Score recording and mixing engineers have traditionally worked on large-format analog mixing consoles, he says. “We needed something where film engineers would immediately know what they’re dealing with. We wanted something that looks impressive, but also fulfills our technical requirements. There’s an awful lot of what you need to do on a film session that you could achieve with a relatively cheap digital desk, but that’s not how film engineers are used to working. You need lots of headphone sends — cue sends — and to be able to grab any channel immediately.”
Since the new production facilities were unveiled in November 2021, Scotland’s Studio has handled one or two scoring projects a month, Morfett-Jones reports. The inaugural project was the score of a TV movie remake of The Amazing Mr. Blunden, which aired on the Sky channel just before Christmas, by Edinburgh-born composer Blair Mowat. Between scoring sessions, the control room is used to record classical music pieces and to stream concerts from the concert hall.
While a classical recording is performed in-the-box, Morfett-Jones says, he can’t risk the DAW failing during a live stream. “I effectively use the desk in ‘broadcast mode,’ so the mics from the stagebox go into the DAW and into the desk. I mix on the desk and I record a capture of the desk into the recorder as well,” he says.