Heiga Studios Chooses Focusrite’s Red 16Line Interface And RedNet R1 Remote Controller To Upgrade To Dolby Atmos
Heiga Studios
Heiga Studios is celebrating its 10th anniversary in its current location in Miami's downtown, where it has provided audio and/or post-production services for clients including Paramount Pictures, EA Games, 2K Games, Sony Music, Universal, Disney, Toyota and Burger King, as well as recordings for acclaimed artists including Prince Royce, Nicky Jam, Carlos Vives, Pedro Capo, CNCO, MicroTDH, HA*ASH, Kany Garcia, Abraham Mateo, and Roberto Carlos.
From A Garage To A Studio In Miami
A staple of Miami's production community, Heiga Studios is a one-stop shop for audio recording as well as audio and video post-production services, all using Focusrite Red 16Line and RedNet R1 technology to manage the studio's entire signal path, workflow, and monitoring —as well as make the upgrade to Dolby Atmos®.
The studio's beginnings go back to the 1990s, when owners Adrian Morales-Demori and Malury Imbernon met as pro audio students in their native Venezuela, later starting Heiga Studios in a garage there, and becoming husband and wife. They started a relocation process to Florida in 2000 and the business grew, with a subsequent relocation in 2012 to its current 3,200-square-foot facility in Miami.
Most recently, the facility underwent a complete infrastructure renovation, its signal path, workflow, and monitoring configurations now based on the Dante® protocol along with Red 16Line and RedNet R1 units from Focusrite. The paradigm-shifting implementation of the Focusrite units was overseen by Adrian, who was introduced to the Red series when he was designing the Dante integration at another facility in 2020.
Rebuilding With Red
“We had decided that we wanted to have Dolby Atmos® mixing capability at Heiga Studios, but the infrastructure needed for that seemed to mean that we'd have to buy a lot more equipment to manage it," he recalls. “I realized that with the R1, we would be able to, for instance, easily switch between stereo and Atmos mix monitoring at the press of a single button. And the Red 16Line does a lot of things from a single unit, including letting us move between multiple DAWs and also act as a hub for Dante which we are regularly investing in more of in the studio.
“With both DigiLink and Thunderbolt connections on the Red 16Line, it's easy to switch from Pro Tools | HD to a second DAW without the need to reconfigure option cards in the interface. We just change the host mode either in the RedNet Control software or on the device front panel and change DAWs. We've literally rebuilt the studio around Red systems, and it's made a huge difference."
“We've literally rebuilt the studio around Red systems, and it's made a huge difference." — Adrian Morales-Demori, Owner, Heiga Studios
Adrian says the R1's ability to switch seamlessly between stereo and immersive mixing is an enormous plus, allowing clients to shift mix formats between sessions and just as seamlessly toggle monitoring modes during sessions to check image and EQ compatibility between immersive and stereo.
Words: Robert Clyne