Stephen F. Austin State University Unveils New Recording Studio, Featuring Solid State Logic System T S500 64 Fader Console and Immersive Monitoring

19/03/24

Stephen F. Austin State University’s School of Music has unveiled a new recording studio equipped with a Solid State Logic System T S500 console and a 7.1.4 immersive monitor speaker setup at its campus in East Texas. Studio B, which opened in January in time for the start of the current semester, is in a recently completed expansion of the Griffith Fine Arts Building that houses the college’s sound recording technology, filmmaking, theatre, dance and musical theatre programs.

The new System T, supplied by Vintage King, features an S500 64-fader, 4.5-bay console integrated with a range of SSL’s SuperAnalogue^TMNetwork I/O including, A32 and dual SB i16 interfaces. Additionally, the outboard rack contains an SSL ULTRAVIOLET EQ 500 series module.

James F. Adams, Associate Professor of Music, and Director of Sound Recording Technology at the School of Music, reports that the school’s Studio A is a fully analogue room. “But we wanted Studio B to be our modern studio,” he says. “We have a graduate program as well, so we knew that we needed to be on the cutting edge for tomorrow’s professionals. We also wanted it to be an Atmos room.” The Studio B control room, measuring approximately 400 square feet, is attached to a 500-square-foot live room with a single iso booth for vocals and solo instruments.

Winning support from SSL

There were several reasons behind the school’s decision to install the System T digital production platform in Studio B, Adams continues, not the least of which was the college’s previous experience with an AWS948 console and SSL’s service support. “The support is fantastic; the whole team is very responsive and provides swift support. That’s a really big thing for a state institution like ours,” he says.

Further, the features and functionality of System T fit the needs of the School of Music’s teaching staff, he says. “It’s designed for music, so its ability to very easily track and do post-production mixing was a big deal to us. We also found that the SSL’s flow and routing – everything about System T – fits our pedagogical styles and our goals. Plus, it’s a Dante-native console with integrated control of the stage boxes. We don’t have to leave the console to go to Dante Controller to make our terminations, you can do it all from the console. Our whole facility has a Dante backbone, so it just made sense.”

With the room having been completed only recently, Adams and the Sound Recording Technology program staff are just starting to become familiar with System T’s powerful features. “We’ve recorded and done some basic mixing, but mostly we have been familiarizing ourselves with the console and preparing for this semester,” Adams says. “One of the really powerful things about the console is that we can set up templates for a variety of situations for the students to get a kickstart. We’ve made a tracking template, a split console template for DAW playback while tracking, and then we have a mixing template for when they’re just using Pro Tools as a tape deck into the system.”

Best-in-class DSP processing

Adams has been impressed with the onboard DSP, he says: “I was super impressed with just how much processing power System T has. SSL did a great job of making it a powerful system that’s flexible for us to do our essential processing. The way that it integrates is very intuitive and very flexible. We’ve experimented with the 7.1.4 Bus Compressor — in fact, all the dynamics — and have been getting into the effects processing”

Future expansion with System T

Since the school’s new facility incorporates a comprehensive Dante network there will be opportunities in the future to extend applications System T is used for, Adams comments. “The grand plan is to one day have our orchestra upstairs feed everything into the System T and be able to manage a live broadcast mix, in addition to recording it. And we know the console is ready for us to stream in spatial audio one day in the future. We also have a fairly good-sized performance theater where we have touring acts come through. We’re integrated with that facility. We haven’t lit that up yet, but the wires are there.”

Stephen F. Austin State University, the newest member of The University of Texas System, began a century ago as a teachers’ college in Texas’ oldest town, Nacogdoches. Today, it has grown into a regional institution comprising six colleges — business, education, fine arts, forestry and agriculture, liberal and applied arts, and sciences and mathematics. Accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, SFA enrolls approximately 11,000 students while providing the academic breadth of a state university with the personalized attention of a private school. The main campus encompasses 421 acres that include 36 academic facilities, nine residence halls, and 68 acres of recreational trails that wind through its six gardens. The university offers more than 80 bachelor’s degrees, more than 40 master’s degrees and four doctoral degrees covering more than 120 areas of study.

Stephen F. Austin State University Unveils New Recording Studio, Featuring Solid State Logic System T S500 64 Fader Console and Immersive Monitoring

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