INSIDE TRACK PAUL TINGEN n his fifth decade as a top-level engineer, mixer and producer, Mark I Needham could be forgiven for being a bit of a traditionalist. Instead he’s an early adopter, who has eagerly embraced digital innovation. For example, he was not only one of the first to get Slate Digital’s Raven MTX touchscreen DAW controller, but he even asked the company to build him a custom dual-screen version. Acquiring the Dual Raven was the culmination of Needham’s gradual move from working in analogue to working entirely in the box, which began in 2004. He recalls: “As the sound of digital and of plug-ins got better and better, I had to ask myself: this UAD EQP1A plug-in sounds just as good as the two EQP1As I have in my rack, so why am I paying for maintenance on those and trying to do recalls on them? The maintenance of a large format console and outboard, and the AC to keep everything cool, is a big expense. “I initially got pushback from some labels because I was switching to in-the-box, but to me it seemed like everything was heading that way. I was fully in the box by 2010, because, with bands and labels expecting six or seven recalls, the instant recall capacity became paramount. For decades I used an SSL G console, and I can count on my hands the Secrets Of The Mix Engineers: amount of times a recall sounded exactly the same. Instead, it usually needed an Mark Needham hour and a half of re-patching, and then another hour of tweaking, to get everything Fleetwood Mac stalwarts Lindsey Buckingham sounding exactly the same as before.” Today Needham mixes about 400 songs and Christine McVie have enjoyed long musical a year, and frequently works on 10 projects in a single day — sessions that may contain careers — as has their engineer, mixer and 200-plus tracks with 10 plug-ins per track. co-producer Mark Needham. This work ethic is aided by a daily rhythm that involves getting up a 4am and starting work at 5am. Needham was called in as an engineer, feature three co-produced by Buckingham Where It All Began co-mixer and co-producer when work and Mitchell Froom, five co-produced Among his many other big-name clients began on the album in 2014, at Studio D by Buckingham and Needham and Mark Needham has worked with Lindsey at the Village Recorder in Los Angeles, the two produced by Buckingham alone. Buckingham since the late 1990s, and mixed same place where the band had recorded Needham takes the behind-the-scenes Fleetwood Mac’s last full-length album, Say their classic Tusk album in 1979. After two story from the top… You Will (2003), as well as the band’s Live months of reportedly successful recording “We recorded maybe eight or nine In Boston (2004). After singer/keyboardist sessions, the band went on their On With songs four years ago, at the Village Christine McVie returned to the fold in The Show world tour for a year, and work Recorder. After they came back from tour 2014, there was talk of a new Fleetwood on the album recommenced two years we picked up where we had left off to Mac album, but in the end, this ambition later, at the end of 2016, again at Studio wrap these songs up and record a few transformed into a 40-minute long album D. Final mixdowns were conducted by additional songs. Before embarking on this simply called Lindsey Buckingham/Christine Buckingham and Needham at the Village project four years ago, Lindsey had worked McVie, on which all Fleetwood Mac Recorder and at Red Oak Studios. The 10 on three tracks with Mitchell Froom, and members appear, apart from Stevie Nicks. songs that ended up on the final album these were pretty advanced, and it was just 120 September 2017 / www.soundonsound.com ‘Feel About You’ Written by Lindsey Buckingham & Christine McVie Produced by Lindsey Buckingham & Mark Needham the songs work and keep the flow of what we were doing.” Vintage & Modern Throughout the entire project, Buckingham in particular had a very specific vision for the sound and production for the album, combining a classic Fleetwood Mac-inspired sound with more modern influences. The balance tilted towards the latter after the idea of turning the project into a Fleetwood Mac album was abandoned. Needham: “I didn’t really have to reference the sound of the Fleetwood Mac albums of the past, because it’s what the players bring to the table. What mic I put on Mick Fleetwood’s kick drum or on Lindsey’s guitar does not define what they sound like. Mick’s drum sound and John [McVie]’s bass sound are so distinctive. Part of their thing is the way the two of them land on the beat together. This is different from probably any other rhythm Photo: Mark V Lord section out there, and were definitely trying to stay true to that. Mark Needham at his custom Slate Dual Raven control surface. “Recording in the Village Studio D was a nod to the past, but we mixed entirely a matter of redoing vocals, maybe making recorded all songs apart from the ones in the box, and then restricted ourselves a few small arrangement changes and in done with Mitchell from scratch, usually to only using a single SSL Channel Strip general just some additional production. with everyone playing live in the studio, plug-in on most tracks during the mix, plus We recorded the rest of the songs from and then spent a lot of time going back just a few other plug-ins, to come up with scratch. They usually came in with a pretty to the demos and comparing things a sound and approach similar to the 1980s, solid direction. Lindsey had recorded and sometimes finding that the demos when I was working on an SSL desk and demos for many of the songs, and there sounded better! We recorded through the had maybe 10 compressors behind me in also were demos done by Christine, who Neve 88R desk that was in the room, and a rack, so you needed to really think how had sent them over to Lindsey to work on kept printing mixes at each stage, so we you allocated your resources. Normally them. He came up with various concepts could always refer back to what we had I have far more plug-ins going on, but we for them. done on a particular day in a particular really wanted to keep this approach, as if “Lindsey really is the constant thread month of a particular year. There was a lot we were working on a console, from the through all of this, keeping it all organised of referencing back and forth, and many time we were recording to the mix, and so and coming up with ideas, and we collective arrangement decisions were we also established panning and EQ and just melded everything together. We fretted over, just trying out how to make levels during the recording sessions. At the www.soundonsound.com / September 2017 121 INSIDE TRACK Photo: Mark V Lord Red Oak Studios Mark Needham’s Red Oak Studios control room is a huge space, with DeMideo from Wally Heider’s in San Francisco, during the time I had wood panels everywhere, comfortable furniture, and large French doors a studio up in that city. The angle of those API consoles was quite a bit overlooking a local park in Hollywood. In true 21st Century fashion, the steeper than that of normal consoles, and I really liked the sound of that. audio equipment occupies just a small part of it. There are a couple of The Raven matches that angle, and so the reflections from the speakers ATC SCM45 speakers with an ATC SCM0.1/15 sub, an Avid S6 M10 have the same feel. 8-5 control surface, three Avid HD I/O interfaces, four Lavry Blue 4496 “I monitor through the same set of speakers, my ATCs, 13-14 hours D-A converters, an Apogee Rosetta 200 A-D/D-A converter, an Antelope a day. I used to change between various speakers, but in the end I found Isochrone OCX master clock, no fewer than four UAD Octo DSP cards, that more distracting. I know exactly how these ATCs sound, and that and a few recording bits and pieces, like Fairchild, GML and Daking mic gives me a lot more consistency from song to song and between projects. pres, plus EAR 660 and Urei Silverface 1178 limiter/compressors. Above In the past I would go out and check mixes in the car and in other places, all, though, it’s his custom dual Slate Raven controllers that catch the eye. but today I work on so many different projects on any given day, having “When I first saw the first Raven,” Needman recalls, “I loved the the same speakers gives me a consistent perspective. If I throw in too resolution of the screens and I saw that the layout would be really many variables it just confuses my ears. I also have a studio in Nashville, comfortable for me to work on. I find that it makes my workflow a lot and it has almost exactly the same setup. To maintain my workflow, the easier and faster. Also, the problem with [sound] reflections isn’t as strong most important things to duplicate in both studios are my monitoring, the with these screens.