Gareth Jones is well known for producing albums with ground-breaking artists, such as Depeche Mode, Wire, and Erasure, and he continues to work with their next generation heirs, such as Interpol, Grizzly Bear, and Mogwai.
From the start, Jones has been a technological pioneer, blazing trails down which the masses later followed. Recently Jones outfitted his studio – which is by necessity mobile – with a pair of Metric Halo FireWire interfaces. The interfaces provide him with sixteen studio-grade mic preamps, sixteen channels of AD and DA, powerful DSP processing, 80-bit master summing, and – taken together – the flexibility to do what needs to be done, whatever the circumstance.
Jones started out with just one Metric Halo ULN-8 interface, the manufacturer’s fully-featured flagship product, and quickly added a second LIO-8 with eight optional mic preamps.
“With eight preamps, my LIO-8 is no different than a ULN-8, and a bit cheaper,” he laughed. “I quickly discovered that the Metric Halo technology fits beautifully with my workflow. It sounds fantastic.”
“The DSP capabilities and MIO Console’s routing are useful in a hundred different ways – and it travels very conveniently.”
These days, for budgetary reasons and, perhaps more importantly, to get a vibe that produces an organic, musical album, Jones often creates “pop-up” studios in his clients’ practice spaces or, more comfortably, in their homes.
“When everyone feels comfortable, the music flows,” he said. And with sixteen channels of pure Metric Halo preamps and conversion, Jones can comfortably track a band anywhere.
