John Newton from Soundmirror showing off his favorite new piece of kit.

Soundmirror have an impressive list of clients, from world-renowned orchestras to world-famous record labels. Much of their work is done on location, which means taking all recording equipment with them. Which are just some of the reasons why Soundmirror, one of the world’s premier independent classical music recording and post-production studios, has bought four Tangos.

For Soundmirror, there are many reasons why Tango stands out from the crowd – its intuitive system, its award winning design and ergonomic good looks, the high quality, well laid out components, its compatibility with digital audio workstations including Pyramix.

Soundmirror were already familiar with the patented ARC Technology having purchased the first Smart Console Elite in North America some years ago. The Elite is a powerful tool and Soundmirror had put it through its paces and tested the compatibility with their Pyramix workstations. On seeing the Tango for the first time, it was love at first sight. Says John Newton, Grammy award-winner in 2008 (for Best Engineered Classical Album), ‘The Tango’s good looks, especially its touch screen, immediately catch your eye - the layout is superb and makes it very easy to use. However, our decision to purchase was made because we already knew the compatibility of Pyramix and the ARC Technology, so that Tango would make our work faster and easier.’

Thankfully the Tango units are smaller than comparable controllers, they live in their flight cases and travel well. Two of the units reside in the Boston-based studios. Even in the studio, their size has a particular advantage, says Newton ‘we have a small studio that would normally be too small to house a powerful controller like the Tango. But thanks to its size, we’ve installed the Tango, and it extends our facilities considerably.’

The Tango has many features and is a perfect solution for Soundmirror’s requirements; it gives a user fast control over the Pyramix workstation via a Cat 5 cable (and is just as fast with Logic, Final Cut Pro, Nuendo, and Pro Tools). The whole process of mixing is speeded up as layouts can be recalled immediately via the user definable touch screen layout. It’s possible to control up to 300 channels, which is more than enough even for the largest orchestra or choir.

For other post-production studios, like Soundmirror, who demand the highest standards, attention to detail is a must and equipment that can streamline the production process is welcome. SmartAV’s Tango fits the bill on all points.