HOLLYWOOD, CA – Award-winning producer and engineer Tal Herzberg, who has worked with artists ranging from Black Eyed Peas to Mary J. Blige to Counting Crows, recently used an Aviom Pro16® monitor mixing system while working with top artist Queen Latifah to record her latest album, “Trav’lin’ Light.” For this jazz and R&B inspired album with over a dozen high-profile musicians being recorded in a live situation, Herzberg recognized that he would need a cue system with more robust splitting and mixing options than what his mixing console offered, and the Pro16 system did just that.
Featured on the album are such heavyweights as George Duke and Jim Cox on piano and keyboard, Abe Laboriel on bass, Abe Laboriel Jr. on drums, Jerry Hey on trumpet, and Paul Jackson Jr. and Michael Landau on guitars. Legendary artists such as these are used to having things a certain way and the Aviom system was able to ease any concerns they may have had during recording, allowing all involved to focus on the creative process.
Creating basic mixed stems that came out of Pro Tools, Herzberg was able to distribute separate splits of each musician onto the individual Aviom A-16II Personal Mixers, allowing them to control their own monitor mix. In addition to setup being simple, operation during the recording sessions was seamless as well. “Explaining the way the Aviom system works took about 15 seconds per musician,” says Herzberg. “The Personal Mixers are so straightforward and to the point that it really takes no brain power whatsoever to understand how they work. I was able to eliminate my stress factor since each musician was able to create the exact mix that they wanted without any interaction between us. I can’t believe how smooth everything worked, and the musicians were happy because they didn’t have to ask me for anything. It was just the most effortless, transparent operation that I could have conceivably created for such a potentially high-stress situation.”
The entire Aviom system runs on Cat-5 cables, allowing for minimal setup time. “With the ability to daisy chain the A16-IIs, the signal is carried on one thin cable that can be stretched for hundreds of feet,” continues Herzberg. “You don’t even feel like it’s there. It’s a very elegant solution to a potentially big problem. Placing that tactile surface control within reach of a performer is definitely a highly welcomed element.”
As a recording engineer at Interscope Studios in Santa Monica, CA, Herzberg was also involved in the studio’s decision to install the Aviom Pro16® Personal Mixing System. “I’m not really interested in doing anything without the Aviom system,” says Herzberg. “I can’t stress enough how much freedom it allows a recording engineer. You no longer have to worry about monitor distribution and can focus 100 percent of your attention to doing what you are hired to do —creating great sounding recordings.”
