The Atmos studio at the Buenos Aires Escuela de Música Contemporánea (EMC) has upgraded its 2023 immersive studio set-up with Audient’s Oria and Evo SP8 to ‘better accommodate students and the evolving demands of the industry’. ‘This dual set-up allows us to seamlessly switch between stereo and immersive formats, making it much more practical for educational purposes,’ says sound and mastering engineer Fernando Richard, who designed and installed the original system.
Operating a hybrid set-up, the studio uses two interfaces connected via Adat to the Audient Evo SP8 Smart Preamp with AD/DA, providing a total of 24 input channels and 16 output channels. A further preamp rack is connected through a patchbay. When it comes to Atmos mixing, Richard uses the Oria with all outputs connected to a 7.1.4 Mackie loudspeaker system.
‘Compared to other audio interfaces and monitoring systems, Oria is incredibly straightforward to set up,’ he says. ‘Even someone with no prior knowledge of Atmos can get it up and running quickly. As an experienced installer, I found that it significantly reduced set-up time.’
His experience is considerable, having worked as a mixing and mastering engineer and taught music production for the past 26 years. Over the last eight, he’s transitioned from stereo to immersive audio working, and was the first to install a Dolby Atmos approved music studio – Immersive Audio Solutions (IAS) – in Buenos Aires. He also mixed and mastered the first Spanish-language Atmos album released back in 2019.
Richard has experience with Oria already, having specified and installed the immersive audio interface and monitor controller from Audient in a number of studios across Argentina, including Punta Ballena Immersive Room in Puerto Pirámides, Chubut and Casa Frida Studio in Buenos Aires.
Describing what it is that makes sure Audient’s immersive interface stays on his spec list, he explains: ‘Oria stands out for its user-friendly design, seamless installation, and straightforward calibration. The integration with Sonarworks SoundID Reference makes the calibration process intuitive and easy, and the software’s control and routing features eliminate the need for external solutions and complicated I/O configurations. Another great feature is that all outputs are labelled according to their corresponding speakers rather than generic numbers, making speaker set-up and reconfiguration much faster and more efficient.’
Even after Oria is installed and the room calibrated, the system must continue to be user-friendly. ‘The hardware design is streamlined – there are no unnecessary buttons, just what you need,’ he says. ‘The build quality is impressive too, and the volume control knob feels precise and well-engineered.’
Since this most recent upgrade at EMC, they have been able to add a new Immersive Mixing course to the Music Production programme, with the bonus of being able to host guest speakers and workshops. Director Santiago Beer is in charge of many of the mixing and production courses under the Music Production umbrella and is responsible for the final thesis along with Academic Director Daniel Johansen. EMC´s General Director Marcelo Braga Saralegui and many other fine staff members are part of this educational project.
According to Richard, who delivers Production and Recording courses as well as looking after the Dolby Atmos technology, the academic year is just starting and feedback is already positive. ‘The staff is very happy with the upgrades. The studio assistant was even able to install the Evo and Oria without my help, which speaks to how intuitive the setup process is.’
The Evo SP8 replaced an old AD/DA converter, which was previously slaved to one of the other interfaces. ‘Now EVO SP8 provides 16 channels of optical I/O allowing seamless integration with additional audio interfaces,’ he says, noting the additional benefit of ‘the word clock for synchronisation.’
Oria and Evo SP8 join a number of other Audient products in the EMC music production department, including an iD44 and several iD14 interfaces. Richard can’t fault them. ‘I’ve been testing and using Audient gear for years and have always been impressed by its build quality, ease of use and reliability. I frequently recommend Audient interfaces to my students as their first choice for home studios, as they are solid and trouble-free.’
The studios are available to students from both the Music Production and Professional Music programmes. The room accommodates 20 students, with the loudspeaker system designed to provide an optimal listening experience whilst maintaining a safe and functional space.
‘The school has nearly 600 students, so this upgrade is a major improvement for hands-on learning,’ adds Richard, underlining the importance of keeping abreast with technological advances. ‘We are always striving to keep our studio equipment at the cutting edge. The goal is to give students hands-on experience with the latest technology so they graduate fully prepared for the industry.’
Created in 2012, the Music Production major requires 34 courses to be completed for graduation over about four years, depending on entry level. A total of 65 students have graduated in this programme so far.
As part of the Berklee Global Partners collective, EMC is one of more than 20 international institutions aligned by a common vision and mission. Students from any of these institutions can continue their studies at Berklee College of Music by using the Credit Transfer Agreement (CTA), which allows the to transfer courses taken at partner institutions. One of the favourite majors chosen is Music Production and Engineering.
‘The lines between musicians, producers, and engineers are increasingly blurred – everyone needs to understand technology to succeed in the music business,’ Richard says. ‘We’ve seen consistent growth in Music Production enrolment over the years - today there are 150 students registered – and this upward trend continues. To meet this demand, we must stay at the forefront of audio technology, studio facilities and educational resources.’
More: https://audient.com
