Searching for ‘the same sensation of effortless control in his new studio that he felt while driving his high-performance BMW’, US news media composer Tom Snider has completed construction and commissioning of The News Room in Nashville.
As well as being news media composer for MSNBC, CNBC and Fox, Snider works for all three major US broadcast networks – ABC, NBC and CBS. Turning to acoustic design and studio specialist Carl Tatz Design, he has based the room’s design around the company’s proprietary MixRoom technology, featuring the PhantomFocus System (PFS) for loudspeaker optimisation and the PhantomFocus eChair, engineer’s chair.
Key to the room’s recording system are a Mac Pro computer with UAD Octocore PCIe interface card running and two VisionDAW VE Pro slaves running Logic Pro X. There are also Avid Artist Control (four-fader) and Avid Artist Mix (eight-fader) control surfaces. Loudspeaker monitoring is provided by Dynaudio M1s driven by 2 Bryston 7B-SST2 monoblock amplifiers, and switched using a Dangerous Music Monitor ST multi-purpose monitor controller. Clocking and conversion are taken care of by Universal Audio UA 2192, Apollo 16 Mk2 and Apollo Twin units.
Snider identified the MixRoom/PhantomFocus System as his preferred choice after experiencing one of Tatz’s MixRoom facilities in Nashville. Along with the CTD MixRoom acoustic design, featuring Carl Tatz Signature Series acoustic modules by Auralex and PFS monitoring, The News Room features the new PhantomFocus eChair and a custom cockpit console made by Sound Construction & Supply. The main room is accompanied by a MixRoom overdub booth and four 40-inch 4K video screens.
‘Carl’s MixRoom monitoring environment with the PhantomFocus System is a quantum leap, another dimension in audio with pinpoint timbral and imaging clarity that is ruthlessly accurate – like nothing I have heard anywhere,’ Snider says. ‘A studio environment this inspiring is hard to leave at the end of the day.’
