Music Appreciation

...standard equipment in big studios. I think that was recorded at The Manor (Oxfordshire), which is now out of business. They had one of the most sought-after mixing desks on the planet, a Helios. But it was a completely manual desk, and I'm not sure it was even able to be retrofitted with automation. They replaced it with an SSL, which had a great deal of automation built right into the design. BTW, most of Sarah McLachlan's records were cut on a Helios (owned by her producer).

These days, mix automation is almost passé due to the ubiquity of computer DAW software. I'm still pretty old-fashioned, however, and I continue to use a fader/mute automation system on an analog desk, even though the actual recordings are digital.