ORIA Mini for Post

When we last caught up with creative director, marketer and lifelong musician Rob Lynn, he had just upgraded his Los Angeles setup with an Audient iD44 audio interface. Serving as the central hub for his marketing services agency, RLP Media, the interface quickly became integral to his “in-the-box” setup for recording commercial voiceovers, post-production and personal music projects.

Now, Rob has taken the next logical step in sharpening his workflow by integrating the new Audient ORIA Mini into his setup.

Solving the Mixed-Source Challenge

Running a creative agency focused heavily on video content and audio post-production means dealing with an incredibly diverse range of source materials. “Being a creative company focused on post, I work with a lot of mixed source content,” Rob explains. “So matching audio between takes, and through sometimes completely different capture sources can be a challenge.”

Operating out of a relatively compact 10 x 11ft studio space added another layer of complexity. Rob knew that despite having acoustic treatment, he was not necessarily getting the most accurate representation of his audio. Whilst he had previously experimented with standalone software calibration, managing it as a plugin across a vast array of creative applications felt overly complicated.

The ORIA Mini provided the ideal hardware-based solution. “I think to me, it’s more that I know I can trust my monitoring setup,” says Rob. “So for example when I’m trying to EQ match a clip recorded on a lav, to a clip recorded on a shotgun or two shotguns in different rooms, I can do so confidently.”

Bulletproof Translation

Because his final deliverables are destined for a multitude of platforms, including television, YouTube and mobile devices, ensuring a mix translates perfectly to the real world is crucial. To tackle this, Rob has utilised ORIA Mini’s onboard room calibration and flexible profiling to create a clever shortcut.

“I added a laptop speaker virtual EQ to one of the profiles of the ORIA Mini,” he reveals. “Absolutely. I have a ‘laptop speakers’ profile setup so when I want to check translation I can just switch to that profile with the button on the front, check mono, and I’m good to go. It’s really handy. Before I ship something I can quickly do a translation check to make sure everything is sounding right.”

The Perfect Partner for iD44

Rather than replacing his existing interface, Rob has integrated the ORIA Mini seamlessly alongside his iD44 by connecting the two via S/PDIF. This hybrid setup allows him to combine the advanced processing of the ORIA Mini with the physical features he already loves.

“I’m still using the iD44 volume knob to control the volume,” Rob notes. “I love the tactile knobs of the iD44, so I don’t think I’ll switch over to the software control only. But what’s great is this frees up two of the outputs on the iD44 for more outboard gear.”

Seamlessly Shifting Focus

With a workload split right down the middle between commercial marketing campaigns and personal music creation, the ability to jump between projects without technical friction is an absolute necessity. The ORIA Mini ensures that shifting from “work” to “play” requires zero administrative effort.

“I’m not sure it does a lot actively but that’s sort of the point,” Rob says of the unit’s ability to help him get into creative mode. “I don’t really have to think about ‘crap, do I have the room correction plugins working’, I can just load up a session, click the profile I want and go.”

This seamless workflow extends to collaboration too. “Also if I have someone come over and collaborate with their laptop, they don’t have to install any profiles and load room correction. They just plug in and we’re good to go.”

Looking Forward

With his studio monitoring thoroughly tightened up, Rob is fully focused on a busy year ahead with RLP Media, with new video and creative campaigns constantly in production.

To keep up with Rob’s latest commercial video projects and creative endeavours, head over to his official agency website at RLP Media.