Houston Haynes

Houston Haynes was born and raised in the southeastern United States and studied music from an early age. During his formal schooling in music composition he also worked as a recording engineer, and later went on to study under and work for legendary synthesizer pioneer Bob Moog. Today, Houston is working on several composition, sound design and film mixing projects - and collaborates with other composers in the Los Angeles area.

Houston reports on his Tango working with Nuendo 4...

"Nuendo has been the centerpiece of my studio for years – for music as well as sound design and mixing. With Nuendo 4, I wanted to really ‘go deep’ with a new control surface that would allow tailoring of workflow – as well as take full advantage of Steinberg’s new automation features. After several months of searching and trying out several high–end controllers, I caught a glimpse of the SmartAV Tango and knew I had found the perfect front end for Nuendo. Not only does the Tango integrate deeply with Nuendo's internal functions, SmartAV adds a while new level of intelligence through their ‘Smart Controls’ concept. The Tango's physical controls are laid out for intuitive two–handed operation, and MonARC lets me move around track–heavy projects with speed and precision. The 22" touch screen has completely spoiled me with the display area and numerous controls – the flexibility to do anything from drilling into EQ settings to loading and controlling plugins and even writing surround automation with a simple touch – it is immediately gratifying and instantly addictive.

One of my first projects with the Tango is a re–mix of an award–winning short film I had worked on back in 2005. It is scheduled for re–release on DVD, and the filmmakers wanted to include a separate 5.1 surround mix on the new disc. It was a great opportunity to work with a familiar project while exploring the interface and workflow features on the Tango. It would also give me the chance to go deep into Nuendo's new automation system, which wasn't available at the time I produced the sound design and stereo mix for the original project. The short is in the supernatural–thriller genre, so aside from the general foley–to–surrounds work and other garden variety moves, there was to be a great deal of work moving various FX into the surrounds – both ‘shouldering’ across various speaker positions as well as moving sounds through the surround field. I was surprised at how quickly I adapted to the new mode of working – and my mix review sessions with the director have gone extremely well. Automating surround pan position using the touch screen on the Tango has proven to be indispensable.And the fact that we were able to ‘save our ears’ by dialing in levels and surround position nearly on–the–fly, we were able to cover more ground in less time – which means the project is ahead of schedule (and I can get paid sooner and move on to the next project – always a good thing). During our first break the director and I were discussing the Tango, and he noted how much he liked the smooth ‘oily’ feel of the faders and jog wheel. His final comment before we got back to work was ‘I need something this solid as a front end to Final Cut.’ Since then our break discussions have moved on to post work needed on his feature film projects – always a good sign.

The Tango is not just a major hardware upgrade, it is a natural extension to the powerful features in Nuendo 4. The build quality is phenomenal, which really stands out when you consider the price compared to the other controllers in the same class. From the robust feel of the encoders and sliders to the intelligence that's built into firmware and software design, the Tango says ‘quality’ in every way. Not only does this device deliver *today*, but the flexibility of the touch screen interface and their modular software approach means that the Tango is as future proof as any high–end controller on the market. Like Nuendo, my Tango is going to be the centerpiece of my studio for years to come."

Houston Haynes
Composer
Sound Designer

Titan Line Audio
Studio City, CA, USA

 

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Samuele Lini

Samuele Lini was born in Italy and has studied music since he was 7 and started studying recording technique 15 years ago. Now he works in his own recording studio and is experienced in multi-channel music composition and sound design

Samuele received his Tango recently and says:

“It is fantastic. I am a Nuendo 4 user and I have just finished my first mix which was a song composed by me. Tango was amazing to use and saved me a lot of time. It was so easy to learn. I was surprised how fast it is to find and edit a channel and how is stable with Nuendo 4.”

Samuele Lini
Angel Recording Studio
Casalmaggiore CR
Italia

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Jason Fernandez

Jason Fernandez, Film and TV Composer has been a member of music teams on films such as Happy Feet, Master and Commander, and currently Baz Luhrman's Australia. Based in Sydney he is very experienced with Logic.

Jason Says:

"Tango is the control surface I've been waiting for! It takes Logic to a new level and speeds up every task. I can't wait to see what features are added next!"

Jason Fernandez

Composer

Jason Fernadez Music

Coogee, NSW, Australia

 

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