Houston, TX (May 22, 2020)—SugarHill Recording Studios in Houston, TX, has upgraded its Neve Genesys Black console, installing the GenesysControl plug-in to enable total integration with DAWs.
The Genesys Black console is installed in SugarHill’s Goldstar room, originally built in 1964 and designed by Jack Clement, who also designed the Sun Recording Studios in Nashville, TN. SugarHill has completed many sessions on the console for artists such as Chance the Rapper, George Thorogood, Kevin Gates, 21 Savage, Maxo Kream and North Mississippi Allstars. Most recently, Finley has been mixing an album for The Killer Hearts, which will be released soon on Spaghetty Town Records.
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SugarHill studio engineer Stephen Finley says, “In 2018, we installed our Genesys Black G32 console with 16 analog channels. It is a fantastic console and we all really love the preamps and EQs. We have 16 Neve 1084s, which make everything sound better — just a little always helps. We also have one eight-channel bank of dynamics that I like to use while tracking drums as its helps to tame some hits. I use very little gain reduction.”
Finley says investing in the GenesysControl plug-in has brought an entirely new dimension to the studio’s workflow. “I enjoy being able to automate my drum busses on the 8T [8 track] section during choruses for extra excitement. Also, being able to have the automation plug-in on all my tracks, put all the tracks in Pro Tools into the Neve at a touch and finalize any volume automation on the fly is very helpful. With the new GenesysControl plug-in and the console’s recall software, recalling a mix and making an adjustment is now a fairly easy task — depending on your patching, of course.”
Founded by Bill Quinn as Quinn Recording Studio in 1941, the facility was renamed Gold Star Studio in 1950 and eventually became SugarHill in 1972 when it was acquired and renamed by notorious producer Huey P. Meaux. The studio is now owned by Stephen Finley, Fred “Bubba” Hightower and Ryan Youngblood, collectively known as The Hightower Group.
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