The purchase comes as a result of a demo by Keith Malin of KMR Audio, requested by Air's technical manager Tim Vine-Lott. "I was looking for a desk with up to 16 channels, easy headphone monitor mixing, effects sends, stereo mix bus, which would work for Post and Music, and wouldn't cost more than £2.5k," he explains.
It took about an hour of research on the Internet to find the Midas Venice. "Although I know Midas and its reputation through live work, my main concern was the mic pre's, as we needed pre's that would work for ADR and band overdubs. We were very pleasantly surprised; nice and clean, sonically pleasing and no obtrusive colouration; they passed with flying colours. The FX, aux and Mon sends provide flexible but intuitive headphone and effects feeds. And the build quality is excellent; no flimsy, flexible metalwork here!"
Down at Strongroom Studios in Shoreditch, London, they're reworking two of their studios to reflect the increase in TV post-production work since the launch of Breathe. The Venice 160 console is expected to live in Strongroom 4, and be used for ADR as well as band overdubs.
"I couldn't believe the price!" says Tim. "For a list price well below £2,500, it really is excellent. Both our music and our post engineers love it."
(Lee Baldock)
