Benn Down is a British singer/songwriter, musician, record producer and composer. His work includes highly acclaimed
games such as: Call of Duty, Borderlands and Halo.
Furthermore, Benn has had numerous releases and has founded various bands including: Benn, Portraits and Two Down to mention a few.
Back in 2014 Down decided to establish the contract-less record label Hurt Records as an opposition to how large record label companies take advantage of artists and revenue. The cornerstone philosophy of this independent label is exclusively based around top quality sound recordings unified with making the artist’s vision become reality.
”Kazbar Systems has been a saviour for so many of my sessions. Gavin, Dave and Oda really have gone above and beyond to help cable both my control room and live room and they have been exceptionally helpful in sourcing bespoke pieces of gear.
Genuine, helpful and always at the end of the phone in a time of crisis. Highly recommended.”
Benn Down
Producer & Composer at Hurt Records
Client requirements:
Back in 2019, Benn decided to convert an outhouse at the bottom of his garden into a studio control room and live room. Kazbar Systems was recommended to assist with the full cabling design and installation, along with the equipment supply and installation.
Recently, the main studio has been interconnected to a second live room, suitable for larger live productions.
Patchbay Design for Benn Down
The patchbay layout, design and wider studio infrastructure cabling plan was designed and developed by Kazbar Systems’ Technical Manager Dave Eccleston, taking into consideration the client’s workflow and futureproofing for further equipment expansion. All cabling and connectors were manufactured by Klotz, Neutrik, Rean and Switchcraft.
Recording Studio Audio Cabling Installation
The equipment and comprehensive cabling were installed and tested by Kazbar’s Audio Installation Technician Oda Holm Strand. This included all cabling within the control room, along with the cabling to the live room.
The installation comprised of connecting all audio hardware between: two portable racks, four fixed racks and mixer to three patchbays, as well as floor boxes, wall box and headphone feeds between live room and control room.
The Outboard Hardware
Benn’s recording and production studio is extensively equipped and suitable to accommodate a vast range of sounds. His outboard list is constantly evolving, and so he relies on a flexible system that caters for new additions and replacements. All equipment is easily accessible through the patchbays.
Some of the audio outboard for Benn Down featured:
Work Station 2
Two Rupert Neve Designs R10 Lunchbox Chassis populated with API Dynamics, EQ & Mic Pre’s, MAAG EQ, SSL & Rupert Neve Designs Dynamics & EQ’s.
Portable Rack
For mic preamps and channel strips, Benn decided on a Rupert Neve Design Shelford Channel and the AMS Neve 1073DPX.
Furthermore, Kazbar supplied outboard for master buss processing including an SSL Fusion, Smart Research C2 Stereo Compressor, Radial processing and a Rupert Neve Designs 5008.
For digital recording, we supplied and installed an AVID HDX System with Pro Tools Ultimate, AVID 16×16 and an Antelope Orion 32HD.
Live Room 2
Benn recently constructed a second live room situated within a different part of the property and wanted to utilise this space to undertake larger recording projects.
One of the requirements was to be able to record up to 24 channels from the new live room directly into his original control room. In order to achieve this, Kazbar specified and supplied three AMS Neve 1073OPX 8 channel mic preamps including the Dante cards, interconnected via CAT5, transmitting audio via Dante audio over IP Protocol.
For studio monitoring, Benn opted for Focal Twin 6BE Active Monitor Speakers and a Solo 6BE Active Sub along with Avantone MIX Cubes Active.
For vocal and instrument recording, the studio has a wide variety of microphones to choose from, including brands such as: AEA, Royer, Neumann, Shure and Sennheiser.
