10/04/07
Daly City, CA — Since its debut in May 2004, the Digidesign® ICON integrated console has stirred a revolution within the music and post-production industries. Offering the deepest level of integration with industry-standard Pro Tools|HD® audio workstations, Digidesign’s large-format ICON D-Control™ and medium-format D-Command® have been adopted by audio professionals worldwide at an exceptional pace. Engineers, commercial music studios, post-production facilities, broadcasters, and media training institutions recognize ICON as the most sought-after recording/mixing console system for audio production.

To date, Digidesign has delivered over 2,200 ICON systems to some of the most prestigious studios in the world, including recent installations at London’s renowned Pinewood Studios Group, which took delivery of Digidesign’s 2,000th ICON back in July. That landmark console was the third ICON to be installed at Pinewood’s Shepperton Studios site, following the installation of a similar 32-fader ICON D-Control console in the facility’s Theatre 4, where iconic films such as Lawrence of Arabia, Oliver Twist, and Harry Potter were mixed. The Pinewood Studio Group’s history is steeped in more than 70 years of productions, including classics such as The Red Shoes and The Importance of Being Earnest as well as nearly every James Bond film, including last year’s Casino Royale.

“Over the last eight years, we have seen Pro Tools become the core audio program used across the whole Pinewood Group,” remarks Giles Farley, head of Pinewood’s International Sound Post Production unit. “The Digidesign ICON takes the power and flexibility of Pro Tools|HD to the next level, reinforcing our long-term commitment to an integrated workflow.”

Farley continues, “When managing the localization and dubbing in over 40 languages, it is critical that our systems and sites are 100% compatible. The installation of ICON allowed our rooms to become much more flexible and attractive to many more customers. With ICON, we now have complete functionality and Pro Tools integration not available by any other means.”

While Pinewood Studio Group joins a growing number of other high-profile post-production and broadcast facilities that have embraced ICON as their console of choice, top music recording facilities are also adopting ICON, including London’s Metropolis Studios and the famed Village Recorder in Los Angeles, home to legendary recordings by Steely Dan and Fleetwood Mac, to name just a few. “The ICON was an obvious choice for us,” says Village Recorder CEO Jeff Greenberg. “It offers seamless integration with the room’s Pro Tools|HD system. Even prior to our officially announcing it, we began hearing from engineers interested in working on the ICON. And since installing it, the room has been booked solid. Feedback from clients has been overwhelmingly positive. It sounds great, and it’s really had a profound impact on the mixing environment.”

Leading professional audio retailers have also recognized the demand for ICON systems. “Pretty much every major broadcaster has taken delivery of an ICON from us in the last three years,” acknowledges Ken Patnaude, Pro Tools and ICON specialist at Dale Pro Audio, one of New York’s largest professional audio dealerships. “Professionals are clearly making up their minds to adopt it as the way forward. If you watch television, you’re probably listening to a Digidesign ICON system.”

The fast adoption of the Digidesign ICON system into professional circles has sparked a growing need for qualified ICON engineers. As a result, leading audio education institutions are integrating ICON training into their curriculums to equip their graduates with desirable and marketable skill sets.

Full Sail, Florida’s premier media arts college, along with London’s Alchemia, Ex’pression College in Emeryville, CA, and the Los Angeles Recording School are among a growing list of institutions adding ICON Certification training for their students. In fact, Full Sail has installed 17 ICON systems into its facility in the last three years. “The ICON is really the cutting-edge of worksurface technology, and students who are conversant with it will have the edge in a competitive industry,” says Bill Smith, Full Sail’s recording arts program director. “We know that 95% of our graduates are going to be sitting in front of a Pro Tools rig, and the trend toward mixing ‘in the box’ makes a sophisticated control surface [like ICON] more and more essential.”

L.A. Recording School’s director of education, Steve Miller, observes, “As educators, we have to be conscious not only of the current state of technology, but of what things will look like ten years from now. The ICONs are, for us, a long-term investment in tomorrow’s technology.”

Mike Olson, the L.A. Recording School’s associate director of education, adds, “As a large portion of the industry moves steadily away from analog consoles and more toward computer-based solutions, having our students learn on the ICON will better prepare them for the technology they will encounter in the world of professional audio.”

For more information about the Digidesign ICON integrated console, visit www.digidesign.com/icon.

About Digidesign
Digidesign, a division of Avid Technology, Inc., is the world’s leading manufacturer of digital audio production systems and the winner of the 2001 Technical Grammy® Award and 2003 Academy Award® of Merit (Oscar® statuette) for the design, development, and implementation of the Pro Tools digital audio workstation. Digidesign provides the professional music, film, video, multimedia, and radio broadcast industries with tools for digital recording, MIDI sequencing, editing, signal processing, and surround mixing. Digidesign products are marketed in more than 40 countries worldwide through a distribution network of value-added dealers, distributors, and OEM relationships. M-Audio, a leading provider of creative tools for computer-centric musicians and audio professionals, and Sibelius Software, the market leader in software for writing, teaching, and publishing music, are business units of Digidesign. For more information, visit www.digidesign.com.

© 2007 Avid Technology, Inc. All rights reserved. Product features, specifications, system requirements, and availability are subject to change without notice. Promotions and discounts are subject to availability and change without notice. All prices are USMRP for U.S. and Canada only and are subject to change without notice. Avid, Digidesign, M-Audio, Sibelius, D-Command, D-Control, Pro Tools, and Pro Tools|HD are trademarks or registered trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and/or other countries. Academy Award and Oscar are trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Grammy is a trademark of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Inc. All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.