The Department of Music recently acquired and installed a state-of-the-art audio recording console that puts Cal Poly Pomona’s studio on the same level as many famous and renowned facilities worldwide.
Music Professor Arthur Winer secured funding for the addition of the AMS Neve Genesys G32 audio recording console and some associated equipment from the Student Success Fee’s 2018-19 SPICE grant and the California Lottery. The equipment is available for both faculty and student use.
“A console is the heart of a recording studio,” said Winer. “After the microphone, the console is the vehicle by which audio signal interfaces with both the acoustic and recorded realms.”
It’s ideal for students to learn how to record on the same type of equipment they will encounter in their careers, he adds.
“Neve is the benchmark against which other equipment is measured,” Winer said. “Neve is the ‘Rolls-Royce’ of the audio world. Cal Poly Pomona students who record with this console can be confident that they are learning on and using the very best.”
The Cal Poly Pomona music department houses an audio recording studio complex in Building 24 that doubles as classrooms for music recording coursework. This complex consists of two recording labs, Studios A and B.
The music department’s recording studios are in near-constant use from early in the morning until late in the evening Monday through Friday during the school year. Music faculty and hundreds of Cal Poly Pomona students are routinely engaged in course-related projects as well as in their own works.
For the past 13 years, the Department of Music’s Studio B housed a succession of Tascam digital recording consoles. While these Tascam consoles have proven to be reliable tools, the technology was becoming somewhat outdated and started to exhibit problems that could not be repaired, according to Winer.
Music technician Will Wright-Hooks coordinated the acquisition and installation of the console, furniture, and related equipment. In October 2018, AMS Neve shipped the hand-made console from England to Cal Poly Pomona. Then during winter break, Wright-Hooks and music student assistants Aaron Agrawal and Jack Miller removed all the old furniture and equipment from Studio B’s control room in preparation for the installation.
After installing the new equipment and wiring it, Wright-Hooks and Winer checked all wiring and equipment for bugs and after completing that “painstaking process,” the console was ready for action.
“I cracked the proverbial bottle of champagne over the console in early late December by recording a variety of demanding tests,” Winer said. “It’s ready for the students for spring semester and beyond!”
For questions or more information about Cal Poly Pomona’s recording studios, recording technology, and recording arts coursework, contact Professor Arthur Winer at ahwiner@cpp.edu.