Ontario, Canada-based producer Jenny Brennan, who’s gone blind due to progressive Retinitis Pigmentosa and as a result has spent the last 20 years transitioning from the visual arts to all audio, recently added an EVO 8 that’s proven to become an important aspect of her workflow.
“Losing sight later in life, I’ve encountered so many situations that make me critical of the state of accessibility in software, on the web, and in society as a whole,” says the prog metal producer, who’s also a vocalist, mix engineer and educational live streamer. “It’s true that I have gone through a number of interfaces since starting working with audio. Yes, they were great pieces of gear and they served me well, technically. But in the end I have felt excluded at every turn.
“Now Audient (and EVO) is doing this so well, it’s made me really excited about the potential for true access to what I want to do with audio.” She now relies on screen reader software, which speaks what’s happening as she works at controlling Windows and Mac entirely with keystrokes, and now EVO 8 plays a role as well.
“As far as audio quality goes, I’m not really someone that compares this preamp to some other preamp and analyses technical specs to death. For my ears it’s a mighty fine sound I’m getting out of it and the options are absolutely sufficient for my needs,” she explains. “My setup at the moment is as simple as I can get it: my studio PC, Nektar MIDI controller and EVO 8 do the heavy lifting in my studio. My elderly iMac is on constant standby since I transitioned to PC about a year ago.” Add to that her current favorite mics, a C1 condenser and a Shure SM7B, joined by a couple of guitars.
“The really simple and really small format of the interface gives me enough free space on my desk to not feel cluttered,” she adds. “The instrument input is fabulous. Since getting the EVO I find that my Ibanez is also constantly plugged in. Smartgain is another win, too. I don’t want to think about all the times I’ve tried to get a reasonable level out of that electric. Play, record a bit, check – ‘Oh no, that’s no good!’ adjust, record, check…”
The Smartgain function allows her to set levels automatically at a couple of button presses, making it easier to get the right setting before starting to record. She says she chose the four-channel interface because, “I needed enough inputs to set up my stream environment. I have outputs from my iMac constantly plugged into channels 3 and 4 as I do some software testing as well as demo-ing Reaper stuff on the Mac.
“Having reliable streaming audio and flexible routing such as Loop-back is super-important for what we do. For me, accessibility and reliability go hand in hand. If I am able to control a piece of gear, it’s up to me to make sure my stream is working properly. I can easily switch streaming sources and just do what the stream needs. This is truly what I love about EVO. I can’t stress this enough: it has taken so much unnecessary worry and extra work out of the equation.”
