Mobile recording rigs have a distinguished history, and a good part of it was written inside an Airstream: Ronnie Lane's mobile studio, built into one of these trailers, is behind records such as The Who's Quadrophenia and Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti. Sweetwater, which started in 1979 as a mobile studio in a Volkswagen bus, now revives the idea with an Airstream converted into an immersive production studio.
A System T at the heart of the control room
The project, designed by Russ Berger Design Group with input from Airstream's own engineering department, starts from a 25-foot chassis. At its center sits a three-bay Solid State Logic System T S500m console running the TE2 Tempest engine, a PMC Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 monitoring system and two SSL MPL 16-8 Dante stageboxes.
The choice makes technical sense. In a space where everything has to come in through the door, since the body is a shell sealed to the chassis, a compact control surface with a powerful processing engine replaces much of the outboard rack. The System T, born as a broadcast console, combines preamps, conversion, EQ, dynamics and immersive monitoring on a single platform, so you can record, monitor and mix in Atmos without changing environments.
Acoustics in three zones
The most interesting challenge is acoustic. An aluminum box this size is a poor starting point for accurate low end. The solution was to treat the trailer as three zones: front, middle and rear. The control room and console sit in the middle, open to the front lounge and, at the back, to a perforated wall. Low-frequency energy vents toward the ends instead of building up at the mix position, which is where the system really needs to sound right.
From arena shows to overdub sessions
The trailer works in two ways. Parked next to a venue, it can connect over Dante to the front-of-house console through the System T HC card and record up to 512 channels at 48 kHz or 256 at 96 kHz, enough for a major concert or a sports broadcast. For a more traditional setup, the two MPL 16-8 units provide 32 mic inputs on stage. Inside, several I/O panels and an Aviom monitoring system let two or three musicians cut vocals, guitars or keys with their own gear.
It has been on the road for a couple of months, has already handled Atmos mixes for major artists and has been shown at several events. Beyond the eye-catching trailer, the project shows how far a reference-grade immersive control room can be compressed today.
More information: www.solidstatelogic.com · www.sweetwater.com
