Buckinghamshire New University’s brand new, state of the art, audio recording complex, is situated at the University’s High Wycombe campus, less than an hour’s drive from central London. Comprised of two large studios, four smaller edit rooms and a suite of 22 individual workstations, the studios are connected to two fully equipped film studios which include full lighting galleries. All the rooms were designed, built and acoustically treated by The Studio People to offer an excellent environment for tracking, mixing and post-production.
Media Centre Manager Peter Hadfield told us, ‘During term time the studios are in use on weekdays by students studying one of a number of Undergraduate degree courses in Audio or Film Production. At weekends and during holiday periods the studios are available for hire to the public. To date we’ve had a diverse list of clients using our facilities, from young theatre groups, to choirs, to metal bands. They’ve also been used for Movie ADR and voiceovers. Whatever the demand we can cope with it!’
Studio One centres around a Pro Tools HD3 Accel system with 24 fader Digidesign D-Command ES control surface. There are three Focusrite ISA828 preamps, outboard valve EQ and compression from Drawmer and TL Audio together with a Genelec DSP 5.1 surround monitoring system calibrated by Genelec product specialist Steve Fisher at Source Distribution. Studio One has a large attached live room (48sq m) with controlled ambience and a vocal booth.
Studio Two’s large control room contains a Pro Tools HD2 Accel system and C|24 control surface with additional Focusrite Octopre mic preamps available. Main monitoring is via a Genelec 5.1 surround system. The attached live room (48sq m) is large enough to accommodate up to ten musicians and there is also a good size vocal booth.
Studio Three has a smaller control room suited to editing and overdub sessions and uses a Pro Tools HD2 Accel system with a Digidesign Control|24. Monitoring is via a 5.1 system of KRK VXT6 satellites and a Tannoy sub. The wood-floored live room accommodates up to three musicians. Edit Rooms 4 and 5 are best suited to editing/overdub sessions of 2-3 people. They feature 3gHz iMacs running Pro Tools 9, Digi002 control surface/interfaces; KRK Rokit5’s and shared use of a vocal booth. Edit Room 6 (Focusrite Room) has been kitted out by Focusrite, who have a long history of supporting the courses at Bucks New University. It features a Pro Tools HD2 Accel system, Digidesign Control|24, Liquid Channel mic preamp, Saffire Pro40 audio interface and an Octopre Dynamic MkII preamp. Monitoring in this medium size control room is via KRK VXT6s. The room is best used for overdubs and mixing.
For more information check out Bucks New University’s Media Services PDF here. Or contact Peter Hadfield here. (August 2011)
