Sound Designer Maurizio Argentieri Used Metric Halo’s Rock-Solid 3d System (with ULN-8 3d and 2882 3d Hardware) to Record and Mix 32 channels on the Set of Hulu’s Catch 22

SARDINIA, ITALY: When veteran sound designer Maurizio Argentieri was asked to record all the production sound for the modern Hulu miniseries adaptation of the Joseph Heller novel Catch 22, he surmised that it would be a difficult but rewarding assignment.

Catch 22 is the story of a World War II bombardier who is trapped by a twisted bureaucracy, and much of the action takes place on an air force base.

Filmed on the old Olbia Airport (Venafiorita) in Sardinia Italy, Argentieri not only had to capture all of the gritty ambient sounds together with highly-intelligible dialog, but also had to deliver pre-fader tracks and several different immediate mixes for different purposes.

After updating his truly future-proof Metric Halo interfaces (a five-year-old ULN-8 and a fifteen-year-old 2882) to work seamlessly with the very latest in digital connectivity via Metric Halo’s 3d hardware upgrade, Argentieri had sixteen analog inputs, eight digital inputs, and as many zero-latency output tracks and sub-mixes as he needed. Moreover, his Metric Halo interfaces and their MIO Console control software have the kind of rock-solid stability that guaranteed long days of perfectly reliable performance.

“I needed a powerful recording system that would allow me to record a large number of actors and a large number of ambient tracks and that would give me lots of mix-down capabilities on the fly,” Argentieri explained.

SAFETY HARBOR, FLORIDA: After earning a degree in classical guitar and finding that the world does not value classical guitarists as it should, Maurizio Argentieri retooled his education and fueled his passion for sound on the other side of the microphone. He dove in just as the industry was lurching from its analog foundations to its digital future, and he secured a very educational three-year gig as the on-location sound mixer for a small documentary crew that filmed Greenpeace activities around the world. “From there, I dreamed of recording sound for movies,” he laughed. Twenty years later, it’s clear that his dream became a reality. Argentieri has recorded and mixed for directors such as Mario Monicelli, Marco Bellocchio, Bernardo Bertolucci, Giuseppe Bertolucci, Mel Gibson, Barry Levinson, Spike Lee, Woody Allen, Ridley Scott, and Michel Comte. Comte is the visionary behind The Girl From Nagasaki, and Argentieri used his Metric Halo ULN-8 to record and tweak almost every aspect of the trans-opera’s sound.

Veteran producer Doc McKinney has worked with a wide range of innovative musicians, including Drake, Florence & the Machine, Santigold and most recently, The Weeknd. A close friend and accomplished mix engineer turned Doc on to the clear, faithful preamplification and conversion of the Metric Halo ULN-8. Doc now uses the ULN-8 for most of his audio production work.

Adrian Belew is a guitar virtuoso without peer. The flame of his long career, which produced enduring magic with Frank Zappa, Talking Heads, and David Bowie in front of thirty years at the head of foundational progressive rock band King Crimson, burns as brightly now as it ever has. Respected for his ability to produce tones and sounds with a guitar that bear no resemblance to the instrument's usual output, Belew draws crowds around the world with his independent work. He recently completed a home studio, centered on a pair of eight-channel Metric Halo ULN-8 interfaces with studio-grade mic preamps, where he is currently recording his forthcoming album.

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: Under the banner, “Outstanding Music for Outstanding Causes,” and the leadership of Michael Alexander Young, the Charities Philharmonia gets together twice a year to deliver creative and energetic concerts. All proceeds from the events go to benefit worthwhile causes and organizations. In recent years, Andrew Levine has had the opportunity to record the concerts, which almost always take place at St. John’s, Smith Square, in central London, a building erected in 1728 in the English Baroque-style. Its acoustics are stunning, and Levine has captured impressive stereo and surround recordings with minimal setup times using a Metric Halo ULN-8 mic-pre & interface with a Metric Halo MIO virtual mixer. The most recent recording took place at the end of May, with the ensemble performing Rachmaninov’s Isle of the Dead and Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA: Universal Mastering Studios - West (UMS-W) has fully reopened for business following its relocation from North Hollywood to the historic former Hanna-Barbera animation studios building in Hollywood. In the process, the facility's services have expanded to encompass a main mastering room and five production rooms, plus space for expansion into other areas of work, with every room outfitted with either Metric Halo interfaces or the company's OEM units supplied by mastering specialists Sonic Studio.

SPRINGFIELD, VIRGINIA: Airshow Mastering’s East Coast studios are relocating to a larger facility in Takoma Park, Maryland from its longtime operations base in Springfield, Virginia. The new facility will incorporate two mastering studios, each equipped with an eight-channel Metric Halo ULN-8 interface outfitted with the latest 2d upgrades and running v5 software in conjunction with soundBlade™ software from Sonic Studio, LLC.

Douglas Cuomo’s remarkable aptitude for creating engaging music across genres has earned him renown in the concert halls and on the operatic and theatrical stages of the world.

FROME, UNITED KINGDOM: For anyone who lives to make music and pines for a soulmate, it would be hard not to envy Irish folk vocalist Cara Dillon and her husband Sam Lakeman. The two met in the band Equation and quickly left to walk – as seen in hindsight – a sure and steady path to artistic, commercial, and familial success. Winning dozens of awards and countless accolades, Dillon’s otherworldly voice takes the spotlight, and the duo have created and produced four solid albums on Rough Trade Records and, now, their own Charcoal Records. Lakeman also serves as the recording engineer in their second floor (this fact will become important) home studio. Tired of cobbling together equipment and re-jiggering routing on menu-heavy digital boxes, Lakeman purchased the powerful Metric Halo ULN-8 combination mic pre, converter and DSP. But from the time he would receive it to the time he would use it to record a guerilla session for Dillon’s cover of “Corrina Corrina,” both blessings and tribulations would profoundly intervene.

HOPEWELL JUNCTION, NEW YORK: Nick Jr. television favorite “The Backyardigans” have embarked on a ‘rocktacular medieval adventure’ across the U.S. with a Metric Halo system that unusually integrates sound system analysis and playback into a single setup. Conceived and implemented by associate designer Allen Rowand for sound designer Kai Harada, the integrated Metric Halo Mobile I/O system and SpectraFoo software speeds up the show’s load-in and tuning process, while also reducing equipment and cost.