A U D I O   N E W S
Digidesign Sells 150 ICON Integrated Console Systems in Six Months Grammy nominee and Emmy winner Nathaniel Kunkel becomes 150th ICON customer at AES Convention

Avid Technology, Inc. has announced that its audio division, Digidesign, has sold 150 Digidesign^® ICON integrated console systems since the product began shipping on April 18, 2004. The sales total for Digidesign ICON - an audio environment that combines the award winning Digidesign Pro Tools^® platform with the fully featured D-Control^TM tactile work surface - is unprecedented in the pro audio industry, where large-format consoles typically take years to achieve critical mass.

The 150th ICON system was sold to Nathaniel Kunkel, a Grammy^®-nominated and Emmy^® award-winning producer, engineer, and mixer whose credits include Sting, Morrissey, Good Charlotte, and Keane. "I never imagined that I could buy a system that would increase my workflow as much as the ICON has," says Kunkel, who purchased his Digidesign ICON in October at the Audio Engineering Society Convention in San Francisco. "I am getting my mixes done faster and having more fun than ever. This is an unparalleled musical tool."

While Kunkel has been using Digidesign ICON to mix music, the product has been widely embraced across a wide spectrum of the pro audio community, from music recording and mixing to sound design, audio post, broadcast, and film sound professionals. Danny van Spreuwel, chief engineer at Meta Sound Studios in Amsterdam, says, "ICON is a perfect tool for large-scale film-mixing projects. Our facility is already equipped with Pro Tools, so everything stays in one system, from recording through the final mix. We love the broad access to plug-ins too. We have already used ICON to complete commercials and film trailers, and will soon be using it to work on Robots, an animated feature film from 20th Century Fox."

Lindsay Tomasic, studio manager of Firehouse Recording Studios in Pasadena, CA, commented, "Our clients are happy that we have chosen to change and grow with the times through our investment in ICON. We are impressed with the system's time-saving features, and our clients come away with a great first impression. The power of our new ICON system has helped us to complete episodes of 7th Heaven and 8 Simple Rules, a Broadway duets project, and some amazing-sounding surround mixes on a range of other projects."

Other ICON customers include Another Country, Atlantis, Ball State University, Bionic Media, CitéLab, Crazy TV, Magnetix, Megamedia, O'Henry Sound Studios, Producciones Grande, SAE Institutes Worldwide, Santa Barbara Sound Design, Sound Inn Studio, Inside Track, Widget Post, and many more.

"Our customers' early response to ICON demonstrates that they share our vision of the future of mixing, which integrates the power, flexibility, and time-tested reliability of the Pro Tools platform with the ergonomic functionality of a console environment that puts all of the mix parameters right at the engineer's fingertips," says Rich Nevens , Digidesign director of worldwide console sales. "As more and more members of the pro audio community realize the benefits of this approach, we're confident that ICON will continue to serve their needs - whether they're making hit records, producing audio for commercials, or mixing film soundtracks in surround sound. ICON also offers comprehensive Avid picture support, making the system ideal for the growing number of postproduction customers who demand a seamless workflow between audio and video."

In addition to ICON studio installs, the systems have been used to mix major events like the Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester , TN , which featured more than 30 bands performing on six stages.