Audient

The Foundry Studio co-owners, Sam Craggs and Chris Palmer are just catching their breath after completing the mammoth task of installing 72 channels of Audient ASP8024 in Studio 1. As owners of the largest Audient desk ever built, Sam and Chris have equally big plans for the newly-launched Sheffield studio - as Audient found out recently, when we caught up with them both for a chat.

Touching on a range of topics, including the Isle Of Wight festival and ‘in the box’ mixing, to advice for budding audio people, Audient started by asking why The Foundry Studio wanted quite so many channels on their mixing console.

  We’re lucky enough to have one of the largest live rooms outside of London and as such can facilitate larger ensembles such as brass bands, choirs and orchestras, all of which require significant amounts of channels, so now we know we’re prepared for almost any recording scenario. It’s also helpful having that many channels for the band/artist orientated work we do. Anyone familiar with analogue consoles will know that the recall (or lack thereof!) can make revisiting sessions time consuming and frustrating, but with 72 channels, we can actually split a few projects that are all in progress at the same time across the desk and leave settings in place - very useful!

Now that it’s in the control room too we can’t imagine any other size or configuration of desk looking so good. It’s as if the room was designed around the console.

   What was the motivation to go for Audient initially?

There were a number of contributing factors really. The fact you’re a innovative company that’s based in the UK appealed to us. We have a lot of other products from vintage and contemporary UK brands in the studio and it feels good to be supporting the thriving local pro audio industry.

 “there’s no escaping the fact that Audient products are much more competitively priced than many other brands”

 Also, there’s no escaping the fact that Audient products are much more competitively priced than many other brands in the same market yet, as we’ve discovered, you don’t compromise on quality and you get an incredible amount of bang for your buck with each product. The deal was sealed when we visited Leeds University to demo the console they have there and we instantly fell in love with the great sound and workflow.

Finally, there’s the fact that because it’s a new-build console, we won't be forking out thousands more each year on maintenance or restoration but we still get that classic analogue sound and feel.

From the moment we made an enquiry, we received such a high standard of customer service from Audient. We initially pitched the idea of having 72 channels and it seemed everyone immediately got behind our vision and fully supported us throughout the whole process which was really refreshing. We’d seen nothing but great reviews about Audient’s design, engineering, build quality and, most importantly, pre-amps and now we’ve experienced all that first hand, plus their amazing customer service, we are incredibly happy with our choice. We really feel part of the Audient family now.

  What's your favourite feature of the ASP8024?

It would be too hard to pick just one, there are so many great features. The 4 band EQ sounds beautiful though, it’s so musical and clean and you can really boost a band to bring out some analogue sparkle.

The DLC section is also a favourite because not only does it allow all the obvious control surface functionality but we also have the ability to automate the analogue signal path through the VCAs.

And from a vanity point of view: the Ash wood trim looks stunning!

  What's surprised you about the desk?

The first time we ran a full mix through the console we were amazed by the depth of sound compared with what we were used to with our old control surface and ‘in the box’ solution. It feels as though mixes become three dimensional when fed through it, which is likely down to having individual channels of digital to analogue conversion rather than a stereo converter out of the computer feeding into such high quality preamps in and out of the desk.

 “pleasantly surprised at the intuitive design and workflow”

 We’ve had the usual comments from visitors about how complicated it all looks initially, but they’re always pleasantly surprised at the intuitive design and workflow once we’ve talked them through it.

  Are we right in saying that you've kept the studio open throughout the lengthy wiring & installation of the desk? How did that work?

We almost managed to! The Studio 1 control room was only out of action for about ten days whilst we did the more intensive tasks we wanted to do in preparation such as laying new cables under the floor, sanding and varnishing the floor and painting the back diffuser wall (it took so much paint!). Obviously we had to think about noise as we’re based in a large unit with two other studios so tried to keep the disruption to a minimum but, being studios, you never quite could predict the hours they’d be busy. Everyone was very understanding and excited though, luckily.

We still had sessions happening in the live room throughout the installation that patched straight through to Studio 2, which was useful and stopped us having to completely close. We worked some ridiculous hours and days in the three weeks before the arrival of the console (we can’t thank everyone involved enough for their help and support) but it has all been worth it, we couldn’t be happier with the end result!

  A lot of people are going purely in the box, what do you think the advantages of having a console in a big studio set up are?

‘In the box’ setups work for smaller studios because they’re so compact (though most do have some form of outboard these days) but having a live room the size we do and working on the size of projects we do means smooth workflow is essential. We’ve recorded sessions with brass bands where we’ve had preamps stacked up the wall, it was a nightmare trying to keep track of what channel patched where! The console means there’s no hunting for the signal in the studio, everything is at your fingertips.

 “We’d seen nothing but great reviews about Audient’s design, engineering, build quality and ...pre-amps”

 We’ve heard lots of musicians and producers say how much they’re enjoying moving back to tactile music making and we know anyone who gives the console a go will agree, it’s a much more creative and natural way to work. Lots of people will argue that it’s more complicated and time consuming using a large console because you can’t recall settings but technology these days has made it easier to take and access photo snapshots of settings so if you do have to prep for a recall it’s nowhere near as laborious.

People also expect studios of our size to look a certain way or have certain equipment and our console definitely looks like it belongs. We’ve noticed certain artists and musicians seem to have really upped their performances during sessions because they know every single detail will be exposed. This effect has led to some fantastic productions so far though!

  What are your medium/longer term goals for The Foundry now you have such a big console?

Initially we’re aiming to re-establish the studio’s brand, identity and reputation as many people aren’t aware it has reopened having shut down under previous owners and a different name. With the launch of the console we can hopefully continue the steady growth in clients we’re already seeing and build some great relationships and connections along the way.

In the long run we’d like to be working on larger scale productions in all forms of media. We’ve got the space and facilities to work on projects such as film or game scores where a larger ensemble needs recording and, being far more affordable than other similar studios, we are able to accommodate a wide range of budgets.

 “we are incredibly happy with our choice” 

 Making great music will always be the main goal for us though and we’re aiming to create a space where musicians and artists can find a really great performance in themselves that can be captured in the highest quality.

  Who have you worked with and who are you working with at the moment?

Between us we’ve worked with acts such as Florence and the Machine, Tinie Tempah, Mumford and Sons, Keane, The Noisettes, Madness and Paul McCartney on a range of projects including arrangement, engineering, production, mixing, live sound and broadcast. The studio itself has had some legends through the door too though, including Lulu in its earlier days and Donny Osmond more recently.

If an artist or band is talented though then it doesn’t matter what stage in their career they’re at, we will always be excited to work with and shout about them. In the last few months we have enjoyed working with some incredibly varied talent including Bang Bang Romeo, who are sure to be the next big thing to come out of Sheffield and were also the first band to record live through the console! We’ve also had the quickly rising Manchester trio, Rothwell in and sounding fantastic. An artist we have in the studio regularly, Philippa Hanna has been doing some fantastic support tours and performances recently, for artists including Leona Lewis, Will Young, Anastacia and Little Mix. We also recently became the regular rehearsal space for Joanne Shaw Taylor after discovering her management’s office was less than 100m down the road! These few are all very different but all equally worth checking out if you’re a music fan.

We will also be announcing a partnership with a very forward-thinking Sheffield based Label and Publisher in the near future which we’re very excited about as there’s the potential to work on some really creative projects together. Keep an eye on our social media for more information on this as it arrives.

  Why should people choose The Foundry rather than anywhere else?

We feel that what makes us unique is that The Foundry Studio is a family-run business. We find the act of working with artists and helping them to achieve a reward in itself. For us, it is so important to find artists we believe in to enable us to work and grow together, ultimately to work towards achieving results that are the best they can be. One benefit for artists choosing to work here is that we also have an in-house design and video team with a wealth of experience, allowing us to collaborate with them to develop a strong brand that reflects both their music and personality without breaking the bank.

  “Not many studios can boast 1,000 square foot and 72 channels (huge thanks again to the whole team at Audient!) in the heart of a vibrant and creative city just 2 hours out from London by train.”

 Another aspect we are proud to shout about is the sheer size of the studio and the facilities we have to offer when people visit us. Not many studios can boast 1,000 square foot and 72 channels (huge thanks again to the whole team at Audient!) in the heart of a vibrant and creative city just 2 hours out from London by train. We’re also far more affordable compared to studios of a similar size in the capital. 

And naturally we make a cracking cup of Yorkshire tea! [That’ll swing it - Audient]

  What is your proudest moment?

We don’t think anything will top the install of the console for a long time. We’re all still feeling so excited as it’s been an incredible journey (cheesy but true). From us having the initial idea to Audient immediately getting behind the ‘vision’ and supporting us wonderfully, right through the manic refurb period to installation and now, when we can finally announce it all!

Chris might say his proudest (and possibly tired-est) moment is when we finally soldered the last connection on the patch bay, which he has constructed entirely from scratch himself. He’s a hero.

  What advice would you give to a 20-year-old you just starting out?

For any young, aspiring musicians, engineers or producers out there, we would definitely advise them to encapsulate themselves in music as much as possible. The key to developing in the music industry is to always be learning. With every session, mix or production, your skills should improve and you should aim to learn something new. This should be embraced as part of the journey.

The beauty of the industry is that for a huge percentage of people this is a passion and an interest but it’s important to go the extra step and, if this truly is the career path for you, this wont be a hard task to take on and should actually be enjoyable. In short… Live, eat, sleep and breath music!

Another key thing is working with the right people. Working with people you can learn from, people who bring ideas and techniques to the table and openly share them with you are invaluable and will help your progression no end. These people should also inspire you creatively and technically, making you want to up your game. Working as part of a strong team is always far better than working solo; from simply another pair of ears that you can get feedback from, right up to a full production team that you work extremely closely with.

 “Live, eat, sleep and breath music!“

 You should work out what your strengths are and play to them. It’s always good to have a degree of versatility, but concentrate on what you’re really good at. Time spent doing other things can have a negative effect, and hinder you from doing what you want - and ought - to be doing. Also so much of the industry is based on reputation; be known for doing what you’re strongest at.

Finally, be prepared to work hard and always be professional. The music industry is a competitive place, there will be an overwhelming amount of people wanting to do the same thing as you, but if you always put in 100% then you will find your place and grow with your career.

  Some excellent thoughts there Sam and Chris, thanks for taking the time to chat!

I was really excited to be asked to join the LiveFi team for a trip over to Berlin to record Fat Freddy’s Drop on the promotional tour for their new album, Bays. We first worked with the band back in 2013 in London, filming and recording a tiny in-store at Rough Trade East one afternoon and again the following night when they played at Village Underground in Shoreditch. Two years on and a new album later and we found ourselves at Columbiahalle in Berlin at their sold out show.

The set up was relatively complex. FFD are a big band – 7 members plus MC on a couple of tracks, so the channel count isn’t small. There was also a German radio station recording them for broadcast in addition to our multi-track. While the band’s backline system was analogue – they had a MIDAS Pro at front of house and an Avid console for monitors. There was a ‘house’ splitter rack and the radio station had their own stage-box running  from one of the outputs with a MADI feed that went out to their studio truck. It would have been possible to tap a feed from here and it certainly would have been more cost effective to just fly out with a MADI to USB interface, but I wanted to use my Audient mic pres!

One of the main things I love about my recording rigs is how modular it is. I can shrink or grow the inputs / outputs as required – and when flying out to a show this is particularly useful as, for obvious reasons, we have to try and keep the weight down. So my recording system for this show consisted of 4 x ASP880s into two RME FireFace UFX interfaces connected to my MacBook Pro.

We took an analogue split from the house stage box into my ASP880s. There were 32 channels coming from the stage in all and we added a pair of ambient mics to the lighting rig above the crowd. The band run on in-ear monitors mostly and so they also had a couple of mics set up on stage pointing back at the crowd – so I took a feed of these for additional audience singalong sections/reactions.

There are a lot of textures in Fat Freddy’s material and huge dynamic changes. I love how the ASP880s can go from near silent to full-blown, heavy dance music with no problem.  The brass players are all playing into ribbon mics but the ASP880s don’t induce any noise from higher gain settings, and when it comes to mixing, everything just glues. Why do engineers always talk about glue when it comes to mixing?

You can check out the latest video from the Berlin show to be released – here:

And if you want to see a track from the 2013 recording, you can see that here:

In fact, the whole 2013 show is available on iTunes…here.

Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions about the ASP880s – or any of my work. Always happy to hear from people and up for a follow on Twitter or Instagram!

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @reliverecording

Instagram: @reliverecordings

The fantastic Lizzy McAvoy is back with something a bit different: a gear shootout. Listen as she as she talks us through her vocal chain.

We are proud to welcome our Nashville correspondent, Lizzy McAvoy back to the Audient blog. This time, she’s mixing stems in her basement studio. Join her as she talks through putting the final touches on her mix using the ASP4816. Over to you, Lizzy!

Welcome to the first of our series of vlogs from bright young singer/songwriter Lizzy McAvoy. Based in Nashville, she’s just finished building a brand new studio/writing room in her basement, centred around the ASP4816 mixing desk. Here she is with a quick introduction - and a festive song!

Take it away, Lizzy…

Alright, this is what you’ve been waiting for - the audio examples.

Hopefully you all spotted the links to soundcloud on the previous blog posts - so you’ve already heard the clips and made your own minds up!

If not, read on…

Starting with 808 drums & synth bass - we’ve used the RETRO channels here to add pure filth! (Solid Fuzz HMX 3, IRON 1) or (Overblown HMX 11, IRON 8). 

Moving on to strummed

Acoustic Guitar

here we use IRON to add some subtle sparkle to the steel strings - softening out the midrange honk at the same time

(HMX 1, IRON 7)

.

From here, take a listen to the

Acoustic Kick & Snare

example. HMX and a small amount of IRON are used to glue two samples together from the same session to make them sound more “real”

** (HMX 3, IRON 3)**

.

HMX and in particular IRON, absolutely shine on Bass Guitar. Check out how they can add density or punky growl on two different styles of bass playing (Fingered HMX 6, IRON 6) or (Picked HMX 6, IRON 11).

Surprisingly the RETRO channels also sounds pretty good on the mix bus - check them out here on this Big Band recording (all recorded with Audient Mic Preamps) to hear how they bring dimension and life to the Trumpet solo (HMX 3.5, IRON 4).

Back to transient material, check out how IRON adds more slam to a snare drum / room mic and how HMX adds a subby clipped kick tone on this single mic Drum Room recording (Tight no HMX, IRON 7) or (Clipped Subs HMX 4, IRON 7).

On Electric Guitar - check out how HMX can soften up a gnarly midrange and then using IRON can make it even more gnarly again! The choice is yours. (De-Harsh HMX 11, No IRON) or (Clangy HMX 11, IRON 11).

On a mono Hip-Hop style beat - HMX can make things older and slower, more 90′s ish, whereas IRON can bring a bit of slap to claps and snares. (Low Bump HMX 3, No IRON) or (Open Top HMX 3, IRON 4).

Taking it down a touch, check out how IRON adds a bit of dimensionality and swirly top to this Steinway Piano recording (HMX 1, IRON 6).

When using HMX & IRON on individual elements in a multi-track, you can carve some separation and movement by applying these non-linear RETRO saturators in varying amounts. Check out this Electronica Groove to hear each element and the final summed result.

Finally - VOCALS! Check out HMX & IRON can enhance proximity effect, smooth uneven midrange or add presence. Flexible and great value for money compared to buying 3 different preamps for 3 different sounds!

** **

Thanks for listening & reading. I hope that gives you an understanding of the available tones and possibilities with ASP800. Get one now!

For more information on ASP800, please don’t hesitate to contact your local dealer or visit our website.

** http://www.audient.com/products/asp800**

OK - here’s the last part of my technical ramblings before we go through all of the ASP800 audio examples on soundcloud. This one is for the measurement geeks (yes I did just photoshop our Marketing Manager, Andy into this photo! haha #photoshoptroll)...

I’ve already outlined the concept behind HMX & IRON - which takes our classic clean Audient mic pre (the neutral tonal centre) and shapes it into various combinations found in the Triangle of Tone!

As a brief reminder - here is the ASP800 Tone Triangle.

The GREEN TONE - Standard Class-A Clean Mic Pre

Below is a measurement of the standard ASP800 Audient mic pre, with just a small amount of 3rd harmonic distortion present and noise that is close to 120dB below signal level and the frequency response is flat between 10Hz and 80kHz. This is clean, and we like it as a starting point. The measurements in the FFT below do not contain any weighting filters and noise measures almost -100dBu in the 20-20kHz bandwidth.

THE BLUE TONE - IRON Measurements

Engaging IRON in-line with the mic amp provides a raised noise floor that is similar to that of a 2″ tape machine - about -85dBu. Instead of using plugins that stack up noise simulation (and forgetting to automate the hiss off in gaps!) - why not record with a bit of that natural glue on the sound already?

OK - that might seem mad but analogue noise acts like a backdrop and can often make a recording sound more natural when the audio stops and there’s gentle hiss to fill in the gaps. This is why plugins have tried to emulate this in recent years. The nice thing about the noise in ASP800 is that it is low level and will not swamp your tracks like the kind found in many plugins (you know what I’m talking about)... it is “just enough”.

So how exactly does IRON achieve it’s slightly airy & shimmering sound that can go from subtle to full on GROWL?

Just engaging IRON at MINIMUM adds lots of 2nd & 3rd harmonic distortion from the Class-A drive and recovery amplifiers. Note that fundamentally this is still musical (octave and octave+fifth) distortion.

Turning up the IRON drive control to MEDIUM shows that the midrange (1kHz) is not getting any more distorted and the noise stays consistent as it is band-limited by the transformer itself. In fact the audio in the midrange is actually getting a touch clearer as the drive increases...

And surprisingly, turning IRON up to MAXIMUM cleans up the midrange distortion, lowering the harmonic amplitudes due to changing load on the drive amplfiier. Thus high levels of IRON can be used to “clean-up” the midrange, perfect to reduce honkyness in a vocal or quack in a guitar recording.

“IRON loves low end - feed it bass, it’s hungry!”

The low frequencies are where IRON gets interesting as the magnetic core saturation starts to take effect. Here you will get punch at low settings and downright GROWL and SNARL at high levels of drive. Look at how the distortion ramps up with increasing drive and source impedance:

So what else is happening when engaging IRON besides addings lots of snarling harmonics to low frequencies?

“IRON is adding phase shift and subtle AIR boosts to the overall frequency extremes and lifts as much as +2.5dB @ 15kHz”

This provides a “sounds like a record” topend shimmer and as the midrange cleans up at high IRON settings, it can make an uneven source sound smoother and more pleasing. Notice a tightening of the subs at maximum drive (due to increased source impedance) but that AIR is “oh-so-jangly” because it’s caused by overshooting resonance in the transformer secondary.

IRON is provides a smooth symmetrical waveshaping that eventually goes into out and out magnetic saturation and creates high levels of phase shift in the distorted components.

All in all - these combined non-linearities are what give IRON it’s unique and incredibly useful (not to mention good value for money) performance.

THE PURPLE TONE - HMX Measurements

Engaging HMX on it’s own also raises the noise floor - this time by a larger amount due to the amount of cascaded gain in the three stages. However it is still nice sounding noise for whatever that is worth!

Immediately the sound is enhanced with high levels of 2nd and 3rd harmonic distortion similar to that of old tube amplifiers.

Increasing the HMX drive control continues to add huge amounts of THD until it reaches a whopping 4% at 1kHz with 0dBu input. It is possible with higher signal levels to reach 30-40% THD in HMX without clipping the mic amp itself.

Note that HMX maintains it’s distortion at all frequencies so it is not a frequency specific saturator like IRON. It does eventually soften off at high frequency and thus still sounds sweet and musical.

“HMX also adds low frequency enhancement, it loves kick drums and long envelope low frequency waveforms like Moog synth bass and such. If any of you are EDM guys - you will love it!”

Any finally the waveshaping found in HMX is nicely asymmetrical for that “tube-like” colouration.

Tune in for the final part where we will cover the settings used in the sound clips found on soundcloud in the HMX & IRON playlists.

I’m often asked about the recording set up I use. As a sound…erm…enthusiast, I’m always going looking at the gear that’s being used when I work on a show. So it’s sometimes been the case that while setting up at a gig, members of the sound crew want to see what’s in the racks or and in some cases interest has come from articles, such as these blogs I’ve been writing, it seems some people are interested to know why I’ve opted for the set up that I have and how it is all hooked up. I should warn you now that this could get geeky. I could talk about audio equipment for…well, I haven’t got bored of it yet! I’m not here to say that my way of doing things is THE way…it’s just what works for me. I’m still constantly learning new ways of working – and I love to discover new and different methods of doing things, but in terms of how I go about recording live shows at the moment – what follows is an explanation of what the equipment I use is and why I choose to use it.

On a recent visit to the Plasa show at the Excel in London, having a good look at all of the new live consoles – almost all of them now appear to be featuring the option to output multiple channels for recording or virtual sound-check purposes – whether this is via Dante, MADI or even USB or one of the many other systems that seem to be out there. From the Behringer X32 / Midas M32, right up to the newer offerings from Digico (I saw the Digico S21 at Plasa and it looks incredible for not much over £5k!)– it seems being able to make a recording of a live performance is at the tips of many engineers’ fingers way more than it ever has been.

I have used both MADI and Dante to make recordings on many gigs and those systems offer extremely high channel counts down just one or maybe two cables. In the case of the RME MADIFace USB – this is a tiny little unit that can handle 64 channels of audio! The Dante protocol even allows you to connect a cat5/6 cable directly to your laptop’s network input – making use of the Virtual Soundcard software to convert that data-stream into audio right into your DAW. In situations where I’ve not had a choice – either because it’s the only output offered OR we’ve not had much room – for example, I recorded a secret event a Labrinth event in Camden last summer with my buddies at LiveFi filming. It was a kind of flash-mob type event and so all the kit had to be as small as possible and hidden right up to the last minute. (https://youtu.be/S6LfrOy2iUQ).

Photo showing the RME  MADIFace USB – a tiny little device that can handle 64 channels of audio straight to your DAW.

It really is an easy set up with those digital, multichannel systems, and I do get asked why we don’t use these protocols on every recording. The main reason, for me, is control over my own input gains. If you take a feed down one of these multichannel formats, you’re receiving the gain level set by either the FOH or monitor engineer – maybe the broadcast engineer if you have one. Whichever way, it’s still someone else in control of the gain level and if they decide they want more gain on a particular channel during the show, their concern is not how it will impact on the recording! They need to be getting it right for their live show happening right then! So if their gain levels go up or down – so do the levels on our recording!

Also, there’s the sound of the actual pre-amps. You probably appreciate if you’ve read some of these blogs that I really do LOVE the sound of my Audient mic pres. They’re clean, and I find my mixes glue together better with things that have been recorded through them. They work for me…and they sound great! And they give me control over my gains when I’m recording...! The very expensive live desks that are out there from all the manufacturers you would expect obviously have great sounding mic pres – but the Audient range completely hold their own in this environment.

So that leads me on to how everything is set up now. I did touch on this on the original news item when I first got my 48 channels of ASP880 pres but from questions I’ve had, I thought it might be insightful if I explained how it is all hooked together.

My old rig was based around two Alesis HD24s. They were solid recording units for years and years…they still are! But the sheer size of the rig meant that it wasn’t as portable as it could have been! Pre-Amps were a mixture of Focusrite Octopre and Audient ASP – so, after a year of testing out the new rig, in July 2015 I decided it was time to shrink the whole rig down to a more modular and portable system.

Photo showing the old recording rig before switching to the new ASP880s and Reaper for recording.

Recording is handled by Reaper – I’ve waxed lyrical about this software enough. It’s solid, powerful and extremely reliable in a live situation. I’ve tried lots of others including Nuendo live…which crashed during a live show (we had a backup!) and I worked on a festival last year where another engineer was running the new Waves Tracks Live…and it crashed a few times – losing some of the gig! Reaper hasn’t let me down….yet!

Audio interface is one or two RME FireFace UFX (depending on how many channels I need – each one will handle up to 30 recording channels) into a single MacBook Pro via USB. My MacBook has a SSD drive for recording purposes but also, because Reaper allows you to record to two locations, I also record back out of the MacBook into an external FireWire drive (G-Tec – not sure of the model!). On top of this, the RME FireFace UFX also allows you to record full multitrack directly from the unit itself onto a USB drive. RME recommend the SanDisk Extreme range. They’re a little more expensive than some sticks but the speed they can read and write is what sets them apart. I’ve actually found, after some testing, that the 64Gb versions have a faster write speed than the 32Gb sticks! If you really want to know, the 64Gb write at 163MBps where as the 32Gb ones only achieve 86MBps. Compare that to my internal SSD drive that writes at 487MBps though and you can see that there’s no lack of speed putting data down on the drives! I did mention this would get geeky, didn’t I?

Mic pre-amps are – obviously – Audient ASP880s. I previously had 24 channels of ASP008s and 24 channels of Focusrite OctoPre. They served me well for years, but I wanted unity across the whole system and the Audient pres blew the old Focusrites out of the water in terms of sound quality. I have no bad feelings about the OctoPres at all – they’re great for what they are – but with the direct comparisons I did when testing things out, they just sounded more brittle and a little bit harder compared to the ASPs.

Photo showing the new rig

In a basic system – anything up to 28 channels – I can use 3 x ASP880s plus the four channels of mic-pres on the UFX. I can run analogue out of the first ASP into the line inputs on the UFX. The next 16 channels need to be input via ADAT Optical and so I have to run Word Clock through the whole system so I tend to use the UFX as master – BNC out to in on the second ASP via a T-connector and then link that out into the third ASP where I set the terminating BNC switch to 75ohms.

Photos showing the clock links

This is a GREAT new feature on the ASP880 that was a bit more fiddly on the ASP008s. On the older model, if you wanted to switch between allowing clock signal to pass through or to terminate at 75ohms, you had to open the top panel of each unit and adjust a small jumper switch. The fact that the designers at Audient have now just made a simple switch to do this process has made my life MUCH easier.

Photo showing the 75ohm switch

The set up is a bit more complex for running more than 28 channels – essentially when I have to bring in the second UFX…but perhaps that’s to be explained on another blog!

To complete my set up – there’s the monitoring. More often than not I’m on the side of the stage, at Front-Of-House – or even if I’m in another room, there’s very little or no isolation. I couldn’t handle the monitoring of these live recordings without my trusty ACS Triple-Driver custom made in-ear monitors. These things sound incredible and the level of isolation is amazing. There are three drivers in each ear-piece so you get great, full-range audio. They’re extremely comfortable – because they’re made of soft silicon, they warm up to body temperature so you just forget they’re there! The sound-stage is a lot wider than I expected – considering they’re shoved right inside your ears. I use these as my everyday earphones as well as for monitoring recordings. For when I have to leave the recording workstation but the gig is still going at full volume, I’ve got some ACS Pro17 filtered ear-plugs. I went a bit extravagant on these and had them coloured and lasered with company branding…couldn’t go to a gig without them though! Got to protect your ears!

I don’t really have a conclusion…after all that! I expect I will continue experimenting, expanding and altering the set up as I discover different ways of working – but for now, I love the modular set up and the flexibility it offers. I can take out a single FireFace UFX and one ASP880 and I have 12 mic pres, add another ASP880 and I’ve got 20 mic pres, another and I’ve got 28. Add another UFX and another 880 and I’m up to 36 channels etc. It also means if any part of the kit were to break down and require repair, it’ll be easy enough to just slot another unit in its place. I would love to hear from anyone that has any thoughts or anyone else that has a mobile rig. It can be really good to share ideas on set ups and I’m up for a geek-out any time.

Thanks,

Rob Baldock

Alrighty,

Part two - this one is for the folks who want to know what happens behind the front panel.

Here’s a look at the prototype guts of RETRO channels 1 & 2 on the new ASP800. Note the Class-A discrete MOSFET stages that run on 32V, the custom 600Ω Audient transformer for the IRON saturator and in particular the multideck potentiometer that controls 3 complex parameters in one go when adjusting IRON. Ignore the blobs of glue, mods and sliced cabling added as we figured out the best way to get this unit to sound killer!!

Signal Flow:

Let me get this out of the way first! Although the controls on the front panel appear as HMX and then IRON - the actual signal flow is IRON into HMX.

On the prototype we’d placed jumpers inside to change the order based off what sounded best. It took us a good few listens to decide, but in the end, the subtle sparkle and cleaner midrange tonailty of IRON worked best on nearly all material BEFORE HMX. I think it just tees up the signal for HMX to feed off it and it nearly always made for the most useful combination. It most closely mimics the signal flow of a classic mic pre - input transformer > gain stage. I think it has more to do with the fact that HMX is a compressed sounding saturator and thus it doesn’t leave much transient detail behind for that nice little transformer to eat. Thus IRON into HMX was the final arrangment. Here’s the block diagram.

IRON - Saturator 1

Let’s start with IRON, which is based around a real transformer. Transformers have been used for decades in audio gear (before and including the good old 1950′s). 

Typically we use transformers to convert impedance (reflected values) and match level and impedances between devices that would otherwise mis-match. We also use transformers to create floating, balanced audio inputs and outputs that are very hardy and resiliant from a noise point of view.

However there are a few creative side effects in transformers (and magnetics in general) that for many years designers tried to remove (by the 1980′s lots of equipment used transformerless circuitry for performance, cost & weight reasons).

Transformers inherently distort at low frequencies as the magnetic core runs out of flux headroom and can no longer store the energy from the signal which is converted via induction into magnetic field. This is called core saturation and lots of classic 1970′s equipment had a lot of it (unintentionally). We have used a small core transformer in ASP800 to deliberately create saturation. 

“We have exaggerated this effect by also varying the drive impedance into the transformer which can shape bass response and the amount of saturation“

The distortion found in a transformer is symmetrical and by default strong in 3rd harmonic content, which equates to an octave + a fifth and forms a sort of punchy power chord! I guess this is why rock guys like old transformer gear?!

Transformers also shift phase and band limit the frequency response. Often times, the high frequency roll off that occurs is affected by parasitic capacitance and resonance in the windings to create high frequency non-linearity. These can be controlled or flattened out with loading (often called Zobel loading).

“In ASP800 we vary the damping and loading on the transformer to create variable “air” and “sparkle”. This is based upon the response found in some classic 1970′s British gear that sees a 2.5dB rise at approx. 15kHz“

Transformers like magnetic tape feature hysteresis - which is effectively a memory effort that will slew transients as the magnetic energy that is used to pass signal from primary to secondary windings in the core does not start and stop immediately. It has a sort of delay or storage effect. This will slow down and shape transients in your material, this is why you can really hear the effects on IRON on snare drums and acoustic guitars.

A friend of mine uses an analogy to describe this effect as:

“it’s like getting hit by a punch that stays in that little bit longer for some extra pain...”

OK so there, transformer hysteresis is the audio equivalent of Bruce Lee’s One Inch Punch!

To complete the IRON sonic puzzle, we used single ended Class-A MOSFET drive & recovery amplifiers which are rich in asymmetrical (even harmonic distortion) to make the circuit sound even richer.

Here is the block diagram for the network that achieves the complex interaction of parameters in the IRON circuit:

HMX - Saturator 2

HMX stands for HARMONICS and is a three-stage saturator. Instead of driving one stage really hard for gross overdrive, HMX works like a guitar amp preamp stage and saturates three amplifiers in row, multiplying the subtle distortion from each previous stage with the subsequent one - achieving a very high amount of distortion but it stays smooth because it’s coming from 3 smaller buckets of colour instead of a single large one!

HMX has been around since our acclaimed Black Series modular range and harks back to early tube amplifiers with single-ended, single high voltage power supply bias (32V) and A.C coupled amplifier stages.

To further enhance the sweet overdrive that is possible...

“...with HMX, we use pre and de-emphasis filtering to shape the tone into and out of the distortion section”

HMX boosts low frequencies into the distortion stage, creating a bass-centric saturator - but compensates for level and frequency changes at the output to achieve a more consistent level overall, however the de-emphasis filter is not the receiprocal of the pre-emphasis filter, which results in a low frequency bump that fattens sounds in a lovely way. This leaves a small rise in lows below 150Hz, mostly centred at 50Hz - which is similar in location to tape head bump! It loves kick drums, bass synth & male vocals.

Combining the two RETRO saturators creates all manner of creative possibilities and allows the ASP800 to navigate the Triangle of Tone.

More in Part 3, where we cover the measurement and performance of each RETRO stage. However if you want to skip ahead and take a listen, head over to https://soundcloud.com/audientworld and check out the HMX & IRON playlists.

In the last blog, I wrote about recording the Ben Martin Jazz Quartet at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham. A couple of days later, we were back to record Lizzie Ryder (@lizsop20 on Twitter)– a Soprano vocalist with solo piano. 

The beautiful Steinway Model-D piano was played by Lauren Gregory (www.elgieschoolofmusic.co.uk). I’d hoped I might get the chance to experiment with the variable impedance function on the ASP880s while we recorded Ben Martin but unfortunately we just ran out of time. I’d heard that adjusting the impedance can have really significant impact, especially on older ribbon mics, and the BBC Coles 4038s we were using would have been really interesting to try.

While the camera crew were setting up for Lizzie’s performance, I took the opportunity to try changing the impedance setting on the pair of C414s I had on the piano. These are a set of factory-matched mics and I had them set up as a Blumlein stereo  pair just in front of the piano. I wasn’t expecting to hear such a change in the sound but actually there are some clear sonic differences even on these much more modern mics. So much so that I took a video as I was adjusting them. 

I’ve dubbed the recorded audio of the C414s alone onto the video so that hopefully you can really hear the changes. It’s not the most scientific test in the world – but check it out…

The video starts with a quick look at the equipment being used – both on stage and for the recording. Unfortunately there’s still quite a lot of background noise with the camera crew moving lights etc – but hopefully you can hear the changes well enough. The video was just shot on my iPhone so forgive the shakiness!

Watch in HD for the best quality audio and video.

Rob Baldock

Hey,

as you may have seen, we’ve just launched our new 8-channel mic preamp, the ASP800.

We’re really proud of the quality and feature set we’ve delivered on this unit, and it makes a great partner to your existing audio interface, our iD14 / iD22 offerings or in partnership with big brother the ASP880.

In particular, we’re proud of our tonal shaping options and the new HMX & IRON saturator combination.

I’ve written a piece on HMX before and also the Triangle of Tone concept - but here I wanted to uncover a little more about the technology behind the saturators & why they do what they do.

In this multi-part series I will cover how these concepts relate and why our new IRON saturator was the missing piece to this puzzle - a colour I felt we really needed alongside HMX to balance the ying/yang of the tonal centre on the mic pre.

The Triangle of Tone:

You may have seen us mention the concept of the Triangle of Tone before with regards to variable impedance but it can be applied to anything.

It is a simple way to assist training your ears to recognise transformations in the source sound to a desired sonic target. By learning to map your equipment and it’s “personality” to what you hear, you can eventually break the rules, ignore the “theories” and technological choices and go with 100% feel and vibe - with more appropriate musical directivity.

Consider mapping the characteristics of the piece of equipment in a graphical way, a visual reminder. Would you categorise a piece of gear as slow, soft, hard, clean, coloured, trashy and if so by how much, in which frequency ranges, how does it relate to the source? How do those changes make you “feel”? These characteristics can be placed on the graph above in a scale of strength from 0 (centre) to 10 (outer perimeter). You could also make a Triangle of Feel if you prefer!

Take a source, such as a soft singer with a darker tone on the mic and add an airy, forwards lift with your sound shaping tools to achieve the “appropriate” tonal centre, or take a sound with an uneven midrange and “smooth it out” with something that softens details to slot it into a mix.

Good tracking engineers know how to do this on the way in, leaving less guesswork for the mix engineers. Great mixers now how to shape these choices and blend within thousands of subtle changes to make sense of the puzzle and ensure the pieces fit together perfectly, thus increasing the emotional impact of the song. A great mastering engineer should understand the relationships of these choices and know when to tread lightly to preserve them but also when to apply more heavy handed tonal shaping to ensure the message of the material really hits home on with the listener across various playback systems.

“I got 99 plug-ins but it’s a b*tch choosing one...”

Keep it simple, make easy choices and try not to confuse yourself with too many options. Restrictions often enhance creativity.

How many of you truly feel that you understand the sonic impact of each of the plug-ins you have in your DAW? Are you aware that some change the sound by just turning them on, even set “flat” and I’m not talking about fashionable channel saturators but seemingly transparent digital EQs etc? Do you really need 6 different mic preamps to make a decent recording?

You should be making sure you have a few reliable tools that get the job done - and don’t fall foul of having a gazillion different options available that confuse your creative process.

If you spend your time recording or mixing, you may find that the subtle tonal shaping available in ASP800 with HMX & IRON allows you to do less processing in the box later downstream and it may allow you to reduce the number of mic pres you need to use when recording. If you produce electronic music, running elements through the saturators can replace the need to stack hundreds of “tape emulation” & “console saturation” plugins in the DAW which can tend to cheapen the sound or at the very least, compromise 3D depth to some degree in my experience if over used.

The Classic Audient Sound Modified:

HMX & IRON are our new tonal shaping tools that allow you to take the fundamentally clean Audient mic pre sound and add sharper edges, smooth complex midrange dirt all the way to full-on-fuzz and growl.

I would categorise our ASP Class-A mic amp as pretty fast and clean sounding with a tonal centre that is neutral - neither too hard or too soft (the green triangle).

HMX - our MOSFET saturator is pretty soft, slow and very colourful with low frequency emphasis and a gentle compression style. It can take the tonal centre towards the purple triangle.

IRON - our new TRANSFORMER saturator is shimmery, hard, offers a slightly distorted midrange, with lots of low frequency harmonic distortion and it can shape transients and add some attack / punch to very transient material. IRON takes the ASP mic amp and moves it towards the blue triangle.

By combining these two in varying amounts - ASP800 allows you to take the source tone on a trip around the map - providing more separation and personality with very simple choices at unbeatable price/performance value.

Once learnt, you can forget about the “concepts behind the tool” but remember why & when you would choose a certain sound when you are making records - it is our job as engineers to fully understand these choices.

Tune in for Part II - where I’ll cover the circuits behind HMX & IRON. However if you want to skip ahead and take a listen - head over to https://soundcloud.com/audientworld and check out our HMX & IRON playlists.

Re:live Recording’s Rob Baldock was working in Nottingham recently, so he didn’t have to take his live recording set up - which includes 48 channels of Audient ASP880 mic preamps - too far. This week, he tells us how he went about recording some jazz...nice.

We were asked to provide multi-track recording services for a series of live performances at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham for a pilot of a new TV show called ‘Sounding Out’ – featuring classical and jazz performances in a live setting.

Day one of the shoot was with the Ben Martin Jazz Quartet. A four-piece band with drums, piano, bass and sax. With everything being acoustic, and the beautiful acoustics of the Royal Concert Hall, I wanted to make sure I had some of the best mics I could get my hands on. Luckily for me, the film company shooting the performance, Spool Films, have some of the best sounding mics around! So I went with 2 x BBC Coles 4038 ribbons, 2 x Neumann M149 Tube, 2 x Neumann KM183 and 2 x AKG C414 matched pair.

These mics went straight to my Audient ASP880s and into my RME Fireface UFX – recording was handled by Reaper.

For anyone that hasn’t used Reaper before, you should really check it out. I’ve ended up using it for pretty much all of my live recordings because not only is it completely reliable (I’ve tried REALLY hard to crash it and it just won’t give up recording!) – but it also records to two destinations at the same time. So if one hard drive goes down for any reason, you’ve always got a safe copy on another drive! I’ve tested out all of the major DAWs for recording purposes and Reaper outdoes them all in terms of reliability.

I set the mics up as follows:

Kick / front of kit – Neumann M149 – no bass roll off set somewhere between omni and cardioid.

OHeads Coles 4038 x 2 – spaced pair. I started off with these a few feet above the kit but actually raised them higher because it was a little cymbal-heavy originally. I didn’t have a snare mic so wanted to capture the whole sound of the kit.

Double Bass Neumann M149 – I spent a little time doing the old  “moving one ear around” while the bass player played until I found a good sweet spot, which was relatively close but between the strings and the f-hole. I also took a DI straight from the amp which gave me some extended lower end which would be useful in the mix.

Piano AKG C414 Matched Pair – The Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham has a stunning Steinway Model D Concert Grand piano. It was tuned each day before the recordings and it just sounds wonderful. Mic’ing a piano can be an interesting challenge. Again, using the one-ear on technique, I found a couple of sweet spots. One at the far end of the piano to capture the low strings and the other nearer the keyboard end for the higher strings. Both mics were set completely flat and both on cardioid to avoid too much spill. That said, with it being completely live, some spill is unavoidable* / desirable* - *delete as applicable!

Sax KM183 – These beautiful sounding mics are really small. I wanted to go for something that would look subtle on camera but also that would sound great on Ben’s amazing sounding sax. The KM183 is the omni version of the series and, as far as I can tell, just sounds great on pretty much everything!

I also positioned two KEL HM-1s out in the auditorium to pick up some of the acoustics from the empty auditorium. Unfortunately it seems KEL are no-longer building mics under this brand. I bought a pair of the HM-1 back in 2006 and they sound amazing! I use them as ambient mics on pretty much every gig I do. They’re really clean and clear and also sound great as overheads. KEL was a Canadian company and they built some really nice sounding mics that didn’t cost all that much – especially with a favourable exchange rate. They have a new company called Vertical Microphones. They unfortunately no longer ship outside of Canada or the USA, which is a shame because if the KEL range are anything to go by, then the Vertical Microphone series I’m sure are great! I really hope I get to try some out soon!

The old cliché of getting a good recording by using great musicians, with nice sounding instruments, in a good room, through the best mics, into awesome pre-amps is completely true!  It certainly makes the mix easier!

I’ve uploaded a quick mix of one track - Surrey With The Fringe On Top – and I’ve isolated each instrument at the start, so you can hear the individual mics in their positions. Each section is highlighted with a comment marker for identification.

Rob Baldock has worked with some big names in his career as owner of Re:live Recording in Nottingham, most recently The Specials, James & Roots Manuva. He travels all over the UK with his surprisingly portable set up, which includes 48 superb-sounding channels of ASP880.

Audient wondered what advice he would give to a younger Rob trying to get into this business, if he had the chance to travel back through time and meet him (apart from to invest in Audient mic pres at the first available opportunity, obviously).

At The O2 for Chase and Status [Ah, bless! – Audient]

I get asked this quite a lot. I feel extremely lucky that my hobby can be my job too – not everyone has that! It can be hard work and I think the biggest surprise to people is how much admin there is! While a very small amount of my job is actually doing the shows, the rest is spent finding more work, advancing the shows I’ve got booked in, keeping in touch with contacts (networking) or doing accounts. So being good at your communication is key really. The glory and excitement of doing the actual gigs is only a really small part – albeit the best part!

A professional musician friend once told me that it is not necessary to be the best musician / engineer / whatever your job is in the world, but being easy to work with and a nice person often gets you further. It can get quite stressful in the build up to and during a live show – especially when you’re in a confined space with lots of people for hours on end, but you have to be able to keep calm under pressure and keep doing your job. Try not to annoy anyone. You need to know when it’s appropriate to offer your advice or help and when to stay out of the way!

Networking is SO important - I've never done any advertising, it's all been through word of mouth. You have to get out and meet people and keep in touch with them. Relationships will help things to grow.

At Rock City, Notts for The Wildhearts

Also, not every gig you do will be the big, glorious superstar show - I still love doing any gig - it doesn't matter if it's the O2 Arena or The Nags Head – I’ll still put in the same effort and still get the same buzz from it - as long as the music is good and the people involved are fun to work with!

Back to the practical side of things: you need to get REALLY fast at problem solving. You have to know your gear inside out and if you’re renting something in – which we do quite a lot - you need to know that stuff inside out too!

At Splendour 2015 with The Specials

Like when you realise there are 8 tiny jumper switches you need to change on the inside of 6 active splitters that are already screwed into a rack and patched into three different destinations, and you’re going to have to un-patch them all one at a time, unscrew the top panel, then the internal panel, move the jumpers over, rebuild everything and get it re-patched properly and back in the rack. Oh, and sound check has already started! I mean, that’s never happened, obviously. Just a random thing I made up….! Honestly.

Great list of tips Rob, thank you! 

Re:live Recording’s Rob Baldock, records live performances and interviews with the likes of One Direction, Foo Fighters and Kasabian, using a finely-tuned – and largely portable - recording set-up, which includes 48 fabulous channels of ASP880.

But how does anyone get into this particular line of work? We asked Rob (pictured below) to tell us how it all happened for him.

At Splendour festival, 2015

From the age of 16 I either wanted to work in a recording studio or be a live sound engineer – I didn’t really have a preference between live or studio. I studied Popular Music at college and they had a reel-to-reel 8 track. One gig we were doing, I asked my tutor, Ross Griggs if we could try and find a way to record the gig on the tape machine. So we figured out a plan and had a go.  I think that was the first time I really thought about the process.

I went on to study HE Music Tech at Confetti in Nottingham and re-focused on wanting to work in a recording studio. After finishing my course, I was offered a job teaching Music Tech back at Confetti, so I ended up doing that but continued recording bands as often as I could; at this point I still didn’t have my own studio or equipment.

At Koko for Lewis Watson

The idea of recording live gigs came back to me around 2006 after I ended up guitar-teching for my former tutor, Ross – the same one with whom I’d done that first live recording all those years before – when his band played a show at The Royal Albert Hall. I credit-carded the first lot of equipment and set about looking for work. My original expectations were only that I would get to record some covers bands in pubs or whatever…but I soon realised that there weren’t many people doing what I was doing on a small scale. It was only really big bands were in a position to put out live albums or tracks. What I also discovered is that small covers bands in pubs weren’t too interested about getting their gigs recorded! So I had to re-think my strategy…

At the Roundhouse for Sub Focus

A friend introduced me to Kid Harpoon who was signed to XL and was going to be doing a gig in Nottingham, so I recorded his show and it came out really well. From there, using MySpace, I got in touch with Frank Turner who was about to embark on his first tour with a full band if memory serves me correctly. I recorded Frank’s show and he really liked it – enough to release a couple of tracks.

It kind of just grew from there: later that year I ended up recording Laura Marling and then Patrick Wolf – again, both gigs in Nottingham. Off the back of that I then got asked to come down and record a special Patrick Wolf show at London Palladium with special guest Florence (& The Machine) Welch. This was about a week before ‘You’ve Got The Love’ exploded Florence into superstardom!

Recording The Shires Live EP

Once these people were on my CV it just opened doors to be able to speak to more people and push things further. It’s really thanks to MySpace that suddenly artist managers were really easy to find and contact! So with a good bit of networking, I carried on steadily after that, getting more and more gigs.  

A couple of years ago, I saw a Facebook post from an ex-Confetti student that I’d kept in touch with: George Strong. He’d just helped to start a new business in London called LiveFi: a boutique video production company that also specialised in live music, in particular live streaming of music events, with a really cinematic look. I asked George if he had seen what I was up to, told him the story and he asked me down to London to meet with him and Mark Mitchell  - the owner of the company.

Recording The Specials at Splendour 2015

So we met, we had a great burger (one of those burgers that was so good we still talk about it to this day) and we talked about working together. We started off with a live stream of The Wildhearts’ “Earth vs” 20th Anniversary shows at The Kentish Town Forum and soon went on to work with the likes of One Direction, Foo Fighters, Kasabian, Chase & Status and Nile Rodgers & Chic.  

Thanks for sharing your story, Rob!

Hello again and welcome to our update of the blog series we finished recently for the great folks at Audient.

In this ‘epilogue’ Ross and I would like to take you through some of the artists and bands we’ve had grace our newly built facility in Wolverhampton, UK, and some of the new gear we’ve added, all brought to life by our twin ASP880s.

I’ve recently added a showreel of sessions completed so far to my SoundCloud account so if you’d like to hear what Audient pre’s and converters have helped us achieve so far go and have a listen after you’ve read this, or simultaneously if you’re savvy, eh?

Our very first band! Eskers plus Ross (left) and me (shorty) (right).

We invited Eskers along for two days of tracking and a day of mixing as soon as we were confident we could do it. Their track ‘Can You Feel It’ delivered everything we wanted, technical drums, solid bass, well written guitar parts and a certain ‘un-hinged’ quality to the vocal.

We decided that detail, punch and ambient sounds should all feature as well as representing the band’s live sound as accurately as possible, plus the studio techniques involved. It was a great session, and knowing we had two days to track one song we could experiment with the new studio setup and still work at a comfortable pace. ‘Can You Feel It’ is the first clip on the showreel.

December saw us recording an EP with Aiden Best and a band of assorted musicians. Four typically Aiden tracks with catchy melodies and a folk-edged voice, his sound has evolved from his first EP, this time with full band backing.

Here’s Aiden’s beard vocalizing while my beard observes, err, works next door..

With regards to recording, we got a reasonable workout here too: sticks and brushes on drums, acoustic and electric guitar, as well as an appearance by our scales (see building blog) which were thoroughly stamped in the name of subsonic percussion. Our sE Ribbon mics were handled brilliantly by the ASP880 pre’s; they needed a fair amount of gain being passive ribbons, but signal to noise was still very, very workable.

On one track, ‘Bones’ we added a few of the (then) newly available NASA sound samples at a few points in the track to really play on the distant content of the song, I had ‘Space Oddity’ by Ziggy Stardust/Bowie firmly in mind while recording this one not so much for the sound but definitely for the vibe. Check out the last clip on the showreel to hear a snip of ‘Bones’.

January saw the Mixing of Aiden’s EP and tracking vocals with Patchy, our build helper and rapper-in-the-making for his album.

Lining up backing tracks and the odd effect was the toughest part of this pleasantly surprising session, and we flew through 7 tracks on the first day and the final 3 on the second, leaving a quick tidy up and mix for each track before sending it out into the streets on Patchy’s own CD run. Although these backings were all from current or popular commercial tracks, we’re already working on his next album. This time it will be a much bigger production involving a variety of musicians who have already shown interest in being a part of it and will be all original music.

The first month of 2015 also graced us with Glacier Bay, a young Birmingham band risen from the ashes of Malone Malone, a band I have worked with previously and achieved some radio play.

They brought us a great track called ‘Water’s Edge’ with all the ingredients of a mature indie band.  It’s hard to refuse this song and the energy it builds up to by the end.

¾ of Glacier Bay enjoying some calories between takes in the Control Room

February was a quiet month on purpose as I was moving house, but we still managed a few tweaks to the studio and had a few bands in for a look around, even landed a few bookings for the coming months, which was great.

The merry month of March burst onto the scene in the form of the band Lakhota and a five-day session recording and mixing two tracks.

I really like these guys, it makes me think of Radiohead if they’d stuck to the guitars instead of electronica and experimental. Lakhota are a great band in their own right though, a four-piece, dark grooving riff and dirt factory of a band and with plenty experimentation of their own in the mix. Particularly their track ‘Three into Four’ (fourth on the showreel) with dual vocals in totally different ranges, frantic upsurges and intimate harmonies as well as trying to capture their live energy it was great fun!

Monseur Dhillon thumping tubs with undeniable groove for Lakhota

Rob delivering goose-bumps into our sE Z5600ii a valve mic for Lakhota with the sE Gemini 5 waiting for alternate vocals.

Also in March we tracked the awesome Brothers of Caedmon with two songs: a single and b-side. The single ‘April’ and flip side ‘Easy Coming Home’ are available on iTunes now. The clear character of the Audient pre’s really helped us capture this band like I had promised them. The blend of overdriven guitar and banjo, bass, drums and vocal are as good a challenge as we’d had to this point, but thanks to our outboard compressors and the ASP880s’ insert points, we took a firm grip of the quick transients and softened some of the higher frequencies with the mic loading switch set ‘low’ on the way in.

We finished the month with Rueben Archer’s Personal Sin and the beginning of a new album with drummer, Neil Ablard (also of The Dreaming Tree).

With a back catalogue like Rueben’s we were over the moon that he’d chosen us for tracking the foundations of his next album so once again we relied heavily on the Audient ASP880s to help us deliver a sound - at least on a par with his previous works. Judging by the comments Neil left on our Facebook page we think we hit the mark square-on.

Neil playing like a man-machine for Rueben Archer’s Personal Sin.

The session ran for three days and sounds huge!

We had a Royer 101 ribbon mic on trial from Giraffe Audio in Birmingham which was immediately assigned to mono ambient room duty and again the ASP880 kicked ass! No EQ necessary, just a hammering from our 1176 clone.

Last but not least I’ll finish up with The Stirs, another Midlands(ish) band we’ve been hearing a lot about lately.

This cheeky four-piece indie band in a similar vein to Babyshambles or Arctic Monkeys and with songs that are every bit as hooky, blessed us with their tune ‘Summertime’.

Vintage vibes was the brief for the sound of this one, which probably isn’t something you think of when using pristine Audient preamps but I’m a firm believer of getting a clean and accurate sound into ProTools when tracking and using plug-ins for the character aspects of the track (unless you happen to have a heap of great vintage gear), as the software will work at its best with clean waveforms, and you’re not tied to a sound from the get-go.

Track six on my showreel should demonstrate that a perfectly vintage vibe can be achieved with a little trickery in mic-ing and mixing, regardless of how modern sounding your pre’s and converters are, as long they’re as good as the ASP880s!

At the time of writing I’ve just heard that ‘Summertime’ by The Stirs has been forwarded to BBC Radio 1 and 2 from the BBC Introducing platform, how awesome would it be to have either BBC Radio 1 or 2 Radio play one of ours within 6 months of opening?!

Watch the video here:

It’d be a dream realised, and one we couldn’t have possibly done without the wonderful pair of ASP880s we have at the heart of our studio. Thank you Audient - not only for asking us to share our build process with you, but for the continued support.

Keep up the great work and if you ever need to ‘lose’ one of your ASP8024 36 channel consoles with DLC and patchbay please don’t hesitate to call us!

Also thank you to anyone who has read our CWS build blog series, if you’d like to stay up to date with our steadily growing studio, or make a booking for recording, mixing or mastering you will find our contacts on our website and Facebook page