Archive notice: This article was originally published on February 1, 2010. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
When Sound Trekker Studio records live sessions with platinum artists such as Joss Stone, an Aviom Pro16 system provides isolated headphone monitoring. An Aviom AN-16/i input module, an A-16D Pro A-Net distributor and multiple A-16II personal mixers, together with a Solid State Logic AWS 900+ console and a Pro Tools HD-4 DAW, complete the equipment list for this world-class mobile studio.
The mobile studio was designed to be set up at almost any location. It gives artists and producers the opportunity to record in familiar, high-quality studio conditions at the place where they feel most comfortable. On projects such as the recordings with Joss Stone, time and audio quality play an extremely important role. The Sound Trekker team recognised that using the Aviom Pro16 system both makes work during setup easier and simplifies the recording process itself.
“During her tour, Joss Stone brought a ten-piece band with backing singers to a 200-year-old mill near Regensburg to record some of her songs live there,” explains Marco Breidenbach, owner and sound engineer at Sound Trekker Studio. “I was asked whether I wanted to carry out the gig together with sound engineer and friend Hans-Martin Buff. We had only two days to prepare the project. The challenge was therefore to provide every musician with an individual headphone mix while simultaneously concentrating on recording the best possible sound. It was clear to me from the outset that I had to use an Aviom system to achieve all of this.”
Sixteen separate outputs from the Pro Tools DAW went directly into an Aviom AN-16/i input module. From there, the resulting digital A-Net audio signal was passed to an Aviom A-16D Pro distributor, which offers up to nine parallel outputs. Eight of these supplied the connected personal mixers with operating power as well as A-Net audio signals. This enabled star-shaped cabling and simplified setup. Using controls for volume, group, stereo width and stereo panorama per channel, as well as the volume and sound of the overall mix, each artist could set an individual headphone mix on their A-16II personal mixer.
“The Joss Stone project gave me my first opportunity to test an Aviom system, and I must say that the experience was very worthwhile,” Breidenbach explains. “The Aviom system is simply fantastic for both the sound engineer and the artists. The personal mixers gave every artist the opportunity to get exactly the mix they needed to hear. As a result, the entire performance was simply better. On the technical side, after setup we no longer had to worry about the many monitor mixes, so we could concentrate entirely on recording. Since then, Aviom has been an absolute must in my recording setup.”