Yes, I know I’ve written and said a LOT about this product this last year, and yes, for most people it’s only been available the last week or so, BUT I’m choosing this as my product of the year, as I truly believe that this console is what some people in the industry call, ‘a game-changer’. In this article I am going to explain why.

My Console History

My favourite console of all time has become somewhat of a running joke and stuff of legend on the podcast, and indeed among the Production Expert team. To fully understand why, and to best understand my choice of the Avid S1 as my product of the year, let’s have a look at the highlights of my console history -

• Neve 51 Series with Necam96 Automation

• Custom Calrec Assignable with AMS Automation

• Trident Series 80

• DDA AMR24

• Malcolm Toft MTA 980

• Harrison Series 12

• SoundTracs DPC

• AMS Neve DFC

• Digidesign ProControl

• Digidesign D-Command & D-Control

• Avid S6

• Artist Mix & Artist Control

• Avid S1 and Avid Dock

There are obvious landmarks and classics among these. I was incredibly lucky that the first console I used professionally was a Neve 51 series, with a custom MagTrax film monitor section and Neve Necam96 moving fader automation. I’ve never since found an analogue console that I’ve felt so instantly at home with. As well as the gunmetal finish, it was built like an absolute tank - you could feel the quality dripping off it, and it certainly kept you warm. I absolutely adored the Neve “Sound”.

Falling In Love With Automation And Assignability

Necam96 was brilliant, but ahead of its time and technical capacity - there was no way you could automate a whole program. As was the AMS automation on the Calrec console I got to use at the BBC. It too could only store a limited amount, but what made the Calrec stand out to me was the assignability. This was my entry into true “random access” mixing - the ability to allocate and re-allocate resources at will and not be limited just by the size of the console surface.

Back To Analogue

There followed a period of going back to “traditional” non-automated consoles - the Trident Series 80, the MTA 980 and the DDA AMR24. The latter we inherited when we took over another company. What stood out for me was its modifiable nature. This one already had a MagTrax Dolby SVA LCRS Film monitor section, but it only had eight output busses. We needed to push up to 5.1 mixing and Digital Multitrack recorders, so with the help of Malcom Toft, we expanded it and the MagTrax to 24 output busses and 5.1 monitoring.

Innovative Ergonomics

The Trident Series 80 - what more can I say about its sound and the build that hasn’t been said? A true classic console, which led us to buying two Malcolm Toft MTA 980 consoles. But what impressed me most was not the sound, but the design of the control surface. Trident managed to reduce the clutter on the channel strip by incorporating the on/off buttons into the pots. A stroke of genius, that reduced the channel strip length (for those of us vertically challenged) but also made “zero-ing” (or resetting) the console at the end of the day an absolute breeze. Very important for those long hours being an assistant mixer, whose duties included getting the studio ready for the next job. Plus I was getting to use a console that I’d only seen before on a Gerry Rafferty album cover.

Full Automation

One of my first encounters with full dynamic automation was the Harrison Series 12. This was a digitally controlled analogue console, made in the US, with hulking huge processing racks and a nifty touch screen control system, that included a digitally controlled routing and patching matrix, as well as automation control and “pre-dub” inputs.

However, I really didn’t like the sound of this console. To me it was the worst of both worlds - all the noise and inflexibility of analogue, and the worst aspects of early digitally controlled analogue processing. The EQ’s were horribly ineffective, the dynamics virtually useless (in my opinion) and the resolution of the DCAs was so poor that you could hear “zippering” when changing the level of sustained audio, such as vocals or strings. Plus also for me it was terrible ergonomically. I had to stand up to use the routing and the visual feedback was minimal on the surface. As you can see from my photo above, it has a ridiculously cluttered channel strip, hundreds of tiny buttons and Harrison used bizarre labeling for the automation modes. I was so happy when I stopped using that console, as was my lower back.

The (First) Rise Of Touch Screens

The SoundTracs DPC was for me one of the first consoles (now more accurately called “control surfaces”) that properly embraced touch screen technology and assignable controls. Unfortunately though, this technology was not quite ready for active service in my opinion. Touch screens required specialist embedded technology, which was expensive to specify into any system, expensive and difficult to replace and not reliable enough to adequately control the finer aspects of sound mixing. In terms of visual feedback though, the DPC was a market leader, indeed including being able to visualise automation for every parameter.

The Old Favourite (And Double Points In The Podcast Bingo Drinking Game)

Which brings me of course to my previously all-time favourite - the spectacular AMS Neve DFC.

I was privileged to be involved in the development of this console. That’s not to say that there weren’t any teething issues - our (six-figure) console spent the first three months of its life unable to reliably perform any better than our old MTA 980’s. But, having said that, hard work and persistence paid off. This console is a total joy to use and dripped quality like the Neve 51 above.

Ergonomically this was absolutely designed around post-production mixing. Beautifully smooth magnetic motor faders were properly horizontal (essential for avoiding tendonitis) and the channel strip was arranged exactly in the way that re-recording mixers needed to use it. Directly above each fader was the automation controls, followed by crystal clear audio path selection, allowing you to dynamically switch each channel strip between controlling any of the four layers (more in later software updates). Above that was the automated routing, again essential in post-production, then the brilliant assignable “logicators” - AMS Neve’s solution to presenting visual feedback intuitively. As well as alphanumeric displays by each pot, each individual pot was carbon fibre, meaning that you didn’t actually have to move them to register that they’d been touched, and fibre optic technology projected “dials” in three different colours to the knob “caps”. This meant that the tops of each knob could change their display depending on the function being controlled - a “pointer” for EQ frequency or pan, a bar graph for gain, or a “fan” for Q width or divergence. At the top was the brilliant plasma meters, which also included source information and gain reduction metering. Unfortunately though, as sexy as these were, they were incredibly difficult and expensive to maintain, which lead to them being replaced by TFT screens in later versions.

Behind this was the excellent Encore automation and console management system. This recognised that most long-form projects are in a state of constant flux right up until release and included reconform software. Signal chain wise, any process could be allocated to any part of the signal path, allowing maximum flexibility for workflows. There was also an excellent non-destructive monitor control system, still unmatched by any other console.

Mixing In The Box

Many mixers who used DFCs found themselves moving on to “mixing in the box” through Pro Tools. This brings us to the ProControl, the “Icon” range - D-Command and D-Control, and the Avid S6.

Warning - this is going to be controversial. I hated the ProControl with an absolute passion. I hated the pots, I hated the meters, I hated the AFU section, I even hated the faders. Most of all I hated the sound. The fixed point TDM mix bus and TDM processing that was in Pro Tools at the time, were utterly awful, especially when you came from the beautiful sounding floating-point AMS Neve processing. At that point in history, I firmly believe that Digidesign’s technology, at the time was not up to the job of true “in the box” film mixing.

However, all the way through our “DFC phase”, Digidesign had been constantly grilling us DFC users as to why we loved them so much. One day, Digidesign turned up at my studio and laid a blueprint out over the ProControl I was reluctantly using at the time. This blueprint turned out to be the Icon range - the D-Command and D-Control. This provided a quantum leap over the ProControl in terms of build quality, ergonomics, visual feedback and monitoring control. It’s a testament to how good the Icon range was, that so many studios adopted it across the world, across genres and scales.

But all too soon, the demands of modern-day mixing overtook the Icon range. Mixers needed more assignability, more visual feedback at the console surface and more intuitive layout control. This led to the S6. I’m well aware that the S6 is Marmite to a lot of mixers - you either love it or hate it. I used one of the early S6 M10’s and I really wasn’t very impressed at all. I couldn’t understand why they’d included LED level meters beside each fader, but that you needed the M40 displays to get proper multichannel metering and extensive visual feedback. However, the touchscreen centre section was great and provided a good level of dynamic assignable control. Once I started using the S6 M40 consoles more regularly I properly understood the fuss. I love the waveform displays - they’re a feature that I honestly never thought I’d ever need and layouts are fantastic.

We’ll skip the Artist Mix and Artist Control, as due to early bugginess of the EuCon ecosystem, I really don’t feel they were Avid’s finest hour. They were inherited technology, adapted to work in the Pro Tools ecosystem. Adaptation rarely works properly. They were, however, a means to an end, and despite their inadequacies, still enabled mixers to produce multi award-winning results.

But What Has All This Got To Do With The S1?

I hope that during this historical trip that you’ve noticed a recurring theme. The things that matter most to me in a controller, whatever its size, are ergonomics and visual feedback. Coming close behind are build quality and ease of maintenance and expansion.

When I was first approached to Alpha and Beta test the prototype S1, I thought I’d be spending a sizeable amount of my time not actually being able to use it. There was no manual. It relied on Alpha software and hardware. I thought I was going to have to revert constantly to my trusty Artist Mix surfaces. I needn’t have worried. I was immediately able to launch into using the S1 for front-line paid work. Indeed, when it came to giving the S1 and new Avid Control app on Android it’s first airing at a trade event in front of my industry peers, I was positively excited and couldn’t wait to share with the community.

I’ve said before that I believe that Avid took a different approach to the development of the S1. They were sensible and learnt valuable lessons from the S6 and S3. They also listened carefully to users tired of being locked into the Apple product ecosystem.

Affordability, But Not At Any Cost

Being sensible about what people wanted, paid off. By properly embracing the new Avid Control app and the capabilities of cost-effective tablet technology, this enabled Avid to just include the very essential features and not get bogged down by expensive (and unnecessary) things like LED meters.

This shows in that the pots, buttons, and faders are taken not from the S6, but from the S3 - a tank of a controller, obviously designed primarily for live sound work, with all the physical stresses that entail. The layout is very intuitive - despite having no manual and being the only facility in the world outside Avid to have one, with no-one independent to compare notes with, I took to this controller like a duck to water. I soon found myself being frustrated when I had to return to mixing on a D-Control. I really missed the speed and efficiency with which I could use the S1.

Crossing The Divide Between Home Studio And Professional Facility

The S1, when set as a layout of two or more, with an Avid Dock is very visually impressive. Clients and peers alike, when seeing this rig, have across the board been impressed. The S1 does not look like a piece of home studio kit that’s been brought in due to monetary reasons. It looks at home in any facility. Neat little touches like the magnetic joining strips give two or more S1’s a properly integrated feel - as if it were an actual one-piece 24 fader controller. It also enables regular users to easily cross over to using an S4 or S6, and vica-versa.

The S1 Is Only Part Of The Story

It’s important not to forget how vital the role is of the new Avid Control app and the updated EuControl system. Throughout its development, I’ve been totally bowled over by the care and attention to detail and the willingness to take on board feedback from the hard working beta team. Here I really have to credit the beta testers - they are an amazing bunch and this product would have been far less and far later without them.

Avid Control really unlocks both the S1 and the Avid Dock. It is super intuitive and really looks great incorporated into this hardware. As I’ve found using both the S1 / Dock and an S6 M40, lots of functions and indeed the looks, translate directly between the two systems. The layout of the S1 surface itself also helps the transition to the new S4 surface.

Product Of The Year, Or Product Of The Decade?

I might be accused of hyperbole here, but I truly feel that the S1 isn’t just Avid’s best product of this year, but also of this decade. As we move into the “twenty-twenties”, Avid have laid an excellent solid foundation, which will massively help mixers concentrate on Mixing, using physical faders and knobs, rather than manipulating one parameter at a time using a mouse. It brings back some of the magic to mixing.

As one client recently said to me, “You’re different. You’re not just stuck at one end of the console playing with your mouse. That’s nice. It’s reassuring”.