DJ and former Happy Mondays guitarist Kav Sandhu has installed a Prism Sound Titan audio interface in his UK project studio to help in recording “release-quality” vocals when he isn’t able to access a commercial recording facility.
Sandhu set up the band Blitz Vega in 2018 with bassist Andy Rourke, formerly with The Smiths, and the band was recording a new album in Los Angeles and New York when the pandemic forced the world to close down. The band scattered to various parts of the world, with Sandhu returning to the UK where he set up a project studio that includes the Titan.
“There is no doubt in my mind that the Titan saved me,” Sandhu says. “Without it, I would never have been able to capture high-quality vocals and guitar at home. Thanks to Titan I was able to continue working and being creative during lockdown, which was really important to me.”
The Titan multi-channel interface offers analog and digital I/O for Mac or Windows PC, stated to deliver sample rates of up to 192 kHz via a USB interface and designed for recording professionals who use external hardware devices. It offers all of features of the Orpheus interface but with USB connectivity and an MDIO interface expansion slot that allows for direct connection to Pro Tools|HDX systems.
Sandhu’s project studio is, he says, “really nice and basic.” He uses Pro Tools and Logic on his iMac and listens to everything through Yamaha and KRK monitors as well as some “old school” big PA loudspeakers. A range of other equipment is also being used, some in Sandhu’s studio and the rest in project facilities owned by Rourke and producer Will Kennedy.
“Nothing can replace the vibe of working with a full band, but the Titan has made recording remotely as good as recording vocals and guitar parts separately in any full working studio,” Sandhu says. “It’s great because you can capture something as soon as you get that creative spark. You don’t have to travel anywhere. It’s changed my life because I can capture everything I need, and sometimes it’s better than recording in a recording studio.”
Working remotely, and with band members in so many different locations, required Blitz Vega to think outside the box. Kennedy ran recording sessions via Zoom and then pulled everything together in his studio in LA.
Sandhu concludes that the Titan interface is very took very little time to set up: “It captures the audio exactly how I want it and it doesn’t mess with the sound. It’s direct, so everything we record sounds the way we want it to sound. From a creative point of view it has made life massively easier. These days, instead of recording demos at home, I can record finished and complete audio as soon as I feel that creative spark and the quality is good enough to use on the final record.”
Blitz Vega’s new album is nearing completion and a release date will be announced soon.
