Audient console “centrepiece” of Sacremento college refurbishment

An Audient console has been installed at Sacremento City College as part of a rebuilding of all audio technology in the music department. 

The ASP8024 Heritage Edition console is the “centrepiece of our entire facility upgrade”, according to director of Commercial Music Kirt Shearer, and replaces a 25 year-old desk.

Supplied by Vintage King, the new Audient console is in Studio A control room – its main analogue room that can accommodate 2” 24 track and 32 x 32 Pro Tools. Since the console’s arrival, the college has seen a 50% increase in enrolment.

“It has been fantastic so far, with a combination of fantastically flexible routing on the analogue portion of the console and a comprehensive moving fader Pro Tools controller.

“The more I examined the ASP8024HE, the more I realised how incredibly well thought out it is. It has amazingly flexible features and routing in a very straightforward layout. There just wasn’t another option that met all of the criteria.

Shearer also commented on the quietness of the console. “The very first time I powered it up after wiring and installation, I brought up the monitors and faders and it was dead quiet. No hiss, no buzz, no ground loops.”

He continued: “One thing that has happened: the students are excited about using analogue technology and getting ‘out of the box.’ I set up a summing demonstration for the classes. It involved summing a mix within the DAW while simultaneously bussing the individual channels out to stereo pairs on the ASP8024HE. (That way, the panning was identical.) Then after level matching, the students could instantly flip between the DAW summing and the ASP8024HE analogue summing. It wasn’t close. Everyone wants to mix on the console now.”