4U Recording Atlanta, located in West Midtown Atlanta, GA, is a full service recording studio owned by Tony Alexander and renowned songwriter and producer David Porter. The facility holds two large rehearsal/event spaces, four recording studios, and a podcast room. The studio recently underwent a large renovation to improve communication and networking between their various studio spaces. “We wanted to make things more up to date, and incorporate Dante,” explained Studio Manager Vohn Keith Jr.
4U’s Studio A, a large rehearsal and performance space, was upgraded to an Allen & Heath SQ-6 console, which opened up the room to more possibilities. “We wanted something that would work for live performance, but also had recording and Dante capabilities,” recalled Facilities Manager Reo Harris. “We also liked that it had a small footprint, and we can easily expand our I/O using a digital stagebox.” The 4U team added a DX168 expander for I/O at the stage, which runs back to the SQ-6 via a CAT6 digital snake.
With the addition of an SQ, Studio A can now capture multitrack recordings of live performances and rehearsals via Dante. “It really opened up our possibilities,” noted Harris. “With all the individual tracks we can access and feed to our other studio spaces.” Harris also appreciated the price point of SQ. “For all the features available, there was nothing else on the market that really compared.”
Harris had never used an SQ before they purchased one for Studio A, but he was able to pick up on the workflow right away. “I love the touch screen capability, and being able to patch in local I/O or networked input sources quickly,” he explained. “I also really enjoy working with the reverb and delay plugins built-in, it’s so easy to route to them – the whole console is very intuitive.”
The event spaces at 4U are host to a diversity of performances “Sometimes it’s big artists preparing and rehearsing for tours,” explained Keith. “But we’re open to everyone that has that creative sense and is looking to find their sound. Our goal is to make our clients reassured and confident in all our studio spaces.”
