Los Angeles, CA (December 1, 2020)—Republic Records, a division of Universal Music Group (UMG), has installed a new 32-channel Solid State Logic Origin analog in-line mixing console at its 6,000-square-foot Republic Records Studios facility in Los Angeles.
The label opened Republic Records Studios in 2017 and in the first year of operation produced projects by a host of label artists, including The Weeknd, Metro Boomin, Amine and others. The facility has produced six #1 albums over the last 18 months. The building encompasses a tracking space large enough for a medium-sized orchestra, two control rooms and four production suites.
Earlier this year, Rob Christie, Republic Records studio director since the facility opened, elected to replace Studio A’s aging mixing console with a new SSL Origin. With so many Top-40 artists and their production teams coming through the room, he wanted to eliminate any maintenance issues in the space. “One thing that we need on a session is reliability,” he says. “I need to know that everything is going to work, and that it’s laid out nicely and easily for access, speed and reliability.”
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The in-house technical staff wired and installed the Origin console, which Republic Records acquired from Ferndale, MI-based Vintage King. “The SSL is just plug-and-play; it’s ready to go,” says Christie. During the installation, the control room front wall was customized to accommodate a soffited pair of Augspurger main monitors, complemented by a pair of 18-inch subwoofers positioned behind the console. Pairs of ATC SM45A Pro reference monitors and Yamaha NS-10s nearfield speakers are additionally available.
The technical staff also added a bay at both sides of the Origin. One houses a patchbay and the other contains a selection of outboard processing units, including several preamplifiers, equalizers, compressors and limiters.
Republic Records was honored as the top Billboard Hot 100 label for a sixth year in a row at the beginning of 2020 as a result of the success of artists including Ariana Grande, Post Malone, the Jonas Brothers, Drake and Taylor Swift. Billboard also named Republic Records the overall label of the year for the fourth time in five years.
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