Offering high-quality audio recording in mid-coast Maine, the new Expanding Sky Studio is centred in a 36-channel Audient ASP8024 Heritage Edition mixing console. ‘I’ve had a number of project studios in post industrial buildings as well as home studios, but my dream was to one day be able to afford to build a professional world class recording studio,’ says studio CEO, Michael O’Connell. ‘That dream has been realised.’
Designed by Greg Morris studio design company, FM Designs, Expanding Sky Studio was ten months in the making, and comprises a live room, iso room, control room and a lounge for artists and guests. The entire 1,700sq-ft of is part of the larger Fort Andross Mill Complex in the town of Brunswick.
O’Connell and the studio team of producers and mix engineers aim to serve the local arts community. The choice of mixing desk is part of that. ‘We feel the Audient will be our secret weapon in music production,’ O’Connell says. ‘We are thrilled to have it as our centrepiece, and hope to have many a year of running great-sounding music through it.
The console feeds soffit-mounted Quested main monitors, along with ATC 25s mid-fields and Focal Solo B6s for close-fields. Avatone Mix Cube loudspeakers are additionally for ‘reality checking’ mixes.
Although not averse to working in the box, O’Connell terms himself an ‘analogue guy’. ‘We are a hybrid studio using Logic Pro as our DAW of choice but output to the Audient for analogue goodness as well as using a number of high-end outboard gear all in the analogue domain. Integrating our outboard gear with the board is straightforward, and the added stereo returns on the console is a really nice touch, saving us channels on mixdown.
‘The Audient is a dream as far as connectivity, routing options and clarity of functions. The mic preamps are clean, transparent and sound great. The John Hardy 990C+ summing amps, along with the mix bus compressor, really add some weight and glue at mix down.
‘I love having 24 buses and 12 aux sends – great flexibility there,’ he adds. ‘I especially enjoy the splittable EQ which you can use together if one wishes.’
O’Connell himself is a composer, engineer, songwriter and musician and, and offers both instruction in audio production the opportunity for local talent to make professional recordings of their music in a world-class studio. ‘We have a community high school outreach programme and are dedicated to discovering and aiding local aspiring artists,’ he says.
