Old methods. New tools.
A Calrec S2 from Ulster Television runs alongside a MOTU AVB network, Home Assistant automation, WLED lighting, Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 4K cameras with vintage Nikkor F-mount primes, and session documents still printed on paper and marked up with sharpie. The pieces fit.
This is the operating manual. Read it once if you are new. Keep it close if you are running sessions.
The Philosophy
Nothing here exists by default. Everything has a reason.
The french cleat systems on the walls hold microphones, instruments, cameras, and accessories. All of it visible. All of it accessible. Walk the walls before a session the same way you would walk a well-stocked shop. You might grab what you planned on. You might spot something that changes the direction of the record.
The session documents are the single source of truth for an entire session. Three double-sided printed pages. Designed to be marked up with sharpie in the moment, laminated for dry erase when planning, and reprinted when changes are substantial enough to warrant it. They live at the console, at the patchbay, and in the live room simultaneously.
The cameras mounted on the walls capture sessions without anyone performing for them. Nobody moves to get a better angle. Nobody asks if they are being recorded. The cameras are just there, the same way the mics are just there.
The signal chain simultaneously feeds the master bus, the artist monitoring system, a 24-track standalone recorder, and a stereo mastering deck. Without touching a patch cable.
The system runs the session. You run the music.
The Session Documents
Three double-sided pages. Six sides. Everyone in the building has what they need for their position.
Who is in the band. Where do they go. Where do gobos go. Who is in the booth. Who is in the control room. It changes every session.
Track-by-track completion. Drums, Perc, Bass, Guitar, Vox, BG, Solo. Dash means it doesn't belong on that track. Checkmark means it's done. Key, BPM, Length, working order, and final album sequence all live here. The goal is to fill the board.
Every physical input location in the building. 182 inputs by location — Iso Booth (1-24), Pillar (25-48), Live Room East (49-72), Live Room West (73-96), hallways, credenza, sidecars. White backgrounds are sends, black are XLR returns. Channels 37-48 are stereo preamp pairs. Always printed fresh for the session.
The console map. 48 channels — tie line, source, mic, preamp, group. Has to be accurate at all times. Changes go in sharpie during the session, updated digitally after.
Complete mic inventory with quantities. Pairs with the input list so the person at the patchbay has the full infrastructure on one side and the full mic inventory on the other.
Album Sheet — Chris Ritsch Session
Session date: 2025.10.02. 13 tracks. Slots 14-20 reserved.
Input List
182 physical input locations organized by position in the building. The document below is specific to the session it was printed for. No two sessions look the same.
Recall Sheet
48 console channels. Groups 1-8, M1, M2. Group direct outputs feed the master bus and Aviom simultaneously. Always current. Changes go in sharpie during the session, digital after.
Group Legend
1 Drums 2 Bass 3 Vox 4 BG 5 Gtr 6 Lead 7 Keys 8 FX M1 M2
Mic Locker
Complete inventory on the reverse of the recall sheet. Everything on the walls, visible and accessible.
The Console
The Calrec S2 ran Ulster Television in Belfast from the late 1990s. Now every direct output — every channel, group, aux, and master — feeds an AVB network accessible from any device in the building.
Five bays. 36 mono channels, 12 stereo channels. Eight stereo groups and two masters. Six broadcast-grade linear power supplies, with spares on hand, all converted from 240v to 120v. Broadcast consoles run all day, every day. The S2 was designed for that and gets used that way.
The Half-Normal
Every direct output on the console — all 48 channels, all 8 group outputs, both masters — is half-normalled through the patchbay to a corresponding input on the MOTU AVB interfaces. The signal passes through by default. No cable required. You can also intercept it at the patchbay without breaking the connection.
This is the output side only. Preamp inputs are patched manually — you do not half-normal inputs on a TT patchbay carrying phantom power.
The MOTU interfaces live on an AVB audio network. Any device on that network can receive any of those signals. Every channel, every group, the master bus — all of it available the moment the console is on. Sit down, call up the session, and the tracks are there.
Group Assignments
Groups are fixed and do not change between sessions.
1 — Drums
2 — Bass
3 — Vox
4 — BG
5 — Guitar
6 — Lead
7 — Keys
8 — FX
M1 / M2
Each group has a color that carries everywhere — the session documents, Logic project tracks, folder structures, and any other system that supports color coding. Consistent across every session.
Drums Bass Vox BG Guitar Lead Keys FX M1/M2
The group direct outputs simultaneously feed the master bus and the Aviom A-16 personal monitoring system via the MOTU interfaces. An artist who has used an Aviom before can build their own mix without asking anyone for anything.