MUNCIE, IN —
The Music Technology program at Ball State University has installed an
Aviom Pro16A® Monitor Mixing System
in its Studio 2 that is identical to its existing system in Studio 1. The university’s program provides hands-on experience in audio production, digital music technology and music creation. A Music Business track will be introduced in autumn of 2009. The Aviom gear is an incremental upgrade to the university’s current headphone distribution system and according to the program’s Audio/Digital Systems Engineer, Jeff Seitz, has proven to be flawless.
“The theory and application of recording is taught in the recording classes,” says Seitz. “Learning to do a headphone mix is certainly part of the process. I chose Aviom for our studios because of its technical specification and ease of use.”
The second floor of the university’s Music Instruction Building is home to 11 studios, along with an additional studio in the Sursa Performance Hall. To create a similar setup to that in Studio 1, an Aviom AN-16/i Input Module and an A-16D Pro A-NetA® Distributor were added to Studio 2, which features the world’s first Digidesign ICON system. The studios share 10 Aviom A-16II Personal Mixers that are available for use in either studio. There’s also an A-Net Card for YamahaA® in the Yamaha DM2000 console housed in the performance hall for when headphone mixes are requested.
Students bring in a wide range of groups to record in Ball State’s studios from classical to rock, and barbershop to metal. Studio 1 is currently booked to record all of the music for the feature film My Name is Jerry starring Doug Jones while Studio 2 is booked with student projects. Since the Aviom system is flexible, it can be adapted to the variety of projects these studios host.
“The biggest headache in tracking is getting a good headphone mix so that the musicians are comfortable with what they are hearing, and playing better because of it,” continues Seitz. “Aviom changes all of that. Now, our engineers simply route select Pro Tools tracks to the Aviom mixers, dial in a rough mix, and let the musicians do the rest. The musicians love the control that they have and they get what they need without having to wait for a student engineer to make headphone mix adjustments from the control room.”
