Trident Audio Limited is the company behind John Oram, the design wizard behind the sound of the legendary Trident Studios consoles from the 1970's, plus many other now-famous pieces of gear (the Vox AC50 amp, for example). Trident continues to offer 'the finest analogue consoles on the planet', plus a full line of one, two and eight channel mic preamps, channel strips, and an eight channel, 5.1 surround-capable DAW console, placing the incredibly detailed, musical sound from 'the Father of British EQ' within the reach of production facilites everywhere. Trident Audio products are manufactured in Kent, England.
For more information on selected Trident products, click on the links below. For in-depth information or a demonstration of any Trident product, please contact us.
Trident Quick Links:
4T Celebration Strip | S-20 | S-40 | S-80 | S-100 | S-140 | Series 80 5.1 Console | Series 8T Console | Dream Series Console |
Trident 4T Celebration Strip
The Trident 4T Celebration Strip is John Oram's way of saying 'Thanks' for his forty successful years in the audio design and innovation business. The 4T offers an Oram mic pre with a 5 Hz - 40 kHz bandwidth, with phase inversion and +48V phantom power, combined with a three-band, sweepable mid equaliser, and Oram's famous 'EQ Magic' circuit, plus a high-end solid-state compressor. The 4T also sports a 10-megaohm, individually-controllable instrument input, and a stereo line input, which can be mixed with the 4T's instrument in and mic preamp input, into a balanced stereo output, making the 4T both an exceptional studio microphone preamp, and a live performers' dream, providing easy front-panel, discrete control of a stereo backtrack mix, microphone level and EQ, instrument level and EQ, plus compression, and overall output level, with astounding sonic quality and detail that must be heard to be believed.
The 4T features a brushed steel front panel, an analogue switchable VU/Gain Reduction meter and an internal silent-run power supply, all housed in a 1U steel case. All Trident products carry a two-year warranty.
Trident S-20 Dual Microphone Preamp
The Trident S-20 is a dual microphone preamp, plain and simple, offering independent gain control over a true 60 dB range, with no pad, +48V phantom power, phase inversion and variable low-cut controls (sweepable from 5 - 200 Hz) for each channel, plus, the S-20 will accept two discrete, selectable mic inputs to each channel, and allow the engineer to switch between them, making the selection of the best of two mics for a particular job easier and more practical than ever. The S-20 features blue/white/red LED metering, a 'glow' level indicator, coloured brass knobs and a black, brushed-steel front panel, in a 1U steel case. One comment common to a number of pro audio reviewers: "really tube-like".
The warmth of 'Oram Sonics' is legendary. The sturdiness and longevity of solid-state equipment over tube-based gear is well-documented, too. The combination of British military-spec manufacture, with Oram's unique circuitry and world-class sonics, gives a phenomenal piece of pro gear, built for commercial use, which is innovative in its' approach, and outstanding in its' sheer quality. All Trident products carry a two-year warranty.
Trident S-40 Channel Strip
The Trident S-40 Channel Strip is a monophonic input channel offering the best available sonic performance, combined with the finest equalisation and solid-state compression circuitry, in a comfortably-sized, easy-to-operate 2U steel case, fronted by a black, brushed-steel panel, coloured brass knobs, an analogue switchable VU/Gain reduction meter, and a 10 megaohm instrument input jack. The S-40 provides attack, release, ratio and threshold controls in the dynamics section, with the ratio variable from 1.4:1 to 40:1. The dynamics section is switchable pre or post the equaliser via a front-panel switch. The EQ itself is designed around those found on the legendary Trident Series 80 consoles, providing a high and low shelf, with switchable turnover frequencies, two sweepable mid bands, and a low and a high-cut filter, controlling a channel frequency response range from 5 Hz to 50 KHz. Both the EQ and the dynamics section can be switched in and out of line for A/B purposes.
The preamp of the S-40 offers a distortion-free gain swing with no pad, from true unity, to +60 dB, with operating headroom above this, providing a flexible single mic/line input with outstanding dynamic capability. All Trident products carry a two-year warranty.
Trident S-80 Producer's Box
The Trident S-80 'Producer's Box' is a standalone, hand-crafted wood box containing two identical, original channels from the Series 80 console, so famous for its' aggressive, punchy and open sonic character. The channels feature identical preamp and equaliser circuitry to the original boards, with discrete mic and line level controls, +48V phantom power, phase reversal and EQ in/out switches, channel mutes and pans, and two 100 mm conductive plastic or super carbon faders. The equaliser section provides a high and low shelf, with switchable turnover frequencies, and two sweepable mid bands, plus a low-cut switch at 50 Hz.
On the back, the S-80 provides mic and line inputs (XLR and TRS), channel inserts, channel direct outs and a stereo main out, post fader. The S-80 is powered by an external, silent-run power supply, just as was provided with the original console, making the S-80 both silent and totally faithful to the legendary consoles on which it is based. All Trident products carry a two-year warranty.
Trident S-100 Mixing Console
The Trident S-100 is the ultimate in a small-format flexible mixer. The S-100 provides eight channels with mic and line inputs, separate trim controls for each, a three-band EQ with sweepable low and mid bands, and a high shelving filter, five auxilliary sends, three stereo returns, a headphone output and... check this out... a six-buss (surround) output. That's right - the S-100 can offer a simple 5.1 mix, flexible send and return architecture, and the phenomenal sound of John Oram's legendary circuit designs, in a small, 8U rackmount package.
The S-100 is perfect for the DAW user who wants to audition and print a 5.1 mixdown of a project, and have world-class input circuitry to back it up, in a portable package. All Trident products carry a two-year warranty.
Trident S-140 Headphone Mixer/Amplifier
The Trident S-140 is an eight-by-eight matrixed headphone mixer/amplifier, providing eight inputs, which can be mixed variably to eight separate mixes, which are then routed to two headphone outputs each. The simple, numbered-knob layout allows performers to make adjustments to their own monitor mix, with ample front panel space provided for channel labelling, making operation by laymen easy.
The outstanding quality of the Oram circuitry means never having to have a client or performer who can't hear what's needed again. All Trident products carry a two-year warranty.
Trident Series 80 5.1 Console
The Series 80 5.1 is the classic Trident circuit design, in a fully surround-capable console package. The mic pre and EQ are identical to the original Trident Series 80, faithfully reproduced to give that classic warm, punchy sound. The Series 80 5.1 is available in many input configurations, with all 'aluminium' knobs and the original anodised black panel finish. A custom steel stand, PSU and quality wood finish cladding are included. An optional matched producer's sidecar and custom palladium-contact patchbay are available.
In spite of its' roots, this console from Trident Audio is a big advancement on the classic design. It offers that legendary sound that has made so many classic hits, and naturally, it has that 'retro' look and feel of sheer quality, but it also has many advances that you would want to see in a modern console for today's recording needs.
Full 5.1 surround-sound mixing, PPM channel meters, VU master output, 8 Aux sends, 8 stereo returns with flexible routing, EQ and pan/balance. Global mode select (re-mix), Fader flip, EQ flip and inline monitoring capabilities. The Series 80 5.1 is available with full motorized fader automation.
The mic-pre and EQ provide the classic Trident sound: Four band EQ with two swept mids, and switchable hi and low shelves, plus low cut and EQ bypass. The console also has a full finalising module in the centre section, comprised of the John Oram Hi-Def EQ and dual circuit compression unit, to enable you to deliver a finished '2 mix' analogue master, right off the stereo buss.
Trident Series 8T Console
The Series 8T is a product that Trident has been asked to build for quite some time now.
It features a great mic pre, identical to the one used in the Trident S-20, S-40, 4T Celebration Strip and the Dream Series consoles, offering the same super-low noise and wide bandwidth, with that hint of Oram magic only found in classic Trident designs.
The EQ is a replica of the original Series 80B design, again created by John Oram in the 1970's.
The Series 8T offers 8 aux sends, a monitor buss, mono monitoring selector, VU meters, a talkback mic and controller, remote power supply for ultimate low noise performance, an optional meterbridge hiding the termination panel, and lots more.
Trident Series 8T Console Features at a Glance
- 12 led metering with peak hold facility on all channels
- Stereo, switchable analogue VU metering standard
- Metering on all 8 subs plus master L/R outputs.
- Global level shifting for compatibility with digital signal levels.
- Optional meterbridge is user upgradable from standard 8T- very easy to install.
- Conveniently hides all connections and cabling from view.
- Wood cladding option available.
Dream Series Console
The Trident Dream Series of Consoles have been designed to satisfy the RME/Magix (or similar) digital audio user with the need for warmth at mixdown. The phenomenal demand for an analogue console to complement digital workstations at the right price prompted the Trident Audio design team to create this latest Series of boards. "We've taken the best of my circuit designs and combined them in this new Series" says John Oram. "Our little S100 mixer has sold so very well over the last two years that we've taken that basic channel strip with original Trident EQ and enhanced it with a new mic pre, line amp, additional balancing on inputs and outputs and perfected the crosstalk and shutdown."
Trident Dream Series Console Features at a Glance
- 24 channel Frame 8/16/24/32 channels
- mic pre's
- EQ 6 Buss 6 AUX per channel
- Individual channel Peak meters
- 3 stereo busses or 6 mono busses
- VU metering Oram Sonicomp in master section
- optional motorized faders
More Trident products are available!
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Trident, The Trident Logo and all products listed or pictured are registered trademarks of Trident Audio Ltd.
Oram Sonics, The Oram Sonics Logo and all products listed or pictured are registered trademarks of Oram Sonics, Inc.
Rock Shop Pro Audio is in no way affiliated with Trident Audio Ltd., or Oram Sonics, Inc.Rob Dewar, Audio Engineer
Rob's persistence in finding and implementing the most flexible, highest quality combinations of high end audio recording equipment, has resulted in a marriage of finely crafted analogue recording consoles and digital audio editing and processing, into hybrid systems of exceptional sonic quality. Throughout his career, Rob has insisted on the highest quality circuitry available to create an amazingly pristine, clear signal path, from the sTrident'sce instrument, to final copy. Explore this website and learn the differences, the reasons why the right choices in recording equipment produce the best results!
Contact Rob at:
PO Box 20181 Penticton, BC Canada V2A 8K3
Toll Free:1-877-468-0304
Telephone: (250)276-4127
EMAIL ROB
Trident Corporate Information
John Oram's first console design was the Trident Fleximix. Malcolm Toft set the specs, and created the ergonomics and system flow, while John Oram created the circuitry, mostly all from first principles, and determined the console's sound.
In Malcolm Toft's words (taken from a business plan drawn-up by him to launch MTA, a company of which John Oram was Company Secretary and Director), he stated their respective roles:
"John Oram was responsible not only for Trident's innovative design techniques, but also the unique sound quality that they became famous for world-wide."
Trident Audio Ltd.
The Old Forge
Hook Green
Meopham, Kent
DA13 0JE
phone: +44 (0)1474 815 300
fax: +44 (0)1474 815 400
web: http://www.oram.co.uk/
Notable Links:
Trident S80 Review
Search Trident Audio at Harmony Central
Quick Trident Inquiry
Wave Phase and Phase Cancellation
While great mic pres, EQs and console designs will add an indescribable warmth and complexity to an input signal, there are a few physical issues which will trash the tone of even the best gear, if they are overlooked during recording. So, let's have a look at the workings of the core physical issues inherent in all multichannel recordings, all equaliser processes and all directional microphone designs: wave phase and phase cancellation.
Now, what exactly is phase, as it applies to audio waveforms, anyway? Let's make an attempt to describe it. If we were to go to a perfectly smooth pond, whose surface is clear, and free of obstructions, and, as an experiment, we dropped one smooth rock into the pond, a ring of smooth waves will be produced, radiating outward from the point where the rock broke, and disturbed, the waters' surface. These waves will be even in size and spacing, and, if viewed from the side, in cross–section, if that were possible, would give a gentle, even, rising and falling movement, as the wave (a build–up of pressure caused by the mass of the rock pushing the water away as it fell into the pond) moves first up to its' peak, or highest point, and then down into the low valley created on the other side (the equal space, or vacuum, created behind the movement of the front of water away from the rock). This waveshape has much in common with sound waveshapes in air, except for the speed difference: the water waves rumble along at just a few feet every second, while sound moves, in air, at about 1130 feet per second, or about 4.67 seconds to the mile, or about 1230 km/h, give or take a tiny bit for temperature changes. Now, to explain phase, as it relates to these waveshapes, if we follow the shape of these waves, we will find that they could be said to be made of two approximate semicircles (half–moon shapes), with one semicircle being formed as the wave rises, and the second forming as the wave falls. If we took these two semicircles, and twisted the bottom one back, so that we placed them together as the two opposite top and bottom halves of a circle, we could then describe any point along the shape of the two joined wave parts as we might any other full circle – in degrees of rotation. Moving clockwise, if the wave started at zero degrees (the left–side horizontal mid–line between the halves), and then rose up to its' peak, the peak would be at 90 degrees, the opposite (right–side) mid–line would be at 180 degrees, and the opposite peak (down at the bottom) would be at 270 degrees (exactly opposite to the top peak), after which the wave would rise back to the starting point at zero, again, and then move on to a new cycle. The point along a wave, numbered in degrees, is called the phase of the waveshape, and there you are.
Now, back to our pond.... if we watch the pond for a bit, after we drop in our rock, we will see that these much slower water waves in our experiment will continue to flow out, until they eventually lose all of their energy, and they simply die out, just as sound does. So, let's perform a slightly different experiment. If we take a friend, and each of us goes to a spot about 20 feet apart beside our dead–calm pond, and we drop two identical, smooth rocks into the water at the same time, some interesting stuff happens. As we watch, we will see that it's business as usual, with each wave front moving smoothly outward from the drop–point – until the two opposing wave fronts meet, and then, SPLOOSH!, the waves collide, and behind them, we find... still water, pretty much. Of course, what has happened, is that one wave, just as it was rising, has collided with the other wave, just as it was falling, and the two opposite waves, being about the same size and weight, because of their being caused by identical rock–drops, cancel each others' energy out – and here, we now have a visual example of phase cancellation at work. It's like a tug–of–war, with each side's huge pulling power being canceled out by the identical, opposite power on the other side.
So it is with sound – two very similar (or identical) waveshapes, perhaps from two mics covering the same source, or two identical copies of a sound played together in a digital editor (DAW), can collide unhappily when mixed together, resulting in a wide range of possible effects, from a weakening of the bass tones in the sound, to subtle, or extreme, tonal shifts, as the monitoring is switched between stereo and mono, right up to a radical loss of virtually the entire program sound of the affected tracks, even though each individual waveshape is recorded at a high level. If this happens, and what goes missing is your main rhythm guitar track, or something equally important, the results could be disasterous to your mix. Since any problems caused by acoustic phase won't show up clearly, unless the signals are actually mixed together, the rule is: Always check your stereo mixes in mono, to show up any unknown troubles.
There are, of course, ways to deal with the problems created by phase issues before thay happen, such as the X–Y pair mic technique. Another quick rule–of–thumb for using two mics is the 3:1 Rule, useful when the conditions require that the mics are spaced apart (a spaced pair), rather than close together (a coincident pair), as is the case with the X–Y. Here, place the first mic facing the sound source, at a mid–distance (say, 2 feet/60 cm), and then, place the second mic not less than three times this distance from the other one, or in this case, about six feet, or 180 cm, apart from it, at the same distance from the source as the first mic is. By doing this, there will likely be enough difference between the program content reaching each mic, that any phase issues will hopefully be minimized as a result. While this is not necessarily a perfect quick–fix, and mono checking must still be done, and adjustments made, for optimum results, it is a good starting point to work from. With a bit of effort, a professional–quality stereo recording can be achieved, with coherent phase, and a wonderfully wide, spatial aspect to the sound. If, after a few tries, the adjustment part of this is frustrating you, I suggest placing the mics so that they face outwards, away from each other a bit (even as much as 90 degrees), so that the aspects of each side of the source that each mic captures will be truly unique, giving even better phase consistency in mono.
Just to make a point about mono checks, while many folks rationalize that music nowadays is almost always heard in stereo, and that "their" mix will "never" be played in mono, they are fooling themselves. Most AM radio, some FM stations, many hotel, commercial and instituational applications, and most live–sound systems will take whatever is input, and send it out in mono, so if your mix is not mono compatible, you may get an unpleasant and public surprise, more often than you'd like.
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Oram Sonics Products are also available...
Oram Sonics MWS Microphone Work Station
The Oram MWS, or Microphone Work Station, comprises two channels of top-end Oram mic preamplifiers, combined with a four-band, two filter equaliser, creating an incredible input channel for tailoring any recording source perfectly.
Oram Sonics Hi-Def 35
In 1999, after 35 years in the pro audio wizardry business, John Oram introduced the Hi-Def 35 limited edition high definition equaliser. Based on and built almost identically to the revered HD EQ-2, the Hi-Def 35 offers the identical circuitry and parameter controls, but lacks the sculpted aluminum front panel, and is calibrated only slightly less stringently than its' big brother (the HD EQ-2 is calibrated to within 0.1 dB, whereas the Hi-Def 35 is calibrated to within 0.4 dB).
Oram Sonics Hi-Def 4T Memory EQ
The first product from John Oram's latest venture, Oram Digital Developments, is the Hi-Def 4T Memory EQ, a digital version of Oram's Hi-Def EQ.
Oram Sonics Sonicomp 2
The Oram Sonicomp 2 is a dual-mono, dual-technology compressor/limiter featuring user-selectable solid-state or optical LDR compression technology, in one unit.
Oram Sonics Octasonic Plus
The Oram Octasonic Plus is an eight channel preamp unit, providing Oram's best preamp designs in a modular format.
Oram GP-40
The GP-40 Based around the highly-successful Oram BEQ Series 24, the GP-40 is a superbly-crafted, timeless design of a fully-modular, top-line and astonishingly flexible British analogue console
Oram Sonics The Light Series Console
The The Light Series Console Oram Sonics's flagship console, featuring unique and groundbreaking new technology which provides total motorless dynamic digital automation of every parameter (motorized flying faders), on a pure-analogue console, without the use of any VCAs in the circuit paths.
Oram Sonics Octa EQ
The Octa EQ is eight channels of British EQ, as found in the BEQ Series 24 console.
Oram Sonics Al Schmitt GMS Pro Channel
The Pro-channel™ is Al's dream tracking box - Pure analogue. Switching between three different mics for comparison, Optical Compressor and a 6 band EQ with step-switching for precise re-setting.
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