Steelworks Studios - Sheffield

The addition of the Sony Oxford plug-in range with TC Powercore has been an invaluable tool for Mike Percy and Tim Lever at Steelworks Studios in Sheffield.

Previously working with pop artists such as Blue, S Club7, Spice Girls, Five, Emma Bunton and last year doing an album for The American Idol TV series, this year they have been writing for 19 artists Rachel Stevens and Gareth Gates and are currently producing an album for new guitar band Milburn.

Since moving over to PC from Mac we have become so much more reliant on plug-ins to work alongside our Neve Capricorn. The Sony plug-ins have taken us to another level of quality not only in a recording situation but especially in the mixing and mastering stages.

After living with the plug ins for some months you find yourself not going back to your old favourites but going straight to the Oxfords. Whether that’s to add punch to snares and toms with the Trans Mod or give your Masters an extra boost with the Inflator without the distortion many limiters seem to give.

The Dynamics plug-in is second to none, with the compression being versatile enough to use on lead vocals or over drum and guitar groups etc. It can have a smooth almost inaudible effect or can quite easily have a more aggressive quality. Some gates are better than others and the one in the dynamics package is better than most others! The warmth on the dynamics is also a nice tool to give that extra fatness and “tube” style effect. We mainly seem to use it on percussion but it is particularly useful on guitars.

The Oxford EQ is always the first EQ we go to. We find that you can really drive it without getting harshness. We tend to always go for the Type 3 which gives a real “outboard” quality, or the Type 4 which is a must for adding that final touch of quality to your Master.

Simply put, we would find it very difficult to work now without the Oxford range.

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