Recording and Production in the News

Producer/Remixer Glen Nicholls Buys Two Prism Sound Titans

The units are providing all the inputs Nicholls needs to connect to a range of tape machines and outboard FX.

Cambridge, UK. August 30th, 2016: Producer/re-mixer Glen Nicholls has invested in two Prism Sound Titan audio interfaces, which he is using with a range of old school FX to create music for various film and TV projects and to record his latest album ‘9'.

Nicholls is also in great demand as a remixer and has worked with numerous artists including Snow Patrol, Everything Everything, The Prodigy, Bomb The Bass, Erasure, Yazoo, UNKLE, Mylo, Lamb, Robin S, Moloko and many, many more. He uses various different aliases, depending on the style of music, but the most established of these is Future Funk Squad, which has developed from an underground club act into a crossover, full vocal sound that is renowned for its edgy and tough production.

Glen Nicholls

Nicholl's decision to upgrade to Titan reflects his new approach to recording. He previously had a Prism Sound Orpheus Firewire audio interface but decided to make the switch because he wanted USB connectivity and more inputs.

"Over the years, my Funk Vault studio has gone through quite a few re-incarnations," he says. "It was originally housed in a freight shipping container, then an old warehouse in North London and now it is based at my home in Bournemouth. When I left London I went completely ‘in the box' and parted with my Orpheus in favour of a Prism Sound Lyra interface because it allowed me to be more mobile. However, I've recently done a complete 180 degree turn and gone back to using heaps more outboard, tape machines and synths. As a result, I needed more analogue inputs so I now use the Lyra for mobile purposes and have a Titan in my studio. This is hooked up to a Tascam BR20 and Studer A807 tape machines, as well as a Prophet 5 synth, a Moog Mother 32 Semi Modular Synth, a Korg Ms20 and a Roland SH 101."

Nicholls' second Titan is currently in a friend's studio where it is working in conjunction with a 48-channel desk and ‘a ridiculous amount of outboard'.

Aimed at professional musicians, songwriters, engineers and producers as well as recording studios, post production facilities and scoring stages, Prism Sound's Titan is a multi-channel audio interface that offers eight analogue inputs, eight analogue outputs plus S/PDIF and TOSLINK optical analogue and digital I/O (for Mac or Windows PC) via a simple USB interface. The optical ports can also be used for ADAT, giving Titan a maximum capability of 18 concurrent input and output channels plus dual stereo headphones. The unit also features an MDIO interface expansion slot that can be used to expand its connectivity, for example by adding a direct connection to Pro Tools|HDX systems.

"Prism Sound converters are in virtually every recording and mastering studio I've work in and I was always impressed by the sound quality they delivered," Nicholls says. "Buying an Orpheus allowed me to add that kind of quality to my own studio and for a while it was ideal for my requirements. However, my needs are different now and having USB connectivity is very important to the way I work. Titan gives me this and having two units linked together provides all the inputs I need. It goes without saying that I love the incredible sonic ability of these units – of course they sound great: they are made by Prism Sound!"

Although Nicholls is still tackling a lot of remix projects, film scoring and creating music for TV commercials has become a much bigger part of his workload. He has now scored three independent films and is currently working on a Trailer album, Unsafe from Harm, which will be released later this year through Position Music in Los Angeles.

"I am very busy, which is always a good thing, and I can see the Titans getting a lot of use well into the future," he says.