Recording and Production in the News

Blue Pro Mastering invests in the clarity and transparency of Prism Sound conversion

London, UK: Blue Pro Mastering, a high-end audio mastering facility in North London, has invested in two Prism Sound ADA-8XR multi-channel AD/DA converters, which are now being used across all of their sessions.

Blue Pro Mastering Engineer John Webber in the facility's recently re-vamped studio

The decision to switch to Prism Sound equipment was taken after Blue Pro engineers carried out extensive listening tests and direct comparisons between numerous converters from manufacturers such as Lavry Engineering, Prism Sound, Apogee and Digidesign.

Studio owner Alexander Balfour says: "The audio comparisons were carried out using recalled mastering sessions from our chief mastering engineer, John Webber. Each track was recalled and ran through all converters with identical EQ, compression and limiting settings. The results were very convincing. Prism Sound's ADA-8XR converters gave us the clarity and sonic quality we were looking for and we were really impressed with the results."

Established in 2001, Blue Pro has an impressive client roster that includes many independent labels worldwide as well as major record labels such as Universal/Island and Sony BMG. Its engineers have worked on a variety of projects for artists such as Simon Webbe, Rooster, James Brown, Goldie, Gang Starr, Moby, Girls Aloud, Polar Bear and Mory Kante.

The facility is currently refitting its rooms to create a more acoustically accurate listening environment as well as extensively updating its key hardware. Investing in Prism Sound's ADA-8XR converters is part of that process. Blue Pro initially looked at Prism Sound's AD-2 and DA-2 stereo converters but opted for the 8-channel ADA-8XR because it was equally suitable for their separation mastering, mixing and recording projects. The fact that it is fully compatible with Pro Tools HD was also a crucial factor.

The new units were supplied by Funky Junk London and are now being used in conjunction with Prism Sound's MEA-2 mastering equalizer and MLA-2 mastering compressor, which Blue Pro has owned for some time.

"In our opinion, Prism Sound make the best audio converters on the market," mastering engineer John Webber says. "They are certainly the cleanest and most transparent converters we have heard, allowing you to hear sounds as intended, with no unwanted or false colouration."

Blue Pro's A/B comparisons between Prism Sound's ADA-8XR and Digidesign's 192 converter are now available as a download from its website - www.bluepromastering.com - the actual download is here: http://blueprostudios.com/newsdownloads/digidesignVSprism.zip