With a long and illustrious résumé spanning monitor engineer stints for the cast of the show “Nashville,” the Dove Awards and the Stellar Awards, plus system engineer outings with Peter Frampton and Celtic Woman, Carter Hassebroek knows his way around a mixing console. Hassebroek has shifted his focus during the last few months of downtime to learn new ways of mixing and keeping his console chops fresh. After a survey of available desk options, Hassebroek selected the Allen & Heath SQ-5.
“The desk’s main purpose for now is to use at home to try new tricks and such,” notes Hassebroek. “A DAW just wouldn’t cut it for me. I do plan on also having the SQ handy for a lot of production console needs at conferences when they come back. So many people have been posting videos of their console routing, signal flow secrets, phase alignment processes, etc., it’s been cool to see what other folks are up to. I learn best by doing, so I needed something that could handle a full band worth of inputs from my laptop, had the processing necessary to actually accomplish the tasks at hand, fit in my existing little workspace — and was also affordable. This was the only desk that fit the bill for me.”
The SQ Series provides 48 channels of high resolution 96kHz audio processing and readily integrates into a multitude of audio environments from live to studio. A built-in 32×32 Core Audio and ASIO compliant 96kHz USB audio interface allows for seamless multitrack recording, backing track playback or virtual soundcheck applications.
“I am currently running stems in via USB,” adds Hassebroek. “With 64×64 Dante or Waves cards if I need it, a pile of options for remote audio, connectivity to the ME system, and even the MixPad control app, I know I will be able to take this little guy with me to tackle a good chunk of gigs when we get back to the grind. And I went with the SQ-5, which is only 19” wide and super easy to transport. The fact that I can have any of these options at this price point is unreal. I’ve done quite a few mixes without any outboard gear or plugins, and they sounded great. I’m looking forward to adding some of the DEEP Processing soon to take it to the next level.”
