We all love buying new gear. Whether it’s hardware or software, the acquisition of new stuff is often exciting, but even more importantly, it should allow us to do our job more effectively. In this article, James Richmond talks about some significant purchases he’s made.

Avid S6

I had a week’s access to an S6 a few months ago for the first time and it was a revelation. We’ve all read controllers of this sort being referred to as ‘just a big mouse’ and until I was able to spend some time with one I might have tended to agree. I mean, why take up so much floorspace with a device that doesn’t pass audio and you can do everything with the mouse? Not to mention the cost.

It isn’t like that at all. I can mix with a mouse just fine but when I use the S6 I am faster and I am more connected to the music I am mixing or making. The hands-on, kintetic, deeply involving workflow of the controller is an absolute joy. It takes some time to get your head around but no where near as long as it takes to learn Pro Tools or any other DAW. 

Avid have built an excellent product here, the way in which I can configure the S6 to fit my workflow is just about perfect. I can access my DADman sources from faders, use layouts to group faders as I need them, auto-spill attentioned folders or VCAs to one side of the console and double tap any menu button to collapse a spill and go back to what I was doing previously. It feels dynamic to use, in a way that the old school analogue mixing console never could.

My S6 is currently a 5 ft, 16 fader build with an extra knob module. I say ‘currently’ because the way the S6 was designed it is very easy to expand over time. As a bucketed design you can simply add a new bucket, populate it with modules and blanking plates for any spare sections. The modules all connect over ethernet to an onboard switch, other than the Master section all the modules have 2 connections, power and ethernet. It is really fast to reconfigure too.

One of my favourite features is being able to click on any plugin and have that plugin’s controls show up on a designated knob module. If you’ve ever spent time mapping software to physical knobs/faders you will know how annoying it can be. The S6 just works, predictably and reliably. I am a much faster and efficient engineer. I think less about the tech, more about the music.

Avid MTRX II (And The Rest Of The Avid/DAD ecosystem)

I bought an Avid MTRX in 2019 when I needed more IO than my previous interface, a Focusrite Red 16Line, could give me. For those not aware, Avid’s MTRX is made by a 3rd party, Digital Audio Denmark. The original MTRX is based on their AX32 audio router/digital converter which features a monstrous 1500x1500 cross point matrix to allow you to route any anything to any other place in the device. The MTRX also offers Digilink to give you what was the best specified interface for Pro Tools ever made. These DAD/Avid devices are À la carte  in that you choose that option cards you wish to add to the chassis. In addition to the onboard MADI and AES/EBU you can purchase analogue IO, Mic Preamp, MADI, Dante, AES/EBU, SDI, Digilink and SPQ room correction cards. 

This year Avid released the successor to the OG MTRX, the MTRX II, based on DAD’s successor to the AX32, the AX64. The new products expand the cross point matrix to 4096x4096, expands the number of maximum channels to 1744 x1744. The units come with 256 channels of Dante onboard and the Thunderbolt card (optional on the MTRX II) gives you 256 channels of IO over Thunderbolt 3 at sub 2.5 ms roundtrip latency. The MTRX II and AX64 annoyingly do away with onboard AES/EBU, but there is an option card. 

Plus the, frankly amazing, new connectivity protocol, DADlink, which allows inter-device connectivity at under 1 sample of latency. This support has been added to the legacy MTRX and AX32 products too, allowing onwers of the previous devices to use them as IO expanders with almost zero latency. These are stunningly brilliant products. 

If this just sounds like a laundry list of numbers and features then I do not blame you. Like the S6, the MTRX family products need to be used to be fully understood; you can only get so much from spec sheets.

The MTRX II and AX64 allow me to work in Pro Tools and native DAW’s in ways previously impossible. Any input can be sent anywhere else. I can monitor any input from hardware, thousands of channels if need be. I can expand via Dante, or Dadlink, or MADI. I can have a safety recorder running at all times in case something crashes, simply by making a software patch in DADman to another computer (or any devices with analogue, AES, MADI, Dante connectivity).

It integrates with the S6 perfectly. DADman is fully supported by the S6 so input sources, fold downs, monitor control can all be accessed from the console. Together they present and feel like a large format console, but much smarter and more configurable.

Kii Three BXT monitors

I’ve owned the Kii Three monitors since 2018 and they were one of two pairs (along with ATC SCM45A’s) that I currently own. I like the Kii’s a lot, they are in many ways the opposite of the ATC’s. ATC are analogue, the Kii Three’s are very much a digital product and I liked having access to both. I was never unhappy with the Kii’s but I did find that they didn’t go as loud as I would like before the limiter kicked in. That might be partly how I mix, I like a lot of level. 

Adding the BXT bass modules to the Kii’s didn’t transform them; it isn’t night and day, but they did give me more headroom, the ability to go lower, with no hint of distortion whilst still maintaining all the benefits of active cardioid bass. Although I have a decent sounding, acoustically designed, room with a significant amount of bass trapping I like that with the Kii’s I have flexibility. They can be used close to the walls, or even the corners, I don’t have to worry as much about the room interacting. I can listen to them all day, every day and as loud as I want too.

Yellowtec MiKA Microphone Arm TV

As someone who spends a fair amount of time in front of a microphone, usually in the mix position I have always been annoyed that microphone arms get in the way of the computer display. I’ve had several clamp on arms, and a few regular boom stands and they are more of a pain than they should be. Wouldn’t it be nice if someone made a clamp on/drill through mic arm that wasn’t an ‘up and over’ design that gets in the way. 

German Manufacturer Yellowtec make such a thing; the MiKA Microphone Arm TV. 

Yellowtec make a number of different arms but this one is great for content creators or anyone who needs to be on camera, or simply be able to read a display without a big slab of metal in their eye line. I have mine bolted through the table top that the S6 sits on. One feature of the Yellowtec products is how sturdy but silent they are. Anyone who has used a typical clamp on microphone arm might have found the springs to be a bit fiddly. With my previous model I was always worried that the whole thing was going to snap back on itself and into something expensive. The MiKA TV arm is solid and silent. I hear no rumble from the desktop when typing coming through the mic. 

The only annoying thing about the product is they come with 5 pin XLR’s or bare wires. I know that given their broadcast focus this makes sense and soldering on an XLR plug isn’t difficult, but it is surprising. I’d quite like there to be a USB cable option too, which is coming, but cannot be retrofitted to an older arm. Then there is the price. Yellowtec products are bought piece by piece, you will need the monitor arm, a ‘system pole’ to attach it to and a desk mount (either clip on or drill through). A professional product, with a professional price, circa £475.

3D Printed Mount For Screwdriver

This might seem like a strange or trivial choice given the previous ones but it has been very helpful. Like a lot of people with a studio I need a screwdriver close by and also like many people I lose the aforementioned screwdriver on a semi-regular basis. Things like this need a place to live, otherwise I spend too much annoyed and swearing looking for something that should be to hand.

I had an idea of attaching a screwdriver to the underside of the tabletop that the S6 sits on and found that some kind soul had drawn up plans for a 3D printable mount that fits the screwdriver perfectly. I asked a friend who has a 3D printer to print a couple for me and now it lives on the underside of the console, always in reach.