Time is one of the most precious commodities we have,” says Edit 123 Dubbing Mixer Claire Asenova when talking about why the Glasgow facility decided to purchase two Avid S6 mixing consoles. “By acquiring two Pro Tools S6 desks we’ve dramatically improved our ability to meet our clients’ needs – the S6 has greater visual feedback and is fast and easy to use. The desk is built around you and this gives instant access to a much more ergonomic layout, allowing us more time to spend on the quality of the mix. Happy clients become regular clients, giving us a strong foundation to grow our business.”
And Edit 123 is a company that’s certainly growing. The services of Edit 123 are much sought after making it an extremely popular and busy facility. Conveniently situated in the centre of Glasgow, with shops, bars and restaurants a stone’s throw away, the facility is one of Scotland’s longest established post-production companies. There are two main strands to its business: working with a broad range of Scottish independent production companies, as well as BBC and STV, providing post-production for both local and network programmes (services include crewing, editing, grading, graphic design, and sound dubbing); and providing camera crews and editing sports packages for Sky Sports and BT Sport.
Claire continues: “The S6 has made a big difference to how we work. The master module touchscreen gives us instant access to any track allowing faster mixing capabilities all round, with easy navigation and various modes of layout to suit your preference. There are so many great features to the S6 and Pro Tools 12. In fact, we’re continuing to find new things that help to make our lives easier, make us more effective and freeing up more time to work on and improve the final mixes we deliver.”
The only way is S6
Claire’s colleague, Dubbing Mixer Karen Imbusch, explains how the S6 has made their lives easier: “Upgrading to Pro Tools 12 alongside the S6 mixing console has changed and improved our workflow here at Edit 123, freeing up more time to fine tune and create a better mix. One of the things I like most is the visual feedback as it really helps me navigate quickly and precisely. Another favourite new feature of Pro Tools 11 and 12 is the capability to export BWAVs faster than real time, speeding up routine tasks such as exporting files, and freeing up more time to concentrate on the quality of the mix. With the new S6 mixers we feel comfortable and reassured that we can do our job well.”
Some of the other key features of the S6 that the Edit 123 team have fallen in love with are the modularity, the ergonomics, and the intelligent studio control with EUCON. Not to mention networkability and scrolling waveforms!
Mediaspec – “They take the time to understand our business”
But it’s not just important to have the right equipment for the job, the right technical backup is crucial to keeping a busy post facility up and running, as Bill Fairweather, Business Development Manager at Edit 123 explains: “We’ve used Mediaspec as our preferred reseller since the early days of our facility. The team at Mediaspec have always been very professional to deal with and they take the time to understand our business. Any potential snags in the installation of the S6 desks and Pro Tools 12 were thought through and dealt with effectively. Also, for a busy facility such as ourselves, we were up and running with minimum disruption to the facility. Moreover, the high level of after sales support that Mediaspec provides as standard means that we have confidence that we can keep our business running effectively at all times.”
Avid S6 – when two become one
But why two S6 desks? How has having a complete S6 within adjacent dubbing studios improved how they work?
Claire Asenova explains: “We have two S6 16-fader mixing consoles in adjacent studios, both running Pro Tools 12. This means that Karen or I can seamlessly pick up on jobs that the other has started. Edit 123 has a great mix of work going through post production, from one-off programmes to 25-part series. We need to make sure everything stays on track from VO, mix, review, right through to layback and file delivery. The new S6 desks, along with significant advances in plug-ins, mean faster fixing and more time for creative mixing – the end result is happy clients”.
With happy customers at the forefront of Edit 123’s strategy, the facility is destined to go from strength to strength.
Eric Joseph, MD of audio technology reseller Mediaspec, agrees: “In one simple move, Edit 123 have dramatically improved the quality and efficiency of the services they provide. They’ve thought about what their clients need and how best to meet them, and with two S6 desks fully connected, and mirroring each other, they’ve made complex operations simple and transferable from one dubbing mixer to another. And, of course, they always have Mediaspec to help keep them running at optimum efficiency by meeting all their technical and support needs, and being there to advise and troubleshoot any technical issues. In short, it’s a company that just can’t fail.”
