Professional Sound - June 2019 | Page 35

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 PROFESSIONAL SOUND 35