Kevin Killen Are Always Seeking Outside Opinions
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JUNE 2012 ISSUE MMUSICMAG.COM JUNE 2012 ISSUE MMUSICMAG.COM ENGINEER What was it like working with U2? co-producing has been a very collaborative Steve Lillywhite was producing the War and open process—and that’s often album, Paul Thomas was the engineer, when great music is made. and I was the assistant. Once we were set up, we started recording right away and Tell us about working with Tori Amos. worked until 5 a.m. the next day. That set Tori and her co-producer, Eric Rosse, the tone for the whole album. There was an approached me about mixing Under the Pink. incredible amount of enthusiasm and energy, They played me the rough mixes, and I told and we worked from midday until 5 the next them, “I’m not sure why you want to hire me. morning, six days a week, until the record These sound fantastic already.” But Eric was was complete. We were all young, so we insistent that he needed my help and my went with the flow. That was the band’s third perspective. At that point, my mind shifted— album, and they were really striving to create clearly they were both deeply immersed in something new, to make a statement. Sugarland the project and needed a slightly different point of view. We adopted a strategy where How do you define your role? one that had inspired the collaboration and we started mixing from the vocal—it was In the beginning of any project, there’s had captured some magic. critical to have Tori’s vocal and piano front a conversation about what my role is. and center—and then filled in other elements Somebody with my experience is going to How did you build your discography? around it, as opposed to starting with the bring more to the project than just engineering When you’re in the business long enough, rhythm section and putting vocals on top. or mixing. Most of the projects I’ve worked on sooner or later an opportunity will come tend to have a very collaborative feel—people knocking—and if you have the enthusiasm Prefer digital or analog? to learn and a certain capacity to do the job, I mostly mix in the box with Pro Tools, and it will lead to more work. When I first met have been doing so for about seven or eight Elvis Costello in the late 1980s, he gave years. When it comes to tracking, higher me the opportunity to co-produce his album resolution audio at 88.2 or 96 kHz is my Spike. Through the years, we’ve worked preferred standard. Occasionally, I’ll go together on many projects and they’re analog at a client’s request, but most of that tudios S always exciting and challenging. Working is driven by budget. apitol C on the Painted From Memory album with Burt in 1998 was also a thrill because I’d When is it worth it? grown up listening to his music. Burt is a You’re always looking at a trade-off. Do I take master craftsman, and working with him was that money I would spend on tape and buy a great experience. I learned a lot. myself a few extra days in the studio? My Peter Gabriel rationale is if I have a good front end in terms What’s the co-production process like? of mics and preamps and a good analog KEVIN KILLEN are always seeking outside opinions. And it It’s really up to the person who has the most signal path to my digital workstation, I can This Grammy winner wears multiple musical hats—and often at once might not just be the engineer who’s invited passion about a particular idea to follow get good sound that will be a fine starting to offer input, it might be a crew member through on it. If everybody is comfortable place. I love the sound of analog but dealing By Michael Gallant or a boyfriend or girlfriend. Sometimes in that arrangement, the path can lead to with the practicalities of it in the current somebody who hasn’t been involved in the some interesting places. In my experience, budget environment isn’t always easy. A FINE LINE EXISTS BETWEEN PRODUCING AND superstar band came in 1982, shortly after he migrated to Windmill grind of making the record might have the engineering. It’s a line Kevin Killen has confidently walked as a Lane, Dublin’s premier studio at the time, and the spot where U2 most useful insights. renowned engineer, mixer and producer who has collaborated was set to record their third album, War. “Larry heard I was on staff with a vast array of artists from U2 and Sugarland to Tori Amos, and asked that I be put on the record,” says Killen. When has your input changed the Elvis Costello and Peter Gabriel. “I started as an engineer, and From that initial collaboration, Killen went on to focus his recording process? a lot of my production skills and aesthetic have come from that creative talents on records including The Unforgettable Fire, A number of years ago, I was working with perspective,” says Killen. “Even if I’m hired as an engineer, I never Under a Blood Red Sky and Rattle and Hum. Other landmark Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach on a go in purely with an engineer’s hand. Having worked in the studio partnerships with major artists soon followed. Killen contributed project that had begun with the recording for 32 years, it’s hard to separate the disciplines. After that long, you engineering and mixing chops to Peter Gabriel’s So in 1986 and of one song, “God Give Me Strength.” It was start thinking of it more as a unified approach to the overall project.” was tapped to co-produce, engineer and mix Elvis Costello’s Spike written for the movie Grace of My Heart. But That unified approach has generated impressive results: Killen has three years later. Fast forward to 2012, Killen is plying his trade in Burt and Elvis continued to write together, earned handfuls of Grammy nominations and no less than five Latin New York City and multitasking in the studio with clients from around and 18 months later we went back in to Grammy awards for Shakira’s Fijación Oral Vol.1 alone. the world. Recent recording collaborators include Ricky Martin, Paula record the remaining tracks for an album Killen grew up in Dublin, Ireland—on the same street as U2 Cole, Dar Williams, Rachael Sage and Seth Glier. Killen discussed that would be called Painted From Memory. drummer Larry Mullen Jr.—and began his engineering and production with us his multifaceted holistic approach in the studio, the subtle Burt thought we should redo “God Give Me career at a local studio. Killen’s first opportunity to work with the art of co-production and the necessity of taking risks. Strength.” I really loved the original recording, so I called them into the control room and put that mix up on the half-inch machine. ‘We’re all painting from the same palette of Within a minute, they both agreed that we Jen Maler, Kevin Killen; Dana Tynan, Sugarland; Deirdre O’Callaghan, U2; York Tillyer, Peter Gabriel Peter Tillyer, Sugarland; Deirdre O’Callaghan, U2; York Killen; Dana Tynan, Kevin Jen Maler, shouldn’t recut the song. That track was the instruments, trying to present a song in a new way.’ U2 54 55 M mag 20_cs6.indd 54 7/9/12 12:41 AM M mag 20_cs6.indd 55 7/9/12 12:41 AM JUNE 2012 ISSUE MMUSICMAG.COM JUNE 2012 ISSUE MMUSICMAG.COM ENGINEER Tori Amos Chuando & Frey ‘The best people in the studio are always trying to experiment.’ Elvis Costello What was your experience with When did an experiment pay off? before. When I was working with Subcircus, T Bone Burnett? I was working with an English band called we were looking for a keyboard sound that It was fascinating. He would always allow Subcircus in the ’90s. At one point, we had a unique texture but didn’t sound Amos; James O’Mara, Elvis Costello de Mello, Tori Victor the assembled cast of characters to push were looking for an unusual drum sound, programmed. As the song played back in and pull the production in whatever direction and I decided that what we had in the studio the studio, the drummer was rubbing his felt appropriate and give people their wasn’t cutting it. We were in a local town hand against his chest and shirt. I took a moments of inspiration and individuality— one afternoon and went into a toy store. mic, placed it close to his hand, and fed the even to the point of mixing, where he’d say, They had a toy drum kit, and the drummer signal through a harmonizer. You can use a “Mix it however you want to.” He would started tapping it. It was a great sound, so harmonizer to create notes, so we started encourage creativity, and that’s a quality a we bought it and brought it to the studio. I recording these series of chords. It took lot of people like Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois used a single mic and placed it 5 feet away some work to get the chords lined up and and Peter Gabriel share. with the preamp turned up really hot, and to make the progression work with the song. he played one pass—that’s all we had since Why is that important? he was hitting so hard the skins broke—but Were you happy with the results? We’re all painting from the same palette we managed to get the drum take.