An ASP8024 Heritage Edition console has recently been installed at Ultrasound Production Studios, a commercial venture owned by John Hanna and Joe Clapp.

Taking pride of place at the heart of the Massachusetts studio, the current Heritage replaced an ASP8024, which until then they were very happy with. “The Heritage has every upgrade I could ever want. It was like the designers read my mind. It was scary – I thought only my wife did that,” laughs John.

Citing everything from the auxes to the dimensions: “I feel like I’m on a big board with this console, yet everything is right in front of me and always in reach,” the layout, color scheme and split EQ to 24 busses and the mic pre: “It’s natural. Pure – I like that.” He can’t praise the desk enough. “I have found that other than using my CAPI V28s and Dakings for certain tones, I am all ITB, meaning…. In The Board!” He confesses, “For me, the Audient is everything I need.”

Hanna is in fact an attorney, leaving the day-to-day running of the studio to Clapp. “Joe handles all the sessions and we have a few independent engineers,” he explains. An entrepreneur, audio engineer and musician himself, he also records his own material there. “At my age, it’s pure self-enjoyment. I love the studio; I still record and get into the gear.”

He certainly does. His 36-channel Heritage makes sure of that. “It’s inspirational. No limitations, no restraints. Just great clarity and honesty in sound, combined with tremendous ease and flexibility that inspires me when I work. That’s how I make a great product.”

He admits that the arrival of the Heritage desk has even sparked new ideas for the studio. “Everyone is looking for that something that makes them better,” he enthuses. Most recently he’s offered the space to a well-known cable TV company who are struggling with streaming and recording live band performances, with an audience in the soundstage room. “Using the Audient we can do everything from one console. I can have an independent house mix, monitor mix, video mix, radio mix, recording mix and so on. You tell me one other console in the industry that can do that with one person all in arm’s reach. It’s this console that made it that easy! Flexible, yet complex, yet simple. The possibilities are endless.”

Hanna is thinking big, and following the best advice he’s been given to date: “Try! Don’t be afraid to – and don’t ever stop.” He’s certainly not doing that any time soon. “This is only the second console I ever bought brand new. I love this console so much that I have told Paul Savasta at Odyssey Pro Sound [his local dealer who supplied the Audient Heritage] to get ready for a second order, as I plan to install it in my house!”

To read the full feature head over to the Audient website.