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“It has all the important features we need: very good editing functions, excellent quality and, through object-oriented operation, the best VST/DirectX plug-in integration I know,” said chief mastering engineer Ray Staff.
The new studio was built around a Manley Backbone insert switcher. Its remaining equipment was selected to provide high-quality, versatile analogue and digital processing. The analogue side included Chandler and API equalizers together with Neve, Avalon and Crane Song compressors, complemented by digital signal processors from TC Electronic, Algorithmix and Brainworx. The selection allowed the studio to respond flexibly to varied requirements.
During the 1970s, Staff mastered recordings by David Bowie, including Aladdin Sane and Ziggy Stardust, and Elton John’s Madman Across the Water at Trident Studios in Soho, London. Other notable releases included Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti and Presence, Supertramp’s Crime of the Century, The Rolling Stones’ It’s Only Rock ’n Roll, and Corinne Bailey Rae’s triple-platinum album Corinne Bailey Rae.