The Creative Music Recording Magazine
SPECIAL ‘70s & ‘80s UK & EU ISSUE ELECTRONIC MUSIC Gareth Jones Depeche Mode, Erasure, John Foxx Daniel Miller The Normal, Mute Records Michael Rother Harmonia, Neu! Brian Vibberts Michael Jackson, Lauryn Hill Deke Dickerson Ecco-Fonic Records & Studio Per Sunding The Cardigans, Franz Ferdinand Gear Reviews
Issue No. 110 Nov/Dec 2015
mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com Hello and welcome toTape Op 12 Letters 14 Deke Dickerson 22 Per Sunding 28 Michael Rother 32 Gareth Jones # 44 Daniel Miller 110! 48 Brian Vibberts 58 Gear Reviews
74page Larry’s End Rant Bonus Content: Gareth Jones Deke Dickerson Per Sunding Brian Vibberts Online Only Features Heba Kadry & Adrian Morgan Aarhus Lydstudie in Denmark
I’ll bet a lot of our readers know this feeling. You labor over a recording, working so hard, and eventually the music gets released into the world. You feel proud knowing something good has been accomplished. And then it starts – the “reviews” trickle in. It may begin with an offhand comment by a friend (“Oh, it was interesting, but it just didn’t grab me.”), or some anonymous post online (“Who really needs their new album?”). Next comes the local or regional reviews where the writer makes odd assumptions about the style of music you are presenting (“We’re a ska/metal/polka/surf band?”), or dumps on it because it doesn’t sound like some album that has sold millions (“This is certainly no Hotel California.”). Down the line, bigger magazines and websites might weigh in (“Pitchfork only gave us 1.3? Why? Did we piss someone off?”). You’ve all spent days, weeks, and maybe even months getting the recordings to sound how you wanted them. Relationships between all involved have grown. Everyone is focused on making this album, or release, as good as it can be. But then, at the end of this intimate process, someone may listen once (hopefully they even listen) and pass judgment quicker than it might have taken to record a single keyboard overdub. You know what? Screw the critics. Believe in what you do. And trust your love of music and the desire to create.
Larry Crane, Editor
mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com The Creative Music Recording Magazine
Editor Larry Crane Publisher &!Graphic Design John Baccigaluppi Online Publisher Dave Middleton Gear Reviews Editor Andy “Gear Geek” Hong Production Manager & Assistant Gear Reviews Editor Scott McChane Contributing Writers &!Photographers Cover art by Eric Carl
Looking Back and Moving Forward
by Larry Crane Photos by Susie Delaney
A collector of guitars. Owner of Major Label and Ecco- Fonic Records. Record producer and engineer at his Ecco-Fonic Studios. Band leader. Guitarist. Author of two volumes of The Strat in the Attic. This guy, Deke Dickerson, does a lot of things. We met up for breakfast on a rainy Portland morning and, at the end of our interview, what did we do but to head downtown to look for the plaque (at 411 SW 13th Avenue) where The Kingsmen recorded “Louie Louie!” How appropriate. mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com Thanks for meeting up to do this You’d always been involved in finding recordings are shockingly good, from every aspect. interview. guitars, instruments, and amps, like They’re perfect records! On the other hand, I really I have to say, I, in no way, consider myself to be an you talk about in your book. love messed-up sounding records, and I think there’s engineer, producer, or a full-time recording studio guy, I was always a junk hound, so I figured that I should really a whole art and science to messed up sounding like many of the people you talk to, so I sort of don’t focus my energy on picking up recording gear when it records. For me, when I’ve recorded bands in the feel like I’m qualified to be in your magazine. I’m was cheap. I just had this feeling that it was all going house, I always try to ask myself, “Is this guy really obsessed with records, old and new, and to me there’s to go sky high, which it did. I was lucky enough to pick not a good musician, and should he not be on this a fascinating process of listening to those records and things up, like an RCA 77[-DX ribbon mic] and a Sony recording?” Versus, “I don’t want to be the guy who thinking about how they made them. I feel really proud C-37A [mic] at a flea market for a couple hundred bucks stops the next Velvet Underground from happening.” of being able to come up with some really cool sounds each. I started watching the local Recycler [classified] What if the Velvet Underground had walked into a of the past and present in my recordings, as well as in paper, which was one of the things that predated studio, and they told them, “You guys suck! We’re some of the other things I’ve produced. Craigslist. I picked up a couple of Ampex tape recorders, going to get some studio musicians in here and let I think that makes you someone worth a couple Altec mixers, and some other basic items to Lou Reed sing.” I always try to ask myself if things putting in Tape Op! How does work start with. That’s when you have the harsh realization are actually working and genius in their own way, or come to you? I’d imagine that people that this is not plug-and-play. It starts you down this if they actually need to be improved. come and search you out? whole path, where you realize you have to learn about What’s your home recording setup like? Yeah, [that’s what happens] whenever I get hired to +4 and -10, balanced and unbalanced. And if you’re I was really lucky when I bought my house, because I out-and-out record or produce somebody. But it using tube gear, you find out what a world of difference was planning on converting the two-car garage into seems like a lot of these sessions are things that I things like quality capacitors, resistors, and low-noise a floating-floor type studio room. But first I started come up with in my head, like, “The Trashmen must tubes make. Tube gear, when it’s well maintained, can doing some band rehearsals in my living room. It’s make another record!” Then I realize that nobody’s sound shockingly good. On the other hand, I’ve been to wood all around, with hardwood floors, wood on the going to support that, unless it’s me. So I do a lot of studios that have some noisy old tube gear that walls, and a vaulted wood ceiling. All of us were like, everything out of my pocket, just to make it happen. sounds like crap because it all needs to be rebuilt. I do “Damn, it sounds good in here!” The last four or five I did a record with Nokie Edwards from The Ventures. think I’m lucky, in that I was sort of the last generation albums I’ve done there, with the band in the living That one turned out really cool. that learned how to record audio with reel to reel tape room and all of my gear set up in one of the To some, these people are bygones, but recorders. I used to do this radio show back in Missouri. bedrooms. I wouldn’t go so far as to call my setup a they’re stylistic icons to us. They had a production room with all these ReVox tape full-on commercial studio, but I’ve got top gear and a That’s the thing. It always pisses me off when you talk recorders and a Studer mixer. I spent hours in there with good sounding room. I’m open for business! to 20-year-old know-it-alls, and they talk about guys these guys teaching me how to chop tape, as well as You’ve got a label, your writing, the in their sixties, seventies, or eighties as being all clean and demagnetize the heads. various combos you put together, plus washed-up has-beens. Nokie Edwards has magic in his Even how to feed the tape through recording and producing people – hands. He will come up with licks that you never the rollers? you’ve got all these different ventures could have come up with. Exactly. I feel like I was lucky to have a hands-on going, but are you making a living? How did recording music enter your experience with all of the analog stuff. When the Well, yeah. The reason I do all those different things is life? whole digital thing came around, I wasn’t helpless. At to attempt to make a living. Most of the guys I know I never really set out to record. I was in a band, and we some point I decided I wanted to start recording who quit their day jobs have to find out some way did the whole thing where we saved up a bunch of bands so that I could learn how to use some of the to juggle all the bills and make it happen. For me, money and went to a local recording studio. But after, gear I’d gotten together. My first few efforts were the whole record industry thing sort of imploded we were like, “Man, this sounds like crap! We just atrocious. I like to think of myself as a fairly around 2000. spent a bunch of money, this guy seemed like he knew intelligent guy, so I sat down and tried to figure it Were you in a genre or niche that used what he was doing, but it sounds like a Steely Dan out. I thought, “If Sam Phillips, or any of these guys to see more money, like from direct record or something.” I idolize, were able to make such great-sounding CD sales and such? Was that with Untamed Youth back in records with so little equipment, what is it that I’m Yes and no. I was on HighTone Records, which was a Missouri? doing wrong?” Eventually you start figuring out that mid-sized record label. I signed with them in 1998, Exactly. It all boils down to the fact that you have to it really has to do with the musicians and the sound and when the first record came out, it was all the have somebody on the same wavelength. The guys that’s coming out of the instruments, along with their good, old classic record label deal. I got a good-sized in Missouri were all competent engineers; but they performances and musical interaction. The gear has a advance, they did a radio promo, took out ads in local were hippie guys, and they recorded blues and hard little bit to do with it, especially when you’re dealing entertainment magazines when I went on tour, and rock. So when I moved out to California, I with chasing a tone. Mark Neill was the guy to teach they gave me some tour support money. Within two discovered this whole new world of people, like me this. He comes across as a real hard-ass a lot of years, by 2000, it had turned into one-third the size Wally Hersom, Tim Maag, and Mark Neill [Tape Op times, because he’ll tell musicians, “You’re not good of the record advance, and nothing else. It was like #29], who I wound up recording several records enough to play on this recording.” A lot of times, he’s the entire industry had back-ended itself in two years. with. It was like this blanket had been lifted, and I right. I took notes on that. You can sit there and drive yourself crazy thinking could actually make records that would sound good But, on the other hand, you and I are about, “Man, if I had only gotten signed six years – or, should I say, what my personal taste thinks is also fans of garage bands from the earlier.” I realized I was a good hustler of good. I thought that was something that had ‘60s. How did those records get done? merchandise, so I started putting out my own records. literally vanished forever. You start realizing that it’s I really love extremely well produced records that are The first record I did after HighTone was a record really an approach to recording, and by using certain played by virtuoso musicians; high-fidelity and called [Deke Dickerson] In 3-Dimensions! I sold 9,000 pieces of gear, that you can achieve those sounds. magically great records. Think about those incredible CDs all on my own, without taking out ads or Right around the time that eBay started was when I records produced by Bill Porter in Nashville in the anything like that. started picking up pieces of gear, because I found 1950s and ’60s – Roy Orbison, The Everly Brothers, Are you still on a quest for perfect guitar them for cheap. that Nashville period of Elvis Presley’s. Those tones?
Mr. Dickerson/(continued on page 16)/Tape Op#110/15 mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com get the exact same gear that was on the recording, it’s always mind-blowing to listen to the gear and hear the sound. It lives! On a new record that I did, there were a few places where I was trying to chase these elusive rockabilly guitar tones. There was a guy named Grady Martin who played a lot on Owen Bradley records in Nashville. He had a Bigsby double-neck guitar, which he played through a Magnatone amp, with an RCA mic on the amp. It was an old tube studio and a pretty primitive setup. They’d use a second microphone direct into the mic preamp of an Ampex 350 [tape deck] for the slapback, and they’d mix that in as a separate channel on their console, as opposed to [using] an aux send or something. On this record, I was lucky enough to have a Bigsby electric guitar (which is really rare), a Magnatone amp, an RCA microphone, and an Ampex 350. I set that whole signal chain up, and then all of a sudden there was that exact sound. I’d spent all these years trying to chase that exact tone with other guitars and amplifiers. That is a cool idea, a second mic feeding a delay. That’s a whole different ball game. Exactly. I’ve seen so many guys who try to get old recording sounds and tones using modern techniques. If they had a slapback echo, they’d literally have to put a second mic on the amp, send that through a second slapback tape recorder, and put that through the mixing board – this actually sounds different. It could be a phase situation too, depending on where the mics are. True. I study old photographs to see how everything was set up in old studios, and there’s a really interesting photo of Buddy Holly recording at Owen Bradley’s studio in about 1956. There’s a [Neumann] U 47 hanging from the ceiling, and an Altec 639 butted up underneath it. I remember seeing some guy on the Ampex forum a long time ago saying, “Well, they did that because they’d combine the signal of the bright Neumann and the warm signal of the Altec microphone.” I’m like, “No, dude; one was the echo mic!” The 639 was going into a tape recorder for the echo. Then you get into this whole thing of, “Wow, the tape echo actually sounds different because the tonality of a 639 feeding it is different from the tonality of a U 47 feeding it.” It’s so simple, but it’s probably a really simple path of a microphone into a something people wouldn’t necessarily set up. good preamp straight to tape can’t be beat. If you come from the modern standpoint, it’s so out of The funny thing for me is that, especially in this digital then a really simple path of a microphone into a good the realm of thinking that they’d ever do this. Then, age, people think that some gadget, some plug-in, or preamp straight to tape can’t be beat. It took me when you realize old boards didn’t have aux sends, some effect is going to make things sound better. You forever to figure that out. you get really archaic about it. You realize why people avoid the basic building blocks of whether the guitar With you, being a guitar player, and on did it, and why things sound like that. You also realize is good or the singer is good. What’s the actual sound a quest for guitars and amps, what that some of those tones you think were so amazing that’s being produced from the beginning? As the old have you found, as far as sounds go, weren’t even deliberate. Again, to use the Owen saying goes, you can rub it and you can buff it, but while searching for some of the more Bradley rockabilly example, I spent a long time trying you can’t shine shit. The other thing I found is that obscure amps and guitars? to figure out how they got the echo sound on the the simplest path you can take gives you the best I’ll just say this, I’m definitely a nerd about that sort of drums that they did – and eventually I realized that guitar tone you can have. There are so many guys who thing. If I hear a record that I really like, I’ll sometimes it was just leakage into the vocalist’s echo mic on the go overboard, not only with effects on their amp try to chase a tone and figure out how they got a other side of the room. It’s always the simplest thing. setup, but also with effects while they’re recording, sound. If you don’t have the right gear, you spend a lot Those guys back then had about 15 knobs on their just loading it down with everything under the sun. of time and effort trying to chase that sound. If you entire recording console. Amazing sounds came from For me, if the guy can get a good sound in the room, figure out a sound that you’re going for, and then you the most primitive of setups, mostly by accident. 16/Tape Op#110/Mr. Dickerson/(continued on page 18) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com You can even listen to some old while the band was playing who would swing the I’ve done a lot of things live-to-tape in the past. I like recordings and kind of guess where microphone over on a boom to the saxophone for the the way it sounds, but it’s always a compromise they were done because of saxophone solo, and then swing it over to the drums when it comes to your own performance. You always the techniques or the sounds of after the sax solo was done. I went and listened to a have to settle. The vocals on one sound good, but the room. bunch of Little Richard records after he told me that, the guitar’s not as good as the one before. Actually Absolutely. The main thing I learned from Mark Neill, and you can hear it! That’s literally the only on the first couple of records that I did, Mark Neill just by watching him work, was controlled leakage. microphone that you could do that with. You have and I did a lot of splicing, which was another Controlled leakage is the secret to all those great this giant field, and it almost acts like a compressor, technique they did alotin the old days. Those early recordings. When I first started recording in the ‘80s, because the drums go down a little bit when he Beatles records, like “She Loves You” and “Please it was when people were starting to isolate every swings it by the saxophone. It’s genius. Please Me,” weren’t made with overdubs or instrument, close mic everything, and put the There’s something to be said about multitrack recorders, but they did have about a drummer in a separate room with a door. It took me making do with a limited amount of dozen tape splices in every single one of those early a long time to realize that there’s magic with tracks, or a limited amount of inputs. hits, cobbled together from various takes. everybody playing in the room together, as well as He had one track to start with! Your book, The Strat in the Attic, is having controlled leakage going on to help things. It’s Plus, he was making records that were huge hits then about you and people you’ve talked amazing how much leakage from the drums will help and are still played today. That’s what always blows to, as well as their quests and your drum sound, as long as you have a good my mind. I’ve wound up recording a bunch of modern adventures in finding interesting drummer who’s not bashing the shit out of the drums. rockabilly bands. It’s always funny, because they come new guitar equipment. True. in, and I tell them, “We can do it live to mono tape, I tried to write this book so that even if you don’t like When you start studying older records, you can pick just like the old days, or we can do it in Pro Tools.” guitars, it’s still interesting to read. It’s really more apart what you’re hearing on them. One of my favorite Without fail, they go, “Oh, let’s do live to mono tape!” a collection of human stories about people being conversations I ever had was with Cosimo Matassa Then, after about 16 takes of one song, they realize, obsessed with something and taking it as far as [Tape Op #40], the guy in New Orleans who recorded “Oh, we can’t go back and fix it. We can’t overdub they can possibly go. A Les Paul Standard from 1958 all the great music. He’s such a low-key guy, and I was that.” A lot of them aren’t really good enough to pull to 1960 is the most valuable electric guitar in the trying to pick his brain. He basically said that it was out that magic performance. There have been half a world. People lust after these guitars. But if you all the musicians, and he didn’t have anything to do dozen sessions that started out live to mono tape and had a story that went, “Yeah, this is a nice Les Paul, with it. That’s very true, but then he told me that he wound up going to Pro Tools for fixing later on. and it’s worth a bunch of money,” it would be kind only had one condenser mic, and that was an Altec Have you forced yourself to work in that of boring. The story I put in the book is about a M11. The Altec M11 has a big omnidirectional field. fashion too, as a performer? To go 1958 Les Paul sunburst that turned up where a guy He said he’d actually have someone in the studio live-to-tape? had turned it into a left-handed guitar by sawing it
It’s really more a collection of human stories about people being obsessed with something and taking it as far as they can possibly go.
18/Tape Op#110/Mr. Dickerson/(continued on page 20) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com up on a bandsaw and putting a whole bunch of extra holes in it and routing out this and that for The Digital Age I have a Pro Tools setup, because I started getting a vibrato. He basically butchered a guitar that some work doing TV and movie music down in L.A. You could possibly be worth as much as $250,000 into can’t be an analog guy when it comes to that stuff, a guitar that’s worth about $3,500. To me, that’s a because you’ll have a music supervisor listening to a really interesting story. It almost makes you throw track and telling you a bunch of things you’ll have to up. I tried to write a book that’s full of funny, change, and it has to be done in two hours. You have to interesting stories. Not just people who are like, cut and paste on a computer screen to make those things “I’m a lawyer, and I paid a crapload of money for work. I really didn’t want to get into digital, and I this guitar.” avoided it at all costs. After a while, you realize that Pro There’s a lot of that. Tools or DAWs are like anything else. You can make them It’s the same way with vintage recording equipment. sound bad if you want to, or you can make them sound There are a few guys who tend to buy up almost good. I use an all-tube front end with old mics and tube everything. The people who are more interesting to preamps, into Pro Tools, and I’ve got a bunch of Universal me are the guys who are still using something they Audio plug-ins. I can edit and mix in the box, and then bought 55 years ago. Kearney Barton [Tape Op #83] if I want to, I’m able to mix everything down to analog was a friend of mine up in Seattle. It was so tape. I basically just wind up using Pro Tools as a neutral awesome to watch him using all this gear. Or storage area. I did the soundtrack to this movie The Wild people who have maybe one cool piece of vintage and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia. The director was gear and learned how to use it really, really well. this guy, Julien Nitzberg. I thought going in that it was That’s way more interesting to me than people who all going to be country, bluegrass, and old-timey music. have every piece of vintage gear under the sun, It wound up being none of that. He’d say, “For this scene, and it’s basically a giant dog and pony show. it needs to be like a southern rock meets metal thing.” I You should do a book on finding found myself being challenged to do a whole bunch of vintage recording equipment next. styles of music that I’d never attempted before. You know, the book I’ve always wanted to do [would It turned out to be a really fun project. be about] all the classic recording studios and how they were actually set up. The room size, ceiling obsessive nerd that I am, I’ve been to most of height, what the echo chamber was like, what they these places. I went to Norman Petty’s studio in actually had in the echo chamber, and what boards Clovis, New Mexico, and got a tour of the place. they were using at different times. Being the They had just gotten all the crap out of the echo chamber, because Vi Petty had been using it for 30 years as a storage room. Just seeing all these multi-colored tiles that Buddy Holly’s family put in there – they were in the tile business and donated all these leftover tiles – made me think, “Man, somebody really ought to do a book and include all these obsessive details.” That’s one of my favorite things to do when I’m on tour around the country, or even over in Europe. I was just in New Orleans, and I went by the laundromat where [Cosimo Matassa’s] J&M Recording Studio used to be. Or by the place in San Antonio where Robert Johnson recorded. It’s amazing to see the building where it happened. One of the reasons Sun Recording Studios in Memphis is still in pristine condition is because nobody wanted it. No one ever bothered to tear out the acoustic tile on the ceilings. It’s amazing. Whereas in Los Angeles, places like Gold Star Records are gone because the real estate got so valuable, and they just had to tear it out. r Read more of this interview at
20/Tape Op#110/Mr. Dickerson/(Fin.) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com For most of 1997, it was nearly impossible to avoid being recorded here was like a competition for “best” What was your first project here? hearing “Lovefool” by The Cardigans on a regular basis. ‘80s snare sounds. We didn’t like it. We were more The reason we set it up was to be ours. A project studio. As one of the rare hits heard on both popular and college into a “cutlery box” drum sound. Tore saw an ad in That EP with did with Tore was sent to some labels radio at the time, its chorus was stuck in the heads of the paper. A studio in Kivik had gone bankrupt and and we ended up with a 250.000 kr budget [approx. millions, much in the way the whistling pre-verse of was selling everything. They had all the old gear [24- $40,000] because the music industry was rich at the Peter, Bjorn & John’s “Young Folks” would be a decade channel Amek console and a 16-track, 2-inch MCI]. time. We didn’t want to go to one of those studios later [Tape Op #65]. However, it’s safe to say neither of Our parents cosigned some loans, and we started that didn’t understand us, where we would also have these would have reached the world’s ears had they not looking for industrial sites on the edge of Malmö. We to watch the clock. So we put that money towards been shown the way by the Swedish indie pop band, found this space, moved out of our flats, and moved equipment and thought we’d just learn from Tore. He Eggstone. The scene this group created, both culturally into here for 18 months. knew everything and we knew nothing! But then he and by laboring in Malmö’s now legendary Tambourine Were you allowed to do that? only gave us one day. He said, “Listen closely, and Gula Studios, not only launched world-famous bands No! It was a crazy time. [laughs] We have the downstairs because I’m only going to tell you once! First lesson: but also drew in outsiders like Franz Ferdinand, Saint room now, but didn’t when we moved in. It was It starts with a microphone and it has to go Etienne, Idlewild, and Boss Hog, to name a few. Eventually occupied by an illegal goldsmith. somewhere, and it does that through a cord.” Then their studios would even host the inimitable Tom Jones An illegal goldsmith? we had another lesson after lunch about EQs. From and legendary producer George Martin. Founder Per It’s not common! Heroin users used to come to him at there it was just, “Knock yourselves out.” We had all Sunding not only continues to produce quality pop in night to sell him what they had stolen. It was a the time in the world to make mistakes, and of course Tambourine’s hallowed halls, he remains Sweden’s fencing operation. We had a kind of relationship Tore helped along the way. Then we put the record ambassador of Bonving [a sport invented by Eggstone with him. He was usually stoned, and he’d come out, and it reached a lot of people in small towns that involves tossing shoes]. upstairs with beer crates of records. He’d say [in a around Sweden who felt the same way we did – slurred, “stoned voice”], “Uunngghhh, you like misunderstood in their community. When did you start the studio? music! These are great! Sixties stuff.” It was fun to You had “started a thing.” Twenty-two years ago this week, in 1991. My friend, Tore have him around. Yes. The Cardigans were one of those bands. They sent Johansson, was working in a state-funded studio and When did he move out? their demos, and so did the band Bob Hund. We met my band, Eggstone, did an EP with him. We loved The Actually the local Hell’s Angels branch took over and their singer, Thomas Öberg, when we were on tour Beatles, The Jam, ‘60s music, and people here weren’t moved his business out to a barn. and we just clicked. When he started Bob Hund we interested in the same things we were. Malmö was a So you were off to an illustrious start! saw them in Stockholm, and I had never seen working class city and most people were just I’ve played hockey my whole life, and I was sleeping anything like it! Eggstone was interested in an interested in the blues. Also, the way things were with my stick every night for protection! image. We were posing a little; but those guys were
Per SundiNg and Sweden’s TambourineStudios interview and photos by alex maiolo
22/Tape Op#110/Mr. Sunding/(continued on page 24) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com all charisma, attitude, and genuine style! One of the well, the Japanese budgets were so big, so when we were So now Pro Tools had come into brothers, Johnny [Essing], was not at all in control of asked we thought, “How can we say no?” We made it the picture… his diabetes. He sat in a chair when he played, and at work by setting up a “factory” of steady session musicians We were running both. Tore was ahead of the game and [the any moment he could just fall out of it and start from here in Malmö. We started to feel cynical. “We don’t rest of us] still used tape. convulsing. They would stop the show, pour milk or like this… BUT IT’S ONE MILLION KRONA [approx. Were you reluctant, considering how soda into his mouth to get his blood sugar up, and $160,000]!” Working with music you don’t like poisons classic rock minded you were? start playing again. I started wondering what I was everything. We started to aim too high. We wanted a In a way, but when we started we didn’t know anything, so doing and why. They were just breaking through that record label [Vibraphone]. We built a restaurant in the we weren’t snobby. When Eggstone formed, we were wall and pulling the crowd in. The bass player has a center of town. We were too young and had too much looking for a place to do demos. We disliked the MIDI wooden leg! He was working like hell to get around the money. We weren’t passionate about those things studios, which were run by engineers who were mainly stage. We had just finished our record and we were like, though; we just hired our friends and things went poorly interested in technology, but not music. The DIY thing “The studio is empty. You have to come down to economically. We gave vague directives like, “It has to be that happened here in the ‘90s made it so future studios record.” They had no contract. They came down, were great!” and, “Make this bar the coolest bar!” We had to were started by musicians. The first stuff we bought was super enthusiastic, and in top form. We still didn’t keep super clean books because we were also running a just what was available, old, and out of fashion. We made know much, so we just put up some mics and recorded management company, and we thought anything [fishy] do, but then we realized that it was the secret to the it. The magic was in the performance. would spill over to Tambourine and create a disaster. Of classic sounds. The main thing that made the transition So you did it live off the floor? course running a clean restaurant, when it comes to to Pro Tools slow was we had finally figured out how the We had to go back to do some vocals, and maybe one taxes, is unheard of! [laughs] We treated the staff well, analog gear had worked and we were used to it. We saw overdub per song. A tambourine, maybe. The whole we had the best food, the best prices, and cheap beer. the advantages though, and wanted to be compatible thing was done in two or three days. You can’t survive under those conditions! We were too with other studios. Done and mixed? busy doing Japanese recordings and minding our own What came with the big gear purchase? We recorded 14 demos to cassette and then had our own career to pay attention to the details though. We just Some Neumann mics, which was a great catch, some “Eurovision Song Contest.” [laughs] We all sat in the wanted to own it and be super cool. So we sold the Sennheiser mics, a Lexicon reverb that we sold (because same room, listened, voted, and chose the highest- restaurant and closed the label, except for a small online we didn’t know how it worked), a Roland sampler, and an rated songs. The next day we recorded to 2-inch tape. shop. [Note: Vibraphone became Vibrashop, and is now E-MU drum machine. The studio we bought it from had We set the levels, checked it, and recorded. There is a run by the Copenhagen-based indie label, Crunchy Frog]. been doing what we call “Danseband” music. It’s this legend that the cassette might even sound better than Were you broke at that point? awful German music – pop, sleaze, country – with lyrics so the final product. I don’t know where it is, but I’ve No, even with the mismanagement there was still so much bad they make you shiver. Very sentimental like, “I love been looking for it. Out of the demos that were getting work coming into Tambourine we could [handle the you, grandma!” Everyone in the band wears the same sent to us, the other one we really liked was from The setback]. The bands really wanted to work with Tore, outfits. People line dance to it. It’s a huge thing, and it’s Cardigans. They really had something. Eggstone had to because his credits list was growing. We were jealous sort of like what the Germans call Schlager. So the drum focus on our career, but Tore was excited about it. We because our endeavors weren’t going well. He was the machine had all of these folk samples on it. [laughs] didn’t set out to be a commercial studio, but work was only one bringing in the money. The studio was booked When did you find that you needed coming in. At first the only people sending us demos all the time, and since it was booked, Eggstone couldn’t to expand? were people who heard and liked Eggstone, but after get in to work. Then Tore decided it was time to go out We became more aware of what we wanted, and would look The Cardigans [Emmerdale] and Bob Hund [bob hund on his own. He had really made a name for himself. He for it when it was needed. Of course we often just asked (1)] records worked their way higher up into the music broke The Cardigans worldwide, and had done the first Tore. Our options were automatically narrowed because of industry chain, a relationship started. We started Franz Ferdinand record [You Could Have It So Much the sounds we were trying to get. It’s like when you’re 60 listening to tapes as if we were A&R people. Better] too. So he moved to London to try to become a years old; you say, “Yes” to one identity and reject the As tastemakers? songwriter, and we had to step in to produce again. rest. So the trademark sound we were looking for Yes, the labels were wondering how they had missed The You had no choice! efficiently ruled out a lot of options. So it was always Cardigans and Bob Hund. Then Elle magazine invited We had three studios by then – this one, Gula, which was going to be Neumann and Sennheiser mics for us, for the Japanese artist Cornelius [Tape Op #69] to do a in this building, and one outside of town called example. We got into the Neve thing when it was time to music feature. He chose our album cover, along with Country Hell. Gula was occupied by a band called The upgrade. We had the money, and they weren’t that The Smiths and two other bands, to be on the cover of Mopeds, as well as a collective of producers. They expensive at the time. We found someone who was the magazine. Suddenly we could fly to Tokyo to play eventually bought the gear and moved the studio to a renovating leftover BBC consoles. We drove to London shows for a thousand people and be treated like rock new location [in 2001, to the Möllevången district of Studio Exchange to get it. Over four years we bought stars. Also, the second Cardigans record, which had Malmö] where they are today. Tore worked out at three Neves. One is still with Gula, one is here – we found been done here [Life], had just come out and it sold Country Hell. The Cardigans did Gran Turismo out there, that in Sweden – and the third was chopped up into five million copies in Japan alone. So then we had which was our first Pro Tools session. We had been all modules [and racked up]. We were in that mode of interest from the Japanese market! “What is happening tape, up to that point. That entire record was recorded thinking, “Neve! It has to be Neve! Neve is the coolest!” in Sweden?” Every Japanese label wanted a Swedish on 7 gigabytes, which is a funny number now. Aesthetics are a big thing when you’re act, and the way to them was through Tambourine! So So Tore came back? young. What happened next? we started recording a lot of Swedish indie bands. Most He was in London for four years, but then he came back. We got more responsible and I took on more production jobs. of them got signed. Some “made it;” most didn’t, but You know, he is one of the only true great artists [in Bob Hund came to do the second record, and I was the that kept us busy for a while. The next step, of course, this business]. He always looks ahead. He’s full of only one who had the time, so I produced it. When Tore was for Japanese bands to start coming here. ideas, greatness, and weirdness. He went to churches left someone had to fill his shoes, and it only made sense Hoping some magic would rub off? to learn about choirs. He chases ideas. Now he has this for it to be me because I was more interested in production Yes, and fans started to come. Travel agencies in Tokyo were big bus, which is both a recording and living space. than my bandmates [in Eggstone]. After that I spent a lot organizing trips. Buses were stopping out front. Some Is the bus like one of those classic mobile of time in Copenhagen and ended up working with a lot of would come in and just spend the day. They have, like, units? Like the Rolling Stones used? Danish bands [Figurines, Junior Senior, TV-2]. one or two weeks vacation a year and they chose to come Yes, and he put solar panels on it. If it’s been a sunny day, Even before the bridge was built? [Note: here? It was a good time though, and we made some and the batteries are full, he can record from 10 p.m. The 8 km. long Ørsund bridge links friends. The first bands to come were fans of Eggstone. until 8 in the morning. He’ll keep the lights off to save Malmö to Copenhagen and was opened We had a lot in common, and it was really fun. Then… power and mix with a headlamp! in July 2000.]
24/Tape Op#110/Mr. Sunding/(continued on page 26) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com Yes. Sweden has a “Stockholm Complex,” so the contrary salary. Things that are jointly funded by Sweden, Denmark, people of Malmö always said, “Well, we have Copenhagen!” Iceland, and Norway for niche projects. My nephews have But the Danes speak funny [laughs], and big cities are been working with their friends’ bands. I’ll go so far as to intimidating, so nobody went there except to buy cheap say the most exciting project in the last two years has been beer. I met [Crunchy Frog label’s] Yebo Petersen, and the fulfillment of the long-needed generation shift at eventually ended up in his surf band, The Tremolo Beer Gut. Tambourine. There are younger people working in here on Peter Bjorn & John did Gimme Some here. a regular basis again. They have brought us some Aren’t they known for doing all of their interesting new recording projects, and they have the records themselves? energy to be inspired by old, broken, tape machines and Yes. I wondered why they wanted to work here. Peter used stuff that the older guys, like myself, have developed a far to be in a band called Piggy in the Middle, and I used to too cynical attitude towards. Also inspiring is the fact that see him in the crowd at Eggstone shows when he was 15. among the 15 regulars in the studio, five are female. There He sent his demo tapes and first record to me back in is a buzz in the studio right now that I haven’t experienced 1998. Then he sent me the first Peter Bjorn & John record in a decade. We also started hosting ”Live På Tambourine” [Forbidden Chords] when that came out. The biggest evenings last summer. They are soirées where we invite a surprise was when Kim Larsen came here. He was in a band to do a live performance that is recorded and filmed, huge Danish band called Gasolin’ [1969-78], and has and we try to have someone speak as well. One evening we recorded with people like Roy Thomas Baker. They were had an old Malmö-based photographer who made friends my favorite band when I was 12. One of Kim’s records with The Beatles in Hamburg. He went over to London in from the ‘80s, Midt om natten, sold more copies in ‘62, and was staying in John Lennon’s flat when The Denmark than there are households, so I guess people Beatles had their breakthrough. He showed us photos from bought more than one! his very happening life. How are things in Malmö now? What are the rules of Tambourine’s famous The whole city has become very cultural! The studio is more game, Bonving? like what it started as, originally. I recently finished my Two teams of two players each stand in marked squares, at studies and became a clinical psychologist. It’s a fantastic the end of a field. Each player holds a standard, office- job, but no one told me how tired you get from working sized, plastic garbage can. One team throws a size nine nine to five. Now I doze off at 9:30 on Friday evenings! I or ten shoe at the opponent’s end of the field, and they have a patience I didn’t have when I was younger, so it try to catch it. If it bounces out it doesn’t count! If it was the right time to take up studies. Plus my ears were lands in the square, the throwing team gets a point; but beaten and ringing, and the breaks were nice. I’ve done if the team guarding the square catches it, they get one. so much recording, so now I want to enjoy it as much as Seventeen points wins the set; two out of three sets win I did when I was learning by more selective and only the game. Don’t hold the can by its top, though. You have working with bands I really like. These days, I pace no idea how much it hurts when a flying shoe hits your through the studio and do a “Queen’s Wave.” Sometimes thumbs, so hold the can like you’re hugging it! r the people working here need some advice about Visit
26/Tape Op#110/Mr. Sunding/(Fin.) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com Harmonia’s five LP box set, Complete Works, contains guys. I knew Cluster from 1971, from when I was with arrived in this open space. I did not join Cluster; it all the released material of this fascinating German band Kraftwerk and we did a concert together in Hamburg. was the two individuals. They, of course, were very from 1973 to 1976, including their 1976 collaboration We’d stayed in touch, loosely. I had this one track different in character, as well as in their musical with Brian Eno [Tape Op #85] and four unreleased tracks from their album, Cluster II, a track called “Im visions and what they contributed to the sound. (Documents 1975). Harmonia was Dieter Moebius and Süden,” which appealed to me because I noticed Were you all living in the same Hans-Joachim Roedelius, of the sublime electronic-ish some similarities I could relate to in the harmonic, building? combo Cluster, as well as Michael Rother (of the melodic approach on that track. It was four open Yes, we shared one kitchen, one bathroom, and each propulsive combo NEU! and later solo adventures). The strings on a guitar, repeated over and over with had our own private space, like a room or two. But box set includes a lush 36-page booklet, a live poster, interesting processing. I contacted them and they the only room that was really heated was the kitchen. and pop-up artwork presenting the Harmonia said, “Come on over.” I took my guitar and drove to Money was also an issue. The Cluster musicians were headquarters in Forst, Germany. I chatted with Michael Forst, a three-hour drive, and I jammed with [Hans- extremely poor; they made very little money. Neu! was Rother about his days in Harmonia and more. Joachim] Roedelius. I immediately recognized the a bit successful – it helped solve some problems for possibilities. I fell in love with the combination of the Harmonia. We went into the forest to collect wood. How did Harmonia end up forming? fuzzy sounds he did on his piano, with all kinds of What went into putting this new Neu! was more like a project with Klaus Dinger and I. We treatments, and delay, and distortion. Amazing. That Harmonia box set together? didn’t even consider ourselves a band. Being a duo, was the first harmonic, melodic instrument I It was a lot of work. I invested many weeks of work in with Klaus on drums and me on guitar or bass, we connected with. Klaus was a fantastic drummer. But the spring, but I was absolutely determined because couldn’t play live at all. We tried two concerts as a being able to move around in space with the piano Harmonia was always so close to my heart. It was a duo, and I used a cassette player to add some and the guitar – that was so beautiful. I decided to very important phase in my life. I learned a lot in the backings, like water or bowed bass. People were leave Dusseldorf and Neu! behind. That was when exchange with Roedelius and Moebius. If you draw a furious. They said, “That’s a lie. It’s not live.” We were Dieter Moebius joined in, and six weeks later I moved line from Neu!, to Harmonia, to my solo work, and on, both quite unhappy with the situation, and we looked to Forst. It was really love at first sight; a musical I think it’s obvious that Harmonia was a very for other musicians but we were not successful. love, and also a love of the landscape. important step. I was able to work further on the idea Nobody really fit into our idea of music – this fast I’ve seen some of the photos. of this music in the exchange with them. forward, running kind of music. Then we had this offer Looking out of the window, over the river, over the The first Harmonia album, Musik von from United Artists UK; they released our first album, fields, and the soft hills in the back. No human Harmonia, was self-recorded at the and it was a sort of an underground success. So they structure in sight. This is so special. The music was house where you all lived. What were sent someone over to Dusseldorf, and the guy invited first, the most important factor by far, but the you recording on? us to do a tour. The problem was how to put the Neu! lifestyle – coming from a city like Dusseldorf – all my We were so poor! Together we had three ReVox A 77 – music on stage. That’s when I remembered the Cluster life I’d lived in houses, normal flats, and then I these nice stereo tape machines – and a very simple,
L to R: Michael Rother, Dieter Moebuis, Hans-Joachim Roedelius Subject: Michael Rother Title: Harmonia, NEU! Words: Larry Crane Images: Archival
28/Tape Op#110/Mr. Rother/(continued on page 30) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com When we recorded Neu!’s “Hallogallo,” for instance, there was nothing! Conny used one tape machine as a delay, and there was a plate reverb in a separate room. That was it. With Harmonia it was even worse! [laughs] We had this very silly spring reverb in the mixing desk, and we had some nice delay machines, which were important for the sound. My old Dynacord Echocord Mini [tape delay] is still downstairs in my room. Every musician who comes to visit is like, “Ahh! You have this. You must use it again.” You could change the delay by moving a slider. I bought that in 1971 when I played with Kraftwerk. That was my first big investment. It was so hard to find devices that did that back then. It improved in the ‘70s. I have a Roland Space Echo. Now there are digital versions of this. But it had this nice oscillation… Yeah, regenerating. These were very important, because of the L to R: Brian Eno, Dieter Moebuis, Michael Rother (seated), Hans-Joachim Roedelius and not great sounding, mixing desk by Echolette. your mouth. So, in the studio, “Deluxe,” the title technique of playing with your shadow, sort of. The great thing was that we had time. The working track, was originally conceived as an instrumental. We You can create musical patterns by adding the space was downstairs. We set up our gear in the came to the decision, “Let’s open our mouths and next note while the first one is being repeated. middle – in a circle, sort of – so that we could look at stand around the microphone.” We sat down for 5 or Suddenly you have two notes sounding. Or you each other. In the winter it was cold; there was only 10 minutes, scribbled some lyrics, and jumbled them can create patterns that always pick up the notes one small stove with not much heating power. So we together. That was very refreshing and liberating. in the middle. This became very important, were sitting in the winter, shoulders pressed together Then we did the “crazy” version, the track “Monza,” especially when I played with Harmonia. When I and playing with cold fingers. But when it was not the very dynamic stuff, and that was pure fun! played in Dusseldorf with Neu!, between the first cold, it was pure heaven. Nobody complained about Conny Plank seemed like such a two albums, we recorded a single at Giorgio noise; we could work whenever we wanted to and sympathetic engineer and producer. Morodor’s studio in Munich. Conny Plank wanted spend hours and hours, weeks and weeks, playing Definitely. He was very, very talented. He had this to “test” Giorgio’s studio. The studio, at that around, recording. We developed some ideas on one ability to understand what we were going for and to time, was in a huge building two floors below of the ReVox machines. And then when we wanted to pick up our ideas very early. He had a very modest ground level. You felt like you were in some do overdubs, we had to play back through this way in helping us create these sounds. His idea of his power plant. There was no fresh air and no awkward mixing desk. While we played it, we added role was not that he was pushing us into some daylight. When we recorded the track “Super” – some new instruments and recorded it to the second direction. He was very modest and very careful. Later Klaus was a powerful drummer. He could not machine, and then back again. Of course, I don’t have he did an interview, and he compared his role to that survive three minutes down there because there to explain that the sound doesn’t improve. of a midwife. Helping the musician give birth to their was not enough air. After a minute he just fell off When that’s all you have, that’s what ideas. That’s really how it felt. He had this brilliant the stool and needed a break. At that time I tried you do. mind. If you look at a track like [Neu!’s] “Hallogallo,” to make my guitar sound like an oboe. If you That’s right. I was totally happy. It was exploration there was no way of knowing where these good parts listen to “Neuschnee” there is no sound, it sort and freedom. Something that just drove me on. We of the guitar [takes] were. But he remembered them. of flows into the music with two volume pedals. got the album together after collecting ideas for When the tape ran, he was like a conductor. He I love the sound of oboe. four or five months. remembered the parts; he’d be featuring them in the Did you end up using an eBow for When you recorded the second album, right moment and then moving the fader down effects like that? Deluxe, you had Conny Plank come again because the next guitar part would be In 1979, and you can also hear a lot of eBow on down to record you. He brought a rubbish. Of course he was equally interested in Katzenmusik. I discovered the eBow in London. multitrack recorder? creating new sounds and being unique. He was a big It was still an adventure to go to London because His mobile 16-track MCI. We were very happy to have fan and had a lot of respect for many kinds of music. you found musical gear that was not available in Conny in our space. I’m not exactly sure how long he I feel similar to Conny, in that respect; there’s so Germany back then. “Endless sustain!” That was stayed. Maybe two weeks? Mani Neumeier also came much good music in different cultures and different great. I always had the desire to have an endless to visit and to play drums on a few tracks. Of course ages to be found. He shared in the risk. We recorded tone on the guitar. It adds elements of surprise the sound quality was by far better than on the first the first two Neu! albums in a rental studio in when playing live. I can never really control it. album. Then we met in his [Conny’s] studio a few Hamburg before he had his own studio,. Because we Sometimes the string is perfect and it has a weeks later to do the mixing and also to record the wanted to avoid anyone from the outside talking to sweet sound, and sometimes nothing happens vocals. That was something that we did us about their ideas, we recorded the albums and even though the battery is fully charged. spontaneously. Roedelius, Moebius, and I were all then presented them to the companies. To do that, That’s always an adventure, but that’s part of the rather shy on stage. We played with our backs to the we had to take the risk and pay for the production. fun of playing live. You never know what result audience because we couldn’t even look at the The same was true with Harmonia. He shared in the will come up! people. Not even speak to them. So this was worrying risks, and he shared in the results. Documents 1975 in the Harmonia box me. I thought, “We have to overcome this shyness; What kind of devices did you use to set has some previously unreleased this fear of the audience.” One step would be to open create spatial effects? tracks. What is the origin of those? 30/Tape Op#110/Mr. Rother/ mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com Because we were poor, we had to erase recordings whenever we thought, “Oh, this is not the reinvention of the wheel.” The blank tapes were so expensive. Only a few tapes survived. One of the tapes was what became Harmonia Live 1974. The three of us were sure from the very beginning that that was a very special concert and that we would not touch this tape. It was in my archive. When Grönland Records offered to release it in 2007, that tape was in mint condition. The Documents 1975 is a different story. Two of the tracks were on a tape that our friend, Asmus Tietchens, kept in his archive for 40 years. He was at the two concerts in Hamburg, and before we had the chance to erase the tape, he asked Dieter Moebius to make a copy for him. He put that tape in his archive. The original is gone, because we used that for some other recording. It was amazing, the clarity and the sound. I only had to do minor editing, otherwise it’s a really good document of Harmonia with Mani. “Proto- Deluxe” is an early, instrumental, unsophisticated, energetic version of “Deluxe.” The most startling track, I think, is “Tika-Taka,” which is an example of how we worked in the studio in 1975; it’s this track we recorded for the only German radio journalist who played our music occasionally. We were really totally ignored by nearly everyone. But he offered us air-time. He said, “If you record something for me, I will play it on my show.” We recorded this piece of music, and you may recognize some elements that appear on Deluxe as “Walky- Talky.” You can hear a very good example of how we processed the electronic drums, which was by sending the stupid, silly sounding, original drum sound through some machines, such as the Tremolo [stompbox] by Schaller. Because everything was “pre-sync,” you could rotate the tempo switch of the Tremolo and, in combination with delay, wah, and all the stuff that was used in that chain, sometimes the beat was suppressed. I’m still excited when I hear that piece of music, because it’s a great example. [It was created] with very simple means; it was nothing sophisticated, no big synth towers. It was just rock ‘n’ roll and dance instruments used in a different way. r
Mr. Rother/(Fin.)/Tape Op#110/31 mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com Intro: I’ve seen Gareth Jones’ name on records since the ‘80s and have always wanted You’ve had a pretty fun career. to meet him. My imagination created a stuffy, meticulous character; an I’ve had an amazingly fun career. engineer/producer driven by a need for electronic perfection and a slave to the I didn’t know about your Pathway Studios technology of recording. This is the man who engineered albums by Depeche Mode, connection early on. That place was Erasure, John Foxx, Einstürzende Neubauten, Nitzer Ebb, and Wire, and made them churning out some interesting propulsive, fresh, and new sounding. Little did I expect to meet up with an incredibly underground records in that era. passionate, thoughtful, and friendly bike riding gentleman with whom I felt an It was amazing. Mike Finesilver was the one who gave me a immediate connection. Gareth has kept busy over the years, working with groups like break, which was fantastic. He was really one of my first Interpol and Grizzly Bear, and current work that even includes a New Order remix. We mentors. I’m like a gifted amateur, in the sense that I never met at his studio, Strongroom, in London’s Shoreditch neighborhood, not far from where had the privilege or pleasure of studying as an assistant under his career initially took off at The Garden Studio with John Foxx, where we had a a great master. Most of my mentors have been musicians. I’ve wonderful chat and a lovely lunch at the Strongroom Bar. learned a hell of a lot from bands, as well as all the incredibly creative colleagues I’ve worked with. Mike gave me a bit of a break. He said something great to me, as well. He told me, “Don’t worry about this.” [He said that] because I was thrown into the 8-track world, by myself, with Subject: Gareth Jones no assistant. He said, “Okay, go.” I’d done a bit of Title: A Great Voyage recording on my own at home, and had had basic Words: Larry Crane Images: See Credits
mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com training at the BBC, so I knew a little bit about signal At Hansa’s Studio 2. c Joni Hackett That type of system flow. It seems ridiculous, looking back – I didn’t know helps move the project shit. But I felt I knew a little bit, like lining tape forward. machines up. He really underlined the importance of I love it. I really do. getting on with the bands. He said, “The great How many years were engineers are geniuses at their audio work. Plus, they you at Pathway? get on with the band.” Obviously 90 percent of it is I was there a couple of years. It’s facilitating a situation for the band where they can where my electronic career flow. I was always obsessed with trying to do the best started, with John Foxx’s headphone mixes I could, making a creative and Metamatic. He was an example of comfortable atmosphere for people, while I was really someone more experienced. He winging it. I’m forever thankful to Mike for giving me had already made three albums that break. Pathway was pretty cool, because we did with Ultravox, and he’d also loads of demo work. It was like a cheap-ish 8-track worked with Brian Eno [Tape Op analog studio. Also, there was a lot of records that #85]. John was clever. He wanted came out of there from the punk times. It was a a solo career, and he took a great starting point for me, because there was a real publishing advance to make the mixture between demo work – where I had to learn record. From having worked at as much as I could, as fast as possible, and still do Conny Plank’s, he thought, “I want a good job for people – and the challenge of actually to do a minimal electronic record, and let’s use working with people who’d perhaps made two or minimal gear.” He had one [Roland] CR-78 drum three albums already and were in there to make a machine, an ARP Odyssey [synthesizer], an Elka real record. One of the great things about Pathway [Rhapsody 490] String Machine, and, of course, his was that it was homebuilt. Barry Farmer was one of MXR Flanger. That was it. the previous engineers who had built the console I just bought a copy of that record. and an echo plate. We had an echo plate, which was That was my first proper record, one that I recorded and an unfeasibly expensive thing. I’d probably love it if mixed for the whole duration. I had it now. I still like spring reverbs. I’ve got tons Did that throw you for a loop at the of springs hooked up for my modular synths. Guitar beginning, having to build it bit by amp springs, Fender springs, Ampeg springs. They’re bit with overdubs? still readily available, and cheap. Back then, there I loved it. I was always a bit of a geek. I loved [Wendy were no other spatial effects in there, apart from Carlos’] Switched-On Bach in the ‘60s when I was a three 1/4-inch tape recorders: one to master onto teenager. I was open to that. Kraftwerk I was and two as delays. discovering a little bit. I loved Joe Meek’s work. It You had to be creative. blew me away as a kid, before I ever thought that I Certainly you must have started with 8-track, or 4-track, might work in a studio. or something? That was around 1980, right? 2-track, 4-track. Yeah. John and I started working on Metamatic in 1979. So you know all about building sounds and committing It was brilliant. It was a great break for me, because it the whole sounds to track. was just the artist, with me engineering. I think, a bit Mix the drums to a track. later, I got a couple of my friends in to play keyboards and bass. But a lot of it was just me and John. It was Context: When Daniel Miller recorded his first single (as The really intense. He had a real vision. He’s a trained Normal) “T.V.O.D.” b/w “Warm Leatherette” on a TEAC 4-track graphic artist as well, and he had a proper artistic recorder with a Korg synthesizer and dropped off copies at London vision. Looking back, I realize how much I got from it record shops, he probably never imagined where his love of all. We made that record; and then he sold the record electronic music and his Mute Records would end up. In this issue, and took an advance from a record company, then we catch up with Daniel and engineer/producer Gareth Jones – two bought a studio. That was The Garden Studio, now shut men who have quite a history together working with artists like down. It was later owned by Matt [Johnson of The The], Depeche Mode and, to this day, remixing groups such as MGMT and who bought it off John, and then Matt rented it to Craig Neu! as the duo “Sunroof.” Silvey. This is a very fashionable/touristy area now, with bars and restaurants. When John moved here in the ‘80s, Exactly. That’s a different world. I’ve been working in it was completely derelict. There was nothing here at all. Woodstock with a super nice guy, Christopher Bono, It was empty warehouse after empty warehouse. This who’s become a friend. We were working on his project, studio wasn’t here. There was one Italian cafe, like a called Ghost Against Ghost. It was huge, like lots of breakfast cafe, a workingman’s café, and a couple of old these projects are. He was stemming it himself, and I pubs. I think a bunch of artists bought the warehouse. went over to help him finish the stems. One of the John bought the basement, a sculptor bought the top things we did was stem the drums down to stereo. It two floors and lived there, a photographer had a floor was wonderful. It reminded me of the start of my career. with a studio, and they were able to pool resources. It Not quite to one track, but to two tracks. I finished up was affordable then. They were ambitious, but not using the stereo drum stems on both mixes, so it’s nice. hugely wealthy. No one wanted this area. Working in Strongroom Studio. c Piers van Looy Mr. Jones/(continued on page 34)/Tape Op#110/33 mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com That’s a pretty typical cycle. Everyone the ‘70s. We were doing modern, electronic music. It was All of the modern synths are now loaded with special goes, “Oh, the artists are all over about synthesizers and drum machines. It was a clean, effects. here!” streamlined, urban, modern aesthetic. Aren’t they now? I’m always telling It is. Now it’s unaffordable and everyone’s moved east, like There were a lot of people on a similar people to turn them off. five miles away. John invited me to help. We became path after punk. Exactly. friends, and he stayed my employer. He had the vision Exactly. A lot of the early electronic musicians I worked “Let me put my own reverb on this.” and the money, and I helped liaise with the guys who with couldn’t play, but they could program, and they Then there’s the extra harmonic element we get from re- were selling the gear, even though I didn’t know much had a musical idea and vision. They couldn’t, in a amping as well. It’s still wonderful to play sounds into about it. I obviously thought I was very knowledgeable sense, play in the way that the great prog bands could real spaces. We all love it. That can be from a really and really into it, so I did everything, from having who had amazing chops. None of these dudes could clean monitor in a space, to being really crunched up. meetings with console manufacturers and tape machine play. But they had an artistic vision. Like Wire, who There was a huge, extra palette arriving on the distributors, to soldering up the tie lines. came out of art school. That’s a classic art punk rock console. I loved it. It was really fun hooking up the You have a history of jumping in. band, isn’t it? They’re like actually, “This is what we do. chains and getting everything going. It’s something I I think that’s what I got from punk. I was like a bit of a We make sonic art.” played with for years. hippie. I wasn’t a punk, for sure, but I did get the That’s true. I just saw them a few weeks You also set up a system where you might atmosphere of “we can do this.” That’s just been my ago in Portland. get something back that y o u ’ r e n o t path through life. How wonderful it would have been if We’ve been friends for years. They’re great guys. expecting. Happy accidents. I’d managed to get a place at Trident, AIR, or Abbey With what John Foxx was creating with Isn’t that the fun of playing with pedals, or wires, or Road, and studied with the masters. But, as it was, the Metamatic or The Garden, you’d need to cables? I might be wrong, but in my experience, it’s masters I studied with were the bands I had the have 25 synthesizers to play it all live! much easier to have a happy accident with analog pleasure of working with. Some of us kind of grew Yeah. This is really the thing about the studio being an gear than it is with digital gear. Obviously we can have together. They were learning, I was learning, and we instrument, which is very much how I felt about it at lots of horrible accidents with digital, where it were all doing it together. the time in the ‘80s. I played a lot, badly, as a kid. All completely melts down. Working with John was a good start to kinds of different instruments. I loved music, but I You don’t get randomness. that. never felt like I was in a band, or that I was a performer. When we’ve got a mess of cables, amps, pedals, rooms, It was indeed. As I said, Metamatic was his fourth album. After a while, people would ask what I played, and I and mics, it seems like all kinds of stuff happens that He had an overview about how to make records that I said, “I play the studio.” Now of course everyone plays maybe we weren’t planning. John Foxx gave me a great simply didn’t have. the studio. Most modern musicians have a massive lesson about that once as well. It happened to me on You worked with him on his second solo studio. When I was coming through in the ‘80s, they the 8-track. When I was young, it was all about trying album, The Garden. didn’t. The musicians had their area, and the studio was to control the technology. It was a huge achievement I did, yeah. We did it partly at Andy Fernbach’s [Jacobs my thing. It was what I did. The fact that I embraced to get sound from the microphone to the speaker. Studios] down in Surrey. It was where I worked with that meant we were a good fit. Something happened – some incredible sound came out Tuxedomoon and made Desire as well. It was pretty cool. You’ve worked a lot with re-amping of the speaker, different from what I was intending. I John took me to my first 16-track studio. I think we synthesizers and trying to capture immediately went over to break it down. John was like, worked where The Buggles had a studio, in Camden more depth within electronic music. “No, stop! Listen!” I was like, “Oh, I see. I didn’t mean Mews. We rented that for one song on Metamatic. John I was really keen because I had a huge love of orchestral it, but it’s great. Let’s track it.” After that I was like, “I felt it [the song] would benefit from having a few more and classic music when I was a kid. I was very late to get it. Keep listening and stop judging.” It’s letting go tracks for him to try ideas out. Then he took me into Sarm jazz and rock. I didn’t really get into that until I became of the ego, isn’t it? East Studios where I met Julian Mendelsohn. We did a college student. Also, with my training at the BBC... I Were you still working at Pathway when some cheap, all-night session where I was starting to have a huge admiration for public service broadcasting, you were working at John Foxx’s grapple with the idea of more tracks. John’s studio, The especially at that time in the ‘70s. They were a big studio? Garden, was a 24-track studio. We had a funny thing research organization too. There was this idea of not No. I moved down to John’s for a bit. John’s studio first about that, technology-wise. At that stage, not really using many mics to record a symphony orchestra. My went to Surrey, because the building wasn’t finished. having the experience or the training, there was this idea training involved being allowed to attend one session, The warehouse wasn’t converted, but he’d bought the that transformers were not that good for the sound, say nothing, and sit at the back. I never recorded a equipment. He did a deal with Andy Fernbach at because they affected transients in a way. There was a symphony orchestra, but there was this huge idea of [Jacob’s Studios]. The equipment went in there for fashionable era where the modern electronics were depth. If you listen to concerts from the ‘70s in the about six months. That’s where Tuxedomoon transformer-free. As John’s engineer, we selected an Albert Hall, the main sound is coming off a pair. There’s approached John about making a record, and John Amek console and an MCI tape machine, none of which this huge depth going on. I loved that. I was trying to kindly passed them on to me. That was incredible. I had transformers. Now, of course, our lovely audio can’t get away from a lot of the early DI synthesizer work, was working with John’s equipment in Surrey a little go through too many precious transformers. which now I can embrace. I was thinking about mixing bit, making a couple of albums. Then the building was That’s funny. I forgot about that era. it. I was into re-amping. In the circles I was moving in finished, and we bought a Lexicon Model 224 [digital It’s like when we got seduced into thinking early digital at the time I was lucky, as it wasn’t being done much. It reverb]. John has a thing for reverbs and spaces. He sounded great, because our attention and ears were drawn was one of the things I was able to bring to the party. really wanted one of these newfangled, high-quality, to one or two things only, like brightness or lack of noise. If you used to just play your Mini Moog DI-ed into the digital reverberators. I proposed to John that I go to Then, gradually, everyone’s like, “Oh, hang on a minute. speakers, to then hear it paralleled out, sent to a room, San Francisco, buy one, and bring it back. He was kind I’m not getting where I need to be. Why’s it so brittle? amped with three mics down the room is amazing. enough to go for that. I had a great vacation, my first Why is it two-dimensional? Why is there an offset between I feel like the first time I ever messed trip ever to America. I also bought a Sony Walkman, the two channels?” The Garden Studio was cool. John had with a synth, I felt like, “Oh, it needs the first one that had just come out. I couldn’t really a minimal visual aesthetic. It was a modern studio. There spatial effects.” It needs something to afford it, but I looked at it and had to have it. It wasn’t lovely stonework, carpets, and everything that we keep it from being right at the front meant I could hike out into the cliffs or mountains now embrace from the ‘70s. This was a move away from of the speaker. somewhere and listen to music.
34/Tape Op#110/Mr. Jones/(continued on page 36) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com They were really expensive when they major that had been making records since the ‘20s or Depeche Mode, always tracking in London and mixing first came out. ‘30s. They were like, “Let’s just do it.” John said, “This in Berlin. We only tracked one record in The Garden. It was kind of life changing. For me, it wasn’t as much band [Depeche Mode] is interesting. They want to We did the next two records tracking in different about going around with headphones on in the world. come check the studio out for the album. You need to places. We always mixed at Hansa [Tonstudio, Tape Op It was about going somewhere and being able to listen do this.” I was really interested in jazz and minimal #95]. At that time that was a really funky, incredible to Wagner on the clifftops, or Pink Floyd in the music. I was working with a band called The Lost tracking room. mountains. My first one was a playback-only one. Jockey. Depeche Mode were basically a pop band on the When did you first go over there to work? I feel like you’ve always been working with radio, and I wasn’t interested. I went over there in about ‘82. I worked with a German new technology and embracing it. Their first record [Speak & Spell] had big, new wave band called Ideal. Very successful. I got I’ve always enjoyed the technology. In fact, I have to be poppy hits on it. involved in their third album [Bi Nuu]. I think the very firm with myself not to let the technology run Yeah. Famously, “Just Can’t Get Enough.” My dear friend main singer/songwriter wanted to record in Vienna. away. I try to encourage our younger colleagues to Vince [Clarke] had left the band by then. They were There was some studio outside Vienna. I co-produced realize that we’ve got enough equipment. Lack of struggling, I think. that record with a German musician called Micki equipment was always a creative bonus, actually. I try They lost a major songwriter. Meuser. He was super nice; a very supportive and to preach the message now, like many people from our They lost a major songwriter right there, as New Order/Joy helpful guy. We went to Vienna to track, and the band generation do, that actually it’s not about the Division did when Ian [Curtis] passed away. In a way, was living in Berlin. I was a young, relatively equipment. I am a technophile for sure, but it’s so the second string songwriter had to step up. There are inexperienced engineer and producer, and I wanted important to tell stories. I try to seamlessly go into a some very interesting parallels between the bands. the security of coming back to London and mixing world where I’m helping, in my professional work and Martin Gore had to step up and Bernard Sumner had to somewhere that I knew. The manager said it was my uncommissioned work, where I’m just trying to tell step up. Perhaps they wouldn’t have done that if they obviously much more convenient if we were to mix in a story with the equipment that I’ve got. When The both hadn’t suffered these cataclysmic losses. Anyway, Berlin. He was quite diplomatic, but he said, “Come Haxan Cloak can mix Björk’s record [Vulnicura] in they wanted to make this album, and I said, “No,” and see this studio in Berlin.” He took me to Hansa, Albelton Live on a laptop, we have to focus on doing because it was on the radio and it was pop music. I was up the famous lift to the fourth floor penthouse mix the best we can with the tools that are available to us. like, “That’s pop music. It’s not my thing. I like to do room. We walked in and there was this seemingly I’ve been an early adopter of many things: bulletin weird stuff.” John probably thought I was a complete massive 56-channel SSL [console]. I’d never seen a boards, huge transatlantic telephone conversations on stoner idiot, so he said, “Whatever.” They came and console that big, and I’d never worked on an SSL in my slow modems, digital Internet, and early technology. I checked the studio out. Luckily the universe gave me life. I walked in and was like, “Okay. We’ll mix it here.” was a very early adopter because of Opcode’s Studio another break. They liked the studio, but they didn’t like Did the console and studio feel forward Vision [MIDI sequencer/DAW], which blew me away. the engineer they’d been assigned to. John came back thinking to you, technology-wise? “We can put audio into the computer and have clips to me again and said, “Gareth, I’m telling you, they like Yes. I wasn’t that experienced with studios. Obviously like MIDI? Cool!” the studio, but they don’t like the engineer. Go and the automated console – with the one [SMPTE] track You were probably waiting for things meet them.” I’d just come back from Morocco. I’d been – timecode driven, and not bouncing between tracks like that to happen. dropping acid, and I was wearing this weird Moroccan – that was life-changing for everyone. They had quite I was lucky because I was generating some record coat I’d bought in the desert, plus black nail polish. I a few effects, but really, it was about being able to royalties. I had some funds, so I could buy into the was a real freak. I went over on my bicycle to Mute deal with cuts and levels independently. On the early early stuff. It was expensive, at the time. Records to meet them. I was pretty young, but they 24-track many tracks would have five different parts What was the path that took you from were younger than me, and Daniel was older than me. on them, because we had to fit them in. The fact that working with John Foxx to working They seemed like nice people. Somehow, they gave me you could mult that out to multiple [console] with Depeche Mode and Daniel Miller? break. Then we started working together. It’s really channels, then program mutes (with the “Play Cuts Because John was an electronic artist, his studio interesting how those things happen in life. I think how Only” function) and still have all the levels running resonated with some of the other electronic acts and we judge what’s good and what’s bad is nonsense, live was incredibly powerful, in terms of transitioning labels in London. The [third Depeche Mode] album that because we can never tell. We’re full of opinions about from a very rough mix phase to some kind of decent became Construction Time Again – the first of the what’s right in our life. It’s not really about fame and mix. It seemed like the so-called “space age.” So “Berlin trilogy” records I made with them – they fortune, of which I’ve only had a little anyway. It’s about every sound came down its own track. You could work wanted to work in a different studio. They’d been the valuable creative relationships and friendships that on timbre, dynamics, and effects on every channel, working at Blackwing Studios, and had a great time, come out. I still feel very close to the members of but you still had this free-running fader level. It’s still obviously; but a lot of things had changed in the band Depeche Mode. We had such great, formative part of my working method, I would say, because I and they wanted to work somewhere else. They’d heard experiences together. When we do meet, it’s one of can’t start writing level automation on a mix too about John’s studio and thought, “Oh, cool. Not an those relationships we all have had in our life, where we early. I love to be able to have all the levels free to old-fashioned rock studio. A proper electronic music can just be very honest immediately, from the start, and tweak. At some stage lots of level automation might studio.” They wanted to check the studio out. John pick up from where we left off. Daniel, at Mute Records, need doing, and then we have to start committing said, “Look, this is an interesting label.” I’d already became a friend, and he’s stayed a very dear and and nailing it down. With the SSL, there was a real heard [The Normal’s] “Warm Leatherette,” which Daniel important friend in my life for all these years. Yet, at the sense of freedom, the wonderful opening up of the Miller founded the label [Mute] with. beginning, because of stupid, blind prejudice, I just multitracks, and the free fader levels. This was before I wish people in America knew what that said, “No.” So then we embarked on this. We obviously we mixed Construction Time Again. meant. That single was really got along as people. I was a great fan of how they were That makes a lot of sense for that kind revolutionary. trying to work. It was a wonderful introduction for me of work. It was very important. John brought that record into to pop songwriting, with Martin Gore’s melodies and I mixed that Ideal record there, and then I went on to Pathway and said, “Check this out.” That’s home lyrics, their production skills, and Daniel’s production work with the singer of that band [Annette Humpe] recording on 4-track, with a punk, do-it-yourself skills. It was a great learning phase. We were blessed on another project [the band DÖF], which I mixed in aesthetic. I guess all these early labels were the same: with success as well. Back in those days, relationships there. It was like a comedy project; really lighthearted Mute, Factory, Rough Trade. They weren’t working at a were built. I made three records, back to back, with Austrian rock, and hugely successful in Germany.
36/Tape Op#110/Mr. Jones/(continued on page 38) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com It was number one for weeks and weeks. I mixed that you weren’t on the team. Now we’re all a lot older and then the feel’s not right. There were a lot of those kinds for her in the same room. At that time, we’d started wiser, and Daniel’s a wonderfully chilled out and very of issues. Same when early digital started to happen. We tracking the album that became Construction Time creative guy. When we made Black Celebration, we had went from extremely tight MIDI, with Creator and Again. Daniel was visiting Nick Cave, who was this concept – I think Daniel had the idea inspired by Notator on an Atari with a Unitor, to very sloppy MIDI downstairs in the big hall with [his band] Birthday Werner Herzog – that we should live the album, so we down serial cables on a Mac. Things have settled down a Party. I said, “Come and see this mix room!” I was didn’t have a day off. We worked from the first day of little bit now. obviously thinking this was where we had to mix tracking to the final day of mixing without any time off. There are times now where you can Depeche. I was loving Berlin, and the whole complex It was unbelievably intense. After that, Depeche Mode overcome the situation by sheer was amazing. Daniel was enjoying Berlin as well. There went on to work with other great producers. processing power. was a very good exchange rate – Pounds could buy a They’re like, “Not doing that again!” Yeah. Hosting synths inside sequencers seems to be lot of Deutschemarks in those days. “We can move the But it was a super amazing experience. Of course I was stable. That seems to have been worked out. There whole band to Germany for three or four weeks, they learning and progressing all the time – the first Depeche were a lot of emerging technologies, and we were all can stay in a hotel, and we can rent this incredible album that I did for Mute, I engineered. I had to summon growing up with them. There was a lot of studio. We can ship all the gear we need, and it’s still up my courage to ask to be taken onto the production team experimenting. Thank god there were enough record going to be cheaper, or the same price, as working at for later albums. I was learning massively about song sales for there to be a budget for the time to get an equivalent facility in London.” That gave the extra structures and radio friendliness. A lot of the early mixing through these hurdles. Some of them were really time incentive. So we did it. we did was on tiny little radio speakers, because mono AM consuming. There’s no way that could ever be You were doing other records along radio was so important in those days. affordable now. You couldn’t spend a whole day in a big the way there, like Einstürzende It had to project and come across studio working on sync. Neubauten. somehow. When you hit those technical Yeah, because I’d moved to Berlin. This studio was It had to slam out of a tiny little radio, which it did. roadblocks in the middle of trying to blowing me away. They had a particularly good system Looking back, we paid a price. The records are be creative, that can be a bummer. going, where the studio would be rented, and I would wonderful and stand in their own right, but sonically I You can lose momentum and mood. be employed by them as a freelance engineer. I was have a lot of issues with my older work. Now, my work Yeah, I guess that’s part of our skill set, when we’re trying bringing all these projects there and was getting paid will sound good on the little tiny speakers; and to help keep the session rolling, is to sidestep those by the studio. I fell in love with the studio because of hopefully if I get it right, it’ll sound great on big ones. issues immediately; to always find a way around. As I’ve the high-tech mixing rooms, the massive tracking At that time, so much focus was on the radio that the gotten older, that’s something I’m able to do. I see my rooms, and the big halls, as well as the loads of bottom end wasn’t quite what it could have been. I assistants or engineers get stuck sometimes and I say, interesting nooks and crannies, and great acoustics. I guess that’s a lot of the ‘80s sound as well. There was “Look, it doesn’t matter. Move on and let’s forget about fell in love with a woman in Berlin as well, so with this a lot of focus on slamming stuff. I mean, obviously Bob it. Use that other channel, or let’s forget that mic.” dual thing of love, art, and work going together, I Clearmountain [Tape Op #84] was in charge of his Whereas in the past, when I had less of an overview and moved to Berlin. I had the great pleasure of bringing bottom end. But a lot of us weren’t paying attention to was more stuck in the details, that would seem some bands from London into Berlin as well, like Fad the weight and warmth. I certainly wasn’t. impossible. To keep the session flowing is so important. Gadget and Wire. The ‘80s recording path has cautionary It’s so much more fun for us as well, as engineers and Wire are one of my favorite bands. tales and brave experiments. producers, to come away from a day having made music. The Ideal Copy was Wire’s first experimenting with MIDI. Of course. What I was very interested in was experimental Most of my commission work now seems to be mixing, I worked with other German bands. I was spending my pop. We were trying to boldly go into uncharted which is fine, and I enjoy it very much. But when I do whole life in the studio. That’s where I got my 10,000 territory. There was no use of presets. Everything had track records, I want to get set up in the first half of the hours in, just being in the studio all the time. That was to be designed from the ground up. Everything was day, and I want to be making music by the second half really a great adventure. Adventure has been one of my about, “What can we do that we know hasn’t been of the day so that at least we’ve got something to listen key themes. done?” That was the whole thing. It was all about to the next morning. I get depressed now if I’m in this Were you coming back to England for experimenting and pushing the envelope. We felt room all day and for some reason I don’t make music. other sessions? uninfluenced and unique. It was new. That was the That’s a bad vibe for me. Yeah, I was doing some sessions in England, and traveling point. That was what we were trying to do. And what When did you start working with Vince around Europe as well. I went to Brussels to work with a great time to do it, as technology was racing ahead Clarke and Erasure? Blaine [Reininger, of Tuxedomoon]. I mixed a record for as well. It was really productive. It was really through my work with Diamanda Galas. She him called Night Air. I was certainly getting a lot of What took forever then would be so much was making these Plague Mass records. Her brother, experience under my belt, and working with a lot of easier to do now. who I never met (and whom she was very close to), was different kinds of artists. Diamanda Galas came to Berlin, Like syncing the sequencer, for instance. Now obviously dying of AIDS. He died in the process of her making and I made some wonderful records with her at Hansa. every soft synth is sample-locked to the sequencer. these records, and Diamanda and I became very close. In the ‘80s, I’d become one of the relatively few Sync was a big one for us; a really big one. She had met Andy Bell from Erasure, and had spoken engineer/producers that Mute Records were using. You had to spend a lot of time making highly of me. Funnily enough, you couldn’t imagine a Nowadays everything’s very open and diverse, which is things work the way you wanted. more pop act and a more avant-garde, underground act, wonderful for all of us. I was very lucky to have the Yeah. Even now, there are still loads of issues out there. The but it was through Diamanda that I met Andy Bell. That opportunity to work for some of the other bands that offset between the boxes changes every time you boot was an amazing link. The album we did was Wild!, and Daniel was curating on Mute. the computer with the early aggregate audio. Syncing the first single was called “Drama!” That was in ‘89. Working with Daniel must have been the Synclavier to tape... it’s all about jitter. “It’s playing Initially, my brief was to track vocals. Diamanda was quite fun too. He seems like a really along, but it isn’t the same offset all the time.” Some of kind enough to say that I was very sensitive to open-minded person. the musical sequences were jittering so much that it was vocalists’ needs and got great vocal sounds. She’s got Yeah, he’s super creative. He was a very creative guy when musically apparent. If a musical sequencer is jittering by a huge voice, and Andy’s got a great big soulful voice we first met, but he was a very demanding taskmaster a millisecond, I’m not going to notice. But when it’s as well. I came to London to do that. We tracked vocals as well. Very driven. If you weren’t as driven as Daniel, jittering enough that it’s 20 milliseconds or something, in The Church, which is Paul Epworth’s studio now.
38/Tape Op#110/Mr. Jones/(continued on page 40) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com Was that Dave Stewart’s place? this kind of shootout, where we were both mixing the wonderful voyage of discovery has been finding out It was Dave and Annie Lennox’s, at that time. There was tracks. Mark would mix a track, then I’d listen to it about arrangements, tempos, styles, how much this huge tracking room, which was where we tracked and think, “Oh, I don’t know. He hasn’t quite gotten acoustic guitar, how much electronics, and so on. the vocals for Wild! I was into running high-quality it.” I’d try to mix it and then bounce it back to him That can be a great voyage. mic cables through the door, at that point. I had and so on. We finished it up with about half the But it takes a lot of energy. some Van Den Hul silver mic cable. It had an tracks each. It was really great. Luckily we had the Sometimes it takes a bit more funding, because incredible sound, but it was not very robust budget to do that. That was super fun, especially with everyone has to commit more time to it. Like you, I mechanically, so the cable got shorter and shorter. I the single. That went around quite a few iterations. never got involved in this business to make money. In gave up on it in the end. I moved to Mogami, which I’d do something rough and punk-y, and he’d do fact, I was absolutely delighted when I realized I had good sound but was completely robust. I had a something a bit more polished. It just went on, and could make a career out of it. All those years back wonderful mic I’d bought in Germany, a 1934 on, and on. Then some of the tracks on the album we when I thought, “Wow, I’m actually going to be able Telefunken CMV3; a great big, bottle mic. We took the just conceded. I heard a couple of tracks Mark mixed to support myself doing this!” That was really capsule and modified it by turning up the polarizing and said, “Hey, I’m done. I’m not even going to try amazing, but we do have to find effective models, voltage on the capsule and lowering the noise floor. that.” We were working in different studios – his was don’t we? This might be one of the great things about We had this going through Rupert Neve Focusrite mic about three miles away. It was great comrades mixing records out of a room like this. We can guess pres in the control room. We had this wonderful vocal working together, because everyone wanted the best that it might take ten days to mix the record. We chain, and a great sounding room – it was very possible record. It wasn’t an unpleasant competition might budget for ten days, and pay a room rate for inspirational. I mixed half of that record as well. It – it was a really supportive competition. the ten days; but if it takes 12 days or 15 days, and gradually moved into mixing. There started a long It’s not your ego. I think collaboration everyone’s positive and in good spirits, on a vibe if creative relationship. is clearly a key thing. you like, it doesn’t matter. I can swallow that cost. I It seems funny that you were working A key word in my career is collaboration. I’ve always felt never could do that if I were mixing in a massive with Depeche Mode, and then you that I’m not the kind of genius who makes something console room. I don’t want to put any work out that came full circle back to Vince, great, no matter what. It’s almost like chemistry. If isn’t everything we want it to be. There’s no point. without directly coming from there’s a connection, it can be great. That’s been my Life’s too short! It’s not good for the artist, but it’s Depeche Mode. experience in my work. If there’s an aesthetic or not good for me either. It’s not good for me Yeah. I’d got to know Vince as a result of working on this personal connection, some kind of connection, it can spiritually. It’s not good for my reputation. You can record together. That record was co-produced with a be great. I’ve done extended pre-production projects only do that when, to some extent, you’ve got the guy called Mark Saunders. He was basically working once or twice with great writers where they’ve means of production. You’re swallowing the cost, on the music with Vince, and I was working on the developed a song, but it’s so fragile that it might only basically. In the first iteration of this room, in the vocals with Andy. When it came to mixing, we had be a melody, chords, and lyrics. Then part of the ‘90s, it was much more about doing some remixes, as
40/Tape Op#110/Mr. Jones/(continued on page 42) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com well as lots of vocal tracking and pre-production. the spring reverbs or filters. My approach to the We work with people who come and go Now it’s about making finished records, because it’s modular is that I’m not skilled enough to make the in this business. You had such an doable with the power of the computer and the same sound again. If I’m making a noise that sounds intense run with Depeche Mode. summing amp. good, it has to be recorded. That’s the only way it’s It’s quite remarkable. In our world, it must be the same It’s pretty amazing. ever going to work. If I’m building a mix, quite often in other artistic endeavors like theater and film, but I feel that there’s something great about going into a I might have those effects running live on the Mackie it’s a very, very close relationship, but it’s kind of big commercial room, where time is very limited and for a couple of hours on something: vocals, drums, bounded. The album finishes, and you might not see you have to turn out one mix a day, even if you put whatever. Then, before the afternoon or evening is each other for five years; but you’ve been through down stems and tweak it later. It forces you to focus over, I print it, and it’s in. So, for the recall, all that this incredible, emotional journey together, and it’s and get work done, which is great. But I also find I do is the [Thermionic Culture] Fat Bustard summing been really, really important. that the way that we can iterate mixes when we’re in amp gets photographed [for recall]. The [Thermionic Sometimes I feel a little weird at the a totally recallable environment like this suits my Culture] Culture Vulture is on a send, so I can use end. You’re hugging; all the method of working. By the time I get to mix four, I parallel thickening. If I do something extreme with mixing’s done… might be somewhere where I think, “Actually, that’s the Culture Vulture, I track it; but a lot of times it’s All teared up, I know. I used to call that “post-album pretty good.” My way of working benefits from the just on the thickening setting so that I can send depression.” “Hey, let’s be aware of this. We’ve ability to mix five tracks of the album, get a bit of beats, vocals, bass and stuff to it in parallel. Then finished this journey together now.” Everyone’s going the vibe going, and understand what the band are all the Kush Audio Clariphonic high-end boost is on the to feel a little low next week, but it’ll be fine. It’s a about. Then I can go back to track one and say, mix bus, and that gets photographed on the iPhone very close coming together, because we’re making art “Okay. I see the beat is heavier,” or whatever. “More in an EverNote notebook for the session. together. Sometimes we have to be very sensitive to effects on the vocals.” Anything. I’m not talking So you had this exact same studio space the artist’s story and the baby that they’ve brought about panning the hi-hat. I’m talking about vision. years ago? into the world, which actually we’re just helping Gradually I spiral up and get to an album that sounds I moved into this room in 1992; it was built for me, and deliver. It’s a very nurturing, supportive, and pretty good, without it being too time-intensive. then I moved out for many years. I was here for hardworking environment. Everyone’s very close and When you use analog gear, do you just about ten years, and I’ve just come back about three involved. Then it all goes away. But we’ve got a piece run a sound out and print back in? years ago. I just needed a room to work in for a of vinyl, CD, or something. r Well, the analog gear that I use in this room is more or couple of months. I rented an office down at the end Read more from this interview at less the little modular synth rig, which I’ve built into and set up in there. I had quite a portable setup. This
Modular rig. c Larry Crane
42/Tape Op#110/Mr. Jones/(Fin.) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com Subject: Daniel Miller Title: A Memory of Sound Words: Evan Sutton Image: Joe Dilworth
mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com Daniel Miller has been a figurehead of Did you bring synthesizers with you or Do you see any advantage to using cutting edge music since he released his first did they have them there? presets or sound libraries when single, “Warm Leatherette,” as The Normal in 1978. The We brought everything with us. There were a couple of creating electronic music? rise of his label, Mute Records, soon followed, with a guys who worked for Mute, Paul Kendall – who ran our Presets have a role if you’re making certain types of roster including Depeche Mode, Nick Cave and the Bad studio and was a producer in his own right – and commercial things that are very time sensitive. I can Seeds, Erasure, Moby, Zola Jesus, Goldfrapp, Arca, CAN, David Simmonds – who used to be the keyboard see why presets are useful for that. But for recording and many others. Daniel’s Studio Mute opened this year player with Fad Gadget. They used to bring it over [in artists making records, it’s a different thing. One of at the Mute headquarters in Hammersmith, west London a van] and set it all up. We had a Synclavier, an ARP the important things about electronic music is as a writing, recording, mixing and mastering space, 2600, a [Roland] System 100M, and Emulators. In creating your own sounds from scratch. In theory, I featuring an SSL Matrix console and (of course) a those days West Berlin was in the middle of East think people should build their own synthesizers. It’s selection of vintage analogue synths and drum Germany, so you had to go through East Germany to very easy, especially now with endless sample libraries machines. get there. There was a road called The Corridor, and it and presets. You can cobble something together really was a couple of hours drive from West Germany. At quickly and easily. It’ll sound good on a certain level, If you were to start Mute today, would one point they were in very bad weather, took a but it may not be very individualistic. With analog you approach things differently than wrong turn somehow, and ended up in East Germany synths, the most important thing is that it’s your you did in the ‘70s? with all of these guards trying to figure out what this sound; even if the sound isn’t technically as good as The way it started, probably not. Back then, in my electronic music equipment was! [laughs] something you get from a preset or library. Bob Dylan bedroom, I had a 4-track tape recorder, a cheap synth, What is your approach to giving artists isn’t the greatest guitarist, but he has a sound. Jimi and I made the record. Now I’d probably have a the resources to make the best Hendrix was one of the greatest guitarists, and he had laptop. I got it [my record] pressed and I went to a record possible? his own sound! [laughs] few stores to see if they were interested in it. Rough It’s very artist dependent. The recording process has It’s another level of identity. Trade said they’d like to distribute it, and so I got a changed so much in the last ten years, beyond That’s right. It doesn’t have to be technically good all distribution deal. Of course, now it would be a bit recognition with the cost structure and so forth. We’re the time. It just has to be an expression of your different. I’d still probably want to do a physical 7- a small label, so we want to make sure the artist has personality. If people learn how to make their own inch, but then I would still have all of the digital the right tools to do the job, whatever those tools sounds using electronic instruments, they’re much opportunities as well. But that’s just a distribution happen to be. If it happens to be that they need to more likely to achieve their aims than by going thing… there’s nothing fundamentally different. In be in a studio with a great live room, because they’re through endless sounds. There’s nothing more soul those days, you used to do five promo copies for the a live band and it’s important, then so be it. If it’s one destroying than going through endless bass sounds, UK. One each for Melody Maker, Sound, NME [New guy on his own with a laptop, then I make sure he’s or kick drums, or whatever. It’s so boring, Musical Express], Record Mirror, and John Peel. They got a room that’s soundproof. Record sales and unproductive, and uncreative. It’s like you start to were the only people in the world who had any recording budgets are down, so we have to cut our glaze over and you can’t hear. You’ve lost all sense of impact, in my opinion. You could pretty much cover cloth. But we have our own studio [Studio Mute], what sounds good and what doesn’t sound good. the country with those. which is very helpful. We look at what they need, and Did the concept of things not being You later spent a lot of time recording then we ask how we can best allocate the budget we technically perfect come from your in Berlin. What drew you there? have for this artist. appreciation of punk? First of all, it was more fun. If you compare Berlin to How does Studio Mute get used? It’s partly that. Just before punk started, everything had London back in the early ’80s, it was very strict. [In The first six months of its existence were pretty become technically amazingly good. Polished, from a London] everything closes at 11 o’clock. If you’re in the much taken up by people doing film scores and sonic point of view, or virtuosic, from a performance studio at a quarter to 11 and you’d like to get a drink, contemporary classical music, which was not what point of view; but actually very boring to me – and to you basically have 15 minutes to get out to a pub and we expected. Sometimes it’s [used for] a whole a whole generation of kids who were influenced by have a pint. Working in a studio isn’t a normal life, but project, or sometimes only mixing a project. We punk. I don’t think about it specifically, but it’s not it’s nice to have some element of normality. Berlin was, just finished an album by Beth Jeans Houghton, about being technically perfect. It’s about expressing and is, a 24-hour city, so you could always go out and a lot of it was done there. The main recording yourself in a way that’s interesting. Of course you’d somewhere and have a relaxed drink. Plus there was an was done in another studio, but all the overdubs like to get a nice sound, but not at the cost of losing amazing scene going on there. There were a couple of and a lot of the mixing were done [at Studio the personality. Just do what you do; don’t worry if studios, but the one we used 90 percent of the time Mute]. I quite often go down and do single edits it’s not the most incredible sounding kick you’ve ever was Hansa Studios [Tape Op #95], which was right next and tweaks, plus a lot of stem tweaks. Some of the heard, as long as it fits into what you want it to be. to the Berlin Wall. We were working on an album called guys come in and spend a few days sampling the Make it your own. The other thing I think is very Construction Time Again with Depeche Mode. The analog synths. It’s a whole mixture of things. important, especially with digital technology for engineer we were working with, Gareth Jones, was in We’re in the process of physically moving the recording, is to set yourself [up with] some kind of the process of moving to Berlin and he started using studio. It was located across the road from where guidelines about what you’re going to do. People end Hansa’s mix room. It was probably the most high tech the office is. It’s very important for me that we’ve up with these ridiculous sessions, which become studio I’d ever seen, up to that point. It had a huge SSL always had a studio that’s either in the office, or unmanageable. One can get lost. I have zero nostalgia [console], and incredible outboard; [both] traditional within a [short] walk. Unfortunately our lease ran for using tape in the studio. I thought it was a and (what was then) modern digital technology. It was out, and we were priced out. As we speak, it’s complete pain in the ass, and I thought it stopped cutting edge. We liked really big control rooms in those being rebuilt downstairs in our office. It’s going to the flow of the creative process. The one thing that days, because we wanted to set up all the synthesizers be very functional; we just won’t have quite as was good was the workflow of tape, where you really in the control room. We did three Depeche Mode much of a live room. I’m excited about the fact have to make decisions. I’m one of the people who are albums there. Studio Two was a big dancehall; like a that it’s actually going to be in the building now. really bad at making decisions in the studio, so I like little ballroom. There were lots of ways of using that One of the things I like when it is in the building the discipline of tape because it forced me into room. It became very famous for a certain kind of epic is that it brings the artist and the label closer making decisions. To impose a bit of that in the sound. The first band I worked with who used that together, which is important. Everybody feels like digital recording process is a good idea. studio was Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. part of the group. Mr. Miller/(continued on page 46)/Tape Op#110/45 mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com Do you see any correlation between Followers of the label like the diversity of it. I would It’s great! DJing and your approach to running never think, “This Mute fan’s going to like this.” It’s great, but it’s also very dangerous. [laughs] It’s all- a label? Fundamentally, we have to think it’s good on our consuming – an addiction, basically. I think the more I suppose there’s a curatorial aspect to both of them. terms. Then it’s down to us to make sure that we’re software synths there are, the more people get into They’re very different functions, but there’s a curatorial right, and that (with the artist) we’ve made the best synthesis, and the more they want to play with analog process. You have to make choices. There are four possible record and hopefully convince other people synths as well. million tracks on [the online music store] Beatport, and that it’s great. We’re not market led. We’re artist led. In your mind, is there anything that you have to choose 40 for a set. I DJ music I like to We don’t go around saying, “Well, so and so is number the computer will never replace? DJ, but I think Mute, in a genre sense, is quite diverse, one, so we should sign an artist like that.” That’s not The hands-on experience. I’m very happy to work with a and the DJ set I do is not diverse at all. I’ve set myself how we operate. We just say, “We like the music,” and DAW, but… very strict parameters. It’s techno; partly because I love then we figure out how we’ll sell it afterward. You use Ableton Live, right? the genre [and because] I think there are some really I know you’re fond of the ARP Sequencer. Yes. I’m happy to do that, and I think it’s incredible great artists out there. I also think it’s good to have When did you start using it? what people can do with it; but I enjoy physical some guidelines with all that choice, so I’ve made them The first time I saw an Arp Sequencer in action was when synthesizers much more. It’s not a sound thing. These as strict as possible. I try to work within those and still I went to see [the German group] Ash Ra Tempel play. days, you can do A/B tests between a real Moog and be creative. I enjoy that kind of discipline. What they were doing was amazing. I got a battered a digital Moog. Whatever. That doesn’t interest me Did that come about after DJing for a old ARP 2600 as soon as I could afford to, and I really much. It’s much more about the programmer than the while, or was it something you knew wanted to get a sequencer to go with it. Those were actual synthesizer anyway, in my opinion. I’m very from the start? the days when you could pick stuff up relatively cheap. happy to use software synths, definitely. What those I knew I wanted to do techno, basically. I had a radio They weren’t collector’s items yet. I ended up using it designers have made is incredible, but it’s still more show for quite a long time, before I started DJing live, so much for percussion and bass lines. On the early fun to use an analog synth. Not because of the and it was an electronic music show. I’d say that 75 Depeche Mode projects, we used it almost exclusively circuitry, but because of the physicality of it. percent of what I played was techno. That was the for all the sequencing. There are a few things I like Control surfaces are getting better. Do genre that I started naturally playing, and I narrowed about it that make it different from other analog you ever see them getting to a point it from there. One of the things I enjoy about DJing sequencers. It’s got a built-in quantizer, which if you’re where it’s just as satisfying? is that you put a set together and you [immediately] get a reaction, good or bad. You can see it in front of Vince Clarke you as it’s happening, and I enjoy that sort of Projects such as Erasure, Depeche Mode, Yaz, The Assembly, and VCMG have kept Vince Clarke firmly planted experience. Within the parameters I’ve set for myself, as an electronic music heavyweight since 1981. I asked for his thoughts on what’s made his relationship with I try and adapt to the needs of the crowd. Daniel and Mute so successful. Does the idea of selling records or “Mute’s a cool label. Daniel is a genuine music fan, and I feel fortunate to be on a label that is more interested pleasing the label’s audience exist, in making music rather than money. There aren’t many labels left that work like that. Daniel is always open to or is there an intention to stay away experimentation and likes to push the boundaries of electronic sound sculpture. I’ve never known him to try and from that? ‘reproduce.’ He’ll always come up with something new.”
doing tonal things makes improvising very easy, so you You get pretty close, but you’re always limiting yourself. can jam along with it. You can turn things on and off Whatever kind of control surface you’re using, there’s very quickly to change the rhythms and to reassign no way you can cover everything with it. There are the triggers to different instruments. There are a always buttons to press; or you’re always reassigning, lot of sequencers around, and none of them are or you’re using macros – know what I mean? It as hands on. That’s the only one I’d think compromises [you]. I think there are some interesting of as a really great instrument. You software synths on the horizon, but there’s nothing can play it. You can come up with like being in front of a bunch of modules, plugging stuff that you’d never thought of them up, seeing what happens, re-plugging them, yourself. Move the sliders, and and messing around. see what happens. There’s spontaneity to working with There’s more those instruments. You can’t recall a analog synth gear giant modular synth patch. available now That’s what I like. It’s the opposite of working with a than ever before. software synth; it’s completely in the moment. I’m There’s definitely more. You’ve very into stuff that exists in the moment, whether it’s got all the different versions music, photography, or whatever, so that’s really of the Moog, and all of the appealing [to me] that you can’t recall it. You either modular synth equipment. have to say, “I’m going to record it,” or, “I’m just Modular has gone going to move on, and I’m going to have a happy completely crazy in the memory of that sound.” r last five years.
46/Tape Op#110/Mr. Miller/(Fin.) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com What really helped was being in a bigger studio. The Rolling Stones and Yes had just left Right Track Recording [NYC] when I started. Yes was doing the Union album. Mariah Carey and Luther Vandross were there – it was the place to be. I got groomed and honed in on that level right away. I think that was a huge advantage, even now. With high caliber artists, there can be intense situations. There’s high pressure and big expectations. Trial by fire. I think that was great. For people who ask me how to get into it, I always say to try to get into a bigger studio instead of going to a small studio in a small town. At a certain point, you reach a ceiling and have to move on to a bigger place. Suddenly, you feel like a nobody again. That’s not easy on the ego. It feels like you’re starting over again after many years of being the main guy. I ended up assisting at Right Track and then doing a few overdubs. After that I went to the Hit Factory, and that’s when I was doing more engineering. I was there for two and a half years. From there I went to Sony Music Studios and became a staff engineer. Along the way I was always in the top level studios. In every one of those studios, they had major clients. After arriving in L.A., I worked at Ocean Way Recording for a bit. You spent a whole year working with Michael Jackson! Twenty years ago I started working with Michael Jackson on the HIStory album, and for a month and a half, I couldn’t tell anyone who I was working with. They didn’t want everyone to know what studio he was at, because all the fans would camp outside 24/7. It didn’t take long before the people were there, trust me. He was the only artist where I couldn’t even tell my parents who I was working with. I hinted, “Well, think about one of the biggest stars in the world.” Brian That’s all I could tell them. What was that like for you? It must have Working WitH STARS been life-changing. word ␣ s␣+ Vibberts It was the best session I’ve ever done, by far. It was also ␣Images ␣ one of the hardest, in that I was working every day. Swarsby␣Chris ␣Vibberts I think that we had seven days off out of the whole ␣ year. We went from January right up to Christmas. As each holiday arrived, we would work it. For a whole What was the spark that got you Yeah, at Amherst. I was taking Physics of year, nobody saw me. It’s very tough on interested in music? Music. It was music based, but it was scientific. relationships. But it was by far the best session to be All throughout high school, I was going to be an My high school advisor was completely against music. involved with. How many people can say they’ve astronomer and work for NASA. We had an He steered me away from it. “Brian, there’s no room for worked with Michael Jackson in the studio? Some of extended learning program, where selected kids you in the music business. Everyone wants to be a rock the guys I worked with had worked with him on would get chosen to do extra projects for topics star.” I said, “I don’t want to be a rock star. I want to Thriller and Dangerous. He still had those same that weren’t taught in school. I’d been playing do recording!” When the Space Shuttle Challenger blew people on his team. What can I say? Michael’s a drums since I was eight, and I thought I’d go into up, on January 28, 1986, NASA was closed down for musical genius. He would hear the whole production the studio and record two original songs with a over two years. That’s where I wanted to work, but it in his head. No one else really knew what the final band I was in. After we recorded, we went into the was closed. I decided to change my focus, so I switched product was going to sound like, except for Michael. booth. I was looking at the guy doing the to having music as my major. I went to Berklee for four He’d go in and beat-box the rhythm of the drums and engineering and thought, “Wow, this is really years. It was extraordinary to get my degree handed to percussion parts, and then he’d explain some guitar fascinating. What’s going on?” I could see how he me from my idols Phil Collins and Ahmet Ertegun. parts. Sometimes it wouldn’t be an exact part. He was manipulating the sound and adding delays on It feels like it was a straight shot for you, didn’t play an instrument, so he wouldn’t describe the guitar solo. I fell in love with the process right from studying at Berklee College of music in technical terms; but he definitely knew there. My first year of college, I actually went in Music to working with some of the what he wanted to hear. It’d be, “I want a guitar part as an astronomy major with a minor in music. world’s most successful artists at that nobody’s ever heard before.” Sometimes it would At UMass? major studios. be vague like that, and then the guitarist would say, 48/Tape Op#110/Mr. Vibberts/(continued on page 50) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com “Okay!” We had the best of the best in there, like those guys do, but Al is definitely the master of Slash and Nile Rodgers. It was incredible. We had all getting the sound from the source correct, obviously the guys from Toto there. He would have that vision choosing the right microphone for what he wants it in his head, and little by little we’d create it. The to sound like in the mix. That doesn’t mean it’s going songs would be mixed as we went along, so Michael to be the same microphone each time. He’s already would always hear what it was sounding like. Bruce thinking of the mix when he’s recording, so when he Swedien [Tape Op #91] mixed everything. I was with gets to the mix stage, there’s not a lot to do because Bruce the whole time, which was a great education. he captured it that way in the recording. I learned He’s definitely my mentor. Bruce mixed almost that same kind of technique from Bruce Swedien, as everything for Michael, including The Wiz, Off the well as mixing techniques. Also, knowing how to Wall, Thriller, Bad, and Dangerous. To be with him choose different stereo mic’ing techniques (like DIN, every single day, learning how he does it – ORTF, Blumlein, Faulkner, X/Y) is really helpful. microphone techniques, mixing techniques, and all Different stereo techniques will give you different of that – was really a great education. It was funny, results. Different types of mics will influence the Michael would sing and every single take was almost sound as well. That all came from Bruce. One of the perfect, but he’d do it six or seven times. We’d think, big things I learned from Phil Ramone is how “Okay, how are we going to comp this? They’re all important it is for the artist to hear properly in their great!” I don’t remember anyone ever tuning his headphones while they’re recording, whether that’s vocal. If it wasn’t right, he’d sing it again. the whole band at the same time, or if the band has What would a typical day be for you? already recorded and the vocalist is now adding their In the beginning, I worked 20 hour days, every day, for part. They need to hear it like it’s a real mix, not like the first three or four weeks. Some days I wouldn’t something that was slapped together at the last even go home. That was rough. But a typical day second. To get the best performance from an artist, would be setting up microphones, preparing for the to me it’s crucial that they hear a good headphone mix, the console, setting up new gear, helping get mix. For example, if the drummer can’t hear the bass sounds, and recording. Before Bruce came in, we’d be player well, then the kick drum and the bass may not getting sounds on different instruments. Sometimes be synchronized because they can’t hear each other Bruce would say, “We need to extend this song.” Or properly. Adding some special effects can be we’d need to extend a chorus to be a double-chorus. inspirational for the artist. If it takes an extra hour We had a whole system of doing that, since to get that correct before you tell the band you’re everything was on tape. Some was analog tape, but ready to record, you should do it. I think that’s mostly digital tape. We’d record or mix all day, with something that a lot of people don’t grasp or Michael in the studio. There were always special understand. There will be fewer takes needed to get guests coming in on that album. Janet [Jackson] and the choice one. Watching Phil Ramone or Paul Simon Michael did “Scream” together, so Jimmy Jam and produce a session was invaluable. Phil controlled the Terry Lewis were there for that song. David Foster, whole entire session by making sure that things and many others, were involved. stayed on track without a lot of wasted time. For vocals, did you tend to use the same Sometimes the artist would have an idea and Phil signal path and same microphone, or didn’t really think it was a great idea, but we’d try it. did that get changed around? Maybe it was a better direction, but you won’t know No, that got changed around as well. Sometimes it was until you try it. We’d try it, and usually Phil was a [Neumann] U 47 or M 49, sometimes it was a right. But sometimes some experimentation is [Shure] SM7 or a Sony C-800G. We always used needed when the arrangement is not working. I do Bruce’s Neve 1084 mic pre. I don’t think there was this with mixing. Guitar players do this with pedals. any compression to tape. This experimenting is the creativity that can lead to Did you end up working on the Blood on the magic. I use these concepts in mixing, as well as the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix in production. album? It sounds like there are major people There were certain tracks, like the song “Blood on the skills at play too, in not shutting Dance Floor” that we worked on at the same time. For down the artist. HIStory we worked on about 50 songs, and 15 were Of course. The artist has to be very comfortable in the released. There are another 35 that are still in the space. Not only the vibe of the room, which is vault, not released yet. I’m sure they will be, like the important, but they have to know that it’s okay to [more recent] XScape album. make a mistake. They should be at ease enough to You’ve worked with Bruce Swedien, experiment. They can try to hit that high note that Mick Guzauski, Kevin Killen [Tape Op is troublesome. The singer should be comfortable #67], Phil Ramone [#50], and Al enough to go for it. Phil was the master of making Schmitt, among others. Are there any the artist feel comfortable in the studio. Even when specific things that you’ve taken he was a couple of months beyond the deadline and away from those sessions that have getting pressure from the record label, that worried really influenced your work? craziness didn’t get put onto the artist. That I learned a lot about microphone technique with Al pressure can kill a session. These are the skills that Schmitt. He gets the sound from the source. Many of I bring to my sessions. 50/Tape Op#110/Mr. Vibberts/ mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com Were there any of those “ah-ha” moments where these recording veterans turned your world upside down from what you thought you knew, or reinforced what you studied and helped it come together and make sense? That’s a great question. This I really got from Bruce. Always use your ears. Who cares what it looks like on the dial or the knob? If you have to crank it all the way up for it to sound good, then you crank it all the way up. You can’t be afraid to do that. Fresh out of college I had the idea that you couldn’t do that. Also, it’s okay to experiment with sound, even if it’s technically wrong. If you’re going to have a vocal that’s distorted on purpose, it’s not technically correct, but it may be right for the song. For me, I always choose the take that has the best emotion, rather than being technically correct. The people who are listening don’t care if it’s technically correct or not. Obviously it has to sound good, but they don’t care about what microphone you used. The listeners care whether they get a feeling from the song or not. You’ve recorded with some of the world’s most famous and accomplished musicians. Are there some lesser- known acts you’ve worked with who you’re really excited about, either in the past or more recently? Definitely. For the past six years, Alex Houton and I have been producing artists as Spotlight 87 Entertainment. We both met at Berklee College of Music in 1987, had our own successes, and then joined forces to provide artists with the strongest team possible. Some new artists that we’re working with include Blake Adam out of L.A. – a great singer/songwriter. We’ve done three songs with him, as well as an EDM [Electronic Dance Music] remix coming soon. There’s a female artist named Jordan Mericle in North Carolina and also Hannah Gill from New York, who are both in production. Kayla Griffiths is an incredible artist from London. In terms of Americana, Two Cent Revival from New Jersey is a great act. Another artist to watch is Samantha Schultz, who we are in preproduction with. We’ve produced emerging artists consistently and are always looking for new talent. Alex and I are both musicians, we love music, and we’ve done that for over 25 years. We’ve never had any other job besides music since Berklee – so far, so good! Actually, we have several big projects in the works, including an app and a label. When you’re working with these artists, it sounds like there’s even a bit of promotion and management involved. How is that structured? It’s based on artist development. Right now I feel like the major labels are looking for other people to do that part of it, which is fine. Spotlight 87 starts with choosing songs with the artist, as well as co-writing if needed. Then Alex and I look at what the artist wants, what their market is, the genre, and the vision the artist has for the product. We’re looking at the big picture from the very beginning, through the Mr. Vibberts/(continued on page 52)/Tape Op#110/51 mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com songwriting, to the recording and production, and Any favorite magical tricks while you’re in a little bit level-wise. Obviously, you need to hear then to the final product that’s mastered – either an mixing an album? every word. At least when I am mixing, I want to have EP or a full album. We want a clear vision of what the I have a whole bag of tricks, but I don’t use the same every word intelligible, but still have all the other artist is about. The photos show that, the cover art ones over and over. First of all, there are a lot of music be powerful. With this combination I get more shows that, the music shows that. All of the different genres I’m mixing in, so the techniques emotion out of the piece. With EDM music, that beat marketing falls into place. When the project is differ for rock, pop, country, and jazz. There are needs to be up front and slammin’. Usually the vocal completed, we offer selected artists a separate definitely a lot of different EQs, limiters, and level is lower, because the groove is more important contract for getting TV and film placements. compressors that I prefer. I love the Universal Audio to make people dance. The trouble that people have Sometimes we just help and unofficially manage. We [UAD-2] plug-ins. Those are some of the best is when they’re putting the vocal in the mix, there are have a network of videographers, photographers, and sounding by far, and I use a lot of them. I also use a frequencies in the mix that technically aren’t right. people who are great at marketing and social media lot of Waves plug-ins. For corrective EQ, my favorite The vocal frequencies may be interfering with the that is also helpful. The end goal is for them to either is the Sonnox Oxford EQ. It’s amazing for removing grand piano, or a harmonic from the bass guitar could get signed by a big indie or major label. The finished specific unwanted frequencies with tight notches. I be messing with the vocal. Wrongly, instead of fixing project is major label quality and radio ready. use compression or limiting, not just to control level, the issue, they make the vocal louder to be heard. What are some of the strangest ways but to manipulate the sound. I’ll add it as another Really what they should be doing is taking a notch you’ve used gear in the studio that layer to the same source. Like I mentioned with the out of the bass guitar to clear up the vocal. Eliminate has been fun? bass, I may have the normal bass and then the fuzz the frequencies that are messing with each other in a It’s not a new trick at all, because The Beatles did it, but bass as another layer. I may do something with the bad way. If you listen to Michael Jackson, you’ll be it’s getting a fuzz bass sound using compressors. The drums, where the overheads are duplicated, with one surprised how low the vocal level is. The mix is well [Teletronix] LA-2A is amazing for that. Sometimes I’ll layer having a clean sound and the other duplicated sculpted, so there is a proper space for the vocal add some microphones on the drums, in addition to track of the overheads having a wider harmonic- without elements interfering. the standard mic setup. Those mics get highly limited, driven sound. I might use that manipulated sound Some of the beats are massive. It feels EQ’d strangely, and come in and out of the mix at during the bridge, or that might be more of the like the snare drum is ten decibels certain points. One of the things that I think is magical glue that makes the drum set sound good. higher than the vocal. difficult for engineers who record and mix the same Again, it’s not always the same trick. It’s a different But you can still hear every word Michael sings. There’s a project is having a fresh perspective. Sometimes it’s experiment each time. That’s what makes it fun – little hole carved out in the center of the mix where tough when you’re in the mixing seat and a guitar experiment and be creative! his vocal sits, so nothing else is getting in the way. part isn’t working in the arrangement anymore. If Probably the most important part of the That is a benefit from the stereo mic’ing techniques you’ve spent six hours recording this guitar part, mix in popular music is the vocal. A that were used in the recording. It’s wide, and the you’re probably going to think, “Well, we spent six lot of us struggle getting that vocal to center is reserved for the vocal. Obviously the bass is hours on that. It’s definitely going to be in the mix.” sit where it needs to sit… not too loud, there, as well as some other instruments, but the What you really should do is mute it. In this situation, not too quiet, blending in. Any advice vocal is there too, and it doesn’t always have to be even if I’ve recorded it, when I’m mixing, I have a on that? necessarily that loud to be heard. When mixing, I’m different outlook and approach. If it doesn’t work, it I understand why it’s tough for a lot of people. The artist listening to the lead vocal and getting the vibe of the doesn’t work. It doesn’t matter how much time was usually wants to hear the vocal fairly loud, but they song in the beginning. The first time I hear the song spent on it. That’s the way it is. It doesn’t work. may not understand that if the vocal’s too upfront, I’m actually taking notes of ideas that I have. I’ll write Sometimes I can hear this struggle in people’s music. then the band seems small. It’s a tricky balance. The down moods, or delay ideas, or a lyrical lines that I As an artist, this is another great reason to hire an level of the vocal is relative to the rest of the music. want distorted, or some other special effect on there. engineer and get that fresh outlook. If you really want it to sound powerful, tuck the vocal Later, after being in technical mode for a couple of hours, I make sure that I don’t forget those original creative concepts that are written in my notes. After One of the things that I think is listening to the vocal for a while, I mute the vocal difficult for engineers who record and do fader rides on all the other music. Then I’ll get and mix the same project is having a the vocal to sit in the track correctly. I’ll do further fresh perspective. rides on all the other instruments once the vocal is in. I’m still trying to get the power from the band as well and not have it just be vocal-driven. Here are some tricks for getting the proper vocal level: 1) Reference a commercially released (mastered) song in the same genre by putting the song in your session and matching the overall level. A-B between the ref and your mix. 2) Listen at different volumes. 3) Listen at a low level and make sure you can understand every word. Do this by listening straight through, without stopping, and marking which words should go up or down in level on a lyric sheet. By not stopping, you keep your listening perspective for the vocal level. Besides EQ and compression on a vocal, what else would you possibly put on there? There might be a small amount of distortion that I put in as an added layer. Delays, reverbs, EQ, compression, and limiting. 52/Tape Op#110/Mr. Vibberts/(continued on page 54) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com If you’re using a bigger reverb on the Let’s talk 96 kHz, because that’s what I use. The audio is split vocal, how do you deal with it so that it into 96,000 equal samples in a second. Something has to doesn’t muddy up the mix? tell the computer how to play those back; not in terms of By using a pre-delay on the vocal reverb, the long reverb the sequence, but the timing of playing them back. The doesn’t get in the way. Of course if it’s a higher tempo external clock is making sure that all of those samples are song, you should stay away from longer vocal reverb played back evenly, within exactly one second. What I times. Don’t use a thick, four-second reverb on a 118 noticed with better clocking, like with the Antelope Audio BPM song! clocks, is that the bass is not as flabby – it reproduces What would you set the pre-delay to, tighter bass frequencies. Also, the high frequencies sound typically? more realistic. I don’t want to say more “analog,” because I’ll usually set it to a note value, which depends on the even analog is not an exact replication of the real world genre of music and how complex the rhythms of the due to the distortion that’s added. The audio playback other instruments are. It could be an eighth note, sounds more realistic with the better clocking. Also the depending on tempo, a sixteenth, or dotted eighth. I imaging is wider. The other thing I’ve noticed when mixing try to keep it musical. I also do the same with the at 96 kHz, 32-bit, with the external clock, is I can hear reverb on the snare to still get the attack and the the reverb decay very clearly and smoothly. natural decay of the actual snare on the recording. Do you have a go-to microphone for vocal After that natural decay of the snare drum, the reverb tracking? kicks in. The natural tail of the snare is an important Yes. The Telefunken AR-51, which I found to be useful on part of the sound. so many different voices – male or female. That’s When mixing, do you tend to pan usually the first microphone that I use. I always do a elements pretty hard? shootout between two or three mics, such as a My panning is left and right and everywhere in between. [Neumann] U 47, [Neumann] U 67, [AKG] C 12, and My style is to create a whole soundscape between left- others, with the AR-51. I have the artist sing a verse center-right. Some get panned hard left and hard right. and a chorus to choose the right microphone for that Sometimes a sound goes all in one direction, or the artist’s voice. I’d say that 90 percent of the time, the other. But I also pan small increments out from the AR-51 is winning the shootout. It’s amazing that it center. I like to have a lot of clarity in the mix so that wins against many vintage mics, huh? you can hear every part. For me to do that, I’m really A lot of people gravitate toward vintage mics putting it in exact places. In my mixing studio, I have because they have a certain magical the Acoustic Sciences (ASC) attack wall that allows me sonic character. “Warmth” is the word to hear things amazingly well. It’s unbelievable. When used a lot of times. What does that mic panning, I can exactly pinpoint where I hear it. This have that you like about it so much? clarity from a properly set-up room makes it easier to The Telefunken AR-51 has a low-body fullness to it, a pan and EQ. For orchestral sections, I will use the typical beautiful upper midrange (around 680 Hz or so, which I traditional orchestral panning, which follows the like in a vocal), and a smooth high-end that’s open, physical location of the musicians in the recording which makes it very clear to understand the words. When studio. If the orchestral tracks are in pop music, I’ll pan recording a vocal, I’m looking for that clarity in the high- the first violins to the left and the second violins to the end, but also the full body-ness in the lows as well, which right to even out the high frequencies in the speakers. is the warmth factor. I don’t want to be picking up too Sometimes you can’t get away with the traditional much of the ultra-lows where you get thuds and bumps. orchestral panning in a pop or rock song because it Part of eliminating that is having the proper shock mount unbalances the mix when added to the rest of the band. on the microphone. Other than that, mic placement is In a film score, even if using sample libraries, I use the important to avoid plosives from the mouth, or sibilance. traditional panning, which mocks up where the Don’t be afraid to spend a little time to get the best mic woodwinds, French horns, brass, and strings would sit position by trying several different positions or angles. It in the orchestra. will make the editing easier later on. You do a lot of research and careful You sometimes use a shotgun mic on a testing of the gear that you use when snare. What’s the placement for that? recording and mixing. I’m pointing it towards the center of the snare drum and I do A/-B’ing and testing all the time so that I can deliver trying to reduce the bleed from an overly loud high-hat. the best sounding music. This includes testing TDM How far away is the mic? Is it situated at plug-ins versus RTAS plug-ins, 24-bit versus 32-bit, the rim? different summing mixers, converters, clocking, Maybe two inches above the rim and pointing towards the cables, dither, and more. I continually go through center. these tests to make sure that I’m technically getting How do you approach room mics for it the best I can get it. On Pro Tools 10, I work at 96 drums? kHz, 32-bit, and use 64-bit on Pro Tools 11. The best Sometimes I’ll have a Faulkner [stereo] pair mid room, clocking are definitely the Antelope Audio Isochrone with a pair of ribbon microphones, like RCA 44BXs, and Trinity and 10M atomic clocks. With this combination, then a far room in a pair using Neumann U 67s or M the mix is more three-dimensional. 50s to capture the big space. A lot of people don’t really understand When it comes time to mix, are you clocking. using those basically as a reverb? 54/Tape Op#110/Mr. Vibberts/(continued on page 56) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com Please Support Our Advertisers/Tape Op#110/55 mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com Yeah, it’s the natural reverb of the drums; there’s nothing added, just the recorded room. I love when I can do it that way. If I need more or less room, I can bring the level up or down with those room mics. When you’re doing a recording or mixing session, is there one piece of gear that you wish you had? Or one that you would bring, if it wasn’t there? Well, I’d be hoping that there was a Neve 8078. That’s a pretty big item! For mixing, a Bricasti M7 reverb. That’s one of the best reverbs I’ve found, besides the old classics that I love, like the EMT-250. For mixing it would be something like that, but for recording it would be the mic preamps or the console. And a good room to record in! What do you feel is the most important thing that you bring to a session? My ears, because it doesn’t really matter to me what gear is available to mix. An engineer can have the best gear, but if they don’t know how to use their ears, then it’s still not going to be a good mix. Someone with a third of that gear that has really good ears and makes proper decisions can have an incredible mix. How do you create an exciting mix that grabs people’s attention? I turn everything up! No, I’m joking… A lot of that has to do with the rhythm of the track, but also the emotion that emanates from the mix is important. A connection needs to be made between the song and the listener. I enhance the mood of the song to strengthen this connection. What advice would you give to those of us trying to develop and refine our mixing chops? Reading books is good, but the most important thing is experimenting. For example, many people are using plug-ins. When you buy a new plug-in, read about what each parameter actually does. Once you know what it does, then experiment with it. Don’t rely on the presets all the time. Also, start listening to music in a different way. Try to map out where the instruments are in the mix. Get a piece of paper and draw out where things are panned. Are they close or far? Do they seem up or down? Are they full-frequency or filtered? Listen to your favorite music in a different way, as a mixing engineer. You’re basically reverse- engineering it, pulling it all apart and then figuring out what was done. Then, try to apply some of that to mixes that you’re doing. Experiment with different polar patterns and mic positions: close, far, on-axis, and off-axis. There are a lot of different things that you can try. I talk about these things, as well as different techniques, on a new YouTube video series called What’s Tracking with Marcel James and Colin Liebich. What are you currently working on? Several projects. One that I’m excited about is an Indian classical music project that sounds amazing! I can’t wait to share it with you. The album is called Omkara – The Sound of Divine Love and it’s based on the chakras, with each song being based on ancient frequencies that heal the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual being. It’s conceived and produced by Rupam Sarmah and features one of the most prominent players of the Mohan Veena (Indian slide guitar), Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. Besides the Mohan Veena, there’s sarangi, tabla, ghatam, flute, sax, piano, viola, madal, voice, and acoustic guitar. This album has some of the best mixes that I’ve done. I feel I’ve brought a modern sound to Indian classical music. We often think of studio work as long, grueling hours throughout the night. How do you balance working in the studio with family life? I find it easier being freelance and having my own mix studio. I definitely work hard, seven days a week sometimes, but there’s always time for family. I build it into the schedule. It’s not easy, especially having a younger kid, but I make it work. I love being a dad. It’s just as great as working in the studio. There’s one thing that made it easier early on in my career working long hours, which is that I love what I do. When I go to the studio, I don’t feel like I’m going to work. I’m having fun, helping create music. What better job could there be than that? At this point in your life, if you weren’t involved in music, what would you be doing today? I guess I’d knock on the door at NASA. I’m still working with stars, they’re just a different type of star. r
56/Tape Op#110/Mr. Vibberts/(Fin.) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com Please Support Our Advertisers/Tape Op#110/57 mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com that I’ve missed in some other ribbons, and the low noise A couple weeks later, I pulled out the NTR again, this time floor is pretty impressive. I was able to capture some for vocals. I knew I wanted some distance between the singer surprisingly intimate vocal passages with this mic. and the mic — not only to avoid plosives hitting the ribbon, Working with engineer Chris Theis
64/Tape Op#110/Gear Reviews/(continued on page 66) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com Please Support Our Advertisers/Tape Op#110/65 mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com the company’s windings. The Mogaine circuit consists of the these pre-preamp devices, if you’re using expensive or vintage usually more defined than an X-Y recording of the same aforementioned transformer on the front end, paired with ribbons, the Mogaine lets you breathe easier by providing an situation. An adjunct benefit is that if you record the mid and active circuitry on the output. Each section contributes extra layer of protection between your mic and an accidental side signals directly to your recorder, you can decode them to equally to the gain boost. This design achieves two critical application of phantom power. Mogaine is also available as standard stereo after the fact, thus giving yourself control requirements. First, its high input impedance preserves the the two-channel Mogaines. (Mogaine $159, Mogaines $269; over the amount of stereo information later. integrity of the signal from the connected mic. Second, its www.crimsonaudiotransformers.com) The Decoder accepts mic or line–level signals, so not only low output impedance allows it to drive long cable runs with –Garrett Haines
mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com line-level) source into Input 1, and the side mic/line into overlap. If you EQ the delays differently, that changes the By the way, you can’t disable the M-S matrix, so the Input 2a. A standard L/R stereo line-level signal then appears way the stereo field sounds and changes shape. I also tried Decoder won’t work as a straight-through two-channel on the left and right outputs of the Decoder. Gain pots let you using different reverbs for mid and side. When the reverbs preamp. However, you can use it as a one, two, or adjust the mid and side levels being fed into the matrix. In were very different, it gave a “swimming” quality to the three–input mono mixer, which came in handy when I mic’ed an interesting twist, the Decoder also includes an Input 2b, stereo field. The sky is the limit for how creative you want a guitar cab with three mics. (Input 2b’s polarity-reverse allowing two separate mics — for example, a pair of cardioids to get. When sending a dry vocal to the mid, and mono button facilitates this kind of use.) The mic preamps facing outward — to be used together to produce the side reverb to the side, it seemed easier to get the right balance themselves sound pretty good to my ears and seem to fall channel. A stereo pair plus a mono mic? Do you lose the between wet and dry, and the reverb had a stereo feel even into the new class of low-noise, wideband, everyday preamps benefits of M-S recording if you do this? If the two side mics though it was actually mono. I also tried processing a clean that I keep encountering. I think an opportunity was missed are well-matched cardioids placed close enough together, this guitar track with a doubled overdriven track through the to be able to switch off the M-S processing altogether, so as ends up being not exactly but practically the same as using a Decoder. With overdriven guitar in the mid input and clean to have a portable, two-channel preamp in the bargain too. single figure-8 side mic. As a test, I connected a single in the side, it created a highly defined yet totally overdriven I am also missing a battery compartment; if it had one, this lollipop-style multi-pattern condenser mic, switched to and very aggressive sounding guitar, that subtly shifted would be a great self-contained field-recording preamp. (It figure-8 mode, to the Decoder — without a mid mic. The from side to side depending on what was played. With clean takes power from a 15 volt DC wall-wart, so conceivably, you resulting L/R stereo signal canceled completely when summed mid and dirty side, I found I could get great bluesy could power it with an external 12–15 volt battery pack.) to mono. So then, I connected a pair of the lollipop mics, overdrive, and clean sounds that would also subtly shift in If you record to a DAW, the Decoder is more both switched to cardioid, into the two side channel inputs of the stereo field. It was really fun to experiment this way convenient and doesn’t add latency compared to a matrix the Decoder, pointing in opposite directions with their screens with headphones on, and it’s a good use of the analog, implemented within the DAW. If you record away from a almost touching and their diaphragms about 1’’ apart. The zero-latency nature of the box. I highly encourage tone- DAW, or you patch in analog gear for mixing, the Decoder resulting signal did not cancel completely, but almost. What questers to give the Decoder a try. offers utility and creativity for significantly less money does it sound like to spread out the cardioid side mics? In my There is one huge downside to non-traditional uses of than the next cheapest non-DIY active M-S decoder I trials with acoustic guitar, not that good. The sound went M-S though: Whatever you do with the side signal is could find, and it’s likely higher-fidelity than a non- from tight and cohesive to blurry and hollowed-out just by going to cancel out if the stereo mix is summed to mono. dedicated analog solution that you would patch together. making the two side mics a spaced pair. It was not a sound I So, in the vocal example above with reverb assigned to I think Radial Engineering has a winner here. was looking for, but might work for something that doesn’t the side input, the reverb drops out in mono. This is less ($349.99 street; www.radialeng.com) need (or want) focus, like a set of room mics. and less of a concern as the years go by, but should be –Joseph Lemmer
mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com While I find that analog compressors usually beat out their Warm Audio software counterparts, plug-ins have generally taken over my Program Equalizer EQP-WA equalization processing. The exceptions would be a GML 8200 or Even before the Warm Audio EQP-WA was first shown at the Manley Massive-Passive, which both impart a special sweetness NAMM Show in January 2015, I had multiple reviewers giving to almost any source. I happily found that the Warm Audio me a holler asking to review it. Warm Audio’s take on the EQP-WA provided some sweet saturation and harmonic depth revered Pultec EQP-1A was creating an internet buzz, months that none of my various Pultec-style plug-ins ever impart. before its official unveiling. Warm Audio’s target price of $699 Here are some typical Pultec-style settings which yield was especially enticing. Two veteran reviewers, Adam Kagan excellent results from the EQP-WA. On kick drum: low frequency and Alan Tubbs, were each able to procure a pair of EQP-WA set to 30 Hz or 60 Hz, boost and attenuation set to 7; high production units, and their opinions and usage notes follow. frequency set to 4 kHz or 5 kHz, boost to taste. Similar settings ($699 street; www.warmaudio.com) work on electric guitar, sometimes with more boost in the high –AH frequencies. On full mixes or a vocal bus: boost and cut at Adam Kagan: Everyone seems to have a soft spot for the 100 Hz or 200 Hz; boost of 2 at 10 kHz, and bandwidth at 7. Pultec EQ. Do you even know what a Pultec does, besides Lead vocal is similar, with high frequency dropped to 4 kHz, with “make everything better”? Well, the Pultec EQ family is best a boost of 3 or 4, and a cut of 2. Obviously these need to be known for the EQP-1A, which is a low and high–frequency dialed in to the specific source, but these settings provide good equalizer, using an inductor-based, passive EQ circuit followed starting points. For kick drum and bass, I feel the inductor seems by a tube make-up gain section. These days, we have become to compress or saturate at the boost frequency and creates some accustomed to using active equalizers, which may be very “bloom” at that frequency. good, and some are downright musical. But modern active EQs Over the years, I have gone back and forth on my own typically rely on many op-amps, which can add unpleasant need for a pair of Pultec-style EQs for buses and low-frequency distortion or a transistor edginess that makes some sources instruments, and at the street price of $699, the Warm Audio sound thin, no matter how much body we try to add with the EQP-WA is a must-have. These EQs will last a lifetime, and EQ. Classic inductor-based equalizers basically use a passive their character and smoothness beats out any plug-in circuit made up of a capacitor and an inductor. Simply put, an emulation that I have heard. inductor is a loop of wire, somewhat like a transformer, whose –Adam Kagan
68/Tape Op#110/Gear Reviews/(continued on page 70) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com Please Support Our Advertisers/Tape Op#110/69 mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com As to all the virtual Pultecs out there, I’ve tried a lot of them and several against the EQP-WA. It is easy to forget how good virtual effects are, and they can sound remarkably similar to the hardware (even if the faceplate settings never seem to match). Still, there is something to tracking with tactile hardware that can’t be approximated after the fact. Because we are sound people, we like to have the sound nigh on perfect going to “tape.” That makes mixing easy. And once you understand how you want an instrument to sound, recording through a Pultec gives you a head start that most software just can’t. Even during mixing, there is something about twisting big old knobs rather than mousing around a screen. I don’t find virtual feedback as fun and immediate, even if the sound gets close enough. However good virtual sex becomes, I don’t think it will replace the emotional texture of “date night” with your significant other. I know where I come down on that argument, and I’ll stick with flesh and blood. Especially if it is as good and affordable as Warm stuff. Warm Audio makes it too easy to justify, even if I add in dinner and a movie with the wife, too. –Alan Tubbs
the
Profle “Make decisions and live by them. You will rarely regret them later.” Last Album Listened To: Sonny Boy Williamson -The Real Folk Blues, More Real Folk Blues. Last Book Read: Are We Still Rolling? by Phill Brown. Last Movie Seen: Goldfinger Favorite Beer: Red Stripe Last Accomplishment: Waking up this morning. Greatest Accomplishment: Still to be determined. My favorite piece of Retro gear is the 176, because it just kills on everything I use it on. -Vance Powell Producer/Mixer (Jack White, Red Fang, Chris Stapleton, The Sheepdogs) www.retroinstruments.com
70/Tape Op#110/Gear Reviews/(Fin.) mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com Please Support Our Advertisers/Tape Op#110/71 mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com MCI and MCI/Sony Analog Service Subscription from Steve Sadler: ex MCI/Sony Senior Service Eng. Unlimited Phone, E-mail and Skype support on all MCI and MCI/Sony Product. E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 615-242-0599 New Subscribers: $200.00. Re-newal $150.00. ($25 discount for Tape-Op readers) RIBBON MICROPHONE REPAIRS REPAIR AND REFURBISH ANY TYPE RIBBON MICROPHONE. WE USE AUTHENTIC RCA RIBBON Tape Op is Made Possible MATERIAL.WE ALSO UPGRADE LESS EXPENSIVE MICS WITH RCA RIBBON MATERIAL AND by our advertisers. LUNDAHL TRANSFORMERS. Put your ad on this page: ENAK MIC REPAIR. CLARENCE KANE. RCA - 35 years, Enak Mic 24 years http://mediakit.tapeop.com/ 856-589-6186 609-636-1789 bizcard.html WWW.ENAKMIC.COM [email protected]
Rainbow Electronics 5800 Madison Avenue, Ste. G Sacramento, CA 95841 916-334-7277 www.rainbowelectronics.net Specialists in repairs of professional and consumer audio equipment from vintage tube to modern digital multi-track technology. We service most major brands in or out of warranty. Manufacturer of the Warmenfat Micro Amp.
72/Tape Op#110/Please Support Our Advertisers/ mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com The Warmenfat Pure Tube Class A Micro Amplifier!
$499 direct! • Standard instrument input: Lead or bass guitar, keyboards—You name it! • —26 dB input: Low sensitivity input. Perfect for that snare drum. • Transformer speaker output: Use as a guitar amplifier. • Transformer balanced output: Perfect DI. (Max output level over +25 dBm.) • Transformerless unbalanced output: Ideal for re-amplifying or inserting into an effects loop. • Direct output (before gain controls): Boost classic guitar amp independently of DI output. • High Gain switch: Selects between triode and beam tetrode tube operation. • Pre and Post Gain controls: Adjust from clean to crunchy. • Custom output transformer: Allows any speaker to be used as a microphone (for kick drum or guitar cabinets) while simultaneously providing a balanced output. Manufactured by Rainbow Electronics - specialists in audio repairs since 1963 www.warmenfat.com • 916-334-7277
Please Support Our Advertisers/Tape Op#110/73 mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com Don’t Give Up by Larry Crane
I’m in front of the console, about one hour into a mixing session with a new client in attendance. I’ve got too much on my mind, an issue of the magazine to write and edit, gear to upgrade and repair at Jackpot!, a looming trade show, a messy office, and about 100 projects around my home I’ve been putting off for months. And this mix session is tough. The client is awesome, fun to be around and chat with, and – judging from the rough mixes I had previously received – the music is enjoyable and interesting. But what’s in front of me now is ninety tracks, mostly comprised of guitar and vocal overdubs that have not been sorted out – and a majority don’t seem to need to be in the final mix. Even determining what track is the lead vocal proves to be quite difficult, and a number of guitar overdubs seem to be clashing with each other. I know my client doesn’t have the budget to spend a day per song mixing. I’m massively stressed out by this. I’m about to shut down the session, call it quits, and walk away. But I sit there a bit longer; thinking hard and checking tracks out. I feel that if I can just get some mixing momentum rolling and make some quick decisions, that maybe I can squeeze out three or so songs in the 9 hours we have allotted. I start by muting tons of tracks and try building a mix with quickly selected instruments and vocals. Several hours in we’re almost done with a mix. The client turns out to be far less precious about all these (extraneous?) overdubs than I imagined, and he’s ready to sign off on the mix before I am. I tackle the next couple of songs, and get them done even faster. I’m so glad I didn’t break. I doubt we would have worked together again following an outburst from me. Instead I got to send my client home with three mixes, an idea of how to prep further songs for mixing, and the promise of more sessions together in the future. When you reach these junctures, your attitude is up to you. You don’t have to give up. Something great might happen instead.
74/Tape Op#109/Larry’s’s End Rant/ mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com mmediaaudio (at) gmail (dot) com