REGULARS HOME GROWN What happens when you Yes, Alanis Morissette – she of the 55 million Frou Frou and loved the production, and got in worldwide album sales – is back! Last seen touch with Guy. combine the voice behind parodying The Black Eyed Peas’ My Humps in I wasn’t there for the writing sessions, but a YouTube video released on April Fool’s day the highest-selling debut from what Guy told me, things happened very in 2007 (13 million views and counting), it’s quickly. They wrote 23 songs in less than a album in musical history perhaps no great surprise she’s pushed the boat month. Alanis would come to the studio with out on her fifth album. with one of the most prolific her journals – she had a lot of lyrical ideas and adventurous minds in Since her initial success with Glen Ballard and prepared. Guy had some basic sketches prepared, his ADAT-recorded Jagged Little Pill (1995) or he would come up with something on the UK electronic music? A very she’s had sufficient dough to not care about spot. She would write a melody to suit, and fit appropriately named album: her declining album sales (a ‘mere’ one or two some of her lyrics around the melody. million per outing). Plus, she’s been busy taking It was then a matter of building up the Flavors of Entanglement. more and more control of the creative reins – arrangements, bit by bit. We did that in a variety producing both her last two studio albums. Text: Gavin Hammond of ways depending on the song. Usually the Still, it could be viewed as a brave departure that guitars were worked on first, and we typically she’s chosen to write and work with producer built up several songs at a time – there wasn’t a Guy Sigsworth, the sonic brains behind acts as set pattern for how we developed each song. diverse as Seal, Bomb The Bass, Björk, Lamb, CHAIN OF COMMAND Talvin Singh, Madonna, Britney Spears, and Gavin Hammond: What’s Alanis like to work Frou Frou. Flavors of Entanglement sounds with in the studio? almost entirely electronic, 90% digital in creation, and well over a year in the making. AP: She’s fantastic to work with. As well as Created in Guy’s west London studio it’s still being an amazing artist, she’s one of the nicest undeniably Alanis, yet – and flying in the face and funniest people I’ve ever met. As long as of today’s gritty musical landscape – it’s precise, the production was true to the song, and she and polished to perfection. sounded good, she was happy. Her comments would address the vocal. If she sounded great, And what’s so ‘home grown’ about all this? and the track supported her in the right way, she Well, the man who helped shape most of the was happy. sounds and vocals behind this epic is Australian programmer/engineer/guitarist, Andy Page. I GH: Was there a typical vocal signal chain? started our conversation by asking Andy about AP: The vocal chain was quite simple. Alanis the process behind building up the songs… has used the same AKG C12 mic for years FULL FLAVOURED and this was connected to an Avalon 737 Andy Page: Alanis wanted to go in a different preamp, and from there fed into a UREI 1176 direction for this album – she wanted a more compressor, which just worked on the peaks a electronic, sonically expansive sound to contrast couple of dB. From the 1176 it was straight into with her previous records. She heard Let Go by ProTools via a Digidesign 192. AT 74 The biggest problem I encountered was spill see it as a huge modular synth that you can use from her headphones. She likes it loud. At one in whatever way you want. I love the sound point, I put on a second pair of headphones to of ProTools – I would much rather work with hear Alanis’ mix, and I almost leaped out of just a shtonking ’Tools rig and a good set of my chair. The thing is, when her monitor mix monitors, than a big console and lots of outboard in the ’phones was right, she sang beautifully gear. I think the sound is cleaner, tighter, and – we didn’t need to do heaps of takes. If the more accurate. I love the fact that the attack mix wasn’t right, she didn’t give the best transients are completely preserved. The creative performance. Early on, I worked out what she potential is massive – particularly what you Vital Stats likes – which is everything bloody loud, her can do with plug-ins and automation. We’d Name: Andy Page. vocal even louder, and lots of reverb! never have done this album with a console and Occupation: Programmer/ hardware outboard processing. engineer in London. JAGGED LITTLE SPILL Claim to fame: Worked with GH: How did you deal with the spill? GH: What are the secret weapons on a session producer Guy Sigsworth on like this? Alanis Morissette’s latest AP: The spill was fairly easy to deal with: I’d album Flavors of Entangle- put a low-pass filter on the output bus to reduce AP: Apart from ProTools, the other weapons ment and Bebel Gilberto’s were software. All the electric guitars were DI’d Momento. Helped Sasha the high frequency spill, and during mixing I’d produce his Xpander EP ride the volume down in between phrases so it straight into the computer, and all the guitar and Madonna’s Ray of Light wasn’t audible. The real problem was feedback sounds were crafted with Native Instrument’s remixes. Collaborated with through the cans, especially on songs where the Guitar Rig 3. Initially, we were using a Line6 BT on Movement in Still Life, and GT on Electifyin’ Mojo. vocals were more exposed. I worked out what Pod Pro, and we recorded a DI, with the Contributed to the sound- frequency the feedback was occurring at, and intention of re-amping later on. But once we got tracks Phone Booth (with used a Waves Q2 EQ to notch out that specific Guitar Rig, there was no looking back. Right Harry Gregson-Williams) and Go (with BT). frequency – two bands of 18dB cut at around up until the mix stage, I was still adjusting amp History: Grew up in Hobart. 6k, with a really narrow Q. This tamed it, but and cabinet settings, to give each guitar part its Started playing guitar and didn’t eradicate it completely. Later on, I did own sonic character to sit perfectly in context. piano. Began using comput- volume rides and more Q10 notching to make it ers and recording at high I also used a lot of processing software, like school where there was a ba- inaudible. Soundhack, Metasynth, Reaktor and Spektral sic studio. Played in various Delay. There are quite a few ‘whiz-bang’ sound bands, wrote his own music, GH: What other equipment did you use to wrote for theatre, played in make the album? design moments on the album – often I’d design the pit, and did some session these sounds using material from the multitrack. work. Moved to Sydney. A AP: This album is unashamedly digital – I’d mutual friend recommended say it was 90 percent ProTools. Once the acoustic GH: Listening to parts of the album, it’s him to DJ Sasha in 1997, who sources were recorded, such as vocals, guitars, incredibly open and clean sounding, yet very flew him up to Port Douglas to spend two weeks writing strings, they didn’t leave the digital realm. A original – how so? on a mobile studio setup. great deal of the instrumentation is electronic, AP: It’s a combination of things. As far as it Sasha liked the fact that “I made either inside ProTools or with soft synths. knew my way around the being clean and open, I think it’s a combination machines, and that I was good I see ProTools as being far more than just a of ultra-detailed editing of each musical part, at coming up with musical subtractive EQ, and ultra-detailed volume ideas quickly.” After that he hard disk recording/editing/mixing system. I flew to London, where they did the Xpander EP, and a month later they were flown to LA to remix Madonna’s Ray of Light. One thing led to another from there: “It really was a case of being thrown into the deep end – I didn’t really have any ‘professional’ studio experience before – I had to learn quickly.” ultimately“ you have to Andy Page: Here’s a bunch chord to a few dB higher strummed acoustic part, three, then coming back trust your ears and do of guitars in the chorus of than the initial level. I’m I’ve created a ducking up to normal level, you can whatever it takes to the song Incomplete. The also automating the gain effect – as if it was being draw the listener’s ear to top part shows sustained on a distortion effect ducked from another the part without increasing make a given sound chords, one per bar. I’m from Guitar Rig 3, making source, like you would its overall level. using volume automation the swell more dramatic, hear in a modern dance work in context. to dip the level after the increasing the gain toward track. This creates a initial attack, and then the end of each chord.