Tom Rowlands of the award-winning group The Chemical Brothers installed a 48-channel console as a creative tool for his private studio, Rowlands Audio Research.

The Duality console provides the signal routing, channel count, and DAW integration needed for new The Chemical Brothers projects covering writing, production, and mixing. Duality also delivers the SuperAnalogue™ sound used by The Chemical Brothers on previous projects.

“As we got into ever larger creative sessions, it became clear that we needed the 48-channel Duality over our original AWS 900,” says Tom Rowlands, studio owner and member of The Chemical Brothers. “As we capture to Logic, Duality has the same on-board DAW control features as the AWS, so we did not need to learn an entirely different system. Essentially, Duality gives us what we had with the AWS, while delivering the added channel count we needed to move forward in our work.”

Since the Duality was installed, it has been put to work for the duo’s soundtrack and album work. Duality was used on The Chemical Brothers’ contribution to composer Clint Mansell’s (Requium for A Dream, Sahara, The Fountain) score for the recently-released psychological thriller Black Swan, as well as the complete score for the release of director Joe Wright’s (Atonement, The Soloist and Pride & Prejudice) first action movie Hanna.

“Duality was a good choice for us on many levels,” asserts Rowlands. “We did not need to have a dedicated machine room as the console does not draw too much power, so it fits perfectly within our existing facility. The transition from the AWS to Duality was smooth and allowed us to take on projects immediately. Beyond the two movie soundtracks, we have mixed some of The Chemical Brothers material and the results were great.”

Far from acting as just a console, The Chemical Brothers consider Duality an instrument in their projects that gathers together all the synthesizers, outboard gear, and Logic DAW for creative experimentation with new music and beats. Duality offers the sophisticated and flexible bus structure necessary to accomplish this mission.

“We like playing with our outboard gear, combining sounds with plug-ins in Logic, and running multiple channels on the console,” Rowlands explains. “Duality gives us more routing options and the multiple mix buses necessary for our expanded use, so we are really using it as creative tool. The sonics Duality offers are essential for us to capture the right sound for every track we produce.”


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