Recording and Production in the News

Kore Studios invests in an Orpheus

Cambridge, UK: Kore Studios, the West London recording facility that won the coveted title of Best Studio at the 2010 Music Producers Guild Awards, has upgraded its equipment to include a Prism Sound Orpheus FireWire computer interface

George Apsion at Kore Studios with Orpheus

Opened in 2003, Kore was built to the highest specifications by studio and acoustic design company White Mark Ltd. It is laid out over two floors, with a spacious studio equipped with a 48 Channel Audient ASP-8024 and Pro Tools on the ground floor and a large client lounge on the second floor. The studio is ideal for band recording, offering benefits such as individual headphone mixers and a superb range of microphones/outboard.

Studio owner George Apsion says the Prism Sound unit was bought to fulfil two roles - as a mobile interface to be used with Pro Tools 9 on a laptop and as a two track machine for printing high resolution stems and mixes for mastering.

"We choose the Orpheus first and foremost for its sound quality," Apsion says. "When we were initially loaned a unit we put it through a rigorous set of everyday situations. Time after time we were floored by the detail, depth and truthfulness of the sounds we were recording and playing back. We were so impressed by its DA section that it has also now replaced our previous converter for CD / iTunes playbacks."

Apsion adds that there are many features he likes about the Orpheus, not least its simple and intuitive user interface, which makes zero latency tracking and the setting up off headphones very quick and straight forward. He also likes Orpheus' ability to operate in 'ADAT direct' mode, which enables Kore engineers to easily integrate it with the studio's Pro Tools HD system as an extra set of converters, thus providing 8 channels of Prism Sound AD/DA that is easily accessible from within the HD environment.

"The real star is Orpheus' conversion capabilities," Apsion adds. "The first time we played a CD back through the Orpheus I couldn't believe the difference compared to the converters we had been using. Whereas our old units seemed to present sound like a picture hanging on a wall, Orpheus reached out from the speakers to the back of the room and filled the space with all the gorgeous detail and air that had been hidden away on this record."

Since installing Orpheus, Kore has been able to use the unit as a portable interface in conjunction with a laptop based Pro Tools system. Kore operates a writing suite alongside its main room and Apsion says the Orpheus has been 'fantastic' at making the switch from DIGI 002s to a system that is capable of exceptional recordings.

"To date, the Orpheus has been used on a number of writing sessions," he says. "These sessions usually run very quickly, a good microphone, in the right place, with no time for fiddling with EQ's and compressors until after it is all down. In all cases we were amazed by how quickly the sounds seemed to gel together with no additional processing, no need to mix at all really.

"We have also used the Orpheus for printing back 96kHz mixes from the console to the Pro Tools laptop system. The level of detail when mixing is incredible, which in turns help to flag up issues that our old 2-track converters would have allowed to slip by. I have also the used the Orpheus remotely for a choral recording and couldn't have been happier with its performance and the results."

With a client list that includes Florence And the Machine, the Guillemots, Razorlight, Magic Numbers, Manic Street Preachers and Plan B, Kore has quickly established itself as a top class studio that prides itself on the quality of all of its equipment.

"Orpheus is a beautifully thought through box, simplicity to use and with the best conversion I have heard at the top end of the marketplace," Apsion adds. "It is now as important a part of what we do as the console and the speakers."