Sound designer, Bill Chesley just got himself an EVO 4 audio interface for his new home studio space, where he continues to work on commercials for Walmart, Fedex, Nike and Guinness. He decided to organise things ahead of the stay-at-home order announcement in New York State. “I’m in pretty close proximity to my actual studio, but thought I’d get a home setup going in these unpredictable times,” he explains.
EVO 4 “packs a lot of punch in a small space”
He co-runs the award-winning sound design collective, Henryboy with his wife, Kate Gibson where he uses an Audient iD22 audio interface. When considering a studio in their Brooklyn apartment, he was mindful of how much space he had to play with. “I gravitated towards EVO 4 because of its small footprint – it packs a lot of punch in a small space.” Which is exactly what he has to do now, with their multi-million dollar clients relying on them to continue to meet deadlines.
Describing his setup, he says: “I’m running ProTools ultimate on a MacBook Pro with loads of plugins and I’m running everything through EVO 4 to a pair of Genelecs. My go-to mics are a Neuman shotgun, an AudioTechnica 4025 and an AKG 414. I also use Sony handhelds quite often, and contact and EMF mics from LOM when I feel the need. I spend a lot of time recording my own sounds. I like a library, but you don’t always get the desired effect,” he says.
“I’ve always enjoyed the mic pres in the iD22”
He’s certainly pleased with his EVO 4. “I’ve always enjoyed the mic pres in the iD22, and what I’ve recorded with the EVO 4 so far is sounding great. Finding a monitor/preamp box like this for around $130 is kind of amazing really. It means I can get on with things without having to compromise on quality.”
Quality is important to Bill, who’s spent the best part of three decades working in sound design, including longform documentaries such as the Church of Scientology docu-film, Going Clear. His latest credit was for this year’s HBO crime documentary, Crazy, Not Insane – also directed by Alex Gibney. “Creating the sound design for flashback sequences of actual serial killers describing what they experienced mentally whilst committing murders was very strange indeed.”
“Finding a monitor/preamp box like this for around $130 is kind of amazing really.”
So, although New York might be on PAUSE – Policies Assure Uniform Safety for Everyone, in many ways it’s business as usual for Bill and Henryboy. “I’ve been fairly portable throughout my career, so this isn’t completely alien to me. I enjoy working from home. I sit right next to the garden door, which is great – and I get to hang with my 11 year old daughter, much to her chagrin,” he laughs.
EVO – and Audient – like the sound of that.
