When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, Derek W. Pardoe’s personal studio located on the Gulf Coast was one of the casualties. He recently completed reconstruction of the space and took delivery of an Audient ASP4816 compact analogue recording console as the centerpiece of the studio.
“There are no options in this price range that have this much functionality and quality,” Pardoe explains. “It has the functionality of a large format desk with a smaller footprint and I love it.”
Pardoe takes on the role of ‘artist development guy’ while working closely with Kvest Management to help develop artists. He uses his studio space to help musicians write songs, arrange tracks and create demos which are distributed to major labels.
When it comes to sound quality, Pardoe originally had reservations about the small desk.
“I was concerned that I would have to rely heavily on outboard pres to ‘color’ the audio, but this hasn’t been the case at all,” he explains. “The pres on the Audient desk have such fantastic character, I can only describe it as clear and warm, with a really fast response.
Pardoe adds, “The EQs are extremely natural sounding, they don’t sound like they apply to the track, it just simply sounds like the track, they can be very surgical, they can be very subtle. Very flexible units.”
“I feel like I’ve hit the jackpot with the ASP4816—I have yet to feel like something was lacking, and I have a feeling I never will.”
The desk was supplied by US Audient dealer and music technology retailer Sweetwater.
