RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL—When AR Studios was looking to upgrade Studio A, their search ended with a 48-channel, Solid State Logic Duality console – the first in South America.
Studio owner Andre Rafael, a respected singer/songwriter and long-time SSL user, enthuses about his new purchase, “You can always trust SSL’s products; the sound is wonderful. We have been booked solid since the room opened and I haven’t even had the chance to use it for my own projects yet!�
Since opening in 1996, AR Studios has worked with Sting, Super Furry Animals and Dionne Warwick, as well as top Brazilian artists such as Milton Nascimento, João Gilberto, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil. Many of the projects completed at AR Studios have received both, Grammy and Latin Grammy Award, wins and nominations.
The first artist to work on the new Duality was Manaca, a group from Rio de Janeiro, who was recently signed to EMI Music. At the moment, Brazilian singer and composer Chico Cesar is using the room. Both of these sessions were engineered by Mario Caldato Jr. (Jack Johnson, Bjork, Beastie Boys).
Caldato was duly impressed with the Duality, “The option of being able to control Pro Tools™ within the console is genius. It has the dual function, the ‘Duality’, of being able to work within Pro Tools™ and then being an analog console. I was able to open up the mix on some tracks to bring them through the analog circuitry. Everything sounded great; it was the best of both worlds!�
The ability to morph between DAW control and analog console is one of the many innovative features running through Duality. Rafael agrees that with this console, “We have the best of both worlds. Just press a button and you are “inside the box;� press it again and you are out. The console offers great DAW control and a great analog sound!�
Rafael mentions the recall function as one of the many features of the Duality console that makes sessions move faster at the studio. “As an in-demand studio handling a variety of projects, the flexibility of the recall function makes it possible for us to have different clients on the same day. If we have a recording session in the morning and a mixing session at night, it is possible to save our recording session EQ and faders and leave the studio for another client.�
Another feature which made session life easier for Caldato was the Duality’s ’Split Signal Flow Architecture,’ a new approach to signal flow that supersedes the in-line concept and enables channel processing resources to be placed in the input or monitor path. “The flexibility of the board is amazing. The ability to actually control inserts as well as being able to send stuff around and have everything calibrated was great.�
The redesign of Studio A’s control room was spearheaded by John Storyk of WSDG. Because of the Duality’s dual program outputs, Studio A can now accommodate 5.1 surround recording and mixing. While most of the clientele use the facility for audio recording and mixing, AR Studios is frequently used for movie scoring and dubbing for movies and TV shows.
AR Studios has a long-standing history with SSL; the facility’s previous main console was an SL 4048G+, which now resides in the equally busy Studio R. Rafael notes that the transition between the two consoles has been easy due to the fact that, “Everything that is great about the 4K is there in the Duality.�
Solid State Logic is the world’s leading manufacturer of analogue and digital audio consoles and provider of creative tools for music, broadcast and post production professionals. For more information about our award-winning products, please visit: www.solid-state-logic.com.
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