When AR Studios in Rio de Janeiro was looking to upgrade its Studio A, the control room redesign was spearheaded by John Storyk of WSDG. With a wealth of high-quality analog outboard equipment already in place, the natural choice was a 48-channel Solid State Logic Duality console — the first in South America. Because of the Duality’s dual program outputs, Studio A can now accommodate 5.1 surround recording and mixing. While most of the clients use the facility for audio recording and mixing, AR Studios is also frequently used for movie scoring and post work.
The first artist to work on the new Duality was Manaca, a group from Rio de Janeiro that was recently signed to EMI Music. At the moment, Brazilian singer and composer Chico Cesar is using the room. Both sessions are 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. “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.”
Since opening in 1996, AR Studios has worked with Sting, Super Furry Animals and Dionne Warwick as well as top Brazilian artists Milton Nascimento, João Gilberto, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil.
For more information, visit www.solid-state-logic.com.
