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FX Rentals in the Scottish Glens
FX Rentals was recently commissioned to supply and install a temporary studio for Scottish indie rockers Franz Ferdinand at the home of vocalist and guitarist Alex Kapranos. The studio was set up for a two-month period at his house in the Ayrshire glens to lay down tracks for the band’s forthcoming second album.
FX technical manager Adam Pope was contacted by studio system designer Connor Caulfield to supply a range of equipment to work alongside US producer Richard Costeyıs own esoteric vintage gear which included old synths, guitars and amps, plus an old and rare Akuset valve PA mixer. Costey, who was assisted by engineer and Pro Tools operator Claudius Mittendorfer, has worked with artists including Muse, Bloc Party, Doves, Ash, Rage against the Machine and Audioslave.
Pope and Caulfield began the two-month job in early March by commissioning all the equipment, finding ways of connecting the different recording areas around the house to the makeshift control room, and interfacing Costeyıs equipment. All soundproofing and acoustic alterations had to be approved by the Scottish Heritage Board as the house used to belong to the artist James Paterson in the 1880s and is a protected property, subject to stringent building regulations.
FX supplied a 2-inch Studer A827 machine to work alongside Costey’s own Pro Tools HD system, a range of microphones, both modern and vintage valve, plus a Raindirk Symphony console which fulfilled the brief for a high quality mixer with a small footprint and remote patchbay. Its routing and monitoring flexibility proved to be quite an asset when recording, rehearsing and monitoring was happening simultaneously. Costey also used his vintage 10-channel Neve console for track laying.
FX also supplied a 16-channel Aviom AN16 personal monitoring system which was purchased specifically for this job. "This was very well received by both the band and engineers," says Pope. "The monitor mixers need only be connected by single network cable, so they could be located wherever required in the house.
"The whole project went extremely well for the two-month session, at the end of which Richard Costey commented that in his experience, recording sessions in most professional studios would not have been as smooth and trouble free as this temporary setup."
6th June 2005
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