Set in the heart of New Orleans’ historic Treme neighbourhood, Esplanade Studios opened in 2013 as the largest recording studio in Louisiana. Completely restored and renovated, the beautiful recording space has installed the world’s first 48-channel Rupert Neve Designs Shelford Edition 5088 mixing console in its Studio A.
‘I went to the Namm Show a few years ago, and met Josh [Thomas, of Rupert Neve Designs] who showed me the new Shelford modules,’ says owner and chief engineer, Misha Kachkachishvili. ‘I was really considering two other consoles, but he sent me a couple of modules to listen to, and the comparison wasn’t even fair – the Shelford modules had so much tone and depth, and the Silk feature is just amazing.
‘Horns, for example, can be harsh and big sounding. In the past I would use tube preamps or tube EQ to tone the sound down. Now, with Silk, I don’t have to do that. The blue setting does add tone and harmonics resembling vintage valve equipment. I have pretty much retired all my tube preamps, and I had quite a collection.’
‘I also like the simpler layout,’ he continues. ‘The older board used to hurt my back reaching for the controls – I need a very easily reachable EQ, preamps, and aux section. Some of the other boards were just so much more involved. I don’t need so many auxes or buses. It’s just a simpler design, and of course the sound is just incredible.’
Despite its roots in jazz and orchestral recording, Esplanade has seen a substantial pop presence in recent years: ‘Since we opened, every major artist that passed through the city – Iconopop, Metric, John Legend, Kendrick Lamar, Rickie Lee Jones – they all end up coming here, mostly for the space and the vibe. They’re in a historic city, and they want to be part of it. I see that keep happening. New Orleans is one of the fastest-growing cities in the country right now - people getting tired of New York, and California. New IT work, film industry, tech companies… they’re coming here. How does this translate to music? I don’t know yet, but we do a lot of large scores here – I do want to take advantage of the Louisiana movie business, and that was definitely a deciding factor for me here.’
The new console is in good company, with two MCI JH-24 24-track 2-inch tape machines and a selection of Studer A80/A820 2-track machines. Digital recording is to a Pro Tools HDX system using Apogee Symphony IO and Rosetta 200 24-bit AD/DA digital convertsion, and a Lavry Engineering Blue AD converter. Monitoring uses Dunlavy SCIIA Loudspeakers as mains, with PMC nearfields and a Mackie HR824/HRS120 subwoofer set-up. The outboard is extensive and classic, and the mic cupboard is similarly well stocked.
Esplanade continues to expand with a second mixing room and a new 3,000-sq-ft basement room for ‘live-in-studio’ audio and video recording sessions.
