Just under a year ago, we were lucky enough to acquire a Studer 963 console from a colleague for our studio, and so I thought it would be a nice place to start with some articles I’ll be writing about some of the gear in the studio - Groove Echo……. Studer is certainly a name synonymous with the audio industry. The Swiss company, founded by Willi Studer, are probably best known for their reel-to-reel tape machines, which gained widespread notoriety and have been a standard in mastering houses and cutting rooms worldwide for a few decades now.
Possibly better known in the broadcast world, Studer also produce consoles, and although now with a firm focus on the digital world with their Vista Series, they produced a range of high quality analogue consoles for many years.
Among these consoles was a range of broadcast consoles, the 960 series, comprising 3 models - 961, 962 & 963. The heritage of these consoles comes directly from the 169 and 269 consoles that preceded them. While the 961 & 962 are relatively compact, portable consoles; the 963 is a full studio install console, coming in a range of configurations specific to the studio they were first installed into.
Having become accustomed to the countless options of the SSL consoles throughout my time both schooling and then working with SAE, on first look, the Studer does seem like it could be a little limited. If you’re looking for all those options, that is.
The desk is very straight-forward, primarily a broadcast desk, it’s not inline, however each mono channel has a direct out, it has a standard “Recording” mode, where inputs can be selected from line inputs with 2 attenuation levels, mic inputs with 4 attenuation levels, tape inputs or the onboard oscillator and “Mix Down” mode, which naturally switches all the inputs to the tape inputs for mixing, each channel also features a “Mix Down Defeat” switch, setting the individual channel back into record mode for overdubbing.
A nice little feature is the ability to set the direct outs to take a Pre-fade signal, which when the desk has no monitoring for a post tape signal when recording, is very useful for achieving good recording levels without compromising a decent monitor mix.
Each channel can be routed to one of 8 groups, unfortunately the configuration of this particular desk doesn’t allow for any groups, something to be looked into for future modifications for sure. Signal is also routed from each channel to 4 masters (2 stereo masters).
Again this particular console has only 2 masters in the configuration, but this can be expanded easily with 2 more master modules.
Moving through the channels there’s a fixed HPF @ 75Hz, phase reverse button, and of course a phantom power switch, and 4 selectable pre/post auxs which are separated on the strip, 2 at the top and 2 at the bottom. At the bottom of the strip sits the pan and the channel fader. All pretty standard really.
The stereo channels are very much the same, minus the preamps and the associated parts (HPF, phantom, phase reverse), and here the pan becomes a balance control. The preamps are clean but warm, imparting just the right amount of character to take it way beyond the sterility of the SSL pre, and pushing them just to the edge can get some very pleasing results.
You might have noticed that I’ve missed one vital piece of the channel strip - The EQ. I leave this aspect of the desk until last, as this is the part that probably limits the desk the most.
I suppose in this day and age of as many instances of 7-band fully parametric EQs per channel as your computer can handle, a simple 3 band EQ with fixed shelving HF & LF, and just a swept mid seems like a bit of a nightmare, perhaps more the stuff of entry level consoles rather than pro-level. But my philosophy with most music is increasingly becoming “less is more”, and whilst at first I too was slightly apprehensive, my time spent actually using the desk over the last year fully reaffirms this ideal. I’d much rather work on getting the right sound from the sources to start with, and then do subtle adjustments to fit everything together in the mixdown, than recording with a “we’ll fix it in the mix” mentality.
The EQ itself is very musical in its action, if you have a poor recording it might not be enough to fix all the issues in a surgical manner, but for gentle adjustments to the frequency response the EQ is perfect: warm lows, and clear, pleasant highs with no real harshness combine with the mid, which is very natural and, despite the Q of 1, is very useable on a range of sources - from adding presence to vocals, to getting the cardboard box out of drums - and is a perfect tool for shaping your sounds into the mix.
Summing is tight, and there’s a built in compressor/limiter on the master buss if it’s required - it’s not one of my “go to” compressors for heavy work, more because of the lack of threshold and attack controls but for light work it’s definitely not something to leave as an afterthought.
I would have to say that the desk does have limitations in some areas; but the warmth and clarity of the console easily overshadows these, and I find that rather than being constrictive, it actually provides stimulation to think in other ways. Most importantly, it really makes you listen to the heart and soul of the music - if options are limited you are forced to make sure the choice you make are the ones that will complement the music in the best possible way. Certainly not a bad thing.
