Prism Sound Orpheus - Audio Media

other creative areas within the building. “With acentral machine room with audio and video tiesthroughout,” continues Eastwood, “a well stockedrental company just minutes away, 24/7 access andparking 365 days a year, clients have all the flexibilityto work as they wish without restriction.” With 70percent occupancy on three to 12 month leasingterms, the White Rooms are proving a real hit.“Building a high end studio for musicin such a depressed climate raises a feweyebrows, but costs are dramaticallyreduced as we are able to share anumber of resources.”The idea for a larger studio was always on thecards. Eastwood: “I have always been very passionateabout music. Technology has changed studios overthe past 10-15 years causing the studio landscape toshrink dramatically.“Building a high end studio for music in such adepressed climate raises a few eyebrows, but costsare dramatically reduced as we are able to sharea number of resources – reception, accounts, andso on, plus we have five senior technicians lookingafter it all. It really keeps the overheads down.”The Dibble DabbleA fruitful visit to the White Rooms by former StudioManager and Chief Engineer of Lansdowne CTSstudios, Chris Dibble, galvanised the ideas, andthe concept of Cream Recording Studios was born.“Originally we were looking at more of a minidubbing/preview theatre type facility,“ explainsEastwood. “But when Chris came to visit the WhiteRooms we had an impromptu chat that pointedto other ideas.“Chris has more than 30 years of experience,and specialises in classical and film score recordingand mixing. The idea of a studio with goodlive rooms excited me. There are so few good liverooms left.”With Chris Dibble involved with Cream fromthe outset, things started to take shape. “It is a veryrare opportunity," says Dibble, "to be involved witha fresh build rather than adapting another space.I expect thiswill be my lastopportunity to dothis.”Once againR e c o r d i n gArchitecture andRoger D’Arcy wereinvolved. Dibblehad worked withD‘Arcy manytimes before asLansdowne CTShad updated allits studios overa period of time,with the aidof RecordingArchitecture.CREAMThe control room at Cream is a spacious 405ft 2with a raised area at the rear providing comfortableclient seating for overseeing various aspects of asession or viewing HD video playback from the dropdown screen. Directly next to the control room is a180ft 2 booth that can be used for a wide variety ofpurposes; like the White Rooms, a useful space to have.Having a good size control room is an advantageas Chris explains, “Having a big as opposed to hugecontrol room is a good thing. Good room for clientsand technicians alike without being so big as tocause troublesome acoustic issues”.At the centre of the Cream control room is a72-channel SSL Duality console. This is Solid StateLogic’s latest analogue console with extensiveintegrated DAW control. The installed DAW is aPro Tools HD3 Accel system with 48 analogue I/Osupplied through four Digidesign 192 interfaces.Monitoring in the Cream control room comescourtesy of a custom 5.1 system by ATC. This is madeup from ATC SCM300, ATC SCM150, and two ATCSCM0.1/15 units.The good news does not end there. A quicklook to the outboard racks keeps the smile firmlyin place. A full range of familiar faces; Lexicon224XL, 480L, Eventide DSP4500, UREI 1176LNBlack and Silver, Fairchild 670, Pultec EQP1A3, avery extensive microphone collection, and muchmore. A full equipment list is shown on the CreamRecording Studios website, and the best bit is thatall this comes as standard when renting the facility.When you consider the impressive inventory nextdoor with GearBox, I cannot see anyone wantingfor much.When you look through all that is housedin the Cream control room, this is not a stack ofunits simply stuffed in racks to impress, but a wellthought through collection of processors and othersupporting equipment. Chris’ experience has beenused to great effect here.Live Has LifeChris Dibble’s influence is also clearly present inthe live room at Cream, bringing a few favoureddesign ideas from his Lansdowne experience.“There are a few aspects of the design that followedme from Lansdowne such as the gallery area.As well as a useful platform for ambientmicrophones it helps with access between thecontrol room and live areas,” says Chris. This fullyfloating 850ft2 recording space is on two levelsand capable of accommodating 15-20 musicians.A balcony on the same level as the control roomoverlooks the main floor area. Going down the>42AUDIO MEDIA MAY 2008