Coupe Studios, a full-service, creative audio production facility in Boulder, Colo. serving a global customer base since 1980, has upgraded its Studio A with a Solid State Logic AWS 900+ Analogue Workstation System. Studio A handles music recording and post-production for television, film and radio.
Coupe Studios also records and mixes bands in its four-room facility. “We wanted to be able to mix out of the box,” says Scott Roche, Coupe Studios founder and executive producer. “We really wanted a console that integrated Pro Tools. I looked into installing a workstation controller, but it just didn’t do it for me sonically. A DAW controller is not in the same league as the AWS 900+, especially when you’re talking about SuperAnalogue preamps, equalizers, compressors and the mix bus compressor.
“Having worked on different SSL G and E Series consoles over the years, we love the SSL sound,” Roche continues. “I have to say, I was a little leery, just because I wondered how they could fit all that great technology into such a small package. But Steve Palermo from GC Pro brought the console here and demo’d it with us. We tracked a quartet to Pro Tools, and when we mixed through the AWS 900+, it sounded like a big SSL console. I’ve worked on enough of them to know what they do and do not sound like, and the AWS 900+ sounded fabulous.”
Coupe Studios’ AWS 900+ is situated on a custom-built desk with patchbay buckets on either side, Roche adds. “We’re in a building designed by the Walters-Storyk Design Group and wanted to make sure we were putting something great in it,” he explains. “We have owned a number of consoles over the years and wanted to be able to mix out analog, because we really enjoy that.”
Recent projects on the AWS 900+ include surround mixes for Discovery Channel and film mixing, as well as several album projects. “The flexibility of the routing possibilities is really nice to have,” Roche says. “It handles 5.1 very well.” The AWS 900+, he adds, “is very fast to work on, and the Pro Tools integration is very convenient and works as advertised. And a lot of people are making records on them out there.”
For more information, visit www.solid-state-logic.com, www.coupestudios.com and www.gcpro.com.
