Aiming to create immersive experiences as part of his Metaverse, Edward ‘Artsy Moods’ Johnston is working towards upgrading his studio with a Dolby Atmos system using Merging’s Hapi MkII networked audio interface.

Beginning his career playing bass in high school rock and metal bands, Johnston had a career in music in his sights from an early age. Transitioning to the electronic genre during the rise of DJs and producers such as Justice, Noisia and Skrillex, he soon turned to synthesisers and studio technology. After years of trial and error with high-end gear, he was introduced to Merging Technologies’ portfolio of products, which have gone on to shape his most important personal project to date – the Artsy Moods Metaverse.

The Artsy Moods Metaverse blends Johnston’s love of music with virtual production and video games. Alongside his job as a teacher at the newly opened SAE Institute Bordeaux – an audiovisual focused school in France – his online alter ego Arsty Moods streams new music, interviews, DJ sets and art exhibitions live on Twitch. A further goal is to invite DJs to perform live on Twitch through custom avatars as they interact with listeners in a completely virtual environment.

Products from Merging have become an integral part of his workflow and his online success, leading to an alternative universe in which Johnston can spotlight his own work and the work of other creators.

‘When I launched this project, I decided to rebuild my studio around Merging’s Anubis and Hapi MkII, as I needed to be able to route audio between my MacBook Pro – which is responsible for the audio engineering side of things – and my PC, which runs Unreal Engine and OBS with a powerful graphic card,’ he explains.

‘Merging’s Anubis morphs into various configurations and adapts to all the tasks I perform. I can do recording and live mixing with the Music Mission feature or get a complete listening management workflow with the Monitoring Mission for mastering. The Venue Mission function is also a blessing for my Metaverse podcasts, as I’m able to conduct interviews with artists and audio professionals through my avatar, which is controlled in real time via a motion capture suit that I wear during the conversation. It’s a fun and stressful experiment due to the amount of tech involved, but everything is rock solid thanks to Merging’s reliability.

‘The support I received from the team at Merging has been amazing, too,’ he adds. ‘They helped me set some complex signal flows to fit my needs, even allowing me to run everything through remote controls offered by their network technology over IP. I also have stripped down my setup, confidently selling high-end mastering grade converters and preamps in favour of Merging products. The audio clarity I have now is unmatched, it’s like nothing I’ve heard before.’

Completing his studio set-up is a Neumann U 87 Ai microphone, one of the most widely used studio microphones that he chose it for its classic sound. Cementing a part of history in his own space, he also uses a Neumann V 402 microphone preamp. ‘It makes everything sound just like a record,’ he says. ‘The sound I have been able to produce with it has been beautiful and refined. I had the chance to record with Neumann’s U 67 reissue recently and wow, I know what my next mic will be.

‘With my Merging and Neumann set-up I’m all set to switch from task to task with ease, whether I’m working on a demanding mastering session, doing some overdubs and sound design for a game or interviewing peoples in the Metaverse. I get the highest level of quality existing and I’m confident I can professionally manage anything thrown at me.

‘As I develop my own artistic Metaverse further, I know that I’ll never settle for anything else than Merging and Neumann gear for the reliability and the high professional quality the brand’s provide. This is my own unique way of creating art, and using this technology provides a very satisfying way of doing it.’

More: www.merging.com