Mexican guitarist and composer Espinoza Paz recently completed a world-class private recording facility in the Marina neighbourhood of Mazatlán in the Mexican state of Sinaloa.
Calling on the expertise of Horacio Malvicino from the New York-based Malvicino Design Group for the design and commissioning, and Guitar Center Pro for equipment supply, ESPI 10.29 Studios now provides private offices and a lounge kitchen and dining room on its ground floor; two control rooms and a large tracking space with three isolation rooms on its second; and guest accommodation on the top floor. The studios are based around SSL and AMS Neve mixing, Pro Tools recording and Ocean Way monitoring.
The main control room is equipped with a 48-input Solid State Logic Duality mixing console, a 48-track Avid Pro Tools|HDX3 system and a Studer A827 Gold Edition 24-track analogue tape machine. Monitoring is with Ocean Way Audio HR2 mains, and the room has extensive racks of outboard processors. The second control room houses a 24-fader AMS Neve Genesys mixing console and another Pro Tools rig.
‘My idea was to come up with a studio on par with anything in the US I think it’s some of my best work,’ says Malvicino, who is a GC Pro Affiliate Program member, and has more than twenty years’ experience in acoustical, architectural and technical systems design to recording studios and other production facilities around the world. Malvicino says that he was given carte blanche by the artist regarding equipment choices as well as room layout and technical, acoustic and interior design.
‘I’ve been in the Latin music business for many years and I’m connected with a lot of producers,’ reports GC Pro Account Manager Javier Willis, who sourced the majority of the facility’s audio equipment. ‘In 2013, one of my producer friends brought me to Espinoza’s manager, who was in the process of shopping around. We hit it off and started ordering the equipment. We then brought Horacio in for the studio design and the equipment integration and installation.’
‘Banda music requires a lot of people playing live, so I wanted to build a room that allowed a lot of people to record together, with variable acoustics,’ says Malvicino. ‘The panels on the side wall swivel – they have acoustic absorption on one side and are reflective on the other side. You can change the RT [reverberation time] in the room by about 25 per cent.’
Mexico City-based TADI manufactures acoustic systems for Malvicino’s projects worldwide and supplied the acoustic treatment for the studio, as well as acting as general contractor and interior designer. ‘The live room ceiling is 21 feet high, so we fitted it with condenser mics hanging in specific locations so that they can not only use close miking but also the room. And they can bring in a couple of large-format PA speakers, feed them the mix, crank up the listen mics and use the studio as a live chamber,’ he adds.
‘When making the decision to buy a console for the brand new facility, we spoke at length with Horacio,’ Studio Manager Beatriz Careaga says. ‘We agreed that the Duality was the first and only choice. It’s the obvious transition from the great sounds of the SSL 9000 Series, providing us with the combination of a fantastic analogue sound with the most practical workstation control.
‘The console is very intuitive and operation is extremely simple to accomplish,’ he continues. ‘SSL Commissioning Engineer Phill Scholes spent two days training our engineers, Enrique Mendivil (Staff Engineer) and Arturo Quintana Ochoa (Chief Engineer). The process was quick and easy. On the third day, Arturo was already cutting tracks for Espinoza’s upcoming album in a studio filled with 20 musicians. The VHD mic preamp makes a huge difference in the sound of our recordings. After working in-the-box for so many years, there is no need for external microphone preamps.’
Malvicino chose Ocean Way Audio HR2 monitors, driven by Lab.gruppen and QSC Audio amplification, in the main control room. He consulted with Ocean Way founder Allen Sides to ensure optimum performance in the space, which is 32 feet deep with a 21-ft ceiling. ‘That’s the first time I’ve done soffit-mounted Ocean Way monitors,’ says Malvicino. ‘They sound incredible – so good that the engineers are having a hard time working on the close-fields.’
Both control rooms feature Neumann KH 310 close-field monitors with KH 810 subwoofers, and Adam Audio and Yamaha NS10 speakers are also available.
‘The outboard gear is what you would expect, including rack units from Empirical Labs, GML, TubeTech and Universal Audio,’ Malvicino says. ‘They like a warm sound so I included a bunch of Chandler EMI compressors and mic preamps. There’s Bricasti and Lexicon reverbs, and a lot of 500 Series modules – API, Burl Audio, Grace Audio, Little Labs and SSL.’
‘Banda music requires a warm sound and the Duality is the only console that brings that to the table,’ adds Careaga. ‘It took no time for Isidro to get used to the sound of the new console, and our clients are also in love with it. This is the biggest facility in the area, and probably one of the most advanced in Mexico. Everybody wants to come in and record here.’
