Recording and Production in the News

Award Winning Songwriter Iain Archer Invests In Prism Sound’s Audio Quality

The company’s Lyra 2 Audio Interface is delivering production quality audio, both on the road and in the studio.

Cambridge, UK. May 19th 2017: Prism Sound’s high quality audio has struck the right note with Award winning producer, artist and songwriter Iain Archer who recently added the company’s Lyra 2 audio interface to his recording set-up.

Award Winning Songwriter Iain Archer

Archer, who has won two Ivor Novello Awards - for songwriting on Snow Patrol's Final Straw album and James Bay’s Hold Back The River - spends a lot of time travelling around the world and wants the ability to write wherever he is. The Lyra II fits perfectly into his mobile recording set up because it allows him to record superior audio anywhere.

“The Lyra 2 is a massive benefit here because I know I'm getting the highest quality results within a mobile package,” he explains. “When I come back to my studios in London and Brighton to produce the track, I know the audio I have in the tank is production quality. It's not unusual that I'll build tracks and they'll end up being mixed by a world class mix engineer, and ultimately played on the radio, so it's all about knowing that wherever I am, the audio is of a standard that meets these very high demands.”

Originally from Northern Ireland, Iain Archer now lives in Brighton where he has his main production studio, which houses a Pro Tools HDX rig, a selection of ‘great’ preamps, vintage mics and ‘a bunch of inspiring instruments’.

“I also have a studio in the bell tower of an old 18th Century church in London,” he says, “and it’s a beautiful room to sing and write in. I keep a high quality but scaled down setup there, which includes the Lyra. It’s more contained but perfect for my needs when I first write a track, where I'm putting down one instrument and a vocal, then building later.”

Describing his working process, Archer says it begins with a great artist coming into the studio for a couple of days.

“During that time, we write a song and track the basic elements – for example guitar and vocal, maybe some backing vocals. I'll have an idea of where I'll take it later so it's a matter of getting great takes, especially vocal, for use later when I work on the production. The Lyra 2 is perfect for this.”

Archer’s introduction to Prism Sound technology came via other studios where Prism Sound conversion was an integral feature.

“I also have colleagues who swear by their Prism interfaces, and through the Music Producers Guild I had the opportunity to connect with the people at Prism Sound and take it further.”

Prism Sound produces a range of audio interfaces and for Iain Archer they recommended the Lyra range. Based on the company’s award-winning and critically-acclaimed Orpheus interface, Lyra allows music recording professionals to access the power and sophistication of the Orpheus audio path and clock circuitry, but in a smaller package and at a much improved price point.

The Lyra 1 interface has two analogue input channels – one for instrument/line and one for mic/line – plus two DA output channels and optical-only digital I/O. Lyra 2 includes two AD input channels with switchable microphone, instrument or line input modes and four DA output channels. Both versions incorporate new ARM Cortex processor design offering class-compliant USB interfacing that allows for seamless integration with both Macs and PCs. Both versions also offer digital volume control, a low latency ‘console-quality’ digital mixer for foldback monitoring and optical SPDIF capability.

“I really like the Lyra 2, and actually working with the control app on the screen is useful. With an interface like this I'm not in need of something tactile, so it works great. And the conversion quality goes without saying. There's a lot of scope within, so I'm liking the idea that there's more to explore, too.”

Alongside his Ivor Novello Awards, Archer was nominated for a 2016 Grammy for Hold Back The River and nominated for an Ivor Novello for Two Fingers, which he wrote with Jake Bugg. His production credits include Jake’s Bugg’s eponymous album (including the singles Lightning Bolt, Taste It and Trouble Town), Luke Sital-Singh’s debut album The Fire Inside, You Me At Six ‘s new single Take On The World with Jacquire King and Louis Berry’s singles She Wants Me, 25 Reasons and Rebel. He has also recently worked with Sigrid, Frank Turner, Shells, Steve Mason and Fink. In each case his Prism Sound Lyra II interface has come in ‘mighty handy’.