Replacing a 25 year-old mixing console at Sacramento City College, a new Audient is part of a multi-year rebuilding of all audio technology throughout the music department, and ‘the centrepiece of our entire facility upgrade’.

‘The Audient is a fabulous replacement,’ says Director of Commercial Music, Kirt Shearer. ‘The more I examine the ASP8024HE, the more I realised how incredibly well thought-out it is. You can tell how much care went into the design. It has amazingly flexible features and routing in a very straightforward layout. There just wasn’t another option that met all of the criteria.’

Sacramento City College (SCC) prides itself on being technology focused, and its three highly specified and varied studio rooms are testament to that. ‘The Audient is in Studio A control room, our main analogue room that can accommodate 2-inch 24-track and 32x32 Pro Tools,’ Shearer says. ‘Studio B is the Hybrid room and our smaller Studio C is the in-the-box room.

‘Another thing that amazed me was how quiet the console is,’ he continues, describing his initial contact. ‘The very first time I powered it up after wiring and installation, I brought up the monitors and faders and it was dead quiet. No hiss, no buzz, no ground loops. I literally spent zero time chasing down problems. It was fully working from the very first moment.

‘One of my favourite features is the double output buss routing. We run both 2-inch 24-track and Pro Tools HD. Since this is an educational facility, the ASP8024HE double bus outputs gives us the ability to track to either machine or both simultaneously without touching a patch cable.

‘Next, the DLC fader section gives up Pro Tools control and some automated analogue faders. And then 12 aux sends with two headphone cue mixes – what other product in this range does that? Then there’s the class-A preamps and the really flexible EQ. The new feature of the 990 output section and the switchable Carnhill transformers are awesome.’

The pupils at SCC agree: ‘Not only does it impress new, prospective students, but current students want to retake classes they had taken earlier so that they can get more time on the console.

‘One thing that has happened: the students are excited about using analogue technology and getting out of the box. I set up a summing demonstration for the classes. It involved summing a mix within the DAW while simultaneously busing the individual channels out to stereo pairs on the ASP8024HE (that way, the panning is identical). Then, after level matching, the students could instantly flip between the DAW summing and the ASP8024HE analogue summing. It wasn’t close. Everyone wants to mix on the console now.’

As it stands, the future of SCC is bright, with a more than 50 per cent increase in enrolment since the Audient’s arrival. It was pro audio gear supplier, Vintage King that supplied the console – as well as much of the other kit.

‘The rack is well stocked,’ Shearer confirms. ‘I needed 144 patchbay points for external equipment – it’s a good thing that’s the number the console came with.’

More: www.audient.com

Swedish plug-in specialist Softube has the announced British Class A For Console 1 channel strip.

The module comprises a collection of models of ‘the most coveted and distinctive-sounding’ mixer modules presented in a single channel strip for the company’s Console 1 software mixing system.

British Class A For Console 1 includes classic EQ, compressor, limiter, gate and input stage.

British Class A For Console 1 is available at an introductory list price of US$199 before reverting to it recommended US$249. It is available via the Softube web store and authorised dealers around the world.

More: www.softube.com

A selection of instructional, educational and entertaining videos from pro audio and A/V
 

In a move to raise its profile with both local and international artists, Nairobi’s Supersonic Africa studio has installed an Audient ASP8024 large-format mixing console. Part of a project to expand the facility and build its client portfolio, the studio is serving Coke Studio Africa, a weekly music TV programme filmed at Supersonic earlier this year.

A ‘non-competitive music collaboration show’, Coke Studio Africa aims to celebrate the diversity of African music and talent, and as well as extending the reach of the Coca-Cola brand to the youth across Africa. It has also helped raise the profile of Supersonic studio dramatically.

‘Musicians from all over the world come together and work on original compositions and mashups,’ says Supersonic producer, Muna Chuba, explaining that this was the second year running the studio has hosted the show. ’This gives us a lot of coverage as a studio – it’s actually how some of the international musicians get to know about us.’

Artists who have recorded and mixed at the studio include multi award-winning, local pop band Sauti Sol and international artist Wizkid. According to music producer and Supersonic studio owner Matty Peevers, the new desk is the next step towards ‘expanding our horizons into the music sector. The routing system helps to make this an incredibly flexible desk,’ he says, particularly admiring its ‘great sounding EQ’.

Resident producer and the engineer behind Coke Studio Africa Aeason 4 is Sean Peevers, who described the Audient ASP8024 as ‘an extremely versatile desk’.

Comprising two rooms equipped with digital and analogue gear, the business focus was initially television and radio advertisements. ‘Clients ask us to produce the entire ad – from voiceover recording, creating the music to sound design and mixing,’ saysChuba, citing Coca Cola, KCB Bank, Safaricom, Airtel, Fanta, Nestle and Weetabix as just some of the studio’s list of clients.

‘Our experience with the desk? So far, so amazing – we are getting to know each other quite well,’ she concludes.

Waves Audio has released the Brauer Motion plug-in, a spherical auto-panner developed with mix engineer Michael Brauer.

As the man behind top-selling albums from Coldplay, John Mayer, Dave Matthews Band, Florence and the Machine, My Morning Jacket, Bob Dylan, Hall & Oates and Aretha Franklin, Brauer has a deep understanding of how you can use movement to energise a mix. The Waves Brauer Motion plug-in allows creation of movement inside a mix, with up-to-360° auto-panning for rhythmic tracks such as percussion and acoustic guitar, and pads and organs.

The Brauer Motion plug-in comes with four different panning modes to direct the motion of the sound – four trigger modes for a variety of on/off options; two separate panners with full control; a dynamics section; pre-delay, motion filter, and precise control over the speed, width and depth; and a master section with gain and wet/dry controls. It also includes presets from top mixing engineers, including Michael Brauer, Dave Pensado, Mark Ralph, Ross Hogarth, Tom Elmhirst, Tony Maserati and Yoad Nevo.

More: www.waves.com

Waves Audio has released the Greg Wells ToneCentric plug-in, part of its Greg Wells Signature Series.

Created in collaboration with multiple Grammy-nominated producer, musician and mixing engineer Greg Wells (Adele, OneRepublic, Katy Perry, Twenty One Pilots), Greg Wells ToneCentric is a musical harmonic enhancer based on Wells’ preferred pieces of analogue gear. It is designed to add rich analog tone to individual tracks or entire mixes, in the studio or live, with an extremely easy-to-use single-knob interface.

‘I’m constantly on the hunt for ways to pull more music out of the speakers,’ he says. ‘You get a beautiful effect when you run audio through healthy vacuum tubes and big transformers wound the right way, and record it to a great tape machine. This plug-in is an homage to the great analogue gear that leaves a wonderful sonic footprint on your sound.

‘There are certain pieces of gear in my studio that consistently do this for me without fail – a Holy Grail 1950s mono tube compressor, a tape machine and a custom-made vacuum tube console. Several plug-ins do a great job pointing in this direction, but sometimes I find the high-end suffers. In developing ToneCentric, it was important to me to keep things sonically quite full overall, but with an added depth of field.

‘As with all the plug-ins in my Signature Series, there is an enormous amount going on behind the simplicity of the single-knob interface. Different settings on the knob will yield different results, and I encourage you to experiment with subtle to mid to drastic levels. Here’s to more tone-filled music.’

More: www.waves.com

Waves has announced two Nx Virtual Mix Room with multiple Nx Head Trackers – the Nx Virtual Mix Room plug-in + 6 Nx Head Trackers, and Nx Head Tracker 5-Pack – for recording/mixing sessions with multiple participants.

Powered by Waves’ Nx technology, Waves Nx Virtual Mix Room is a virtual monitoring plug-in that simulates the acoustics of a high-end mix room inside a set of headphones. Nx mimics the depth, reflections and stereo image created by loudspeakers in a physical room environment, to enable mixing and monitoring ‘with real-world dimension’ rather than the classical headphone experience.

The Nx plug-in has been updated to operate with up to six Nx Head Trackers at the same time. This allows as many as six musicians (or five musicians and one engineer) to hear Nx simultaneously in their headphones while recording. Alternatively, two (or more) mixing engineers can now use Nx to mix together on headphones.

Using Nx, recording engineers can provide musicians with more open headphone mixes that spreads across a perceived three-dimensional audio spectrum, as if listening to monitors in a real room. When recording vocals in particular, Nx reduces the performer’s impression of hearing an ‘inner voice’, in that it moves the sound from inside the head to the outside – thus staying true to how the singer is used to hearing and perceiving his or her voice in playback. Since vocalists are not accustomed to hearing themselves through headphones, Nx makes them feel comfortable and helps them to stay in tune.

More: www.waves.com

Waves Audio has released the Smack Attack transient shaper plug-in to ‘add smack and bite’ to drums, loops and percussive sounds. The plug-in offers control over the level, shape and duration of transients’ attack and sustain.

Smack Attack can control the level, shape and duration of transients, giving tracks tightness and dynamics. Unlike traditional transient shapers, Smack Attack also gives pinpoint control over the transients’ shape and duration, as well as offering standard attack and sustain level controls. A Sensitivity control allows selective transient shaping – processing all transients, only the loudest, or anything between.

Smack Attack also features a user-friendly GUI with real-time graphic waves display; a limiter/clipper for driving your sound to the limit; and a Wet/Dry mix control for parallel processing. Smack Attack is also Midi-control-assignable.

More: www.waves.com

Waves Audio has added Scheps Parallel Particles to its Signature Series of music plug-ins.

Created in collaboration with producer/mixing engineer Andrew Scheps (Adele, Metallica, Jay Z, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Black Sabbath, Lana Del Rey), the Parallel Particles offers four easy-to-use controls representing aspects of his mixing processes.

Sub is a harmonic generator that creates lows and adds sub frequencies. Air focuses on ‘air frequencies’ using a second harmonic generator.Bite is designed to ‘create sonic vitality and emotion’ by controlling the transients at the beginning of notes, and also has an effect on their release. Thick adds solid body to the signal, evening out the lower mids and midrange, creating a feeling similar to that of a microphone being a little bit closer, or the room ambience being darker.

Separately, these controls work in different ways to shape the vitality of the sound. In combination, they can bring about subtle changes.

‘This plug-in is about attitude, energy and emotion,’ Scheps comments. ‘You can find the sound you want without having to figure out which of the traditional tools will get you there. It is as much an attitude shaper as a tone shaper, so you can focus on how you want your tracks to feel.’

More: www.waves.com

Grammy-award-winning mix engineer (Beyoncé, Jess Glynne, Clean Bandit, Craig David, Tinie Tempah) Wez Clarke has replaced his first-generation SSL AWS 948 with a new 48-channel SSL Duality δelta SuperAnalogue hybrid console.

There were several considerations behind the move, both creative and logistical – though possibly the most important sound-wise was the additional flexibility offered by its full-featured channels. Every Duality input channel comes with twin-curve SSL E and G Series 4-band parametric EQ, full dynamics (gate, expander, compressor/limiter), and Variable Harmonic Drive (VHD) preamps.

Yamaha has launched the latest additions to the MT Series of professional studio monitor headphones – the HPH-MT8 and HPH-MT5 (available in black and white versions).

Along with the HPH-MT7 (launched in 2015), the new models complete Yamaha’s new line-up of live audio and studio headphones. MT Series headphones are designed to deliver flat, high-resolution sound with precise stereo imaging and faithful source signal reproduction, while providing a high level of isolation and comfort to ward off fatigue during extended monitoring sessions.

The HPH-MT8 and HPH-MT5 feature custom drivers, respectively equipped with 45mm and 40mm CCAW voice coils, along with powerful neodymium magnets. Made from aluminium wire coated in highly conductive copper, the lightweight-yet-powerful drivers deliver a broad frequency response of 15Hz-28kHz in the MT8 and 20Hz-20kHz in the MT5.

Ensuring that the new models have the necessary durability for the rigours of road travel, the rugged design features a comfortably-fitting closed-back, circumaural configuration with solid ABS housing and a sweat-resistant headband. The large ear pads feature smooth synthetic leather and low-resistance cushions which absorb excess vibrations and reduce sound leakage, providing outstanding isolation and stress-free wearability over extended periods. A three-dimensional arm pivot construction and adjustable slider length ensures the angle of the ear pads fit the wearer’s head perfectly, helping to alleviate fatigue. In addition, the MT8 features die-cast aluminium support arms and steerable earcups for single-ear monitoring.

The HPH-MT8 and HPH-MT5 both include a detachable straight 3m cable, equipped with corrosion-resistant gold-plated stereo mini-plug and 6.3mm stereo adaptor, allowing them to be used with both professional audio equipment and portable audio players. The MT8 is also supplied with a detachable 1.2m coiled cable.

‘Ever since the development of the industry standard NS-10M studio monitors, at Yamaha we have maintained a uniform approach in all of our recording and sound reinforcement products. This seeks to achieve the purest sound reproduction possible, giving our users an ideal platform to work from when creating their own signature sound,’ says Yamaha Commercial Audio Business Unit Director, Yoshiyuki Tsugawa. ‘In response to the growing trend of headphone monitoring in professional studio and live sound reinforcement environments, the HPH-MT8 and HPH-MT5 models were designed around this core concept of sonic purity. The aim is to provide everyone from sound professionals to casual listeners with headphones that offer superior fidelity, outstanding sound quality, and very high levels of comfort, durability and versatility.’

The HPH-MT8 and HPH-MT5 will be available during 2016.

More: www.yamahaproaudio.com

New and purpose-built, YellowRattle Studios is the new working home of producer/songwriter Paul Dackombe in the English countryside of Essex. At its heart is a 16-channel Genesys Black G32 mixing console.

With a 35-year career spanning drumming, songwriting and production – principally with with 80s pop band Explained Emma – Dackombe has built and run several studios, focusing on development and small label projects alongside his own label, Wire-Sound with Dave Formula from Magazine/Visage.

Time in and experience of studios – as both musician and producer – has given him a clear vision for YellowRattle: ‘I have used and owned various outboard preamps, EQs and compressors over the years, and have been lucky enough to have worked on many consoles, including the Neve 88RS at Abbey Road,’ he says. ‘For this studio build, I wanted to return to a single hybrid desk layout – although there are some outboard units I will not give up.’

Being familiar with the analogue sound of the 88RS, Dackombe turned to Neve to replace his SSL desk: ‘I looked at a variety of what I would call hybrid desks – a blend of analogue front end with DAW control and functionality – as I prefer to mix in a hybrid manner. The Neve sound made the Genesys Black a leading contender and, coupled with the modular structure and DAW capabilities, it was a winning choice,’ he explains. ‘I don’t think anything else came really close when all those factors were considered. The ability to choose between classic and modern pres and EQs is pretty unique outside of a 500-series set up, although I went for all the classic choices with my Genesys Black.’

Dackombe concedes that Genesys Black has presented him with a learning curve, but that it didn’t take long to climb it: ‘The flexibility is great,’ he reports. ‘There are any number of different workflow options and always a solution for different set-ups. And, of course, the legendary Neve sound – it sounded fantastic from the first moment we hooked it up.’

He is currently working on a writing project for a jazz/pop album, which is set for release at the end of April 2017. However, he’s also putting revisiting older projects. ‘I am now blocking out time slots in the studio to re-mix completed projects, as the finished product on this desk is so much better than my last set-up.’

More: www.ams-neve.com