Henry Sarmiento heads up the idyllically situated Sonic Vista Studios in Ibiza, where he has worked with the likes of Lady Gaga, 50 Cent, Akon, Ne-Yo, The Ting Tings, and many more. Summer looks like being a hectic one for the New York-born producer, but with a new collection of DiGiGrid audio interfaces in his inventory, things will be that little bit easier.
This summer, Sarmiento is set to record the famous Ibiza Rocks concerts Past artists include Ed Sheeran, Rudimental, LCD Soundsystem, and Tinie Tempah; and this year’s run of shows promises to feature the same level of high-end performers across the board. For all these performances, Sarmiento will be turning to his DiGiGrid kit to capture all the audio.
“DiGiGrid has created an incredible ecosystem of audio interfaces,” Sarmiento insists. “The ability to connect via Ethernet has changed the game when it comes to system configuration, too. I am already using the DiGiGrid IOX, DLS, and MGB, and that entire system will be used for Ibiza Rocks throughout the summer season.
“I can record up to 128 channels of audio via MADI to the DiGiGrid MGB alone, and I can then connect
[via Ethernet] the DiGiGrid IOX, which will give me 12 channels of analogue inputs for crowd mics, and so on. When you tally that up, 140 channels of audio recording in such a small rack is pretty unbelievable, to be honest.”
Using an Ethernet hub, Sarmiento will record to multiple devices: in this case, his MacMini, and MacBook Pro.
“I will be using WAVES Tracks DAW to record all of the shows, and back at the Sonic Vista Studios villa, the same system will be used in Studio 6 for recording sessions, then the DiGiGrid DLS will connect to the Pro Tools HD 3 system to run extra DSP,” he continues. “It’s amazing to think that I can put the DiGiGrid IOX into the main villa room to record drums, and just run a single Ethernet cable, and suddenly I have four amazing sounding headphone outputs for the musicians! It really is that easy.”
The DiGiGrid system will allow Sarmiento to record pretty much anywhere within the Sonic Vista grounds: “even on the roof,” he smiles. And we wouldn’t put it past him.
“DiGiGrid has created new ways for engineers and producers to think on how to record, removing the limitation of previous infrastructure,” Sarmiento enthuses. “We will also be recording a new series of the Sonic Vista Tent Jam, which takes place in a large six-metre tent, and will feature unplugged live performances in a very unique environment, which we also stream live on Periscope to the world.”
The 2015 Sonic Vista Tent Jam featured two super-talented artists: Emma Hewitt, and Elijah Ray; and it all went rather well.
“We had thousands of people viewing the streaming on Periscope, plus our own studio tent audience of 15, up close and personal,” Sarmiento explains. “And this summer, we will be using the DiGiGrid solution for the whole event: to record the audio, and distribute it back to Studio A at the villa; and also to mix the audio for the sound system with a MacBook Pro and the SoundGrid software. The DiGiGrid DLS will be handling all of the Waves plugins used for the live mixing of the event in realtime, all connected via Ethernet, which is just perfect for me. Perhaps the most important, though, is time: entire setup is under 10 minutes. DiGiGrid is a company of innovators; music is clearly in their lifeblood.”
Check out Sonic Vista Studios.
