Watermark High on iD22

SOUTH AFRICA: Paul van der Walt, better known by his stage name Watermark High, is a Johannesburg-based electronic musician and producer whose self-titled first album was released last year. In addition, he is working on a side project, Kinoh, for which a debut EP is scheduled for release shortly. He is studying Music For The Media, Cinematic Orchestration and Sound Design. Facilitating part of his studio setup, the musician and producer has recently revealed, is an Audient iD22.

‘My iD22 is my main sound card/audio interface. It’s part of my core studio writing setup along with my Maschine Studio controller and Ableton Live 9,’ said Mr van der Walt. ‘My friend Jacob at Benjamin Pro Audio told me about Audient. I absolutely hated my old sound card as it was giving me so many problems and was really unstable, so Jacob suggested Audient.’

Benjamin Pro Audio serves as Audient’s regional distributor. Mr van der Walt works out his own home studio, which he has been investing in and adding to for the past five years.

‘I don’t have much hardware, just two synths: a Novation Bass Station 2 and a little Critter & Guitari Pocket Piano. I also have a bunch of MIDI controllers that I mainly use for performance: a Livid Instruments Ohm RGB, NI Maschine, an old 49-key MIDI keyboard and an Akai APC40 MK2,’ he explained. ‘I mainly produce and mix in the box so I have bought a bunch of great plugins over the years. I use a lot of Native Instruments stuff along with Ableton’s native plugins, but also stuff by IZotope, U-he, IK-Multimedia, Toneboosters, Goodhertz and many others. My studio monitors are a pair of Eve SC207s.’

The iD22 is one of the more recent additions to Mr van der Walt’s setup, and has seemingly impressed him. ‘The iD22 fit my budget. It wasn’t until I heard what it sounded like, that my mind was really blown,’ he added. ‘I couldn’t believe the clarity of the conversion compared to my old sound card. Although I don’t record that much, I love that I also have some really good pre-amps at my disposal. And a simple but really useful thing I use all the time is the assignable buttons. I love being able to switch to mono in an instant. I've never had that before and I use it all the time.’

www.audient.com
www.benjaminproaudio.co.za
watermarkhigh.bandcamp.com