Combining the roles of Marketing Specialist and sound designer at synthesiser manufacturer Modal Electronics, James High regards sound quality as something of a premium asset. From his studio in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he produces video content around Modal technology and helps to design factory presets for all of the company’s synthesisers. A Prism Sound Titan is the latest recent addition to the equipment line-up necessary for these duties.
Joining a Mackie VLZ4 1604 mixer, the Titan interface was chosen on account of its performance: ‘I had no idea how good Titan was until I got one into my studio,’ he explains. ‘All the reviews I read about Prism Sound products agree that they are unsurpassed, but once I learned more about the company and its expertise in converters, especially clocking, buying a Prism Sound unit made even more sense and I couldn’t be happier with the results I am achieving.’
High’s work for UK manufacturer Modal has included preset designs for the company’s Argon8 synthesiser, which was released in 2019 with the aim of delivering immediately recognisable Modal sounds that cut right through the mix. He has also designed factory presets for the company’s latest synth, the Cobalt8, and put together 30s demo songs of Cobalt8 for use in a video commercial.
Having access to the highest quality audio conversion is key to High’s sound design work and this is why he wanted a Prism Sound unit for his own studio. After researching various units he chose a Titan multitrack interface with a built-in digital mixer that can be configured to provide a range of ultra low latency feeds, including stereo and surround outputs. Titan’s expansion path and connectivity to a wide range of computers via a standard USB connection was also appealing, along with the option of adding Pro Tools HDX and Dante modules if he ever needed them in the future.
‘Over the years I’ve noticed that, with other interfaces, there is always a drastic difference between live monitoring a synth on the interface and listening to it after I’ve recorded it,’ High says. ‘Something gets lost in the conversion and it sounds flattened and bland, as though it has lost all its energy. But when I recorded with Titan, the first thing I noticed was the quality I was getting out of the A/D converters. It was unbelievable. It’s the first time I’ve ever used an interface where there was no discernible difference between live monitoring and the recorded end result. I cannot stress just how good things sound going through this interface.’
In his studio High brings all hardware synths into his Mackie mixer and puts eight channels post EQ/Fader into the Titan’s eight inputs. He then loops back via SPDIF to capture audio directly from the synths or, if necessary, from the DAW output.
‘Recording on the Titan is very low latency and it’s rock solid on a Mac,’ he reports. ‘Getting results is easy. Sound Design is often done with live monitoring engaged but recording the sounds at the highest possible quality ensures Modal synths sound their absolute best at all times, in any of our videos and sound demos.’
