Press Releases

NEW YORK — Foxy Brown's new album, Broken Silence (Def Jam Music Group), chronicles a world of drugs, suicide attempts, and torrid love affairs. Tracked and mixed at AVATAR Studios, New York's legendary audio recording and mixing facility, the project was engineered by the team of Erik Steinert and Axel Niehaus simultaneously in Studios' B and D.

"Avatar is a very happening studio," says Axel Niehaus a veteran of projects ranging from Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin to the Roots and Erykah Badu. "It has a lot of attributes that are awesome. It has a really old Neve board in one room, which allows us to do alternative R&B, alternative soul stuff. It acoustically sounds amazing. (The studio) has a beautiful vibe to it and an excellent staff. It's been on the map for a long time."

As each song reached completion on the recording side, they were then played back through Avatar's SL 9000 J Series for expert caressing by Niehaus. "I'm the analogue guy on this team and the results we got here at AVATAR are stunning," says Niehaus. "The SL 9000 is really an awesome-sounding board and the sound combined with the automation makes it almost flawless. In addition, working at AVATAR has been a terrific experience because the entire staff is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to the equipment and the music industry in general. AVATAR has turned out some pretty incredible albums over the years and Foxy's album will surely be added to that list."

Mixed in Studio B, quietly becoming one of the busiest mix rooms in NYC, the room houses a 72 input SSL9000J, custom Urei 813b main monitors powered by Bryston 7b Amps, a BagEndz subwoofer, Genelec 1031a nearfields and every multitrack format imaginable can be seamlessly accommodated. Niehaus' medium of choice for the Foxy Brown project was with Pro Tools and the mixes were printed to DAT and CDR. However, some material came in on 2" analog, so two Studer A800MKIII machines were kept on hand at all times. Niehaus's choice monitors were a pair of Genelec S30 midfields. Tannoy DMT12's were used for tracking. The Pro Tools system consisted of 48 channels of Digidesign 888's with AIT2 backup.

Niehuas and Steinert, who own the production company Stray Dog Music, also relied on AVATAR's analog and digital setup to enable them to meet the needs of the project. "As we branch more and more into production and into songwriting (having a digital and analog) setup becomes more and more important to us," explains Niehuas. "We are definitely trying to incorporate (the digital world) into our analog world. Working at AVATAR definitely makes that easier."

AVATAR Studios is a 31,000 square foot multi-room facility on Manhattan's west side dedicated to providing the highest possible quality audio recording services to the recording industry. The studio houses four premier recording rooms containing Neve 8068, two SSL 9000J and a Neve VRP, as well as two Pro Tools Suites. A 24-hour facility, AVATAR is completing construction on two additional editing suites and has just added an outdoor, rooftop deck for clients to relax between their recording sessions.

For booking information, please contact: Studio Manager Tino Passante at Tel: 212.765.7500, Fax: 212.765.7450, or E-mail: tino@avatarstudios.net.