Hilversum, The Netherlands - Successful Dutch two-in-one production facility, The Rocketeers - incorporating The Producer's House - has invested in an SSL Duality δelta SuperAnalogue™ console for a new and versatile approach to their ideal sounds.
Experienced radio producers Joost Griffioen and Stas Swaczyna met in in 2007, and by 2008 The Rocketeers music production company was up and running. The company's mission was to supply radio and television with custom-made jingles and leaders and the pair have gone on to work with many stations, including Radio 10, Radio 538, 100%NL, and 3 FM, NPO TV, RTL TV, and TALPA.
In 2014, the pair were joined by Hansen Tomas who has since become the main face of The Producers House. This new development in the business offers song-writing, production, mixing, and mastering services to artists and record companies, and is quickly developing demand in the UK and the US.
Both operations use the same facility in Hilversum, just outside Amsterdam - created from an existing but long-abandoned music facility. It took Griffioen and Swaczyna just three months to get it up and running with two music production rooms plus a main studio, featuring a comfortable control room and a good-sized live space with separate drum room.
Their most recent addition is a 24-channel SSL Duality δelta console (with SSL Alpha-Link conversion and δelta-Link Pro Tools HD interfacing) - bought primarily because the team wanted to bring something special to their sounds, and their clients. "When we started the studio in 2008 we mainly worked in the box and everything was going through plug-ins," explains Swaczyna. "But Joost and I wanted to create a new analogue sound for jingles and leaders... something wider and bigger.
"We started with another desk... But then we checked out a few other studios and sounds, and so on, and we came across the SSL sound. The biggest hits on earth are mixed on an SSL, so our ultimate dream was to mix our own jingles, leaders and songs on one."
Benelux SSL partner Joystick Audio arranged a demo of Duality δelta and The Rocketeers were hooked, not just on the SuperAnalogue sound, but on the dual DAW control and the δelta DAW-based console automation technology: "Of course it sounds fantastic, but it's especially great for the way we integrate DAWs into our workflow..." says Swaczyna. "It's the best of analogue sound and digital control in one board."
The Rocketeers Music Studio console has 24 input channels and a master section, but also incorporates 19-inch racks into additional frame space either side of the main console tiles.
One of Swaczyna's favourite features is the versatile SSL Variable Harmonic Drive (VHD) circuit, available on every channel of a Duality console. The operator can choose the ultra-clean SSL preamp, or can switch in VHD. As input gain is increased, the circuit introduces either 2nd or 3rd harmonic distortion, or a blend of the two, for anything from a little warmth or edge to fierce grunge. Swaczyna: "That sounds great on drums, strings... anything! It sounds really cool."
Recent work from the team on the new Duality can be found on the Sound Cloud pages for The Rocketeers here, and The Producers House here.
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