Dowling upgrades studio for television work

Television music writer Willie Dowling has recently upgraded his studio in readiness to work on the third series of 2DTV, the popular ITV animated sketch show due for transmission in October.
Dowling, who launched his musical career in the 90's as a keyboard player with the likes of Midge Ure and Hot Chocolate, and then as a singer/songwriter/guitarist with bands such as The Wildhearts and Honeycrack, has recently installed a Mackie D8B digital mixing console to streamline his working schedule at his studio in West London.
As he always has several projects on the go at any one time, the Mackie D8B allows him to set up templates for each of them, so that he can switch from one to another – something that was impossible with the tried and trusted analogue Mackie 8-bus analogue desk he had been using before.
Dowling said: "What I found fabulous was the instant response of the digital Mackie. I do not have to spend half an hour each day just setting up, I am straight into it, and the ability to switch seamlessly to another project at anytime is fantastic.
Speed is of the essence. With a topical series like 2DTV I only get the rushes on Thursday morning, and I have to have all the music, sometimes for 18 sketches turned round in just 24 hours. By Saturday I am applying the final touches ready for it to be e-mailed back to the studio for broadcast that night."
(GB)