Audient Console Serves As A ‘Creative Hub’

Producer and writer, Dominick Goldsmith has been getting to know his new ASP4816 over the last few weeks. One third of the London band, HAELOS, he’s been spending a lot of time in his home studio finishing off the latest HAELOS EP Somnum, as well as completing a number of other EPs with artists to be released via his new imprint, Indigo Kin.

“ASP4816 gets big-ups for the intuitive layout that allows one to flow”

Located in a purpose-built cabin at the bottom of his garden Dom’s home studio is where he gets creative. “I work with a mixture of analogue synths from Roland, Sequential and Korg mingled with an array of Eurorack modular,” he explains.

“The monitoring position is pretty good, however due to the cubed shape of the space, towards the edges it is much less true. With my synth collection being towards the sides this keeps me moving to reference truly how things are sitting. That is where the desk is obviously, so it works okay in terms of workflow. I also have tie lines to the house so we can record sessions in the living room and use the studio as a control room.”

Getting out of the box

The compact mixing console from Audient has been working out very well for him, especially as he prefers not to spend hours at a computer screen. “I like to use my hands and ears the most,” he says, emphasising how ASP4816 is ideal for the way he works. “It is my creative hub. It acts as the central brain that I can route everything through. Sometimes using the Eurorack as a signal processor, the ASP4816’s array of auxes become another musical instrument in my tracking process.”

“It acts as the central brain that I can route everything through”

In spite of – or perhaps thanks to – working with analogue consoles for 15 years, it’s still the simple things that he appreciates about his ASP4816. “The control room source selection is great because it allows me to keep everything analogue and leave the computer and DAW out of things for a little while at the beginning of the creative process. It’s such a simple feature, but not one I had enjoyed prior to this in my own setup.” He adds, “The ASP4816 gets big-ups for the intuitive layout that allows one to flow.”

Branching out

Dom will have ample opportunity to flow as he uses his studio to record artists signed by his brand new label, Indigo Kin. Fostering a “fiercely artist-friendly attitude that is inclusive and sustainable in supporting talent”, the label has just launched its first artist, Bea. “Influenced by soul music and electronic genres, it’s been a joy making music with her over the last two years. You can find Blue Escape on Spotify now which has been getting some great support on editorial playlists and just had its first spin on Radio 1 thanks to Jack Saunders’ early support,” he says.

“The other founding artist for the label is Berlin alt-electronic outfit, LEOI. They have a nostalgia for late noughties bands like Animal Collective or Yeasayer.” The first release from LEOI was out in late September and Bea’s next single is available as of 1st October.

Incredibly, this is not all. For the last eight years Dom has been working on LARKO JOY which is to be released Q1 2022. “It’ll be nice to get some of that music out of the studio, finally.” So, what with that, the rest of the EP from Bea, the first music from LEOI and possibly even a HAELOS single still to come out this year, Dom and his Audient ASP4816 have a lot to look forward to. (See below record artwork for LEOI, LARKO JOY and Bea)