HHB Communications Ltd. has supplied Gethin John of music production company Still Small Voice with an Audient ASP8024 console and specialist Mogami and VDC cabling for his new recording studio in Wales.
Mainly used as a non-commercial space, the studio now features a 24-channel ASP8024 built by renowned designer David Dearden. The console combines analogue circuitry combined with integrated DAW control and automation. It was these features that made the ASP8024 a perfect match for Gethin’s needs, as he relies on the desk as his main mix tool while his computer is used for corrective work ‘in the box’, including noise reduction, de-essing, gating and some filtering. “If I want to ‘sound sculpt’ I’ll use pairs of faders like they’re subgroups. Then you can sculpt the sound using the awesome EQs. I find them very responsive and very musical,” he says.
Gethin got to know the Audient desk while using it as a student and teacher at the University of the West of England. He comments: “The desk enables you to explain signal flow to students in a consistent manner that allows them to understand it. I really explored the desk whilst I was there; there’s nothing like teaching something to understand how it ticks. I really love the transparency of the preamps because they don’t overly colour the sound at all and fits beautifully with my philosophy as an engineer. What I didn’t want was this fixed block in the middle of the signal chain that always coloures the sound in the same way. The Audient is just very, very clean.”
“There are also more mundane reasons why I like the desk.” He continues, “The pots respond brilliantly when I turn them -Â the notches that tell you where zero is are consistent across the board -Â the modular design means everything just feels right and I especially love the auxiliaries. You’d be hard pressed to find a desk with that many analogue auxes that allow you to monitor like we do without going into the computer.”
Gethin is clearly very fond of the desk’s EQ section: “I love them. It’s not so much the sound – although I do love the sound of the EQs – but the boundaries of the frequency ranges are exactly where I want them. I reach for some hi-mid and what I’m hearing is exactly what I was thinking. It’s quick and immediate for me.”
The ASP8024 features 24 bus routing, 12 auxes, 2 dedicated send ques, 4 stereo returns, stereo bus compressor and a comprehensive monitor section. Each input on the ASP8024 features a Class A preamp and 4-band control EQ.
Gethin’s production credits include work with Charlotte Church, Tomos Lewis and Sion Russell Jones. In addition to production and engineering, Still Small Voice is also a record label with an artist management arm.
HHB Communications Ltd. Sales Manager Andrew Hingley says, “HHB has had a working relationship with Gethin for many years and we are pleased to have been involved with the new music studio. We were in agreement with Gethin that the Audient ASP8024 was by far the most suitable console and we were able to offer it as part of a package that included specialist Mogami and VDC cabling.”
Editors Information:
HHB Communications Limited
Founded in 1976 and located in London, HHB Communications is a global leader in the supply of professional audio technology. Serving in the broadcast, educational, recording and media production sectors, HHB’s unique expertise is also recognised by major manufacturers and innovators, many of which have appointed the company as exclusive distributors of their products. The specialist division, Scrub, serves the needs of the television and film post production industry from premises in the heart of London’s Soho.
Photo caption: Gethin John of Still Small Voice with his new Audient ASP8024 console
