Nestled in the wilds of Cornwall, just 30 miles from Lands End and a hop and a skip from the rugged coastline is the least likely place one might find a highly spec’d multi-studio complex. Yet that’s exactly where music producer and songwriter, Gareth Young has opened his Cube Recording studio, which features a show-stopping
72-channel Audient ASP8024 mixing console in its main Studio A.
“It’s always a wow!” says Gareth, who, apart from wanting to stop clients in their tracks when they saw it, was after a desk that would give him lots of channels for tracking and mixing. “With the Audient we can track large ensembles and have 64 i/o to and from the desk for out-of-the-box mixing if required.”
He refers to the feature set, including the automation on the Dual Layer Control (DLC) that originally drew him to the desk. Designed to integrate with the DAW, the DLC allows control of both the analogue and digital workflows on the ASP8024, giving complete hands-on control over the mix or recording session. “We use the DLC a lot,” he clarifies.
“We love the workflow on the desk and the clients are all happy with the sound achieved. The mic pres sound great and the EQ is really good at fine tuning the incoming signal,” continues Gareth. What most surprised him after its arrival however, were the running costs. “We anticipated it might be a hungry horse, but in fact it uses less than our much smaller previous desk,” he says. This was certainly a surprise, given its staggering three and three-quarter metre length.
Alongside gear-packed Studio A, Studio B features an SSL Origin and there is also a programming room for smaller projects and editing. Clients who come to Cube Recording can also stay in the accommodation adjacent to the studios. “We have such a mixture of clients from voice over to thrash, and many artists stay with us and make the most of the surrounding area whilst they’re here.”
Whilst the pandemic kept a lot of the clients away, Gareth and his team were lucky to have a number of in-house mixing projects to keep them busy, with enough remote mixing and recording work coming in to allow them to carry on through.
Happily, things have started to get moving again since Covid restrictions in the UK have been eased. “We are busy now for sure,” he says. London-based The XX were tracking there recently and Gareth is currently working on Tom Meighan’s album. There have also been a host of talented, but ‘not so famous’ artists pass through recently too. “It seems all that locked up creativity needs to get recorded, so we are confident that the next few months – and years – will be busy. We are looking forward to hearing the results of 18 months of lockdown!”
