Recording and Production in the News

Prism Sound helps Joshua Blair edit The Military Wives Choir

Cambridge, UK: Following on from the enormous success of their Christmas No. 1 single Wherever You Are, the Military Wives Choir is set to release its first album in March 5th, 2012.

The Military Wives Choir

The Military Wives Choir was put together by choirmaster Gareth Malone for the BBC TV show The Choir. Their first single was the fastest-selling UK charity single of the 21st Century and also the fastest-selling single since Sir Elton John's 1997 hit, Candle In The Wind. It has now raised over £500,000 for armed forces charities The Royal British Legion and SSAFA Forces Help. Recorded over 15 days at various locations around the UK, the new album, entitled In My Dreams, utilized Prism Sound's Orpheus FireWire interface that was deployed for this project by producer/engineer Joshua Blair.

"The Orpheus is an integral part of my set up and I use it all the time," Blair says. "For this project I wanted the quality of Prism Sound converters so that I could really hear what was happening during the edit. One of the main reasons why I initially chose to invest in an Orpheus was because it allowed me to connect to other studios rigs very quickly and without any problems. It also gives me consistent audio quality at home in my project studio or on the road, which was certainly important on this occasion."

The new Military Wives album features five choirs based in different locations around the UK. Using Technical Earth's SSL-equipped mobile recording truck, producer Jon Cohen, who was in charge of the project, recorded each choir in situ at its home location.

"With so many women involved, it was much easier to take the recording to them rather than expect them to come to a studio," Joshua Blair explains. "It was a fantastic project to work on and we had great fun. We recorded all the soloists through the Orpheus as we wanted the quality of a great studio but on the road."

The album takes its name from a brand new track written for The Military Wives Choir by Royal Wedding composer Paul Mealor, who also composed Wherever You Are. In addition, the album will also feature a choral reworking of Adele's moving ballad, Make You Feel My Love.