HARNESSING THE CUTTING EDGE,
CREATIVE EJ GETS SMART.
Jeff
Gastineau, VP of Creative Ej, and their Elite E72
Smart Console running Logic Pro with Pro
Tools.
Since opening their new
facility in North Carolina in April of this year, Creative
Ej has been turning some heads in the American Southeast.
Creative Ej (think ‘Edge’), in North Carolina, was built as
a ‘complete music center’ and is designed to provide it’s
music students with a wide array of educational options
ranging from contemporary music instruction, audio
technology and production skills, right through to
musicianship and music business affairs.
It’s an ambitious project, featuring a modern 10,000 square
foot timber frame building located on a seven acre campus
near Charlotte, NC. The facility includes a 200+ seat
performance theater, a studio, a host of classrooms, lesson
rooms, rehearsal areas, and plans for further expansion
throughout the United States.
The studio is based around an Elite E72 Smart console
fitted with 24 faders which controls either Logic Pro or
Pro Tools, as the need arises. The console is capable of
controlling up to 216 channels – so project size is never
an issue.
But after the students go home, the recording begins, and
the same control room is then used as a professional
production studio specializing in surround, multi-media and
DVD content as well as full scale band recording.
These requirements fitted perfectly with the capabilities
of the Smart Console which controls a number of leading
audio platforms including Apple’s Logic Pro, Steinberg’s
Nuendo, Merging’s Pyramix and also provides HUI controls of
Pro Tools.
Jeff Gastineau, VP of Creative Ej, had the following to
say:
"Our goal at Creative Ej was to create an environment
for beginners and professionals alike to “Experience Music”
in the most ideal settings. While featuring the latest in
high tech equipment geared toward the professional, we
actively encourage beginning and intermediate musicians to
perform and record. Since we guide them through the entire
process, lack of experience is no longer a barrier.
One commercial project we are working on right now is an
album project for the independent band ‘Campbell’. Their
blend of modern indy rock and Celtic influences takes full
advantage of the entire DAW system, with the Smart console
pulling it all together very nicely.
In addition to instruction and outside projects, the studio
is also used to produce new material for use in music
lessons. Our computer network extends to every lesson room
and practice area, allowing us to quickly determine
student’s interests and needs, produce new material, and
feed it back to the instructors and students through the
network.
We use Logic about 80% of the time, Pro Tools 10%, and
Digital Performer about 10% of the time. I have used
another 24 fader DAW controller system for years, and
tended to use the mouse for most fader and automation work.
The Smart Console has allowed me to get back to the faders
and work in a much more fluid way.
We have a Pro Tools HD Accel 3 system with 192 Digital, 96
and 96i interfaces running on an Apple Macintosh Dual G5.
We use Focusrite and Trident console pre-amps to convert to
digital which then hit the Digidesign hardware and are
recorded straight into Logic Pro. All audio tracks are
processed using the Pro Tools HD TDM engine, except for
virtual instruments, which are processed natively in the G5
and fed into Pro Tools using Logic’s Direct TDM engine.
Our workflow in Logic Pro is mostly jumping back and forth
between environment and arrange windows– in the environment
window we’re building the console as we go along, and in
the arrange page we add tracks as we go, all of which is
controlled by the console. We generally start to build the
mix while we’re tracking so that when we’re done we’re
pretty far along in the mixing process already.
The great thing about the Smart Console is that it gives
you that large format console feel while fully integrating
with the DAW software. The interaction of the Smart Console
with all the software plugins really enhances the recording
engineer’s efficiency during the session. And compared with
other controllers, it definitely gives some speed and
feature accessibility that you don’t get from a traditional
DAW controller.
Being able to instantly switch the console between Logic
and Pro Tools is fantastic, and innovations like the Arc,
Active Panel, and Smart Panel functions are allowing us to
do more with our productions without a lengthy learning
curve.
We also find that people respond to the striking look – it
helps with the studio profile and our focus on using the
latest technology throughout the facility. When new clients
visit the studio and see how the Arc, motorized faders, and
scribble strip display turn a 216 channel console into an
efficient package, they instantly understand the power it
provides."
Jeff has also been providing user feedback to Smart AV
regarding the continuing development of the Smart/Logic
solution.
"Despite being half a world away, the email and/or
phone response from Smart AV has been very good, which is
reassuring. In fact, they have been far more responsive
than other major vendors. I’m impressed that they have been
receptive to input on how we work with the console, rather
than expecting us to change to fit the console."
The Smart Console is available with the following Engines:
• Merging’s Pyramix
• Apple’s Logic 7
• Digidesign’s Pro Tools (via HUI)
• Steinberg’s Nuendo
For the main Smart AV website, please refer to:
www.smartav.net
For high resolution images of the Smart Console please
refer to the Press Resources section of the Smart AV
website:
http://www.smartav.net/press_resources.html