Streamlining the studio experience

While cutting his teeth in recording studios earlier in his career, Ashmore witnessed much about the typical process that he thought could stand a rethink. Efficiency-minded to the core, he saw an opportunity to try a new approach that would prioritize faster, more effective workflows to provide high-quality services to customers for more affordable prices. “With a predominantly online workflow, we saw that we could basically ‘trim all the fat’ and streamline the process for clients who were predominantly looking for mixing and mastering services,” he explains. “By being more transparent about our services and making communication more efficient, we could accomplish much more than a studio where people are sitting in the control room with you and charge much less as a result.”

“That idea was the spark of our entire business model, and during COVID when everyone had to move to remote workflows, we were already ready to go and it tripled the amount of jobs we were getting as a result!”

Ashmore’s approach to audio production work may sound less romantic than the extended studio vacations of days gone past, but the results are just as focused on a satisfying client experience. By de-mystifying the various functions of the studio and laying them out clearly for clients, he has provided an avenue for people seeking professional mixing and mastering who may not have thought it accessible before. “We have clients at all levels, from major artists like Beyonce, Lil Wayne, and Swedish House Mafia to independent artists looking for a professional mix on their first single,” he explains. “What we ultimately want them all to feel is that what we offer is exactly what we need at a price that they can afford using the most effective tools in the industry to accomplish it.”

“There’s no compromise in the quality of what we offer, we’ve just found a way to do it that can work at the speed that our clients require and the industry demands.”

Establishing sound hybrid workflows

​Although he predominantly works ‘in the box’, Ashmore still prefers analog processing for his mix bus and mastering chains for the best possible sound quality. Seeking a way to meld his streamlined, digitally-inclined approach with his favorite analog gear, he sought out the Flock Audio PATCH. “Ultimately these compressors, limiters, and other pieces of hardware are still the gold standard sonically for mixing and mastering,” he says. “Analog can introduce an element of inefficiency into the workflow, as the physical process of patching and recall eats up a lot of time and the cost of the time gets passed onto the customer.”

“Getting all of them set up and running with PATCH was just brilliant — it saved so much time in the workflow and even though they cost more than the standard patch bay, they immediately paid for themselves in saved time on our jobs.”

In addition to giving Ashmore instant access to his favorite chains of outboard equipment, his fluid use of PATCH APP DX has eliminated time-consuming recall procedures. As someone who is frequently jumping between multiple projects in a workday, this has been a major time saver. “I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve been asked to recall a setting from a piece of gear and had to spend hours digging through hard drives to find pictures from the session,” he explains. “The great thing about DX is that everything is in one place and all you have to do is pull up the session and you have all the photos and notes you need. Everything is on the iPad and the impact that has on a fast-moving session can’t be underestimated.”

“It really is all about establishing a sound workflow that can save the client time and money while still delivering the results,” he continues. “Being able to do that and pass on those benefits to the clients means they get a better experience and increases the chances of repeat business.”

“PATCH has really excelled in helping us refine this process. It’s great for our work and all of our clients have benefited from it being the brains of our signal chains.”

For more information about Audio Animals, please visit: www.audioanimals.co.uk

For more information about PATCH series, please visit: www.flockaudio.com

About Flock Audio

Flock Audio Inc. is a pro audio manufacturer based in Kelowna, Canada, founded in 2017. The company is best known for its PATCH System Series, which is a Digitally controlled, 100% Analog Patch bay routing solution for professional audio environments.

For more information on Flock Audio and its products, please visit the company website at www.flockaudio.com.

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