Recording and Production in the News

Coldplay's Guy Berryman discusses his decision to buy Prism Sound converters

Cambridge, UK: "Choosing converters is a nightmare," says Coldplay's bassist Guy Berryman. "It takes quite a lot of time and effort to set up and compare the different units available on the market and even then, everyone has a different opinion."

Coldplay

Given his busy lifestyle and the fact that time is precious, Guy decided to make the choice of converters for his new studio a little less arduous by doing his research first online.

"Converters are generally very expensive so it's important to feel you have made the right decision," he explains. "I cheated a little bit by finding out which converters were being used in several studios such as AIR and British Grove that I have worked in and have respect for, and by cross referencing on the internet for information. The answer was clear because everyone I was interested in listening to was saying one thing: Prism Sound. So I ordered some units to test and have not looked back or questioned my decision - they sound great."

Guy has now installed six Prism Sound ADA-8XR multichannel AD/DA converters into a custom mastering-style console housed in the new studio he is building in his London home. Audio consultant Ian Silvester has been assisting with the project and advising on the equipment choices. Alongside the converters, which Ian was also happy to recommend, Guy has invested in a Pro Tools system and various analogue mix bus outboard units.

"Essentially, I have built the studio around the Prism Sound converters," he says. "Their specific features are of no interest to me. I want to plug them in, set them up and forget they exist. With this aim achieved, Guy now has 64 channels of Prism Sound output and says that soon he will be ready to use the converters in anger.

"I'm working in the box and bringing the Prism Sound outputs into a 64 input Chandler summing mixer arrangement," he explains. "I'm very much looking forward to summing in this way and I forget the Prism Sound units are there doing their thing. I don't have the most technical of ears, I suppose, but everything sounds great. It's simple. They just work!"