- Dave Malekpour

Much of the work done at Beach City combines production-based music from sequencers, drum machines and keyboards with tracked live instruments, and so Snoop and co needed a console that could switch between multiple tracks being worked on simultaneously with ease.

After much deliberation over which console would best satisfy these requirements, the Genesys Black was supplied by Professional Audio Design, which has been associated with AMS Neve for around 20 years. The company's president, Dave Malekpour, praises the console as “a great solution, combining the sound of both the vintage Neve 1073 transformer coupled mic preamps and Class A 1084 with the modern 88R's signal path for clarity and tonal expression combined with instant reset.

“The combination allows Beach City's producers and clients to move swiftly between projects and tracks and to add the LFE channel. Additionally, the Westlake Pro team anticipated that Snoop and DJ Pooh would want extremely low frequency for playback, and so they put a Crown Audio IT12000HD on the sub channel alone.

“Studio A also features some new and vintage rack gear, including Pultec EQs, LA2A, two 1176's, two distressors, Avalon 737, and Tube Tech CL1B, all integrated into a TT patchbay of 14 Bittree patchbays,” Young explains. “The wiring guys had their hands full for sure. Our biggest concern was whether the general contractor had allowed enough space for our cable troughs and pass-throughs. Luckily the cable pulls went really well and it all came together.”

Meanwhile, studio B ‘The Battleship' features another custom Zaor desk with a Slate Raven Z3 multi-touch production console, utilising a 5.1 speaker setup with the same components as The Mothership. While this secondary room has less analogue gear, it similarly has a Pro Tools HDX system with 32 analogue I/O and Focal SM9 midfield monitors. Two workstations in the rear
corners of the room also allow producers to hook up laptops,
synthesizers and other instruments.

Professional Audio Design ended up providing all of the custom furniture, gear and wiring for Studio C ‘The Starship', a tracking/writing room that was created for Snoop's son Cordell, who is also involved in music production.

To satisfy the need for high SPL and superior clarity, Malekpour also built the largest Augspurger system he has built to date - a Quattro 415 system including a pair of Solo 12MF monitors flanked by dual 218subs as well as a Slate Raven MTi2 to manage Pro Tools files.

It was the Augspurger monitors that Malekpour was originally approached for. “Snoop and DJ Pooh seemed to be compelled by the sound quality and were impressed when they heard them working together with the Genesys Black,” he remarks.

“Having a console that gives some of that vintage impression but also has that openness and clarity in the mix bus, which the Genesys has at the heart of it, is a significant factor for these types of artists, who essentially just need the console to sound good”.

Malekpour was able to tune the Augspurger DSP to produce an accurate and consistent mixing curve across all three of the rooms, and believes that this is a major part of why the studios have been so successful already in the few months they have been operational: “When you can make three rooms of different purposes and different sizes work together as one it's something special - I think that's a signature of Beach City Music,” he says. “The whole collaborative approach between parties is somewhat of a reflection of
how Snoop does things.”

Source: www.audiomediainternational.com

With over 30 years’ experience in recording studio design, analysis and construction, Malekpour Design Partners, part of the PAD Group, offers unparalleled expertise in all areas of design, specification and construction of recording studios. When it comes to building a professional facility, our philosophy is always to put ourselves at the heart of your vision, to deliver not only your desired aesthetic and required functionality, but exceptional sonic accuracy and a creative, unrestrictive environment – so you can achieve the best results possible for your investment.