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Producer/engineer Tony Maserati in his studio where he’s now utilizing two Flock Audio PATCH systems.

Grammy Winner Tony Maserati Implements Flock Audio Into His Studio Workflow

Noted producer/engineer has implemented two PATCH digitally controlled analog patchbays that are used daily in mix sessions.

Grammy Award winning producer/engineer Tony Maserati (Gwen Stefani, Andra Day, Selena Gomez, Danna Paola) and his team have implemented two Flock Audio PATCH digitally controlled analog patchbay systems that are used daily in mix sessions.

Maserati, who bounces between as many as five in progress or song starts per day, notes that PATCH is helpful in instantly recalling the specific signal chains used on each song. “When I open my session in Pro Tools, as long as I’ve loaded it into my PATCH APP, my recall will be seamless. I never have to touch a patchbay or rewire,” he says. “I never have to worry. The setup in PATCH APP has the same song-file name as the Pro Tools ptx file. It all immediately comes up, and all I have to set is the outboard gear. I don’t compromise sonic quality nor do I spend more than a few mins resetting any song recall within my hybrid mix system.”

PATCH has also allowed Maserati to increase the amount of hardware he’s able to use, while working within the limitations of his 32-channel audio interface. “And the big benefit is I’ve added more cool analog gear to my set up, because Flock Audio PATCH means there’s no permanent chain. I can create new chains with different gear, for every song! My 32 hardware inserts, gets multiplied by the number of ‘points’ I have on my Flock PATCH network. The more PATCH ‘bays’ I have the more gear I can incorporate. Genius!”

It has also fostered improvements to his equipment infrastructure: “It is a game changer/ For one thing, it has allowed me to get rid of two 96-point patchbays, while enabling me to add equipment without acquiring more traditional patchbays.”

Since his current DAW limits his interface expansion beyond 32 channels and he didn’t want to have to purchase another interface, the addition of PATCH has ushered in a additional routing possibilities. “I only had those 32 hardware inserts, but PATCH allows me to access more gear and I can route everything within the PATCH APP. So now I can use a piece of gear that maybe I haven’t used in several years, just because I just didn’t have a way to patch it,” Maserati says.

Maserati’s high-quality equipment infrastructure is extremely high quality, with PATCH system’s fitting in well: “We integrated Neve EQs from a Neve rack, Chandler hardware including a Zener limiter and Curve Bender, Pendulum compressors and limiters, D.W. Fearn stuff and plenty of other gear. This is all extremely high-quality gear going through the PATCH and it all sounds perfect.”

Finally, while traditional patchbays require an ongoing routine of removing dust and cleaning patch points, all the routing on PATCH occurs internally and is software controlled. “In the past, you would have to clean the patch points and give the patchbay sonic bath every couple of years. We don’t have to do any of that anymore, and this kind of maintenance is no longer required,” he concludes.

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