‘ASP8024 Heritage is the perfect combination of price and quality,’ says Artem Suntsov, co-owner and sound engineer at new studio SmartAudio, confident he’s made the smart decision choosing Audient’s latest, large format console – the first to be installed in Russia.
Suntsov became aware of Audient while in Nashville for an internship: ‘One of the sound engineers used the original 48-channel ASP8024 with patchbay and producer’s desk. I worked with the console over a month and really enjoyed it,’ he recalls, having got to know the desk well. ‘The coolest features are the flexibility of the routing – especially with the short faders, and the many parallel buses. I’m really impressed by the fact that it’s an in-line console. The only thing I didn’t like was its colour and the fact that there wasn’t an option to “colour” the sound.’
Soon after he returned from his US trip, Suntsov learned that Audient had released the new, improved ASP8024 Heritage Edition.
‘They added everything that I wanted – and more. In particular, I’m happy with the transformers added to the master section and Bass Expand in the compressor. There wasn’t any room for doubt after that,’ he says.
The UK-made transformers add character to a mix, while Bass Expand is a high-pass filter in the compressor side chain designed to tighten up mixes, adding punch without destroying the low end. These are two in a long list of improvements made to the Audient ASP8024 that attracted Suntsov.
Suntsov is presently putting the finishing touches to his studio in Kirov, which – due to construction delays – has taken longer than expected to complete: ‘Soon we hope to start the long period of wiring and connecting cables, patch panels, external devices and commissioning,’ he says, eager to get things up and running.
The studio’s official opening is scheduled for January 2018, but there are plenty of things coming up before then, including a mysterious project, something that ‘has never happened in the history of recording before’, according to Suntsov. ‘A very famous, serious classical musician is involved. I can’t reveal the secret details yet, but after the recording is made, I promise to lift the curtain,’ he adds.
More: www.audient.com
