The Adam Carolla Show, described by PodcastOne as “the #1 Daily Downloaded Podcast in the World,” has upgraded its studio with an Allen & Heath SQ-6 digital mixer.
The show’s popularity and its ten years of audience loyalty owe much to Carolla’s background as a broadcast radio host and to executive producer Chris Laxamana who oversees every aspect of each podcast from creation to distribution.
Laxamana explained the studio’s audio requirements, “We try to keep the shows true to Adam’s radio roots, so we record everything straight to tape and we release the show in mono 64kbps, which is just crazy. But we want it to be a fast download and easy to stream for people using their cellular data. And we want to make sure that every word is clearly understood, and it sounds good even on a phone anywhere you go.”
When Laxamana began his research to replace the studio’s analog mixer, he wanted this kind of clear voice quality. And, he wanted a digital mixer that was easy to use for the studio’s frequent guest engineers who mix podcasts for Dr. Drew, Jo Koy and others.
“With the SQ-6, we could record scenes for our guest engineers and call them up with the push of a button,” he says. “And, with all its compressors, gates and EQ, the SQ-6 was a no-brainer.”
The Adam Carolla Show purchased its SQ-6 from FP Logistics in Anaheim, California. Laxamana continues, “We do a lot of music cues. And, with the SQ-6, we can group all the mics in a mix, all the sound effects in a mix and give everyone their own headphone feed. Then, each engineer pulls up their own scene with a soft key. And, the board is so intuitive that we don’t need to oversee them through their show to make sure they’re doing it right. It’s really easy to run.”
Laxamana comments, “We are in the business of being heard and the SQ-6’s sound is phenomenal. That helps make us the best sounding podcast in the business. And the SQ-6 is intuitive and easy to use. This is exactly what we needed.”
