New on the landscape of St-Blaise in Switzerland, Damp Studios is a purpose-built studio, offering recording, mixing, engineering and mastering. The man behind the studio and its 32-channel Genesys Black G64 mixing console is producer, composer and arranger, Pascal Brunkow.

‘I bought my first Roland SH101 and just played with it – it ignited something in me,’ he recalls of his journey into music recording. ‘At 19, I went to music school in Pairs to study piano and arrangement, where I had the privilege of working with Jean Roussel [Bob Marley, Abba, The Police, Celine Dion, Joe Cocker, Stevie Wonder]. ‘It was during my time working under him that I realised I wanted to open a recording studio, which I did when I returned to Switzerland aged 20.’

With some commercial success under his belt, Brunkow says that selecting a console for his latest studio was simple: ‘I have used Neve outboard for years – the 1073 is my go-to mic pre. However, I bought a VR60 back in 2005 and that console allowed me to further discover Neve’s legendary sound, its warmth, punch, its depth and its colour. Everything you put through that board comes out sounding like a delight.

‘In the modern age of production, the computer has replaced the mixing board as the heart of the recording studio. For me, Genesys Black is the perfect mix of analogue and digital, and the inclusion of 1073 preamps, amazing EQ, creamy and punchy compressors made this board the ideal choice.’

Working on a multiple projects means that moving easily between mixes was key to the console choice: ‘The instant recall allows me to switch from one mix to another in a single click. And, it sounds amazing. It was obvious to me that the other boards on the market were just not in the same league as far as my needs were concerned.

‘Genesys Black’s power-to-size ratio also means that I don’t have to compromise. The compact nature of desk keeps the sound coming from my speakers from being obstructed by too great a mass,’ he adds. ‘In truth, this board is so well thought out, that I can virtually do anything that I could possibly need or dream of with it. It is so fast, intuitive and powerful.’

Writer, producer and mixer Dan Gautreau divides his time between the UK and LA, often working on high-end production music projects as well as various sync and artist projects. Covering the UK side of his work, he has installed a Solid State Logic AWS 948 δelta hybrid analogue console in private facility, First Cut Music.

Located in rural Leicestershire, the studio now enables him analogue sound for tracking and mixing with DAW control and DAW-based automation.

While his work now covers TV, film and radio, pop is where Gautreau began, as an assistant engineer at London’s legendary Sarm West Studios, training with Trevor Horn. While at Sarm, he worked on sessions for George Michael, Alicia Keys, and Seal, among others, and got his first exposure to SSL consoles in the form of Sarm’s SSL J and G Series consoles. In 2004 he expanded his engineering role to programming, and began to develop his love for production and writing.

His work in the US includes Hollywood productions like Vince Vaughan’s Delivery Man and on a list of TV regulars while in the UK, he has contributed music to The Inbetweeners Movie and TV’s Top Gear and Made In Chelsea.

Building First Cut Music, he turned to SSL and an AWS 948: ‘In most of my projects, a client won’t care about time and costs within a studio, they simply judge the end product,’ he says. ‘The level of production music in TV and film now is so high, you’re essentially delivering commercial records – if you want to be pitching at that level you need to have the industry standard tools.

‘The choice of SSL was absolutely a no-brainer for me. When you get that extra few percent in detail, it makes the difference between getting the commission and not. When it comes to the artists and writers who are coming through here they are the ones who get excited about the console. They’re coming in and hearing better and punchier recordings, and experiencing a faster tracking and mixing workflow. That’s where it counts, I think.’

One of the key drivers behind the purchase of the AWS 948 was the desire to take the mix out of the box: ‘We all know that a majority of people have moved to working in-the-box and the standard is incredibly high, but I feel that some mixes get choked in the box and really benefit from being spread over an analogue board. That’s when you get the pay-offs of the headroom and great buss processing – of analogue mixing on top of all these extra workflow bonuses. At the end of the day there’s something magical about mixing on the board, the sum of all these elements, the absolute control, along with not having to stare at a computer screen 100 per cent of the time.

‘I didn’t want an extension of a mouse, it had to be an analogue path,’ he continues. ‘And for me trust is important – trust in a brand like SSL; one that’s been part of my working life since the beginning, really. When I spread the track across the board and I start working on the detail of, say, a vocal, I often find it will just sound a little better simply passing through the channel and EQ of the SSL, and I’m doing less de-essing and less surgical work because of it.’

Gautreau’s mixing workflow is to bring everything on to the board: ‘I focus on the main meat of the track. I’ll always spread the drums and vocals out as far as possible. Then I’ll stem out bass, guitars, lead guitars, synths, pads and effects. We all know that vocals and drums make or break a song these days and I want as much control of those key elements as possible.’

For drum kit recording, Gautreau is a fan of ribbon mics: ‘It’s like cheating really, using the ribbons – they capture the natural tone of an instrument and room really nicely, and the live room here has a lovely sound. I use the SSL preamps a lot when tracking. They have great headroom so they handle ribbon mics with ease. I do have a few other preamps available at the studio for specific colours.’

For mixing, Gautreau has found SSL’s δelta -Control technology to be a creative boon as well as a practical one. It allows the console’s analogue fader automation to be stored, read, and edited in DAW plug-in automation lanes. ‘I find that at critical stages it is amazing,’ he explains. ‘I’m doing rides and pushes that I would never have done in the box. I’ll listen to the results and find there’s a lot more dynamics and a lot more punch. Without the limitations of being tied to the screen – you have the freedom to commit to what you hear. It’s one of those things that make the board a musical instrument in the studio. And then you get the recall with the session – open it up, and it’s all there. I primarily work on Logic Pro X as my writing and production tool, and δelta-Control works flawlessly.’

The final choice of the AWS 948 was driven mostly by the number of inputs required at mixdown. ‘The decision was based around flexibility at the mixing stage. I knew that I would run out with 24, but with 48 I never do. Also, for stem mixing, the 948 is designed for that. Everything stereo in the computer can go straight into stereo channels, and printing final stems (which is otherwise a laborious process) is sped up significantly because you have stereo outs on every channel. I can just print all of those channels in one pass if I choose to, which would be two hours work without the board.’

The choice of the AWS 948 was not about one particular feature but a compelling medley of solutions. ‘It is so broad, I can cover everything I need to. It’s a huge console but all within an arm’s reach. It’s everything from analogue tracking and mixing to DAW controller, all in one solution, and each aspect of it is world-class.’

More: www.solidstatelogic.com