2200 Studios Opens in Bay Area, Featuring Solid State Logic ORIGIN Analogue Mixing Console in Studio A

The studio purchased the new ORIGIN as a turnkey package, including wiring looms and patchbays, from Sweetwater and sales tech Michael Grebe. “He flew out and worked with our tech to do the install,” Lewis says. “The process was seamless, and we had it up and running in about two days.”

Change is a constant at the complex, especially for Studio A, continues the Grammy Award-winning mix engineer and producer, whose credits include Justin Timberlake, Lizzo, Rhianna, Beyoncé and others. “About every 10 years this room got remodeled,” Lewis reports. The facility was built in Marin County, just north across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, as the last of Record Plant’s three locations, after New York City and Los Angeles. The iconic redwood-clad building where Stevie Wonder, Fleetwood Mac and Sly Stone recorded a number of classic albums came under new ownership about four years ago. Under Lewis’ guidance, the facility is now being restored to full operation with all-new technology and renovated interiors.

Lewis has a 500 Series rack currently installed in ORIGIN’s centre section, but ‘drops in’ a UF8 controller if additional faders are needed for automation duties. “I love the modularity, and I love that someone was smart enough to move the EQ section down so you can reach it without having to stand up and reach over the aux sends. And the routing matrix being located in the centre section is also fantastic,” he says of the bus assignment controls located in the master tile of the console.

Lewis fully involves ORIGIN in every project. “Even in cases where I use external processing, I still bring everything back at line level on a fader before Pro Tools. I really love how the console’s default state is small fader to tape. The workflow makes a lot of sense; the way you can punch the filters and EQ in and out, the dual input paths per channel, and the path flip. Everything hits the small fader, then I like to use the EQs on the console — that's my workflow. No matter what the signal path is, it always ends up coming through the SSL before it goes to tape or Pro Tools.”

The ORIGIN is a perfect fit for the modern pop world’s workflow, Lewis continues. “When I'm working with a lot of pop producers, they're bringing in a workstation, keyboard synths and interfaces, and I’ll have those running through the console and feeding Pro Tools. If I'm working with a guy like Danja, who produces all the Justin Timberlake stuff, he'll be building a beat in Ableton and sending me stems that I’ll put into Pro Tools. He'll also start playing stuff live, so I’ll have his interface running through a set of faders that are bussed to Pro Tools inputs. I'm simultaneously monitoring live inputs and feeding inputs into Pro Tools and recording. I keep channels 1 and 2 in the 0 dB fader bypass mode, pan the channels left and right and I have a perfect Pro Tools monitor path, right off the console. That workflow, for me, is crucial.”