Hey there,

I've come back up for air and to give you all a little update on what's been happening at the Sonic Cuisine since February. How quickly time flies when you're having fun!

I'll start with some of the most recent work.  Since the beginning of April I've been at RAK studios. Under the amazing leadership of producer Elliott Randall, we recorded a full album, mainly in studio 2.  Piano was recorded in studio 1.  For strings and horns I got to go to SARM Studio 1 and drive the massive SSL J-series. The mix process found us back at RAK, this time in studio 4.  As the bulk of the album was recorded using RAK's APIs, I wanted to keep the signal path as analogue as possible.  The SSL in studio 4 and an army of outboard gave us just that. To put the cherry on the cake, we mixed everything down to 1/2" tape. 

I can't give you all the intel yet, but I can tell you that the personnel list was impressive, including Adam Philips (guitar), Ralph Salmins (drums), Hugh Wilkinson (percussion), Arnulf Lindner (bass), Pete Murray (Piano), Pete Zorn (Flute) and The Reverend Bazil Meade and his wonderful choir.  We're giving our ears a little rest and then I'll start mastering the beast at the Sonic Cuisine.

Cream Studios saw quite a bit of action too. I spent three very percussive days recording the legendary Joji Hirota and his drums, assisted Goetz B for Rocket Men's 5.1 mix and did some more mixes there for an as yet unsigned act.

The Sonic Cuisine welcomed Driftkikker all the way from The Netherlands for his album mastering and more Sound Discs work consisted of the brand new Praying Mantis album and 22 Chillies.

A lot of Studio time didn't give me much Live action, however, on my days off I did FOH for Praying Mantis's album launch at Bush Hall and I have just returned from a journey to Leipzig's WGT with Specimen where I got to use my very first Digico SD8. 

In my capacity as APRS Director I truly enjoyed being at the AES in Munchen this year.
It was fantastic to hook up again with Zen (Resolution), Colin Broad (CB Electronics), Justin Haslam-Lucas (MWA), Wes Dooley (AEA), Ian Jones (HHB), Lou Manno (The Audio History Library), Mandy Parnell (Black Saloon Mastering), Paul Mac (Audio Media), Jon Reichbach and Markus Hintz (Sonic Studio), Mark, Chris and Devin (Euphonix), Gary Gottlieb (Webster Uni), Duncan Williams (ZC), Phil and Ralph (Focusrite), EveAnna and Chris (Manley Labs), Andrew (Sound Tools), Thierry, Corneel and Heather (AES), David Miles Huber (51bpm), John Krivit, Don Puluse, Wilfried Van Baelen (Galaxy) and all of you who sat at my APRS bar for a coffee or cool Belgian beer. See you all in London.

Gear Update:

I'd like to thank EveAnna Manley and Chris Dauray at Manley Labs and Gary Ash at Sable Marketing for lending me the MiniMassive for the duration of my mix session at RAK. Check this EQ out. It rocks, works on anything you throw at it and I now own one!

In addition to the MiniMassive, the GHQ Sonic Cuisine is now fully Melodyned up  and our UAD card is pretty much stocked to the hilt.

Keep it real (reel!) and I'll keep you posted as we go along.

Wes

Photo at RAK Studios by Stefan Lubo