Press Release - Producer/Multi-Instrumentalist Behind Celldweller Unlocks a Brand New Cosmos of Sound with Antelope Audio's Orion32

Celldweller has been forging a reputation since the early 2000s for visceral, driving music that seamlessly blends rock and electronica in a way that could only be achieved by way of his unique larger than life productions. While his creative approach to sound has remained constant since his first Celldweller releases, his gear has continually evolved. Working out of his Detroit studio, he recently overhauled his system to take advantage of the industry-leading clocking and conversion of Antelope Audio’s Orion32.

This multi-instrumentalist, who fans know as Klayton, considers any sound fair game for his compositions. “I will pick up anything around me that makes sound and try to figure out a way to use it,” Klayton explains. In the midst of a busy summer putting the finishing touches on his latest Celldweller release End of an Empire, Klayton is working on two film scores and preparing to work on a video game score in the fall that he recently signed on to compose. “I like to stay busy,” he says.

Breaking the Cycle

Klayton’s previous audio interfaces were part of an incumbent fixed hardware and software system that was no longer meeting his needs. “I was really tired of the expensive upgrades and poor support and was looking to branch out on both the hardware and software fronts,” he says. He stumbled across the Orion32 because of its features. “It had D-SUB input and output, it had dual ADAT in and out which I use for my modular synth setup, and it had the world-renowned Antelope clock — plus the fact that it could stream 32 channels over USB, which was dumbfounding,” Klayton recalls. He soon acquired two Orion32 units and added MADI cards to enable access to the full 64 channels of I/O. “The sound quality is incredible,” he says. “I very quickly threw my old converters up on eBay and never looked back. I even got rid of my old stand-alone master clock.”

Perfect Every Step of the Way

When Klayton puts together a Celldweller track, he handles every aspect of the production from the tracking to mixing to mastering. The Orion32 excelled every step of the way, enabling a great workflow and commanding results. “The Orion is great for tracking, it’s really responsive and sounds great on both top end and low end and latency is really low,” says Klayton, who uses the Orion’s inputs exclusively for everything from guitars to strings to synths. The generous number of input and output channels also did wonders for his workflow. “I’m a one man band, so having 64 channels of I/O is great because I can have everything from guitars to synth patched and ready to go at all times,” he says. “I also leave some of the channels on the Orion set up as inserts for my outboard gear, which lets me patch it into my DAW as easily as I could a plugin.”

Bridging Worlds: Analog and Digital

On Celldweller’s upcoming release End of an Empire, Klayton found himself mixing analog and digital sound sources and external processing more adventurously than ever before. “There’s more analog synthesis and outboard gear on this album than anything I’ve done in my career, and the warmth of those sounds is retained by the Orion on both input and output, which is key.”

Klayton concedes that mixing a Celldweller track is a complex endeavor, so the clarity of the Orion’s outputs is key in helping dial in just the right settings. “I jam so many elements into one track that it can be a struggle to try to make everything sound good together,” he explains. “I definitely found that I wasn’t wrestling against the interface to try to get my top-end and low-end clarity, which was an improvement over other rigs I had used.” Klayton is also now able to take advantage of the full range of audio software available on the market without the restrictions of his previous hardware. “It’s great to be able to run any software I can get my hands on with the full 64 channels of pristine I/O from my Orions.”

Curiously creative by nature, Klayton’s work is constantly evolving as he experiments with new sounds to incorporate into his compositions. “I just bought a cello, mostly for sound design stuff,” he says. “I’m not planning on playing a concerto at any point.” With the Orion32 as the core of his studio setup, he knows he has the right tools to capture any sound he can produce and help conjure any sound he can imagine. His words of wisdom for fans and fellow producers: “Your ear is your most valuable tool in all of this, but having great gear goes a long way.”

About Antelope Audio

Antelope Audio is a leading manufacturer of high-end professional audio equipment and the pioneer in the adoption of Atomic clock generators. The company utilizes Igor Levin's more than 20 years’ experience in digital audio to develop professional and consumer high-end products with the signature Antelope Audio sound. The company employs proprietary clocking and jitter management technologies as well as custom-designed digital and analog circuits to provide both professional audio engineers and music aficionados with unprecedented musicality, sound stage and clarity. Antelope is the first to design a 1U 32-channel audio interface and a multi-channel portable interface with 12 mic pres. Antelope's breakthrough technologies are offering both studio and live audio engineers great productivity and flexibility. The company's customers include many Grammy award-winning sound engineers and some of the most renowned recording, mastering and post-production facilities around the globe.

Press Release - For Queens of the Stone Age, Sweethead and Other Projects, Guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen Plugs Into BAE Audio

North Hollywood, CA, – Since 2002, Troy Van Leeuwen has been captivating audiences around the world with his chunky rhythm guitar and searing leads as a member of revered hard rock band Queens of the Stone Age. His distinctive guitar style has also surfaced in acts including A Perfect Circle and Sweethead. With QOTSA currently on hiatus, Van Leeuwen has been focusing his energy on other projects including Sweethead’s latest album — keeping BAE Audio preamplifiers close by his side.  

Tracking both records primarily in his home studio, Van Leeuwen uses a combination of BAE Audio preamplifiers to capture the sounds and performances he and his bandmates create in the studio, citing the gear's ability to achieve "the coveted performance of vintage British preamps" — coupled with the durability of BAE Audio’s modern construction and hand-wiring.

Van Leeuwen became acquainted with BAE Audio preamps during QOTSA sessions at a Los Angeles recording studio, Pink Duck. “We used a lot of BAE Audio mic pres on the last record,” he says. After hearing the performance of BAE Audio’s 312A and 1028 preamplifiers at Pink Duck — and subsequently meeting BAE Audio President Mark Loughman, Van Leeuwen outfitted his home studio with many of the same BAE Audio preamps that were present in Pink Duck. Since then, the BAE Audio's 312A and 1028 have featured prominently in all his recent tracking sessions.

Two Sizes Fit All

“Between the 312A and the 1028 you can really get everything you need,” Van Leeuwen observes. “On drums I’m using the 312A on everything except kick and snare. They’ve got a punch to them and a quick attack that really lets the character of a well-tuned tom come through.” The 312A also pairs well with ribbon microphones, Van Leeuwen’s preferred choice for overheads. “Ribbon mics don’t sizzle your ears off with high end from the cymbals which I really appreciate. The 312A has plenty of gain and really captures what they’re doing on the kit.” For the kick and snare, he calls the 1028 into service to add some bite. “I like to drive the input so there’s some extra crack to the attack, and the 1028 is perfect for that.”

Bass guitars also get the 312A and1028 treatment, he says: "I'll use a 312 with a DI to take a direct signal and then also route it out to an amp, which I’ll mic up into the 1028. I like the attack of the 312 and then I’ll get the roundness and warmth of the speaker cab, which can benefit from the EQ options of the 1028.”

Preserving Sonics in the Signal Chain

But what about Van Leeuwen primary weapon, the guitar? “Whether it’s for Queens of the Stone Age or my other projects, we’re getting the sounds we want for the guitar with our amps and pedals. So what we really need is a preamp that will capture that sound with no frills and the 312A is perfect for that. It has a little punch to it, but otherwise it’s not really coloring the sound, so it does exactly what we want," he explains.

Van Leeuwen says that BAE Audio preamplifiers will remain a fixture of his recording signal chain for the foreseeable future. “Anything that I’m doing at my studio at home I’m using it. And when we start doing the next Queens of the Stone Age record I’m sure we’ll be using it for that too,” he says. 

“I am a big fan of old technology with new components because it’s so much more reliable than vintage gear. With BAE Audio you’re getting everything you love about the sound of that vintage gear, but without the headaches of old technology," he observes. He and his bandmates are so confident in the performance of their BAE Audio gear that they’re planning to take it on the road for live performances next time around. “We’ve just been getting into patching in our own compression and signal processing when we go on the road, so it would be nice to bring some of those 1028s as well.”

For more information on any of BAE Audio's preamplifiers, please visit http://www.baeaudio.com.

About BAE Audio

BAE Audio is a U.S.-based manufacturer of high-end microphone preamp and equalizers, all of which are faithful to vintage designs of the seventies and before. The company is committed to the vintage philosophy of hand wiring and hand soldering all of its components to achieve a high quality and authentically vintage sound. For more information on BAE Audio, please visit our website at www.baeaudio.com.