Singer-Songwriter, multi instrumentalist and producer Ben Christophers thought it was time to upgrade his main recording system.
His original recording system based around an Apple iMac G5 and a Digidesign 002 Console running Pro Tools 7 LE (pictured below) saw Ben through many successful productions including five oh his own critically acclaimed albums including ‘Spoonface’ along with collaborations with Francoise Hardy ‘La Folie’ and ‘My Beautiful Demon’.
Ben is also main collaborator with Natasha Khan aka Bat For Lashes. Ben has collaborated with Natsaha on all four of the Bat For Lashes albums but co-produced the album ‘The Bride’.
After all this hard work and success, Ben felt it was about time his system was upgraded. Although Ben’s iMac G5 & Digidesign 002 were cutting edge when he purchased (and still offer many comparable features of modern alternatives), technology has jumped ten fold since the iMac G5 with audio technology too.
Ben desired a new system which reflected his trusty Digidesign 002 solution offering fader and tactile control with his favored DAW Pro Tools. Ben was also aware of the excellent new Universal Audio hardware developments offering excellent audio conversion and preamps, latency free recording and monitoring plus industry standard DSP effects.
After due consideration and demonstrations, Ben decided upon a high speck iMac 27″ Retina as his host computer, Avid Pro Tools 12, an Avid S3 DAW Controller and a Universal Audio Apollo Twin MkII Audio Interface.
The Avid S3 takes over all DAW control previously fulfilled with the Digidesign 002, although both the Apollo Twin MKII and Avid S3 have audio ins & outs, Ben felt using the Apollo Twin MKII as his main audio interface and make use of the excellent onboard UAD-2 dynamics and effects would bring a greater degree of production flexibility to his studio bridging both native and UAD plugins.
Kazbar Systems assisted with specification, demonstration then provided full installation plus training by in-house technical manager Dave Eccleston allowing Ben to dive straight into his next project.
Ben has also performed with Imogen Heap on Leg 6 of her Eclipse Tour and supported Bat For Lashes with Jools Holland, David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel and Radiohead during the In Rainbows album tour
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