The Auditronics 110 Console
Our primary console is a 16-channel Auditronics 110 "Grandson" console, which was used for many years as a broadcast console at a local radio station. We came into posession of the console (well, actually two of them) virtually for free as the stations were upgrading. It was only after we had the console and wondered what we sould do with it that we discovered they are pretty highly regarded... some have called it the "poor man's Neve". So we felt divine providence had given us no choice but to begin pursuit of a suitable recording setup.
Every channel on the console has a Jensen input transformer, an inductor-based 3-band EQ, and has been updated with newer audio-grade caps and low-noise, military-spec 5534 op-amps. In English, that means it sounds really good.
Microphones and Processing Gear
- Mics: Shure SM-57, Shure SM-7, Electro-Voice RE-20, AKG C451, AKG C414, Shure KSM-44
- Outboard Gear: Universal Audio LA-3A, Blackface DBX 166's with dedicated sidechain EQs, an assortment of vintage odds and ends
- Monitoring: Mackie HR824's
- A/D: Echo Layla3G / Alesis AI3 combo capturing 16 channels at 24bit/48KHz; 16 channels can then be played back independently for true outboard or hybrid mixing setups
- Tape: Otari MX-5050 MKIII 1/2" 8-track reel-to-reel, Tascam BR-20 1/4" 2-track mixdown reel-to-reel deck
The Ardour Digital Audio Workstation
While any honest Linux user would
quickly admit that the arena of Linux-based audio currently lags somewhat behind proprietary offerings in various ways, that's quickly changing.
We've learned through trial-and-error (and one of us being a sysadmin) that if one knows where to look, thoroughly-professional tools for almost any job exist,
for free, in the Linux world. Enter Ardour: an open-source digital audio workstation. Open-source means that its source code (the
semi-human-readable code that programmers directly write) can be freely downloaded, modified, and redistributed. As a result, open-source software tends to be
very stable and focused, and somehow simultaneously rapidly developed. Ardour additionally happens to have a strong workflow model and comes pre-loaded with
hundreds of plugins (some great, some not so great... we've sorted that out). We don't use Ardour because it's free, and in fact we pay to help support its continued
development... rather, we use it because it's quality software without arbitrary limitations: no unlock keys, no secrets, no vendor lock-in.
Instruments, Amps, and Weird Stuff
Plenty of other toys to play with, including:
- Rhodes Mark I Stage 73 Electric Piano
- Several custom-modded and/or custom-built amps, including a mid-70s Fender Twin Reverb
- Hammond B2 Organ
- Lots of random old and new guitars
- A Micromoog
- Several Commodore 64s (yes, several)
- A Muse Receptor software synthesizer
This list will probably be frequently rotating/growing.