Microphones
Main studio microphones are Neumann U89s (chosen rather than the more common U87 since it has a hypercardioid pattern). (We have two.)
For multi-voice work, instruments and location work, we use AKG C1000Ss. (We have four.)
Mixer
For one or two voices, we feed directly into the Focusrites (see below), but for more, or where a premix is required, we have a Mackie Onyx 1220.
Mic preamps and outboard
The Neumanns are fed into Focusrite ISA430 MkII Producer Packs, of which we have two. This channel is derived from the famous Neve mixing desks of the 1980s, and has wonderfully flexible and natural-sounding compression and EQ, and a very transparent and airy quality. However, we tend just to ‘tame’ the signal and leave it unprocessed, since the plug-ins on our Pro Tools system are so capable, but non-destructive.
Digital Audio Workstation
We have the industry-standard Avid (Digidesign) Pro Tools HD running on Apple Macintosh G5s with 96I/O interface. Plug-ins include Waves Q10 and C1 and Maxim, and we have Bomb Factory emulations of the famous 1176 and LA2-A compressors, as well as Waves X-Noise restoration software.
Monitoring
Genelec 8030A monitor loudspeakers in the control room.
Beyerdynamic DT150 headphones.
Other
– Sony CDP-D12 CD player
– Sony PCM-R300 DAT player (used to provide real-time back-up of whole sessions)
– Tascam Portable DAT recorder DA-P1 for location recording
– Yamaha Pocketrak portable digital recorder for interviews and short-duration location recording
– The studio normally works at 44.1 kHz sampling rate at 16-bit depth, since this is appropriate to the CDs which are normally the end-product, but we can work up to 96 kHz and 24 bit.
