06/12/03

by Al Mooney

To Mutt Lange, internationally revered producer whose credits range from Def Leppard to Shania Twain, Britney Spears to Bryan Adams, and Celine Dion to AC/DC, there is only one digital audio workstation that can really cut it. His production style requires the ability to edit quickly and with immense accuracy, and as the creator of a seemingly never-ending run of global smash hit recordings, sonic quality is of the utmost importance. As somebody who has relied on Pro Tools from its early days, the move to the superior sound and power of Pro Tools HD was never really in question. "In my opinion", says Mutt, "Pro Tools HD is a big step up in both sonic quality and power — it's the perfect tool for my style of producing. After being a Pro Tools user for years, Pro Tools HD was the only serious choice as my new DAW. Sonically it's is a huge improvement over Pro Tools Mix, and the new 192 I/O really shines."

Upgrading from previous systems was going to be no small feat for Mutt. Before making the switch, his studio was equipped with four fully specc'ed, maxed out Pro Tools Mix systems, so it was important for him to really check out Pro Tools HD before committing. It didn't take long for him to make up his mind.

"I liked HD so much, I upgraded all my Mix-systems — now we have four HD-rigs and we're using them for tracking, editing and mixing every day," he recalls. High praise indeed.

Now then, his studios house four enormous Pro Tools HD3 rigs, sharing an additional 8 HD process cards for vast DSP processing power. Add to that a mind-boggling 14 192 I/O interfaces (most with optional expansion cards), SYNC I/O units, and seemingly every plug-in under the sun, and it's plain to see that Mutt Lange is pretty serious about his work with Pro Tools. Tarmo Simola, General Manager of Simola Eichmann Communications GmbH, Mutt's Digidesign dealer and support engineer, must feel pretty proud of the work he's done to put such systems in place.

'At SEC, we're used to large installations, since we serve mostly broadcast, large post, and music facilities', says Tarmo. 'However, Mutt's needs are pretty extreme, so it was a very interesting challenge to tailor such huge systems for him. The sheer volume of hardware and software obviously raised concerns about compatibility, but we're happy to report that with the exception of a handful of plug-ins which weren't quite ready when we needed them, everything went very well. We're really proud that with careful planning, we managed to upgrade all his systems in the middle of a major production (Shania Twain's new album "UP!") with virtually zero downtime. Usually we'd talk customers out of upgrading in the middle of production but, with the help of Mutt's knowledgeable staff, the swap went very smoothly indeed'.

Kevin Churko, Mutt's main man at the helm, was also directly involved with the move to Pro Tools HD. 'As Mutt's chief engineer and programmer, I was excited but definitely nervous to commence the HD upgrade in the middle of a project as important as Shania's "UP!"', he explains.

'Mutt and I are constantly reevaluating our recording methods. Is there a superior converter? Is there a new workstation that can save time? Is there a system that's more stable? We're able to try all the top products and Mutt's in a great position to be able to use anything he wants. It seems like every year or so we make the rounds and check out everything, but our quest always leads us back to Digidesign. The HD systems really provide a unique combination of power, stability and efficiency. With our 96 channels of I/O, we can have everything patched and ready to go. Synths, outboard, amps... it's all there at a mouse click. Plus, by running all our external gear through Pro Tools, we can start mixing from the word go. We can flip back and forth between songs and just carry on where we left off.

But it's not just power Kevin and Mutt need — they need a system they know they can completely rely on. 'We need the session to be the same every time we call it up', says Kevin.

'With TDM II processing, Pro Tools really cuts out the X factor. We get 128 voices with a load of plug-ins and the sessions open every time without a hitch. With Shania's "UP!" there were 2 versions of 19 songs. Having a single workstation platform that contained all the information really helped me keep organized. Back-ups were a breeze. We're changing arrangements right down to the final mix. Because all the midi and audio are in the same session, it saved us a lot of time. If I had to edit two smaller audio platforms with a different midi platform, we'd probably still be working on the album. I even kept most of my recall notes in the 'comments' window of the session. Pro Tools HD gave us the sound we were looking for and saved a lot of hassle and, more importantly, time."

Producers like Mutt Lange don't appear every day. Music production systems like Pro Tools HD don't either. Put them together, and you have a combination to die for. "Without Pro Tools HD I couldn't imagine how we could do so much, so well, and in such little time," concludes Mutt. "In one sentence: Why settle for less?"