Forty years after qualifying as a Sound Engineer, Greg von Menge is finally doing what he always wanted: working on music and recording with his recently refurbished, second-hand ASP8024 Classic console. He built himself a large, stand-alone recording studio in his backyard to accommodate it – and the host of vintage synths & studio hardware that no longer fit in his original studio indoors – and now enjoys writing and producing his own music, alongside a smattering of commercial work.
It took four decades to get there though, as life took a very different turn for Greg when a serious motorbike accident put an end to his original dreams of live audio work. Based in Melbourne Australia, he started an art services & picture framing business to keep the bills paid. He never strayed far from his love of music however, continuing to write and record music from a small home studio, picking up freelance work for Australian broadcaster ABC and writing soundtracks for indie films and documentaries. He also kept his hand in with studio work by freelancing out of a commercial 24 track analogue studio.
“With over 80 channels at my disposal, everything can be plugged in at all times ready to record at the push of a button.”
In the intervening years, he has steadily accumulated a variety of analogue synthesizers, audio equipment and musical instruments, setting up a small home studio centred around an Audient Zen which he bought brand new from local Audient retail outlet, Awave back in 2010. “The Zen is a fantastic compact mixer with 32 channels at mix down. I love that you can flip the channels, hit the flip fader button and your 16 DAW channels are now on 16 faders,” he says.
His connection with Awave owner, Lewis Chiodo led to a fortuitous opportunity more recently. A 10 year-old ASP8024 which had originally been purchased in 2012 for the Victorian College of the Arts new studio was starting to show signs of wear and tear, so Greg managed to buy it for a song. “Electronically it was perfect except for a few LEDs on the meter bridge,” he says. Aesthetically it needed a bit more tlc. He stripped off the timber, sanded and re-stained it. All faders and knobs were removed and washed carefully with a toothbrush. Windex took care of the aluminium and then he opened up each bay to give it a vacuum. “It was actually very clean inside! When I put it back together it looked brand new.”
The large format console, which includes Dual Layer Control (DLC) and a patchbay, is now the centrepiece of his studio, taking the reins from his Zen. “It is a fantastic addition to the studio, everything revolves around the ASP8024. With over 80 channels at my disposal, everything can be plugged in at all times ready to record at the push of a button.”
“everything revolves around the ASP8024”
His setup in his new, purpose built studio includes over 24 vintage synthesizers and drum machines patched directly into the desk. He runs two Mac computers both with separate AD/DA converters; one is a Lynx 24 channel which acts as the multi track running Logic, Cubase and Reaper and the other is Dangerous Convert 2 and Dangerous AD+ running as a two-track recorder with Cubase and Wave Lab Pro.
Greg has an array of hardware compressors in the space, and numerous mics, guitars and bass guitars. Monitors are Focal Trio 11, Focal Solo 6 and Yamaha NS10, and the mastering chain is all patched to a Dangerous Liaison which is subsequently patched to the Audient patchbay. Greg explains, “The Audient console is effectively acting like a big router which gives me the flexibility to run all the synths live with midi and audio from the multi track and catch it on the 2 track. I think in America the process is called pitch and catch when mastering.
“ASP8024 is an inline desk and just like the Zen has the flip fader button, making it very flexible”
“I am fortunate that my console came with the patchbay,” he continues. “There are 24 – 8 channels D-Subs on the back of the console – super-easy. The ASP8024 is an inline desk and just like the Zen has the flip fader button, making it very flexible.”
Whilst refurbishing the desk, Greg took the decision to upgrade the ASP8024 power supply. “The original was still working fine, but I was told that the new model was virtually silent. They weren’t wrong! Anybody thinking of upgrading should, because it makes a big difference in a soundproof room.”
“the main thing about all Audient products is the build quality and reliability. My Zen has been switched on pretty much every day since 2010 – that’s 15 years without a problem”
Singing the praise of all his Audient gear, he continues, “I still use the Zen almost every day. The main thing about all Audient products is the build quality and reliability. My Zen has been switched on pretty much every day since 2010 – that’s 15 years without a problem.
“There are so many things that stand out with Audient. I know I can turn on the ASP8024 console every morning and it’s just going to work every time. It’s low cost to run and uses surprisingly little power. It’s also very easy to use: well laid out with a very logical signal path. Best of all, it sounds great!”
ASP8024 Classic console: “low cost to run and uses surprisingly little power”
It has definitely taken a little longer than he anticipated, but Greg is basking in the fact that nowadays he is able to focus on his passion – writing and producing music. He does so along with Ben Coe, a talented composer, recording, mixing and mastering engineer – and Head of Broadcast and Digital at Arts Centre, Melbourne – that he met at Awave.
In between his private work, Greg has taken on a smattering of commercial projects including voiceovers, mastering work and sound design. When asked what he’s been up to, he waxes lyrical: “My last job was writing the soundtrack for a documentary film on the building of the Victorian Pride Centre in Melbourne. I’m also working on mastering some of my older soundtracks with Ben to put on my new SoundCloud and I’m currently writing music for an upcoming architectural documentary film.”
As for what’s coming up, he has quite the list. “I’m going to work on a sample library for Kontakt as well as some soundscapes. I plan to build a Foley studio next door to my main studio and produce a new sound to replace that seatbelt ‘ding’ on planes,” he laughs. He’s certainly making up for lost time. “I would love to build an Atmos studio incorporating the new Audient ORIA Immersive Audio Interface and Monitor Controller.”
“[ASP8024 Classic] is a fantastic addition to the studio”
Well Greg, we can’t wait to hear how you get on with all of that! Have a listen to what he’s been up to on Soundcloud and see what Ben Coe has been doing on YouTube here and here.
