18 l July 2013
www.psneurope.com
studionews UNITED KINGDOM
Blue Box Studios will fill ‘gap in marketplace’
Familiar industry face Nikki Affleck has opened the doors to her own Blue Box Studios in west London, which centres around an SSL AWS 924 console. By Erica Basnicki
A FAMILIAR face to many in the recording studio world, former Town House Studios manager Nikki Affleck has opened Blue Box Studios in Acton, west London which she will run alongside her current duties in A&R co-ordination with Sony Music. A perceived gap in the
marketplace motivated Affleck’s enterprising move: “So many studios have closed in west London that in my work as A&R co-ordinator, it was proving really difficult to hire a good studio where my bands could write and record,” she said. “Most of the record companies are west London- based, plus many producers and engineers seem to live in this part of town, yet there are now only a couple of commercial studios for hire.” The facility, designed by
Munro Acoustics and backed by a silent financial partner, offers two production rooms with
An SSL studio, a couple of production rooms and plenty of classic outboard gear: head on over to Acton!
vocal booths, an SSL studio and a video editing suite.
Studio 1 is installed with an Nikki Affleck in the studio
SSL AWS 924 console, Focal, KRK and Yamaha monitoring, the latest Apple computers running Pro Tools, Logic, Waves, Avid Media Composer 6 etc. A range of outboard equipment includes an Avalon VT747sp stereo EQ and compressor, a UA 1176, an Empirical Labs EL8X, Tube Tech CL1B, SSL XRack and Neve preamps and EQs, plus a selection of AKG, Shure,
Sennheiser and Neumann microphones. Technical installation was by Paul Brewer’s Genius Move Audio. “By offering a Munro- designed SSL studio, we are up there with some of the best in London,” said Affleck, who counts Marcus, Nomis, Westside and Town House among the studios she has managed during her career. “Since my move into A&R
co-ordination it’s been interesting to see the business from the other side of the fence. As a
result, I have a good understanding of the budgets record companies have to operate within these days, and I’ve geared Blue Box towards this, to provide a realistic, high-quality studio on their doorstep. We’ve designed it to both sound and look really good, with a stylish, boutique interior finish. We’ve had so much endorsement already from the people who’ve helped make this a reality that I have every confidence it will be a success.”n
www.theblueboxstudio.com
UNITED KINGDOM
Custom-made VDC Trading
By Erica Basnicki
VDC TRADING has launched its new website, offering industry professionals direct access to over 8,000 product lines and featuring YouSpec – an application that allows visitors to design, specify, price and order bespoke cable solutions. Using YouSpec, customers are
able to choose the Van Damme cable, colour, length, connectors, boots, labelling and so on. VDC will then manufacture and ship the completed items.
Although customers will have complete flexibility across a range of parameters – audio, video and data solutions are all catered to – YouSpec will not enable dangerous designs to be developed. The Head Space section of the website offers details of VDC’s technical expertise and capabilities as well as the outline of solutions built for other customers. VDC Trading has a 25-year history of supplying customers in many markets, including PA hire companies, rock bands, government bodies, broadcast facilities, blue chip corporations and even super-yacht builders. Existing trade customers can log in and access their own account details and terms, and purchase history in addition to reviewing technical designs and solutions. YouSpec is also available for
tablet computers. n
www.vdctrading.com
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