Personal Mixers Help Launch Camp Hiland Studio and Provide Opportunity to Teach Handicapped Children
NASHVILLE, JANUARY 24, 2012—Road veteran, session ace and multi-instrumentalist, Johnny Hiland, is accomplished on 22 instruments and has played with some of the biggest names in country and blues, including Toby Keith, Ricky Scaggs and Randy Travis. Born with an eye disease that left him legally blind, Hiland faces unique challenges on the road and in the studio. When he built his own private studio, Camp Hiland, he chose Aviom A-16II Personal Mixers to make the transition easy with gear that he had used in many of the elite venues in the world.
As a talented guitarist, Johnny Hiland has recently wrapped up his third album, “All Fired Up” on Shrapnel Records. Born with Nystagmus, a condition of involuntary eye movement that can cause reduced or limited vision, Hiland’s path to success is hard-fought. His limited sight has made it important for him to work with recording tools that are easy to use. Thanks to the Aviom A-16II Personal Mixers, he spends virtually no time getting a good cue mix in his new studio.
“After recording in some of the best studios in the world, you often wonder how a home studio is going to turn out,” says Hiland, who finished creating his studio over the last year. “The one thing that really makes my studio enjoyable to me as a musician is the Aviom Personal Mixing system. When you’re in a session, if you can’t hear yourself well and you can’t hear the track around you and every little nuance that you need to hear, a session can get pretty miserable. But with Aviom, it’s an enjoyable process for me and others who record in my studio.”
Hiland’s studio is equipped with a Digidesign ProControl as his main board and Pro Tools® 8-HD. He runs his Pearl drum kit through a PreSonus DigiMax and vocals through a Focusrite. Using the A-16II Personal Mixers, Hiland and the other performers in his studio can adjust their own cue mixes, allowing the engineer to focus on recording. Each mixer provides 16 channels of control as well as 16 mix presets for storing custom mixes.
Being a multi-instrumentalist, Hiland takes advantage of Aviom Personal Mixers in many ways. “I want the mix to be a little different when I play guitar, versus when I play drums,” says Hiland. “The flexibility and the effectiveness of being able to allow each musician to change each track to what they want is fantastic. I am able to turn up the bass if needed. Or, I’m able to turn up the drum mix or the guitars, so I don’t have to ask the engineer. I can do it all on the fly. Being legally blind, I have massively sensitive ears. To hear a track that clear is important to me.”
What’s more, the Aviom system was designed for convenient use and easy setup. “Aviom units are small and don’t take up much room, but they certainly pack a punch when it comes to hearing what you need to hear,” says Hiland. “I’m just blessed to be working with them.
“Another wonderful thing about Aviom personal mixers that I really find to be remarkable is that they are very user-friendly and they light up nicely,” says Hiland. “With each individual track, you just push the button of the track you want and you have one main set of controls that runs every single track across the board. Aviom makes it really easy with all the functionality you need. It’s very effective and easy to run. When you’re on the fly in the studio and time is money, a user-friendly product like Aviom personal mixers is just fantastic.”
Hiland set out to create his own home studio with hopes of producing more often, when he is not on the road. He also plans to open up the studio for teaching experiences with children. “One of the main things I want to do with my studio is extend the reach to handicapped children. We will teach them how to record and give them lessons on the instruments. I just want to see each child have the best experience possible. The studio is so much fun; they’ll have a blast without a doubt. My main objective is to really show kids the best time possible for a solid week of learning new things on their instruments and learning how to record properly.”
For more information about Johnny Hiland, visit http://www.johnnyhiland.net.
Aviom pioneered personal mixing with its Pro16® Monitor Mixing System and continues to break new ground with the revolutionary Pro64® Series of audio networking products. With tens of thousands of products in the field today, Aviom has set the standard for high performance, scalable digital solutions. All Aviom systems harness the power of A-Net®, Aviom’s innovative digital audio technology that simplifies system design while enhancing flexibility and fidelity. All Aviom products are designed, tested, and manufactured in the USA. For more information, visit www.Aviom.com.
