PS ARC STUDIO GEAR LIST
CONSOLE
Rupert Neve Designs 5088 Shelford
(36 channels, 8 auxes, 8 groups)
16 x Rupert Neve Designs Shelford
5052 Mic Pre/Inductor EQ
CONVERTERS
SSL MADI Alpha-Link AX 48-channel
SSL MADIXtreme 128 PCIe
COMPUTER
Apple Mac Pro 3.33 12-Core, 48 GB
RAM
Steinberg Nuendo 6.5, 7 & 8.2.10
Avid Pro Tools 9
PLUGINS
UAD Neve Bundle
UAD SSL Bundle
UAD API Vision Channel Strip
UAD Fairchild Bundle
UAD Ampex Tape
UAD Studer A800
UAD-2 Quad Audio PCI Card
UAD-2 Satellite-Quad
Soundtoys Full Bundle V5
Sonnox Oxford Bundle
MONITORS
KRK VXT8s
Yamaha NS10 Studios w/ Bryston
4B ST Amplifier
CUE SYSTEM/HEADPHONES
Digital Audio Labs Livemix Personal
Mixing System
1x Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro
1x Beyerdynamic DT 770 M
2x Sennheiser HD 280 Pro
OUTBOARD GEAR
4x API 512c Preamp
2x API 550b EQ
1x Alan Smart C2 SSL Stereo Buss
Compressor
1x Retro 176 Limiting Amplifier
“I was just going through what we
could afford and would fit with the work-
flow, the channel counts, and all that stuff,”
Butty says about what informed that deci-
sion. “I was looking at API and an AMS Neve,
and then I came across Rupert Neve’s site.
I didn’t realize he was making large-format
consoles and I looked at his website and
went, ‘Oh no.’”
“We fondly refer to it as the Porsche
board. She’s a beauty,” Leslie puts in.
Butty elaborates: “It has a very well-
thought-out and, for all intents and pur-
poses, simple centre section. I decided to
go with the Shelford 5052s, so there are 16
of those and then room for expansion. Cur-
rently, I have the SSL Alpha-Link, which is
my converter. They’re from my old system
from Silo Recording. It’s 24 channels right
now, but we’re in the process of expanding
that and will be testing out new converters
in the near future.”
For monitors, Butty has a pair of KRK
VXT8s, long a favourite near field choice for
him, as well as the obligatory Yamaha NS10s
powered by a Bryston 4B ST amplifier.
Butty uses Steinberg’s Nuendo as his
primary DAW – something he got into in
the late-‘90s while working in television
for a time.
For now, ARC is also running an older
version of Pro Tools, but will be upgrading
to a current Pro Tools system in early 2019.
“I’m going to do that hand-in-hand with
the new converters,” Butty explains. “I want
other engineers and producers to come
and work at ARC and in order to accom-
modate them, we’re going to get a new Pro
Tools rig in here.”
There are also plans to build a dedicat-
ed reverb chamber in spring 2019, effec-
tively adding onto the building where the
current load-in doors to the live room are to
2x Empirical Labs EL8 Distressors
w/ Brit mod
1x Grove Hill Audio Liverpool Tube
Compressor
1x DBX 160A
1x UAD 6176 Tube Mic Pre/FET
Compressor
1x Drawmer 1960 Mic Pre/Tube
Compressor
1x Focusrite ISA Session Pack
1x Lexicon PCM 91 Digital Reverb
1x Roland SRV-330 Digital Reverb
1x Ibanez SDR 1000 Digital Reverb
1x Yamaha D5000 Digital Delay
1x SPX 90 Multi FX
1x SPL Vitalizer MK2-T
1x Radial JD7 Injector
1x SansAmp Tech 21 RBI
1x Radial JDI JT-DBE Direct Box
provide additional functionality, as well as
put a bit more physical space between the
live room and entrance.
As of the beginning of 2019, ARC had re-
cently finished their third major recording
project and Butty and Leslie are currently
in talks with the former’s longtime collab-
orator, musician, producer, and engineer
Marco Bressette, about formalizing his role
at the studio going forward. “We’re working
towards Marco technically being the assis-
tant engineer, so if there’s a project coming
in and Julius isn’t going to be in on it or isn’t
here, Marco could carry through with it,”
Leslie explains.
Anyone working at ARC will have a
large complement of outboard gear to use
and Butty is currently considering adding
even more.
“Perhaps,” he says, laughing. “We have
all the staples for different flavours like
the API 512c preamps and 550b EQs. The
Drawmer [1960 mic pre/tube compressor],
you don’t see them every day. I’ve had that
thing forever and really like it. It’s on the
clean side and it’s a gentle compressor. I’m
also trying out a pair of vintage German
Siemans 276s – sort of a Neve style pre-
amp. I’ve tried them on guitars and they’re
deadly good. I’d also like to add a stereo
room compressor, but I haven’t quite nailed
down exactly what yet. There’s way too
much, man, but it does make a difference.”
That said, he adds: “The way plug-ins
are going these days, it’s just incredible. For
workflow and recall they make things a lot
quicker and easier, but my outboard gear is
more focused on the recording end as
opposed to mixing.”
Given they’ve only been open since
August 2018, ARC will undoubtedly evolve
as Butty becomes more intimately familiar
MICROPHONES
2x Neumann U87i
1x Neumann U89i P48
2x AKG 414 ULS
2x Audio-Technica AT4033
1x AKG 451B
2x Shure SM81
1x Shure KSM137
1x Audio-Technica ATM 31
1x AEA R88
2x Beyerdynamic M160
3x Sennheiser MD421
3x Audio-Technica ATM25
1x Audix D6
1x Beyerdynamic M88
1x AKG D112
1x Solomon Subkick LoFReQ
4x Shure SM57
1x Shure Prologue 10L
1x Sennheiser e609
1x Shure Beta SM58
1x Universal KD308
6x Various Boundary Mics
with the space, and as other producers,
engineers, and artists come in to do the
same.
Though Butty envisions working out of
the studio regularly, ARC will be throwing
its doors open for virtually any application,
from listening parties to private events to
recording projects of varying lengths of
time and degrees of complexity. “The thing
is to find a balance between the projects
Julius wants to work on and the projects,
or events, that other people want to bring
in,” Leslie says.
Down the line, ARC will also be provid-
ing full accommodation to incoming clients
in a three-bedroom farmhouse that was
previously Butty and Leslie’s home. “It’s
just a few minutes’ drive from the studio
and should be ready for use in February or
March 2019,” Leslie says. “We had tenants
in there for the last five years, but they
moved out just before we finished the
studio, so I’ve been working on renovating
that to fold it into the studio as accom-
modation, which is going to be really great
whether you’re coming from far away or if
you live close.”
There’s an undeniable allure to re-
cording spaces that are removed enough
from the hustle and hurry of urban living
to allow artists the ability to focus entirely
on the job at hand. Granted, for some, easy
access to distractions from the recording
process is more desirable. ARC Recording
Studio is unique in that it offers up a rare
combination of those options for clients.
Ultimately, that will provide artists with an
opportunity to fully inhabit and focus on
the recording process in a way that has
become increasingly rare in recent years.
Kevin Young is a Toronto-based musician
and freelance writer.
PROFESSIONAL SOUND • 29