Audiomovers have announced the release of OMNIBUS 3.0 featuring multiple major new features from the last iteration:

• Networking capabilities: Route multichannel audio between different machines connected to the same network via AVB or NDI
• Four configurable virtual audio devices with up to 256 I/O channels per device
• Application Capture: Separate system and application audio outputs
• Save and export entire OMNIBUS 3.0 sessions as files
• Recall snapshots and change parameters using Elgato Stream Deck or MIDI program change

The audio routing software – which operates like a virtual patchbay between applications and audio devices on a Mac – now features networking functionality, with support for NDI and AVB network protocols.

This new networking functionality means OMNIBUS 3.0 can send and receive multichannel audio from any other machines on the same network, turning any Mac into an audio device with full multichannel I/O. (OMNIBUS can send and receive 256 channels of audio via AVB or 128 with NDI, but users can create multiple AVB ‘devices’ in OMNIBUS to send and receive audio).

Film and TV composer and sound designer Dan Zlotnik remarks: “When collaborating, being able to patch computers with different DAWs and different sample rates straight into my session has changed my whole workflow, this is such a powerful feature. With Omnibus 3.0 I can easily and quickly network all Mac machines on the session, this has never been so easy”.

GRAMMY-nominated immersive engineer Dyre Gormsen commented: “Since incorporating OMNIBUS into my workflow, handling rooting between AD/DA converters and DWA’s completely open and not restricted by anything this virtual patchbay is what we have been dreaming about for years. You can connect to it wireless from DAW to DAW for a guest to join your session. OMNIBUS completes my system and workflow for both stereo and Dolby Atmos workflows. The networking features of OMNIBUS 3.0 have already been a game changer for me – all of my machines in my studio are linked up wirelessly for I/O. It makes any room plug-and-play. An artist or producer can bring their mac and start sending audio to the room almost instantly.”

OMNIBUS 3.0 represents an affordable and simplified routing solution for recording and post-production facilities like Abbey Road Studios, allowing them to move multichannel audio between machines and different rooms at low latency. OMNIBUS 3.0 is in use in every room at Abbey Road, from Studio One to writing rooms, bypassing the need for visiting clients to install drivers on their machines or navigate complex routing configurations, saving on average an hour of setup time per session.

Mix Engineer Adam Hawkins says: “OMNIBUS has really sped up my workflow when mixing. I use it to A/B/C/Ding multiple sources while working on a stereo mix. I can A/B/C with my current mix, the rough mix that was sent to me, and my last pass if I’m doing a revision. When working with Dolby Atmos I use it to A/B with the 7.1.4 mix against the stereo master”

OMNIBUS already allows Mac users to route audio seamlessly between all devices – physical and virtual – connected to their Mac, but OMNIBUS 3.0 adds application capture, so users can easily grab audio from any software running, rather than needing to route that audio first to a virtual device.

GRAMMY-winning producer Rafa Sardina added: “OMNIBUS 3.0 represents the future of audio applications. You can just come in and start making music, there is no learning curve, no frustration with setup. You don’t need to be a scientist to make music or use audio tools, but you do need to be one to make tools like Omnibus 3.0. The future is being made by the scientists at Audiomovers.”

OMNIBUS retails for $199.99 and is available now from Audiomovers.com

Existing OMNIBUS 2.0 owners will have the option to upgrade to OMNIBUS 3.0 for the reduced price of $25.99, while those with an active LISTENTO Pro subscription and OMNIBUS 2.0 license can upgrade for free.

Audiomovers is part of the Abbey Road Studios family.

The post Audiomovers release OMNIBUS 3.0 – A major update to the virtual patchbay for Mac. appeared first on Audio Media International.

Abbey Road Studios has announced details of its second annual Abbey Road Amplify event. It will run on November 7, 8 and 12, coinciding with the 91st anniversary of the world-famous recording location in St. John’s Wood, north London.

The free festival will feature panel discussions, masterclasses, and Q&As with members of the Abbey Road team and leading music industry figures to help advise and guide the next generation of artists, producers, composers, and creatives for a free festival featuring panel discussions, masterclasses and Q&As. Anyone interested in attending can enter a ballot to win admission, and the whole festival will also be livestreamed on the Abbey Road Studios website.

Abbey Road Amplify 2022 panels and talks include Music For Film with Isobel Waller-Bridge, Amelia Warner, and Dr. Who composer Segun Akinola; From Bedroom Producer to Professional with hitmakers Swindle, Karma Kid and I Jordan; The Joy Of Making Music – a look at the importance of music as a medium of expression with James Smith (Yard Act), artists Che Lingo and Conor Albert, and Camille Purcell, who’s written numerous hits for Little Mix, Mabel & Jess Glynne; The Craft Of Hitmaking, a discussion with producers and songwriters on the secret of a hit song with guests including Mark Ralph (whose copyrights include hits for Years & Years, Jax Jones, Clean Bandit, and Aitch) and a Music Photography Panel with celebrated photographer Jill Furmanovsky and the recent winner of the Abbey Road Music Photography Awards, Joe Puxley.

Tech tools from Studio Three

Studio Three will give guests the chance to immerse themselves in the music tech experiences and tools of tomorrow. Abbey Road Red innovation manager Karim Fanous will introduce this feature with a trends overview and there will be hands-on demos and explanations from the founders themselves.

Further talks include The Art Of Sampling hosted by Abbey Road’s head of audio products, Mirek Stiles; BMG Publishing’s Music Publishing 101, a comprehensive look at the world of music publishing; A Future in the Creative Industries, hosted by Hannah Fitzgerald from Abbey Road Institute; Promoting Your Music in 2022, a deep dive into the different ways of getting your music heard including speakers from the world of PR, streaming, radio promotion, digital marketing and social media; and The Business of The Music Industry, which will examine the inner workings of the music industry for the new artist, from getting signed to understanding music law. Guests for the latter talk will include Jordan Whitmore, head of A&R at Domino Records, and Jonny Greenfield, a live agent at WME.

Mark Robertson, Abbey Road Amplify head of brand and communications, says: “For the last four years, we’ve been on a mission to inform and inspire young people who are looking at a career in music through free workshops and 121 mentoring. We’re fortunate to see some of the world’s greatest creatives work in our house, so we’re thrilled that some of Abbey Road’s friends are joining us to share their knowledge and experience to help empower emerging talent as they begin their journeys.”

The post Abbey Road Studios Announces Second Annual Abbey Road Amplify Event appeared first on Audio Media International.

As the six hour Peter Jackson documentary The Beatles: Get Back prepares for debut in November, we’ll be picking a highlight from our Abbey Road Studios stories from the archives each month.

Here, we speak with with John Kurlander about his time at the studio in an interview from 2019…

—

When I was a kid, I lived around the corner from Abbey Road and actually went to school in that neighbourhood. When I was about 13, which would’ve been in 1964, my class got invited to what was then EMI Studios to do some sound effects for a spoken word BBC Drama piece. We went into Studio Two – The Beatles’ stuff was set up at the far end of the room. We were allowed to look but not touch, and for us at the time this was an amazing thing in itself.

When it was time to leave school at 16, I wrote to all the studios in London (there was a lot of them at the time). EMI invited me to come for an interview, and three days later they offered me a job. Six months on and unbeknownst to me, I found out that this had been an elaborate fix by one of my teachers, so I had a connection with the studio without even knowing I had one! I quickly learned that all the engineers there, including Geoff Emerick, Phil McDonald and Ken Scott, had all started at 16, exactly the same as me. At the time, they really wanted people with no prior experience, and instead opted for those with raw ability or those whose “face would fit”, so I was incredibly lucky.

I worked with Geoff in 1968 and did tape op for him. The most notable thing that we worked on together was the The Zombies album Odessey and Oracle. At the beginning of 1969 he said we’re going to do another Beatles record, and what was to become the Abbey Road album was a bit of a comeback for him. We had other assistants on the floor because there were a lot of sessions – sometimes two running concurrently – but I would say that I was probably involved in the bulk of the material.

All I remember at the time was that it was a hugely important gig. The tape itself could be very volatile – it was on open platters and not on coated spools, so when you were spooling backwards and forwards there was always the risk that it could fly up and completely destroy itself. That’s a risk of the job that you’re aware of anyway, but when it’s a Beatles tape that could potentially do that then there’s a lot of pressure. The main thing that was on my mind was just to stay calm and do the job.

At the time I didn’t really have any experience at all, but what occurred to me later on was that – when we did Abbey Road on a new EMI solid state mixer, instead of a valve one that was used on previous records – some of the micing things that Geoff did were quite different to what had been done before, and he was adapting his workflow quite significantly, especially going from four to eight-track. When eight-track arrived it made life a whole lot easier – no copying or reduction when you wanted extra tracks. Growing up with it, I always loved the EMI gear, and it’s great to see companies attempting to recreate it now. It’s quite the compliment.

The main thing, which is very relevant, is that in the last ten years or so there’s been a revival of emulating the gear from that time. That’s essentially the complete opposite to what The Beatles wanted to do, which was to move forward and do something that hadn’t been done before. They would never say, “what was that guitar sound that we had on Revolver?” or “what mic did we use on Sgt. Pepper?”. They had no trepidation about mixing on a solid state mixer that they’d never used before. In fact it was quite the opposite, and they were continually embracing new ways of experimenting with sound. There was a technical department who would actually build the equipment for the band upon request, and would tailor make solutions to meet their musical needs. Every week they would build a new box – just a chassis with a few wires – and then test it out. The outcome was basically that they invented new gear as they went along.

I think this whole process of constantly moving forward was a major part of what I learned while working with them. For some of the tracks, Ringo would put teacloths on his drums (which a lot of people did afterwards) in order to achieve a particular sound from his toms and snare. Watching that process develop was amazing.

I believe that the equipment that we were using at the time was for the music being made at the time. The music, the equipment and the timeframe are very much locked together. The question is, if you’re making something that’s contemporary and very 2019, do you want to take advantage of everything that’s brand new or do you want a recreation of a past tool? It depends entirely on what sound the artist is going for.

Something that’s nice to do – and something I often do now – is just start with a blank sheet of paper and choose your methods as you go along, which is what I think The Beatles were always doing. People have asked me, “how do you do a 1960s mix?” and I’d say the first thing to do is put a stopwatch on when you start, and finish the mix within an hour at the most, because that’s what we used to do. Admittedly we were only working with four or eight tracks but a lot of mixes were done very quickly as you went along – that spontaneity was always part of the process as much as the equipment.

Despite working at EMI with such a huge band, it went unsaid that you didn’t ask for autographs or act like a fanboy, you just act like a professional. The problem with that is, some of the most notable things that happened you wouldn’t want to talk about again, and I think my most notable memories are things I would rather not talk about for various reasons! I didn’t know it was their last album – there was always a lot of pressure not to screw up, but I think if I’d have known this, I’d have been incredibly paranoid about the whole thing because of the added gravitas.

I stayed on staff at Abbey Road for the next 30 years and these years were a huge part of my life. I was in the room that summer when they decided to change the album name from Everest to Abbey Road (the studio was of course called EMI at the time). That July they were going to fly to the Himalayas and take the cover photo in the snow with the mountain in the background, but things were running late and they really wanted to stay in London to complete the record. I was actually there on the session when someone made the suggestion to just go out in the street the next day, take a picture, and call it Abbey Road. In that one decision, it changed the complete history of St John’s Wood and northwest London forever. I feel like the nostalgia of working on the sessions and what happened day-to-day is almost marred by the fact of being there when the whole history of the building was changed! 

The post FROM THE VAULT: Veteran recording engineer John Kurlander on working with The Beatles at Abbey Road appeared first on Audio Media International.

Abbey Road Institute, the education wing of the famous London studio, is set to expand and relocate to Angel Studios in Islington, North London. 

The move will enable Abbey Road’s education programme to accommodate its growing student base. 

Angel Studios, famous for Grammy-winning albums from Adele and Sam Smith, closed its doors last year after 40 years in the business.

The relocation of the Abbey Road Institute to the historic Grade II listed studio building means that its musical legacy will continue.

“The move into Angel Studios brings many possibilities for our school, our students and our international Abbey Road Institute family, enabling us to start our next chapter,” said Luca Barassi, CEO of Abbey Road Institute. “The history and relevance of Angel and the impressive studio space and building full of character, will all play a part in the next stage of Abbey Road Institute’s evolution.”

Angel Studios will reopen in summer 2021 to house the expanding Abbey Road Institute and will become the flagship location for the international music school. 

Students will also continue to use the school’s dedicated studio at Abbey Road. 

“The opportunity for both the Institute and the Studio to expand together at Angel means we’ll be able to maintain our close relationship with Abbey Road, create new opportunities for our students and graduates, as well as expand our portfolio,” said Mike Sinnott, Campus Manager of Abbey Road Institute London.

“We’ll also continue to teach and record at our own dedicated studio and Studios One, Two and Three at Abbey Road ensuring that students benefit from the cutting-edge facilities and the experiences offered at both locations.”

The new Islington campus will also include a working recording studio for hire, managed by Abbey Road.

Isabel Garvey, Abbey Road Studios MD said: “We’ve seen a huge increase in creativity over the last year, so are proud to take on the management of the commercial studio at Angel to ensure artists and composers have more quality space in which to record.”

The post Abbey Road Institute to expand and relocate to Angel Studios appeared first on Audio Media International.

Abbey Road Studios has acquired tech start-up Audiomovers as it looks to significantly ramp up its remote production offering.

The acquisition marks a significant step in Abbey Road’s move to offer comprehensive production capabilities beyond its four walls. 

Founded in 2017 by Igor Maxymenko and Yuriy Shevyrov, Audiomovers has seen demand for its services escalate rapidly during the pandemic, with producers, mixers, songwriters and studios needing to collaborate remotely. Its remote production tool allows music professionals to stream, listen to and record high resolution multichannel remote audio in real time, with multiple collaborators, anywhere in the world. It includes a set of plugins, Listento and Listento Receiver, as well as mobile apps, with beta desktop software coming soon. 

Audiomovers will continue to operate under the same name, with product and technology development led by Maxymenko and Shevyrov, supporteded by Abbey Road Studios’ resources and expertise. 

The decision to acquire the company represents Abbey Road’s first major foray into the world of remote production. 

You may also be interested in:

• ‘We are far from parity, but the landscape has shifted’: Abbey Road MD Isabel Garvey talks industry diversity 
• ‘It’s long overdue’: UK’s first ever live music industry body launches 
• We Make Events study: 43 per cent of live events businesses to close by June
• How does live come back? Frank Turner, Music Venue Trust and Concert Promoters Association speak out
• ‘If COVID hadn’t stopped European touring, Brexit would have’: Inside UK’s first live music industry body
•  Cautious welcome from industry as stage set for live music return
• UK live events road map: 5 key questions the industry still needs answering

“In the past year we’ve seen 100 per cent of studio sessions requiring some level of remote access and the name Audiomovers being repeatedly mentioned,” said Abbey Road Studios managing director Isabel Garvey. “We believe the shift to remote music production is here to stay and we want to be part of this new world, supporting music making in all its forms, no matter where creators might be located. It’s a natural extension for Abbey Road, enabling creativity beyond the physical building.”

Dom Dronska, Abbey Road’s head of digital, added: “Igor and Yuri have created the perfect solution for how people produce and write music nowadays, and we are impressed by how their early-stage business has proven its product market fit, in such a short space of time. We’re excited to give them the commercial and operational firepower that their business deserves to grow to its full potential.”

In a joint statement, Maxymenko and Shevyrov said: “With an admirable portfolio of audio plugins and production tools, as well as years of experience developing start-ups, we felt that Abbey Road Studios is the natural home for our business. We built Audiomovers for those who need audio excellence, which is exactly what Abbey Road is all about. We have an ambitious and innovative roadmap and, powered by the Abbey Road team, we can become the global choice for remote audio collaboration.”

Last week, Audio Media International spoke to Garvey about Abbey Road’s Equalise campaign and the measures that must be taken to make the music industry a more inclusive place.

“Engineering degrees and programmes aren’t often seen as attainable for young women and gender minorities and we need to change this,” Garvey commented. “Equally, young women need to have role models and see that women can have a voice in the control room and lead this work.

“This is something we are trying to tackle in a number of ways: by bringing together and spotlighting some of the brilliant female producers and engineers who are paving the way, and within our Equalise programme – opening the door for young people to see what a career in engineering or production looks like and hopefully encouraging them to pursue it.”

You can read the full interview here.

“We have great new ideas to launch, we need to tell our story”
Read the Audio Media International partner plan. 

The post ‘We want to be part of this new world’: Abbey Road acquires remote production start-up Audiomovers appeared first on Audio Media International.

Abbey Road Studios managing director, Isabel Garvey, has spoken to Audio Media International editor Daniel Gumble about the fight for gender parity across the music industry, the studios’ Equalise campaign and why initiatives like today’s (March 8) International Women’s Day must be continued all year round…

Since joining Abbey Road, have you seen any signs of positive change with regards to gender diversity in the industry? What has Abbey Road been doing to attract more women and gender minority producers and engineers in recent years?
Less than five per cent of music producers and engineers are women, which shows there is a long way to go before any sort of parity is achieved. Abbey Road is committed to employing and making space for more women and gender minorities across all its roles within the business. We have equal representation across our management team but need to work harder to develop and attract female talent into the studios team.

I’m seeing encouraging signs at our education arm, Abbey Road Institute, with a growing number of students being female. Equally, I’m encouraged that the industry is getting behind initiatives such as our current Equalise International Women’s Day Festival, which is designed to help drive awareness and understanding of music production and engineering as credible career paths for anyone that identifies as a woman.

Abbey Road Equalise is the banner we’ve created to support diversity within the music industry, to help inspire and empower under-represented groups to consider a career in music production and engineering.

Providing masterclasses with a number of the music industry’s leading women and panel talks with some of the UK’s most exciting rising female talent, the week-long series is helping to shine a light on both the artist and production career paths available in the music industry.

What can the music industry do to become more inclusive?
I think there are a number of factors that contribute to this problem, with the main ones being education and awareness. Engineering degrees and programmes aren’t often seen as attainable for young women and gender minorities and we need to change this. Equally, young women need to have role models and see that women can have a voice in the control room and lead this work.

This is something we are trying to tackle in a number of ways: by bringing together and spotlighting some of the brilliant female producers and engineers who are paving the way, and within our Equalise programme – opening the door for young people to see what a career in engineering or production looks like and hopefully encouraging them to pursue it.

Alongside gender equality, the music industry is working hard to be more inclusive across the board, be that in hiring more women or in hiring and supporting more people from black and ethnic minority backgrounds. Representation is an ongoing and important issue and the solution must be to take action through positive change and demonstrations of real progress. At Abbey Road, we recently announced a scholarship for two black students to study at the Abbey Road Institute, followed by a year-long engineering work placement with us.

How important are days like International Women’s Day?
I feel lucky to be a woman at the helm of an institution such as Abbey Road, where I can support an effort to see positive change in the industry. I have had a wonderfully positive experience in the music industry and whilst I perhaps lacked female role models, it was more than made up for with with incredible mentors, most of them male, helping guide my progress.

You may also be interested in:

• ‘It’s long overdue’: UK’s first ever live music industry body launches 
• We Make Events study: 43 per cent of live events businesses to close by June
• How does live come back? Frank Turner, Music Venue Trust and Concert Promoters Association speak out
• ‘If COVID hadn’t stopped European touring, Brexit would have’: Inside UK’s first live music industry body
•  Cautious welcome from industry as stage set for live music return
• UK live events road map: 5 key questions the industry still needs answering

Whilst we are far from gender parity, the landscape has shifted significantly since I started my career and the opportunities for the next generation of women are huge.  Given my own personal experience it was important to me that Equalise both shines a light on the strong, passionate and talented women in the industry as well as providing a mentor ship programme that can help young women understand all the music industry has to offer.

While days like International Women’s Day are important in raising awareness around women’s rights and further inclusivity and fairness, the most crucial thing is making sure that definite action is taken to continue to promote such issues when the media spotlight isn’t focused on such topics. That is why Equalise is our “always on” diversity and inclusion initiative with activations and participation throughout the year.

Is there a risk that such initiatives may result in some areas of the industry focusing their diversity efforts around a single day, as opposed to working all year round to ensure they are fostering a more inclusive environment?
We look at something like International Women’s Day as a moment to celebrate what has been accomplished but also to look at what can be done next. We launched Abbey Road Equalise last March, just before the first lockdown to coincide with IWD, with a free introductory music production workshop onsite at Abbey Road which proved there is real appetite for bringing women together to provide basic tools, knowledge and support.

We then continued Equalise throughout 2020, despite the obvious challenges, and have captured some wonderful ‘all female’ recording and production sessions. The virtual festival around IWD this year, was about expanding the concept beyond the Studio and bring a whole week of educational, creative panels and 1-2-1 mentoring sessions. The engagement from women around the world has been so high that we intend to maintain the connection through more activity in 2021.

What advice would you give to women coming into the industry?
From my own experience, my advice to women coming into the industry would be to not feel so boxed in on what you studied or what your career path has been up until this point. The music industry is hugely creative and all talents are celebrated, so its an industry where a career switch is possible and celebrated. I would also say make sure you find a really good mentor.

“We had to pivot in 2020 but need to tell the industry that we have done so”
Read the Audio Media International partner plan.

The post ‘We are far from parity, but the landscape has shifted’: Abbey Road Studios MD Isabel Garvey talks industry diversity appeared first on Audio Media International.

Abbey Road Studios has announced a programme of masterclasses and mentorship sessions to coincide with International Women’s Day and address the gender imbalance that exists in the industry.

The Equalise programme is intended to highlight the fact that less than five per cent of music producers and engineers are women. Running from March 1-8 (International Women’s Day is March 8), the programme pledges to provide the tools, knowledge and support to inspire and empower more women to join the industry.

As part of the initiative, a raft of leading producers and engineers will be taking part in masterclass, panel sessions and one-to-one mentoring opportunities throughout the week. Among those taking part are Abbie McCarthy, Baby Queen, Charlie Deakin-Davies, Cloves, Cosha, Dani Bennet Spragg, Fiona Cruickshank, Georgia, Hamzaa, Hannah V, Homay Schmitz, Kali Claire, Marta Di Nozzi, Shura and many more. 

You may also be interested in:

• ‘It’s long overdue’: UK’s first ever live music industry body launches 
• We Make Events study: 43 per cent of live events businesses to close by June
• How does live come back? Frank Turner, Music Venue Trust and Concert Promoters Association speak out
• ‘If COVID hadn’t stopped European touring, Brexit would have’: Inside UK’s first live music industry body
•  Cautious welcome from industry as stage set for live music return
• UK live events road map: 5 key questions the industry still needs answering

Abbey Road Studios managing director, Isabel Garvey, commented: “2021 already feels like a brighter, more optimistic year, so it’s exciting to see so many of our friends coming together to inspire the next generation as part of our Abbey Road Equalise virtual festival for International Women’s Day. 

“I’m thrilled that we’re able to extend the week beyond panel discussions and masterclasses, with one-to-one mentoring for those who want to understand the roles beyond music production and engineering, too. I’m looking forward to when we can bring everyone together in person to further this agenda.”

The week-long programme can be found at https://www.abbeyroad.com/equalise

The post Abbey Road Studios launches International Women’s Day Festival appeared first on Audio Media International.

Audio Media International is delighted to reveal that it has secured an exciting new media partnership with Abbey Road Studios, which will take the form of exclusive monthly content from the legendary London studio. 

For more than 70 years, Abbey Road has been the recording destination of choice for the world’s most innovative and revered artists. From The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Fela Kuti, Kate Bush and Oasis, to Kanye West, Florence & The Machine, Radiohead and The Pet Shop Boys to name but a few, Abbey Road continues to attract artists of all genres and styles, its world-class facilities and pioneering spirit at the heart of some of the greatest records ever made.  

Now, Abbey Road Studios has teamed up with AMI, in a partnership that will see exclusive monthly content explore the very latest trends shaping the recording industry, as well as how music is paving the way for groundbreaking tech. These unique insights will be provided by some of Abbey Road’s most influential engineers, producers and figureheads.

You may also be interested in:

• Take part in the 2021 AMI reader survey
• AMI introduces ‘Questions For Katie’, with Katie Tavini
• ‘This is a new NAMM Show, not a replacement’: NAMM boss talks Believe In Music Week
• 2% Rising: Meet Anna Hetherington 
• Next Generation Spotlight: NikNak

“What an incredible honour it is for AMI to be partnering with Abbey Road Studios,” commented AMI editor Daniel Gumble. “Its amazing history is there for all to see and hear in the incredible records it has helped to create, and it continues to pave the way not only for work-beating artists but also those behind the desk. With Abbey Road RED it is also providing a hub for the latest technology and creative thinking that will no doubt shape the music industry of tomorrow. As such, the insights this partnership will bring to our readers is invaluable.” 

Mark Robertson, head of brand and communications at Abbey Road Studios, added: “For the past few years, we’ve been on a mission to make Abbey Road Studios more open and accessible than ever before, through sharing our knowledge and expertise with the outside world. As such, Abbey Road is absolutely thrilled to have this opportunity to work with Audio Media International to discuss and explore the present and future of recorded music technologies and everything around them.”

The post Abbey Road Studios enters exclusive media partnership with Audio Media International appeared first on Audio Media International.

Waves Audio is now shipping its Abbey Road RS124 Compressor Plugin.

The RS124 compression has been central to a vast array of legendary recordings, having been used on every Beatles track ever recorded at Abbey Road Studios. The custom built compressor was a favourite of Abbey Road engineers in the ‘60s, regularly utilised by the likes of Geoff Emerick, Ken Scott and Norman Smith.

Today, GRAMMY-winning engineer Tony Maserati regularly uses RS124 tones to his vocal tracks, including those of Beyoncé and Alicia Keys.

Mirek Stiles, head of audio products, Abbey Road Studios, commented: “The RS124 left a massive sonic fingerprint on Abbey Road Studios’ 1960s sound. This rare beast is a thing of beauty for any genre in the modern production chain. Inserting the RS124 plugin instantly creates vibes hard to emulate in other ways. It pumps beats and glues synths quite unlike anything I have ever heard in the studio. It’s unique, crunchy and lush – it will not disappoint.” 

You may also be interested in:

• Dean St MD Jasmin Lee and Dolby specialist Jan Stan Kybert take AMI inside the revamped studio
• Waves CLA Epic Plugin now shipping 
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• Next Generation Spotlight: Kaity Rae 

Mick Olesh, Waves EVP of sales and marketing, said: “Since the beginning of our collaboration with Abbey Road Studios in 2011, we have developed an impressive line of over a dozen exclusive products including this new release – the Abbey Road RS124. Waves is delighted to offer musicians, producers and engineers accessibility to this unique tool, enabling new and innovative sonic capabilities. This exciting release is another step in our ongoing policy of offering distinctive and creative tools for enhancing the artistic creativity and workflow of Waves users.” 

The post Waves Abbey Road RS124 Compressor Plugin now shipping appeared first on Audio Media International.

Abbey Road Studios has launched a new scholarship and work placement programme for young black students, which its managing director Isabel Garvey says will “help diversify the next generation of engineering professionals from the ground up”.

Starting in 2021, the scholarship will cover the full cost of the course fees and contribute towards living expenses for two black British students annually to study on Abbey Road Institute’s Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering. Successful completion of the course will see the two graduates offered a year-long trainee engineering role within Abbey Road Studios.

The Abbey Road Scholarship programme is the first in a series of initiatives from the iconic London studios aimed at creating education and mentoring opportunities for young black people.

“I’m thrilled that this programme will create new opportunities for aspiring young engineers by giving them not just the educational foundation, but also the benefit of practical experience working with the best artists, composers and engineers in the industry,” Garvey commented. “Abbey Road has always been about training the best studio talent, so it’s brilliant that the Scholarship will help diversify the next generation of engineering professionals from the ground up.”

You may also be interested in:

• 2% Rising: Meet Eve Horne
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Alongside the Scholarship and work placement, Garvey is keen to encourage artists to play a part in the students’ education. Raye, a singer-songwriter from London, signed to Polydor Records, was keen to get involved and offer support and guidance as part of the programme. She will be part of the selection committee who will choose the successful applicants and will provide ongoing mentorship throughout their time at Abbey Road. 

“I’m so proud to be part of this brilliant initiative to encourage more black students down the path of music production and audio engineering,” said Raye. “Black producers and engineers are under-represented in the professional recording environment and we need to address that. During my time at The BRIT School I learned how important music education is and it’s been instrumental in helping me get further in life.

“This is such an incredible opportunity to obtain the highest levels of technical training at one of the world’s most iconic recording studios! I’m very much looking forward to meeting and working with the successful applicants and being a part of your amazing journey!”

Luca Barassi, CEO of Abbey Road Institute, added: “Our ethos has always been to expand the range of diverse creative and technical minds aspiring to work in professional audio. The new Scholarship will help this in two ways: by funding students who may not have previously been able to join the programme, and by creating more awareness of the audio industry for younger generations who may now find their goal of becoming a music professional more achievable.”

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