Nick, a California native, whose engineering credits also include Post Malone, YG, Macklemore, Ariel Pink, Machine Gun Kelly, Tyla Yaweh, Travis Barker, Yungblud, and others, has been working with 24kGoldn for the last couple of years, both traveling and in the studio. Two or three months ago, he slimmed down his mobile rig to a Pelican case containing a recording interface and his latest Focusrite preamp.
“It's one of the most feature-packed devices I've ever seen, with a quality that I really like," Nick says of the ISA One, which pairs the classic Focusrite mic pre with an independent DI channel, both with selectable transformer impedance settings, in a rugged, portable enclosure.
“The tactile control that I have on that front panel for the mic pre and the headphones is just unbelievable. I'm in love with the thing."
Switching It Up
Not every brand of mic preamp pairs well with the Sony C-800G vocal microphone favored by many of today's artists, Nick says. “But I like the ISA; it's a little bit weighty but it's clean, and I think it rounds off the edges of the 800. It's nice and warm and a little bit muscular, but it's clear and clean. It's just a nice color that I like. I think it sounds great."
The monitoring functionality of the ISA One has become central to his workflow, Nick says. “One of the key features that gets me really excited is being able to switch between monitoring the mic input by itself and the cue mix. So, if we get a dirty signal or something in a studio, I can isolate the microphone and listen to that before any processing. It's really, really helpful."
“The ISA One is one of the most feature packed devices I've ever seen, with a quality that I really like… I'm in love with the thing."
Nick, who has been working with 24kGoldn on an upcoming record, likes to ride the mic pre level while tracking vocals. “I ride the fader on the way in with that trim knob. I'm a big meters person, so I'm watching a Durrough meter plugin inside of Pro Tools, watching my crest factor, watching how it hits the converters and drives into the compressor. 24k's a loud singer, but there's enough gain on the ISA One to where, when he does go quiet, I can jump it up with the step gain and use the trim. Conversely, when he does get loud, I can knock it back, and use the trim to bring him up. It's all right there within reach."
