Part of the growing Studios At Fischer media development, Firefly Sound Studios is a purpose-built facility in the Hill Country region of Texas. With acoustics by Steve Durr Designs, it houses a 800-sq-ft live room space 24 foot ceilings, loft area, and a vintage Yamaha C7 concert piano with impressive celebrity provenance.

Its facilities are tailored to the large local music and media economy that exists between Austin and San Antonio. ‘It’s a really good size room; you’ve got five different areas and because of the treatments they all sound different,’ says Studio Manager, Steve Hennig. ‘It’s a very clever design. We can probably track at least ten-to-12 musicians here.’

‘Austin is sometimes referred to as the Third Coast and the live music capital of the world,’ explains Lisa Damuth Snow, Production and Marketing Director for Studios at Fischer. ‘There is an expanding pool of accomplished producers, engineers and production companies – supporting both the music and film industries.

This approach to studio design means that even the architecture of Firefly encourages creativity – a foundation built upon with an equally discerning attitude to technology. ‘This facility was built from the ground up as a recording and soundstage studio, not a renovated warehouse or home,’ she adds. ‘It is literally built into the side of a limestone hill which gives control and seclusion.’

As part of the development, Hennig spent a lot of time specifying a wide range of both vintage and modern equipment for the two control rooms, each with a view on to the main live area. Control A has a vintage Rupert Neve A-1033 console, while Control B has a new 48 channel SSL Duality δelta Pro-Station console with stereo and 5.1 monitoring from ATC and Steve Durr Designs.

According to Hennig, the Duality complements the no-compromise studio design, the wide range of equipment, and the broader Studios at Fischer facilities. Flexibility is key, so a SuperAnalogue console with surround sound support, DAW control, Total Recall, and – with δelta-Control – two distinct approaches to automation, fits in well. ‘It’s fast, it’s quiet, it’s just perfect,’ he notes. ‘The automation on that system just gets better and better.’