When I think of Oxford, I think of shoes (no age related comments, please.) When Sony thinks of Oxford, they think of the Oxford Group, a team of British console ergonomics-DSP-studio automation experts and Sony Japanese product experts teamed together to produce the state of the art OXF-R3 digital console. Big difference.

The Oxford console embodies the latest in digital signal processing advances coupled with a ground-up control surface design that makes mixing on a digital console a simple, yet powerful experience. Once you have been briefed on the operational flow of the Oxford, jumping into a work situation is close to intuitive.

Configuration

The basic configuration of the console consists of a center section with a 24 fader section on each side. Sections can be added to give you 48 faders on each side of center for a total of 96 faders for large film and post production facilities that use multiple engineers. It is also possible to configure the console for a single 24 fader section and a center section for space limitations such as remote recording applications. The number of fader sections you require depends on the number of engineers that need to operate the console simultaneously. Whether you have 24 faders or 96 faders, up to 256 I/O channels can be controlled by either version using paging and the copious use of alpha-numeric scribble strips located above each soft knob and assignable push button.

Each 24 fader section has three color TFT computer screens for graphical representation of EQ curves, dynamics settings, setup parameters, and scribble strip naming. Each screen includes soft buttons to select the screen information to be viewed. It is possible for all screens to view the same information. Cursor control keys are also provided with each screen so you don’t have to reach over to the center section if you don’t want to. When you want to adjust a parameter associated with a particular channel, all you do is press the ACCESS button under the appropriate fader and all screens will display the parameters for that channel.

Under each screen is a control area that is dedicated to a specific task.

• AUX SEND control panel with 24 controls to adjust cue and aux send levels that can operate as mono or stereo pairs. The scribble strips automatically display the name of the destination of each send.
  
• EQ & FILTER panel controls the five band parametric EQ and the High Pass & Low Pass Filters. Coefficients are computed on the fly with no lookup tables for precise control and smooth transitions without glitches. The INPUT CHANNEL & INSERT panel controls the processing order of DSP services and external inserts in the audio path.
  
• DYNAMICS panel controls the type of dynamics inserted in the audio path. The display above each control changes to reflect the parameters available for each type of dynamics. All dynamics types can be used in any order.
  

Between two of the screens is located the MULTI-FORMAT and MULTITRACK panel for buss routing to multitrack, stereo and surround busses, as well as buss output level trims.

The Channel Faders were specifically designed from the ground up for the Oxford. The are operated by linear motors that are very fast and smooth, as opposed to modified audio faders driven by a motor pulling a string. From -10 to +10 the resolution is 0.1 dB.

The center section is basically the “Space Shuttle Control Center” of the Oxford console. If the Mir space station had one of these, there wouldn’t have been an accident.

Since every control on the console is software programmable, this is the place where you decide which controls perform which tasks.

• SESSION MANAGEMENT & MOTION CONTROL controls automation features and machine control. Machines are named in their associated scribble strips.
  
• MULTI FORMAT & STEREO SUB-GROUPS section sets surround sound configurations of up to eight channels. Once the format is set, all console routing follows the format.
  
• SENDS 1-24 panel sets the on/off status and master send level of each aux buss. Each channel can send to each aux from a different point in its signal path providing great flexibility.
  
• METERS section controls the display resolution and metering point in the audio path.
  
• SELECT TO FADERS allows the main channel faders to control any of 29 sources including Multi-Track Sends, Channel Faders, Group Trim, Input Gain, and any of the 24 Aux Sends.
  
• SELECT TO PANS allows the PAN knob to control any of the same 29 sources as well as Channel Pan.
  
• MONITOR LS/ METERS/ OSCILLATOR/ TALKBACK & LISTEN/ FOLDBACK GROUPS/ EXTERNAL SOURCES section is, of course, self explanatory.
  

Operation

It is one thing to describe the features of a console of this magnitude, but how does it work when you sit down to use it? You can sit in front of the console and run audio through it and play with the controls, but nothing tells you as much about a console as when you actually use it for a commercial project. I booked the Oxford room at Ocean Way Nashville to mix an entire album as a paying customer. That way if there were any problems I could yell and scream.

Michael Tapes, marketing manager for Sony Pro Audio, ran me through the console operation. It took about 30 minutes. I loaded up a 48 track digital tape and started mixing. There is no experience like mixing a digitally recorded project through a digital console, except maybe recording a project through a digital console.

The recorded material sounded so good that it was easier to mix. It was easier to hear the blend between instruments. It was easier to set the proper amount of EQ, reverb and panning. It was so easy and sounded so good that I finished the mixes in half the number of days that I had originally planned. My total mixing costs were less than if I had mixed at an analog studio.

One of the songs that I was mixing toward the start of the week was one of the hardest to mix. Because of the exact total reset capability of the Oxford digital console, I was able to stop where I was, go on and mix another couple of songs, and come back the next day to finish the mix. It took a total of five seconds to get back to exactly where I left off in the mix.

After completing an entire album project on the Oxford, I walked out of the studio ahead of schedule feeling refreshed, as opposed to the usual last-day-all-niter with my butt dragging.

If you are an artist, engineer, or producer, I feel you will not have accomplished everything there is to accomplish until you have mixed an entire album on an Oxford. If you have trouble booking time in the studio, it’s probably because I’m in there.