Recording and Production in the News

Prism Sound's ADA-8XR converters help solve Mitch Easter's digital dilemma

North Carolina, USA - September 2006: "Life is too short for boring sound." That's the philosophy of producer Mitch Easter' and the main reason why he has chosen to install three Prism Sound ADA-8XR multichannel converters at his Fidelitorium Recordings studio in North Carolina, USA.

"Boring sound was the problem I wanted to solve," Mitch Easter explains. "All digital audio is certainly not equal and my previous experiences with DAW systems had made me yearn for the sonic "life" that is so easily achieved when recording on analog tape."

After hearing Prism Sound's ADA-8 converters at various mastering studios and in some 'shootouts', Easter was impressed with the sound quality and recognised that they might be the solution to his problem.

"Being one of the last people on earth to install Pro Tools, I was extremely pleased to discover that the ADA-8XR was available," he says. "I knew the sound would be superior and I could move into this type of recording without sonic compromise. By using our Pro Tools system with the Prism Sound converters, we have finally been able to achieve analog warmth and quality, plus total clarity."

Prism Sound's ADA-8XR units, which were awarded the coveted PAR Excellence Award 2005 by Pro Audio Review and nominated for the 2006 TEC Awards, are precision eight-channel converters that build on the success of the ADA-8 by operating at sampling rates up to 192kHz and providing even greater analog performance.

Easter adds that he is 100% satisfied with the sound quality and performance of his ADA-8XR units and particularly likes their modular design and XLR connectors.

"I usually use high sampling rates, but projects come in for mixing recorded at 44.1 - even 16 bits on one occasion - and the sound is notably good. These devices really extract all the fidelity that can be found and this is something other engineer's notice, too. Their versatility is also amazing - It's great to know that if we ever start doing DSD classical location records, for example, then the ADA-8XRs can be configured to do that. At the moment I am just happy to know that whatever glory we may achieve in our sessions will be faithfully captured."

Established in its present location in 1999, The Fidelitorium has a main recording studio and six additional recording spaces, all linked to the control room, which is based on RFZ principles and is equipped with a Neve VR60 analog console, Studer tape machines and Pro Tools HD.

"We attract a lot of booking from rock bands, although our sonic range runs from carefully-constructed proper studio recordings to the humblest home tracks that come in for mixing," Easter says. "One notable project recorded here last summer was the latest Drive By Truckers disk, A Blessing and a Curse. It's fun to see what can be achieved from various starting points. Being able to deal with every sort of standard (or lack of!) is essential for studios these days."