Aktuelle News & Schlagzeilen

Denver’s Dvlp Academy becomes first educational facility to install Solid State Logic Oracle

Dvlp Academy, a music production and audio engineering school based in Denver, Colorado, recently became the first educational facility to install a Solid State Logic Oracle “Future Analogue” in-line mixing console. Dvlp (“develop”) - founded by engineer, producer, educator and entrepreneur Drew Dugan - takes a career-focused approach to modern music education, combining hands-on training in production and audio engineering with artist development, career strategy, branding and marketing.

Dvlp’s flagship Denver facility encompasses three studios, all networked via Dante and video. Studio A, where the SSL Oracle 24 is the centerpiece, and Studio B, which features an SSL X-Desk, each incorporate an ISO booth. A live room is accessible from all three control rooms, allowing the entire building to function as one interconnected studio.

Upstairs, the building houses a student lounge, accommodation for visiting artists and a rooftop deck along with a pair of Jadis Eurythmie II speakers. The facility was designed by Dugan and built with assistance from Robert Skelton, Ben Boggs, Dvlp manager Connor McGhee, and Dvlp’s team of instructors, producers and students.

Dugan’s long experience with SSL’s music production consoles led him back to the manufacturer when selecting equipment for Dvlp’s Studio A. The SSL Oracle combines a totally analogue signal path with instant recall and reset of every function.

Oracle’s control surface enables users to page through 8-channel blocks of inputs in each bay of the console and allows them to rearrange those inputs in any order, while the 16,000 step resolution across all controllable parameters gives engineers the immediacy of hands-on analogue operation with the accuracy required for recall and repeatable settings.

Oracle’s in-line design means that Dvlp’s 24-channel console offers 48 simultaneous inputs. A further sixteen lines can also be introduced through the stereo subgroup faders, for a total of 64 mixdown inputs. “I love the classic small fader/large fader situation”, says Dugan. “I can record and monitor in and out to the interface on one console channel.”

For Dvlp, Oracle is more than a recording console. It also represents an opportunity to expose students to a new generation of production workflows that combine the sonic benefits of large-format analogue recording with the flexibility and efficiency expected in modern professional studios. Students can move seamlessly between tracking, overdubbing and mixing sessions while recalling console settings in seconds, enabling instructors to teach contemporary hybrid production techniques alongside traditional engineering fundamentals.

For students accustomed to DAW-centric workflows, Oracle also brings the physical experience of mixing back to the forefront, as Dugan explains: “We’re all so mouse-heavy that it’s been a cool opportunity to force ourselves into using faders again to automate the mix. It’s such an empowering thing to ‘play’ the mix rather than try to catch up to it with the mouse.”

“And it’s cool to be able to switch between the console and DAW layers”, he adds. “While I’m mixing something, I can go to the analogue layer and hit my outputs to drive the outboard gear on the faders, or I can pop over to the DAW layer and automate in the DAW before it hits the gear.”

Dvlp isn’t just a trade school offering hands-on engineering and production training. “We actively develop and produce artists as well”, says Dugan. “We take projects through our five-step Dvlp Method - songwriting, pre-production, production, mixing and mastering. From there, we can continue into branding, content and full-service marketing. It means our students are learning inside a real working environment where the same processes we teach are being applied every day. Education, production and artist development all live under one roof. It’s a full ecosystem.”

Through its career-focused programs in music production, audio engineering and artist development, Dvlp gives students the opportunity to learn in that same professional environment while building the skills, experience and body of work needed to pursue careers in today’s music and creative industries.

“The coolest part is that our students get to learn on Oracle every day”, Dugan concludes. “Being the first educational facility with one is exciting, but what matters most is what our students can do with it. They’re learning the fundamentals of working on a large-format analogue console while experiencing a workflow that represents where modern music production is heading.”

SSL will be exhibiting at the AES Show Nashville, where its latest solutions for the education market - including the new Odyssey and Origin Evo - will be demonstrated at Booth 104.

(Photos: Solid State Logic)

www.solidstatelogic.com

© 1999 - 2026 Entertainment Technology Press Limited News Stories