Having met in 2007, Dutch radio producers Joost Griffioen and Stas Swaczyna established The Rocketeers music production company in 2008 – their mission was to supply radio and television with custom-made jingles and leaders. To date, they can count Radio 10, Radio 538, 100%NL, and 3 FM, NPO TV, RTL TV and TALPA among their clients.
In 2014 the pair were joined by Hansen Tomas, who has since become the main face of The Producers House. This new development in the business offers songwriting, production, mixing, and mastering services to artists and record companies, and is quickly developing demand in the UK and the US. The Rocketeers Studio, which incorporates The Producer’s House, has now invested in an SSL Duality δelta SuperAnalogue mixing console.
Both operations use the same facility in Hilversum, created from an existing but long-abandoned music facility. It took Griffioen and Swaczyna just three months to get it up and running with two music production rooms plus a main studio, featuring a comfortable control room and a good-sized live space with separate drum room.
Their most recent addition is the 24-channel Duality δelta console (with SSL Alpha-Link conversion and δelta -Link Pro Tools HD interfacing) – bought primarily because the team wanted to bring something special to their sounds, and their clients.
‘When we started the studio in 2008 we mainly worked in the box and everything was going through plug-ins,’ explains Swaczyna. ‘But Joost and I wanted to create a new analogue sound for jingles and leaders – something wider and bigger. We started with another desk but then we checked out a few other studios and we came across the SSL sound. The biggest hits on earth are mixed on an SSL, so our ultimate dream was to mix our own jingles, leaders and songs on one.’
Benelux SSL partner Joystick Audio arranged a demo of Duality δelta and The Rocketeers were hooked, not just on the SuperAnalogue sound, but on the dual DAW control and the δelta DAW-based console automation technology: ‘Of course it sounds fantastic, but it’s especially great for the way we integrate DAWs into our workflow,’ Swaczyna says. ‘It’s the best of analogue sound and digital control in one board.’
The Rocketeers Music Studio console has 24 input channels and a master section, but also incorporates 19-inch racks into additional frame space either side of the main console tiles. One of Swaczyna’s favourite features is the Variable Harmonic Drive (VHD) circuit, available on every channel of a console. The operator can choose the ultra-clean SSL preamp, or can switch in VHD. As input gain is increased, the circuit introduces either second or third harmonic distortion, or a blend of the two, for anything from a little warmth or edge to fierce grunge. ‘That sounds great on drums, strings... anything,’ says Swaczyna. ‘It sounds really cool.’
