Having moved its mixing console production operation from it home in Regensdorf, Switzerland, to its expanding headquarters in the UK, Soundcraft Studer could have taken the opportunity to unencumber itself of a large amount of old equipment, pictures and archives. Thankfully, it has not…
Being invited up to take a close look at the Vista 9, the new flagship of Studer’s digital console line, yesterday gave me the opportunity to see the new Soundcraft Studer ‘museum’, which provides the backdrop for informal meetings and refreshment breaks away from the two acceptance testing rooms (occupied by a team from Egyptian broadcaster ERTU at the time of my visit), an extensive demonstration suite with its own equipment room and live area, and a well-equipped training room.
In keeping with the ‘heritage’ theme, the rooms are named after Beatles albums, and also display pictures of equipment and applications from the company’s past. Alongside the Studer Vista and OnAir consoles, and Soundcraft’s Vi and Si series desks that are very much in evidence in the demonstration area, is a selection of equipment from other of the Harman Group brands and Pro Tools rigs, as well as instruments provided by Gibson’s UK arm. It all adds up to a set-up that is able to cover areas of audio ranging from stage sound to radio and postproduction. ‘It’s been really, really well received,’ said Director of Marketing Communications, Dave Neal. Along with his other duties, he is responsible for the A/V facilities, which are based around a BSS touchpanel and System Architect software.
I remember with considerable sadness the realisation that much of the Studio Sound photo archive had vanished during a change of London office. Given its long life and unprecedented access to the professional recording scene over four decades or so, the magazine had a wealth of material that was lost not only to the publisher but to the audio industry. I applaud the effort Soundcraft Studer has made to preserve mementos of its part in our history.
We can talk about the Vista 9 soon…
