LIVE ROOM
1994 to 2001, Iguana went through TASCAM,
MCI, and Neve boards, then a 40-channel
SSL, and finally the pièce de résistance. The
upside is that all the console changes through
the 1990s were a by-product of the studio’s
growth.
In 2001, though, there were no plans to re-
place the 40-channel SSL in the Iguana control
room – that is until Branco made a phone call
as a favour and a tossed-off question led to an
opportunity that was too good to turn down.
Branco’s friend, an audio gear broker, asked
him to call Avatar Studios (as the Power Sta-
tion was called at the time) in New York to ask
about a Sony 3348 digital tape machine.
“I called them up and they had the ma-
chine and, kind of as a joke or out of boredom,
I said, ‘What else do you have for sale?’ and
they told me they had an SSL. I said, ‘Well, I’ve
already got one of those,’ and then I said, ‘How
big is the one you got?’ He said 80 channels –
well, it’s actually 160 because it’s in-line but it’s
22 ft. long. I was like, ‘OK… what do you want
for it?’ He said X and then I just walked into this
massive trap,” Branco laughs.
He didn’t even take time to think about it.
Branco just said, “I’ll see you tomorrow,” and he
and a friend, Sean Munavish, got on a plane
to New York City the next day. When they got
to the studio, this ultra-rare console was just
sitting on its side in the basement collecting
dust. “It was kind of tragic to look at it. Because
it’s so massive, I bought it as is. I didn’t know
if it would work when I plugged it in!” To ship
the console back to the Toronto area would’ve
cost another $15,000, so instead, Branco and
Munavish rented a five-ton truck, loaded it
on, and brought it back themselves. “Getting
it across the border was a bit of an adventure,
but I managed to swing it and I’ll just leave it at
that,” Branco laughs mischievously.
To come up with the money to buy the
console, Branco says he had to get creative.
Trying to figure out how to make it work,
he called Paul Gross, founder of Phase One
Studios. “Paul was a bit of a mentor and has
always helped me and been non-competitive
any time I’ve asked for some advice over the
years... He said that when they got their first
SSL, they basically pre-sold time with some
major companies to raise the funds and that is
kind of where I got the truck-load of money. I
used that model and went through a long list
of clients and said, basically, ‘Do you want to
buy some time at a reduced rate to help me
raise some cash for this console?’ That’s how it
got here, really.”
It’s an incredible console, complement-
ed with SSL E and G Series EQs and Class A
preamps on every channel. But that said, by
the 2010s, modifications were needed for it
to make sense for the studio, both financially
and technologically. Being custom-built in
the 1980s, Branco says it was archaic in how
much power it drew, often causing power
amp issues. And so, a few years ago, Branco
contacted Norm Druce of Detroit-based Atomic
Instrument Co., who has built custom power
supplies for classic large-format SSL, Neve, and
Amek consoles at many of the top studios in
North America.
“I saw [Druce] post his stuff on Facebook
and he replaced three power supplies with
one and my hydro bill has been cut by more
than half because of that. You know, he’ll say
it will pay for itself in a couple of years and,
well, for me, it almost paid for itself in one year,”
Branco says with some amazement.
The Atomic Instrument power supply also
protects the valuable desk from potential dam-
age caused by surges or brownouts. Branco
says that, prior to the new power supply, when
the power dropped out or there was a surge,
“and we were here, we’d run like super heroes
to the power amps and try to turn them off
and if we didn’t get there in time, there was
smoke everywhere. That happened a number
of times, so this was a massive ‘I could sleep at
night’ improvement,” Branco says with relief,
adding: “I have to mention that the Atomic
Over the Years
Some high-profile artists who’ve
recorded at Iguana Studios:
Alessia Cara
Alexisonfire
Arkells
Big Wreck
Billy Talent
Choclair
DMX
Dream Theater
Fabolous
Gene Simmons/
KISS
Hawksley
Workman
I Mother Earth
James LaBrie
Jully Black
K’naan
Kardinal Offishall
Nelly Furtado
Protest the Hero
Red1/ Rascalz
Saukrates
Sum 41
The Tea Party
Three Days Grace
Tyga
power supply is super-efficient and the sonics
and headroom now on the console are incred-
ible and clean!”
The other major addition to the console
that both Branco and Lobodycz can’t say
enough good things about is the Tangerine
Automation Interface from Montreal-based
THD Labs. Built specifically for SSL analog
consoles, Branco explains that the automation
interface “basically replaced this massive and
archaic 35-year-old computer that looked like
a small beer fridge with this computer chip in
a double-spaced rack. It works in collaboration
with Pro Tools, so every move that happens
on the console happens simultaneously in Pro
Tools.” It’s allowed Iguana to blend the best of
the analog and digital recording and mixing
environments in a workflow that is conducive
to today’s artists, producers, and engineers.
“That’s been a dream,” Branco says.
“Now we can take what the old desk was
able to do to a next level with Pro Tools,” adds
Lobodycz. “We got the box and I pioneered
its usage and the workflow behind it, because
it came with a very basic manual. It’s a very
proprietary system for people who already had
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