Press Release: 04/24/2007
PAD Builds Out 13th Planet Studios For Ministry's Al Jourgensen
EL PASO, TX: Just shy of the Mexican border, a new SSL studio for Al Jourgensen, founder of famed Industrial music pioneers Ministry, is turning up the heat. Equipped and fully integrated by Professional Audio Design (www.proaudiodesign.com) (PAD), the facility gives Jourgensen and his label 13th Planet Records a world-class home base to record, produce and mix a fast-growing list of projects.
“Professional Audio Design and 13th Planet are a marriage made in heaven,” says Jourgensen, the platinum-recording artist responsible for such unforgettable hits as “Jesus Built My Hot Rod” and the Grammy-nominated “Bad Blood”, “N.W.O.,” “The Great Satan,” and “Lieslieslies.” “Plain and simple, the board sounds great and the room sounds great. PAD’s staff was also awesome to work with – believe it, you’d hear about it from me if they weren’t.”
A Ministry-styled 2500 sq. ft. studio in the 13th Planet compound co-owned by Al and his wife/manager Angelina Jourgensen, the facility is the latest display of PAD’s “Dream Design Deliver” concept of providing audio professionals wth complete studio solutions. “More and more studios today are personal facilities for artist/producers like Al who want to create their own music at the highest professional level,” says Dave Malekpour, President of Professional Audio Design. “PAD enables them to be in the best possible environment. Our mission goes far beyond just getting our clients a bunch of boxes – instead, we provided 13th Planet with an integrated solution that’s custom-engineered to their needs. The result is a studio that’s up, running and fully supported from Day One.”
13th Planet orbits around an SSL 4040G refurbished and installed by PAD’s expert team, and even backed by a one-year warranty. “PAD has refurbished hundreds of consoles from SSL, Neve, API and more,” Malekpour says. “With 15 years of experience in the industry, we understand these consoles, the studios they go to, and the details that make installation in a private studio like this go smoothly. We take the same level of care with our custom monitoring packages, which are a key component in raising the performance of studios of all levels.”
PAD oversaw the board’s integration into an acoustically exacting room with a Digidesign Pro Tools HD system fully synched by Malekpour’s Rockland, MA-based team. The console and DAW are flanked by Tannoy System DMT 215 15” monitors, Bryston 14 BST amplifier, plus select gear from Eventide, Lexicon, Digitech, Ampeg, and dbX. “We advised 13th Planet that they could run even more efficient sessions with the Desk Doctor ZX Card which allows the SSL computer to control ProTools,” Malekpour notes. “It’s very convenient for automation of the desk – you can run the Pro Tools system as the playback machine in an extremely transparent fashion this way.”
“13th Planet sounds as good as any mix room I’ve been in,” adds Dave Donnelly, owner of LA’s DNA Mastering, and co-producer of Ministry’s The Last Sucker, scheduled for release September 2007. “With shrinking budgets and vanishing record companies, it’s more and more imperative for artists to be able to work in their own, acoustically correct environment. We’ve been very comfortable here, and I can’t say enough about the support that I’ve seen from PAD.”
As a full-service audio solutions company, PAD ensures that private facility owners like Ministry have continuing, world-class support to complete the experience. “The Jourgensens have seen that PAD cares about them being always up and running,” Dave Malekpour says. “We can save our clients a great deal of time at every stage, using our deep experience to execute the right design that’s delivered fully wired, synched, tested and supported. When all you really want to do is make music, having everything fall into place is really important – that’s why icons on the level of Ministry trust PAD.”
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About Professional Audio Design
Professional Audio Design (PAD) was founded by David Malekpour in 1992 as the premier provider of audio technology, installation, service and training to music and sound professionals at every level. The company’s deep experience in systems integration has made it a central resource for world-class recording studios, personal studios, post, broadcast, educational facilities and more. PAD’s expert staff provides warranted refurbishing and technical service for large format consoles from API, Euphonix, Neve, SSL and more, as well as complete wiring and installation, custom monitoring, and turnkey audio suite packages. For more information or to speak with a PAD professional, visit www.proaudiodesign.com, or call 877-223-8858.
