Phoenix, MD (February 16, 2023)—Sheffield Audio/Video Productions, originally launched as Sheffield Recordings in 1968, has installed a 48-fader SSL Duality Fuse mixing console in Studio A.
Sheffield opened at its current location just north of Baltimore, MD in 1981. The 20,000-square-foot complex also houses the Sheffield Institute for the Recording Arts (SIRA), established at the complex in 1995 and the first school in North America to install the new version of the Duality console. Sound engineering students attending SIRA’s AudioWorks program have access to both professional recording studios at the complex.
According to Jeff Mund, who partnered in the business with Andrew Dunn and Scott Lloyd, the Sheffield staff discussed several alternative mixing console brands for Studio A, but ultimately decided to install the company’s latest analog technology in the A room, he says.
“After a couple of conversations with our engineering team and with the folks at SSL, it was clear that we wanted the industry standard,” said Mund. “We wanted the interoperability, so that if our students learned the SSL SuperAnalogue format, they could work on an SSL console anywhere.”
Sheffield founders John Ariosa and Vance Van Horn used SSL consoles dating back nearly to the beginning of the company. The Duality console that was in Studio A until recently, for instance, replaced a 4000 E Series that was previously in place for 17 years in the room. In 1991, an SL4040 E/G was removed from Studio B, reconfigured to support 48 inputs and installed in Sheffield’s newly built mobile recording truck’s 48-foot trailer. That SL4048 analog desk was replaced in 2001 by an SSL Axiom MT+ digital console in the truck, which now offers fully redundant 64-track recording to Pro Tools.
Those desks going back have been used by a variety of names as in recent years, Sheffield has worked with Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Billy Joel, Mariah Carey, Elvis Costello and Walt Disney Motion Pictures. Past clients have also included Johnny Cash, Elton John, Aerosmith, The Boston Pops, The Kennedy Center, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and others.
