Integrating Old and New at Wisseloord Studios in The Netherlands

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Wisseloord Studios first opened in 1978, but the studio recently finished a major renovation and reopened in a large media complex area outside of Amsterdam as a state-of-the-art recording and mixing facility. The studio renovation began with the return of chief engineer Ronald Prent. Prent began his career at Wisseloord as an assistant but eventually left the studio and became an accomplished recording and mix engineer. When Prent returned to Wisseloord in 2010 and became a partner, he set out on the mission to get funding to transform the studio space.

The renovation at Wisseloord included refurbishing Studios 1 and 2 to bring them back to their original design, but the control rooms for these studios were completely rebuilt. Control rooms for Studios 3 and 4 were also renovated. Studio 3 became two mastering rooms, and Studio 4 was made into a single room with the engineer stationed in the space with artists. JV Acoustics (Jochen Veith) was responsible for the acoustic design of all control rooms and mastering rooms and provided advice on all other acoustic challenges in the space. Speakers and amplifiers for both mastering rooms were supplied by Eggleston Works & Krell, and all control rooms are set up with PMC monitors.

Long before the renovations at Wisseloord began, Studios 1 and 2 had a total of 10 Aviom A-16II Personal Mixers. Studios 2 and 4, which house analog consoles, are now home to the studio’s original A-16II Personal Mixers, and Studio 1, which features an Avid/Euphonix System 5 digital console, was upgraded to Aviom’s A360 Personal Mixers with the help of Aviom Benelux distributor, Amptec. The studio has additional A-16IIs that can be used when and where they are needed.

Rob Sannen, Operations Manager at Wisseloord Studios, says, “Wisseloord chose to stick with an Aviom system because everybody in the business knows what it is. Most session musicians are familiar with Aviom personal mixers, so if you label them correctly, everyone basically knows how they work. This familiarity makes for speed and efficiency and a better experience for everyone.”

The A360 Personal Mixers in Studio 1 are connected to the Avid/Euphonix System 5 console via a 6416dio Digital I/O Module and an ASI A-Net Systems Interface to convert the AES signal from the console to an Aviom A-Net® signal for the personal mixers. The studio has eight A360s.

Sannen describes the A360 as “solid and reliable,” and notes “the D/A converter provides better audio quality.”

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