Not many people know about SST studios, but just a stones throw from New York City, some of the world's biggest performers come to work, rehearse and record in their high-spec but low-profile facilities.

Their main stock in trade is backline rentals, and one of the world's biggest collections of backline equipment, along with some very special items of historical interest, reside in the SST stores. Myriad hard-to-find outboard processors, microphones and instruments are on hand to paying guests. 

SST's latest development is the completion of their main tracking room, which is built adjacent to their acoustically treated live stage: a performance space where bands can come to rehearse with a full touring PA and backline rigs.

 Customised, transformer-balanced input panels feed the tracking room, the monitor desk and the front-of-house console simultaneously, so multitrack recordings can be made of 'as live' shows. What's more, SST have multiple HD cameras that can be brought in so a music video can be shot at the same time!

Pride of place in the new SST tracking room is a 1994 Focusrite Studio console, serial no. 9 (originally from Bear Tracks, NY), renovated by SST's studio team headed by Mike DiSalvo. "It took about two weeks in total. We had it trucked up from Tennessee with all the parts in buckets, literally!" Perhaps unsurprisingly, for a 15-year-old console, some of the circuit boards needed fixing, so the in-house technical crew tracked down replacement components and restored them to their former glory.

“Having 72 ISA110 mic pres available certainly brings a smile to my face every morning when I walk in.“ 

One of the team's most painstaking tasks was re-seating the ISA110 preamp modules, the trademark Focusrite processors that made the legendary Forte and the proceeding Studio console so desirable. "Because the 110s are at an angle, we had to lower them exactly the right way so we didn't bend the pins. If we weren't careful, the whole board could have gone down."

But why go to all this effort to salvage the Studio console from near dereliction? "The sound of this console is exactly what attracted it to us: great pres, very nice EQ's, and that sound that sort of falls in between a Neve and an SSL. It's more audiophile than a Neve VR, but warmer than an SSL J-series."

Being so fond of the Focusrite sound, SST also have ISA430 Producer Packs, an ISA215 and another ISA110 — designed using the same circuits as the Studio console — in their smaller suites. Mike DiSalvo: "Clients don't have to shell out the dollars to re-book the main room if they forget to do an overdub, they can simply book a smaller suite and still have access to the same Focusrite sound delivered by our Studio console."

The best thing about the Focusrite console? "Having 72 ISA110 mic pres available certainly brings a smile to my face every morning when I walk in. Having a quad two-bus matrix makes it a joy to work on also."

For your chance to appreciate the Focusrite Studio sound, try out the Forté Suite, the collection of Audio Units, VST and RTAS plug-ins that carries the Focusrite Studio legacy into the software age. Also, the ISA range of top-class outboard hardware, which is designed using the original circuits from the consoles. You won't be disappointed. 

Thanks to SST studios for allowing us access to their wonderful facilities.