CONSOLES @KMR - Harrison 32Classic

Ask a young mix engineer to name the most revered console manufacturers and they’ll likely say Neve, SSL and API. However, back in the 1970s and 1980s Harrison consoles were all but ubiquitous.

Dave Harrison is credited with inventing the inline console, a major breakthrough from the split consoles available prior to this – allowing studio owners to effectively fit twice the mix routing capability into the same physical space. After introducing his 32 Series desk in 1975, Harrison consoles were quickly adopted by major studios and used on countless hit recordings by Michael Jackson, Steely Dan, Queen, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, ELO, Sade, ABBA, Frank Zappa and many more.

Apart from the revolutionary inline architecture, Harrison's secret sauce was a powerful proportional Q 4-band EQ with High-Pass and Low-Pass filters built into each channel strip. The refined musicality of this design proved very popular with mix engineers – neutral enough to not overtly stamp its sound over every recording, but with enough character to add a touch of class. This kind of equalizer characteristic is perfect for larger mixing consoles – maintaining a pleasing coherency while allowing engineers the flexibility for more extreme creative EQ using their outboard weapon of choice.

As the music industry became more digitally oriented through the 1990s and budgets shrank, Harrison moved their focus to the film industry where high-channel count consoles were still required for mixing huge movie soundtrack sessions and their digitally-controlled analogue consoles became an industry standard. However, vintage Harrison 32C consoles are still highly sought after and sell for huge sums in the rare event they become available. So it is perhaps no surprise to see Harrison re-release their most successful music recording/mix console, now adapted for modern studios – seamlessly interfacing all the sonic goodness of the original 32C analogue console with any Dante-equipped DAW.

With their latest 32CLASSIC console, Harrison have retained all the elements that made the original so successful. The preamp design and EQ section remain the same with a fully modular design allowing each highly featured channel module to be independently removed from its host connector for servicing. Nice design touches include all the analogue I/O being tucked away on DB25 connectors mounted under the desk and cable routing through the console’s hollow stand supports. Ergonomic considerations include a deep padded armrest and generous meter bridge shelf capable of taking nearfield monitors and a large computer monitor.

The heart of the console’s sound remains in the well laid out channel strip, offering Harrison’s Jensen transformer-balanced preamp and highly-regarded 32C 4-band EQ & filters. These circuits, alongside the use of 5532/5534 op amps, carefully designed PCB layouts and great attention to grounding all contribute to the legendary sound of the console.

Each channel strip has individual Mic and Line inputs (each with their own gain control) alongside switches for Instrument input and Dante “Playback” tape return. The mic preamp has 70dB of gain with 48V phantom, -20dB PAD and phase reverse. An Insert switch toggles the balanced insert assigned to each channel. Four switchable Aux Sends and a Stereo Cue Send (with pan) each have +10dB gain control and can be assigned either pre- or post-fader/EQ.

Post-EQ, the signal can be routed to a Direct Output, digitally to your DAW via the Dante Output, the eight Group buses and Stereo Mix Bus. The Solo function is stereo solo-in-place, post-pan and post-fader,.

20-segment channel metering provides clear feedback next to the 100mm premium faders in both monitor and mixdown modes. Large illuminated analogue VU meters are a nice touch and add to the whole premium feel of the desk. In fact, spend some hands-on time with this console – or indeed any quality console – and you quickly remember what a pleasure it is to have a well laid out desk as your main mixing interface. It’s a very organic and satisfying experience – something you simply can’t replicate with control surfaces and a mouse & keyboard.

The centre section includes comprehensive control over the subgroups, four stereo Cue/Matrix outputs, Auxes, return mix and stereo mix bus. And there’s a talkback mic of course. We won’t go into more detail on the centre section here as these are really workflow considerations – suffice to say there's a lot of flexibility offered here and there are no major omissions. Despite the huge amount of routing options, Harrison have done a great job in not overcomplicating the layout - it's all very intuitive.

Of course, the single largest change over the original 32C console is Dante integration. Recording practices have changed immensely since the days of analogue multitrack tape and the miles of interconnecting cabling required to make recording studios function. The 32Classic offers an impressive 64 channels of premium digital I/O @96kHz via Dante - achieved using two networked 32x32 cards and connected to your computer with a single Ethernet cable. Dante routing connects the 32 direct outputs to your DAW for tracking and back the other way to the Playback inputs for mixing – exactly as you’d expect in a purely analogue setup. The second 32x32 card handles subgroup outputs, Cue/Matrix functions and Stereo Mix bus. There are also 12 channels earmarked for 7.1.4 immersive Atmos audio playback – a smart inclusion considering the growing interest in this format. Harrison have extensive experience in designing large-format motion picture sound consoles and a quick look at their current MPC5 flagship digital console should leave you in no doubt that their converter quality and console implementation is up there with the very best.

As for the price, at £75,000 ex VAT for the 32ch version, this clearly isn’t pocket change but we’re firmly in professional territory with this console. Consider that 32 channels of Harrison’s 32Cpre+ and Great River’s 32EQ 500 Series modules alone would set you back £43k housed, in addition to expensive build features such as all the switches being relayed and you can start to appreciate where the money goes. 

In summary, with the 32Classic Harrison have successfully managed to respect the heritage of a proven and much-loved analogue console design while reinventing it for modern studio workflows. The layout and features will be familiar to any engineer with experience of driving a large-format console and the no-compromise modular design means working studios can rely on it as a workhorse centrepiece for their facility. 

Harrison 32Classic is available in 32- and 48-channel frame sizes with other formats built to order on request. A 16-channel version is currently on demo at our North London showroom.

 

For more information on Harrison products, click HERE.