![]() ![]() Recording guitar direct ? Straight from the Kemper, through tubes, into the RME converters.Presenters Bernadette Peters and Billy Dee Williams with Best Sound winners Bill Varney, Steve Maslow, Gregg Landaker, and Peter Sutton (Credit: Getty Images) Almost all the gear is hard-wired as ‘pure path’ with very little patching. “A 96-channel Yamaha DM2000 may not be the latest thing but we just use that for monitor mixes and playback control.” Similarly, racks of preamps may not have the sex appeal of an SSL K series, but they offer more sonic variety and you can rip out a channel and replace it instantly if needs be. Everything in the control rooms is built for stability. It’s all ready to roll so you don’t lose any setup time,” enthuses Paul. Paul and Trevor’s love for all the Universal Audio preamps like the 4710, 6 certain key TL Audio models, including the PA-1 and VP-1, Warm Audio 1073s and many other sonic colours and flavours. Each is stacked with outboard many will remember from Studio 52. Call the setup a ‘Frankenstein’ desk, if you like. The setup is inspired by how people are comfortable working at home, each control room’s centrepiece is a keyboard and mouse, flanked by racks of preamps, EQs and compressors. We don’t record through the consoles, they are just for monitoring purposes. You won’t find large-format analogue consoles at Empire. “It’s great to have his personal Kurzweil and Hammond along with a few other pieces I purchased from his estate”, they are now actively in use at Empire - a fitting destination for synths owned by such a fine player. There are also some special pieces that used to belong to Steve Lincoln-Smith, founder of Innovative Music and great friend of Paul’s, who sadly passed away during the build. “Much of the gear is from Studio 52 but there is also a lot of new stuff we purchased for Heidelberg,” explains Paul. ![]() ![]() There are some reminders of Collingwood, including the main console desks which have been modified, there was also a mixture of components taken out a small studio in Balaclava that Empire acquired when it was closing. “We also have installed a 30kW Solar system on the roof, so it’s great to be doing our bit to save the planet while saving a huge amount on power bills. Not only that, but many of the acoustic panels are made from reclaimed materials. “We have recycled a lot of timber that has been considered as seconds or slightly damaged by the local furniture factories.” Including the gorgeous diffuser at the rear of Studio 1’s control room. Heidelberg is a furniture manufacturing hotspot and Paul got to know some of the local businesses. Given Paul and Trevor were building Empire while Studio 52 was still trading, there was a limit to how many materials they could repurpose. ![]() So many bookings postponed and then postponed again, it feels a bit like Groundhog Day.” We had a Sydney artist and producer in to record and they literally had to turn around and fly straight back out the same day to avoid getting stuck in Melbourne. “Again the snap lockdown in Melbourne in May and June has had a huge impact and came at a really bad time. I think young people have really copped the worst of it, missing so many opportunities that may never be replaced,” said Paul.īut 2021 is proving to be more auspicious: “2021 has got off to a good start and we have been extremely busy working with a huge range of great people in all genres,” continued Paul. “On top of all our other work lost, the entire 2020 Kool Skools Project was also cancelled - 28 albums of original music by all these young people who missed the opportunity. It would take almost another year before Empire could really stretch its legs again. “You know when the Melbourne Grand Prix got cancelled? That was our studio open day the weekend before the first lockdown.”Ĭovid put a halt to the festivities. Covid hit Empire at the worst possible time. Paul and Trevor convened staff, industry luminaries and friends to celebrate the newly-minted Empire Studios with a Christmas party in 2019, “It was a great night of live music and a great chance to showcase the new facility,” recalls Paul.Ĭonstruction continued in 2020 and the larger Studio 2 opened in March. Just as Studio 52 in Collingwood closed in November 2019, so too was Empire opening its first stage of completion. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |