‘Our ASP880s are currently in place of the typical large format console and high-end converters found in most studios,’ says Crown Works Studio owner and assistant engineer, Ross Wareing.

For CWS, the purchase of two Audient ASP880 eight-channel mic preamps turned out to be one of the most useful – and economically sound – decisions made by Wareing and co-founder/resident producer, Gareth ‘Gazz’ Rogers. The duo pooled resources in order to create a new commercial studio which, since its opening in the latter part of 2014, has enjoyed ‘a steady flow of interest… across different genres’.

‘When we decided to build CWS, we agreed that we were creating a studio environment that we could grow into,’ Wareing  explains. ‘Due to budget constraints, a full desk is not going to be on the cards for a while, as much as we have our eyes on the ASP8024.

‘Both ASP880s are connected via Adat and word clock, and are permanently plugged into the 28-channel multicore running into the live room,’ he continues. ‘The preamps handle our variety of microphones incredibly well, easily providing enough gain for ribbons and headroom for our LDC valve vocal mics. When we need to add outboard processing the DB25 connections on the back of the ASP880s are incredibly useful, the preamps are always sending output through the individual channels so when you connect external EQ or compression you can see the level on them before engaging the chain with the AD button on the front panel.’

Rogers is familiar with large format consoles having used a Trident 80B series for several years. Highlights of his engineering career include working with Ocean Colour Scene, the Holloways, Scott Matthews and recording Paolo Nutini on location at the V Festival. Rogers and Wareing agree that working with artists like these is ‘a level we are both eager to get back to’.

With their current set-up, they are well on their way: ‘We love everything about them, how easy and fast they are to use in a session, how responsive they are in the low end and detailed at higher frequencies,’ Rogers says. ‘The high-pass filter is clean and doesn’t affect the phase of a fully miked drum kit or a multi-miked acoustic guitar and the ability to add in line external processing before the signal hits the converter means we can further define our sounds without multiple lossy passes through unnecessary conversion.’

‘All of our artists so far have mentioned how clear their headphone mixes are and to be honest, it’s taking very little effort to please people now we have the ASP880s on everything we do. Clarity seems to come as standard,’ Wareing adds. ‘The only thing I’d like to see added is some EQ, buses, and some compression… but then maybe we should talk about the ASP8024.’

More: www.audient.com