THE INTERNATIONAL APPEAL OF GOLD: 3:3:2 STUDIO IN BUENOS AIRES MIXES & MASTERS WITH LAVRYGOLD AD122-96 MKIII

BUENOS AIRES: South of the equator, the music production schedule buzzes at a rapid pace. One of the facilities best equipped to take on the workload is 3:3:2 Studio in Buenos Aires, the culture-soaked port city where stereo/surround 5.1 mixing and mastering is in the hands of a top South American team.

Recognized as the “Paris of South America”, Buenos Aires houses musical landmarks such as the great Teatro Colón opera house, and is the birthplace of the seductive tango. Not surprisingly, inspiration is always close at hand for 3:3:2 Studio co-founders Diego Calvino and Pablo Lopez Ruiz, as they mix and master award-winning soundtracks and GRAMMY-nominated albums for local and international talent alike. The pair’s ears are constantly feeding off of the records they get to work with, and the sound of the Lavry Engineering LavryGold AD122-96MKIII converters they mix and master through.

“There are amazing albums to listen and enjoy,” Calvino says. “I’m especially hooked with 5.1 records on DVD-A and SACD formats — I think clients’ expectations are high and that’s good news. Our expectations are also high because audio quality keeps evolving.

“You realize clients know were they want to go, and they expect you to handle their project personally and with 100% commitment. Pablo and I manage everything inside the studio, from compressors and EQ’s to making coffee. We combine experience with high-end equipment, and sessions are personal and handcrafted. People like working with us for the home-style, relaxed vibe they pick up here.”

After electing to have top architect John Storyk design their facility, the 3:3:2 team is equally selective about the gear that goes inside the studio. “We like gear with character, but also seek out transparent units,” Calvino explains. “We try to combine the best of digital and analog worlds into one mastering chain, and decide during each session what’s best for that particular situation.

“Our LavryGold AD122-96MKIII converters are important because we use a lot of analog gear, and our final step in the mastering chain is at the digital domain going into a Pyramix Mastering System platform. We really enhance mixes with our analog boxes and don’t want to miss any of that richness when we go to the digital domain — the LavryGold AD122 accomplishes these demands perfectly.”

 The extreme transparency and full frequency response of Lavry Engineering converters make them the 3:3:2 Studio choice for all projects where nothing less than the complete, 100% natural musicality will do. “The LavryGold unit is our main stereo A/D converter: It’s really transparent, pure and deep,” says Calvino. “You get a clear and wide image, with no veils. Compared with other Class A converters that we use, Lavry Engineering always delivers the sweetest audio with no harshness, a clean/deep low end, and a tight center.

“Notable recent projects that have gone through our LavryGold converters include Chucho Valdes, Live at the Colón Theatre. It’s a beautiful solo piano album, which Pablo recorded, mixed and mastered for Chucho Valdes, who has won 5 GRAMMY’s along with many other nominations during his carrier. We worked on Leo Sujatovich’s musical score for the soundtrack of the film La Antena (The Aerial) — the score won the prestigious award Prix France Musique-Sacem at Radio France in Paris. Also worth noting is Sebastian Schon’s Ahora. He is a very talented Argentinean producer and engineer, who had worked with many top artists and GRAMMY-nominated albums.”

Featuring a -127dB dynamic range, 0.00005% total harmonic distortion + noise, built-in αβC αcoustic βit Correction® noise shaping, and more, the Lavry Engineering AD122-96MKIII provides 3:3:2 Studio’s clients with extreme accuracy and the full frequency response that they require for true 24-bit digital audio. Additional key features include switchable digital soft-knee limiter, +3 or +6dB gain, precision reference meter bridge, fully programmable digital test tones for system alignment, AES and word clock external synchronization 40-51kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, DC removal, absolute polarity inversion, and multi-converter synchronization.

With their LavryGold from Lavry Engineering on hand, 3:3:2 Studio is well-placed to keep building their fan base overseas and in Buenos Aires, where nonstop music energizes the second-largest metropolitan area in South America. “Pablo and myself are both musicians — we love being in touch with music everyday,” Diego Calvino concludes. “We sit down during each session figuring out how we can enhance audio along with the whole listening experience of the record, but also approach songs with a musical ear. It’s really rewarding when the artists, mixing engineers and producers involved are thrilled because the mastering session has taken their record to the next level.”

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About Lavry Engineering:

Lavry Engineering, located in Poulsbo, Washington, was founded by digital audio expert Dan Lavry in 1993. The company specializes in products for professional audio, broadcast, audiophile and surround markets designed to satisfy the growing demand for hi-res digital audio performance. Lavry Engineering’s Gold, Black and Blue product lines offer a range of systems accommodating a wide range of budgets and applications. For more information, please visit www.lavryengineering.com.

All referenced product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

Written by David Weiss from SonicScoop, NYC.