Indiana section members and guests learn about Studio A's control room at Sweetwater Studios
Sweetwater Studios opened its doors to the Indiana Section of the AES and audio enthusiast in the area for a technical tour and discussion of immersive production. The tour began with a look inside the studio's expansive mic locker, which features well over 100 makes and models, most in pairs or more. From there the group moved into Studio A, the primary tracking room in the facility. The control room features a Neve 5088, a substantial collection of outboard gear, and multiple pairs of stereo monitors housed in a comfortable, creative environment. The adjacent tracking space and two iso booths were set from a recently concluded progressive rock recording session, allowing for a look at the day-to-day recording practices employed at the studio.
After the visit to Studio A, the tour moved to Studio C, an Atmos-equipped immersive editing and mixing suite. While Studio C does a smooth attached booth, its primary use is as an immersive mix room using its 9.1.6 monitoring setup from ATC and Focal. The final stop on the tour was the similarly appointed Studio B. This control room has been the epicenter for Sweetwater Studios' foray into immersive mixing. Chief engineer Shawn Dealey walked the group through the refinement of his method for Atmos mixing from stereo stems. The group was able to listen to an impressive array of new and released mixes and the opened house ended with a thorough discussion of workflow, tools, and techniques for immersive mixing.
