Paolo Tubia, owner of Dharma Studios in Italy, is a fan of the hybrid set up and likes the analogue outboard – a tasty compressor and some boutique preamps – to be a part of the mix, so he needed a centre-piece to manage the various control room components effectively and creatively – and the ASP4816 is what brought these things together and the studio came to life.
“The Audient definitely has the “wow’ factor. A real analogue console at the heart of a control room, surrounded by mystical and esoteric machines full of LEDs and gauges really helps customers get into the mood,’ he says. “It encourages them to do their best in the professional environment.’
Tubia says it is tough to stay in budget when looking for a reliable and high-quality analogue mixer. The competitive pricing of the console as well as the clean punch that comes out when you start to push it a bit, allowing 16 clean preamps which is incredibly useful for recording acoustic instruments without adding colour were the deciding factors for Tubia. “Thanks to the routing design, with balanced inserts everywhere, it is still possible to colour tracks, stems and even the mix bus with my outboards,’ he continues.
With all the key features of a large console packed into a neat, ergonomic console, the Audient ASP4816 comprises fully-featured in-line architecture, ideally suited to a small studio.
“The foldback section is also useful and intuitive. I don’t have to waste time creating strange ways to allow musicians to listen to what they are playing, the compressor does a great job of gluing the whole mix together and above all the build quality is exceptional, right down to the smallest component.’
Tubia’s interest in audio engineering started out when he was a drummer on the other side of the glass. He cut his teeth on a few independent productions before opening Dharma Studios in 2011.
