The Creative Music Recording Magazine

Jim Gaines
Huey Lewis, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Santana
James Farber
Scofield, Redman, Mehldau, Brecker
Paula Salvatore

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Capitol Studios, Sound City
The Low Anthem
Eyeland & Columbus Theatre
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Kevin McMahon
Swans, Titus Andronicus, Widowspeak
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Music Reviews
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Those Pretty Wrongs

Band of Horses
Gear Reviews
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Issue No. 114

July/Aug 2016
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Hello and
welcome to
Tape Op
#114!
12 Letters
16 Kevin McMahon
22 Paula Salvatore
30 James Farber
40 Low Anthem
44 Jim Gaines
p a g e

52 Music Reviews
54 Gear Reviews
76 Larrys End Rant
Online Only Feature
80 Randall Dunn
Sunn O))), Earth, Sun City Girls

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Ive always understood music to be a very pure thing. In my
mind, the only reason one would play music and create albums
was to make art. It wasnt until Id been immersed in the music business for years
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that it really hit me; many people have their eyes on the cash prize. A slow path of artistic
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growth wasnt on everyones mind, like it was for me. This can work, in varying degrees, but
its effect is felt everywhere. I still believe in music and recording as art, but I also know its
enmeshed with commerce as well. Making records costs money. Getting music in front of
listeners costs money. Sometimes theres a lot of money to be made. Other times theres very
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little financial reward.

}
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In this issue we talk with James Farber, who has helmed some of the best jazz recordings over
the last quarter century. Jazz currently makes up less than 1.4% of U.S. music consumption, yet pg. 28
we all know it is an important genre, and possibly one of the best cultural exports this country
has ever given the world.

}
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We also speak with Jim Gaines, who tracked all those hit songs for Huey Lewis and The News
back in the 80s. It was busy commerce for Huey and the guys back then, and now their music
is embedded in our cultural milieu. I still find myself tapping my foot to it, and Jim did an
amazing job recording those songs they continue to sound fresh on the radio.
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Lets keep recording interesting music. We have to.

Larry Crane, Editor

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pg. 42
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 The Creative Music Recording Magazine

Editor
Larry Crane
Publisher &!Graphic Design
John Baccigaluppi
Online Publisher
Geoff Stanfield
CTO & Digital Director
Anthony Sarti
Gear Reviews Editor
Andy Gear Geek Hong
Production Manager & Assistant Gear Reviews Editor
Scott McChane
Contributing Writers &!Photographers
Cover photo of the Low Anthems tape remote by Cat Laine
Zac Meyer, Owen Shaer, Joseph Branciforte, Reuben Radding, Eric M Lichter,
Jake Brown, Thom Monahan, Garrett Haines, Jessica Thompson,
Michael Romanowski, Piper Payne, Eric Tischler, and Adam Kagan.
Editorial and Office Assistants
Jenna Crane (proofreading), Thomas Danner (transcription),
Maria Baker (admin, accounting)
Tape Op Book distribution

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c/o www.halleonard.com
Disclaimer
TAPE OP magazine wants to make clear that the opinions expressed within reviews, letters and
articles are not necessarily the opinions of the publishers. Tape Op is intended as a forum to
advance the art of recording, and there are many choices made along that path.
.c Editorial Office
(for submissions, letters, music for review. Music for review is also
reviewed in the Sacramento office, address below)
P.O. Box 86409, Portland, OR 97286 voicemail 503-208-4033
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All unsolicited submissions and letters sent to us become the property of Tape Op.
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Advertising
Pro Audio, Studios & Record Labels:
John Baccigaluppi
916-444-5241, (john@tapeop.com)
Pro Audio & Ad Agencies:
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Laura Thurmond/Thurmond Media

512-529-1032, (laura@tapeop.com)
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Marsha Vdovin
415-420-7273, (marsha@tapeop.com)
Printing: Matt Saddler
@ Democrat Printing, Little Rock, AR
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Subscriptions are free in the USA:

Subscribe online at tapeop.com
(Notice: We sometimes rent our subscription list to our advertisers.)
Subscription and Address Changes
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Can all be made online at <tapeop.com/subscriptions.

Missed issues of your free subscription can be purchased via
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online, email <circulation@tapeop.com> or send snail mail to

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Please do not email or call the rest of the staff about subscription issues.

Postmaster and all general inquiries to:

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Tape Op Magazine, PO Box 160995, Sacramento, CA 95816

(916) 444-5241 | tapeop.com
Tape Op is published by Single Fin, Inc. (publishing services)
and Jackpot! Recording Studio, Inc. (editorial services)

10/Tape Op#114/Masthead www.tapeop.com

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Just wanted to say a big thank you from Iran, where
I follow and enjoy your really cool magazine. I am a
person whos been doing the same things in these last
20 years. Your photo of those good old days [End
Rant, Tape Op #112] reminded me of myself, and the
long, long journey weve all taken to be here today. Back
when I got my 32-channel Mackie and a pair of ADATs,
I was flying above skies and feeling like a real pro in my
little studio! Its just wonderful that the
love and adventure of music
happens the same everywhere, no
matter be it Tehran, or the U.S. Im a musician, producer,
and sound engineer from Tehran, Iran. My rock band
named O-Hum (means illusions in English) was one of
the first bands in Iran, after the Islamic revolution, who
began the underground music movement in 1998. We
used home studios to record our music. We got on the
Internet (which had just arrived in Iran) to spread our
music, and we received a huge feedback, globally. We
toured in Europe and played in the U.S. When we got
back home in Tehran, we got arrested and questioned,
and then we got banned from any official music
activities for few years. Here I am today, aged 42. I just
found your magazine accidentally and have been
enjoying your great and nice work for several months.
Ive read in the Letters section that they too, like me,
read every issue several times and look forward for the
next one. Your efforts come from your heart and soul, so
they touch others, and youre giving it away for free.
That is so valuable. Thank you! I am wishing you and
your family lots of health, happiness, and success
(though youre already a super star)!
Shahram Sharbaf
<www.PersianByte.net> <www.o-hum.com>
Thank you for these kind words from across the globe.
Its an honor to be a part of your musical journey! One
of the reasons we started delivering free PDF editions
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of Tape Op was to get our magazine to places all over
the world. Its reassuring to know that it works, and that
it might also help someone feel less alone in their
creative endeavors. -LC
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I just saw that today was the 20th anniversary of
Tape Op. Congratulations. I have to say, what youve
done is inspiring. Even though I dont make or record
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music, Ive been reading your mag since the early days
when I would pick it up at Quimbys in Chicago. Youve
actually documented something incredible in a way that
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nobody else ever has. Heres to the next 20 years!
Patrick McDonald <overcupbooks.com>
Tape Op loves Quimbys, and all the independent
media retailers across the world. We need you all now,
more than ever. -LC
12/Tape Op#114/Letters/(continued on page 14)
I am truly amazed that
Tape Op has been coming
to us for 20 years. I have
really come to respect
that you can stick with
it, help or none. In the
past few years Ive tried
my hand at being an
editor (on a blog about
poetry and other sounds) and have barely gotten a
sense of what a responsibility (or what a burden) it is.
In one sense, youve got it easy at Tape Op, in that there
are so many engineers, producers, and gear designers
compared to recording poet composers (or even poet
collaborators), as mentioned in a sidebar with your
interview with Brian Eno [Tape Op #85]. Still, to have
the time to pursue interviews, time to put it all together
(true, as mentioned in your introduction to issue #112,
you now have a wonderful staff to help but that wasnt
always so), and the ability to keep your wits about you
is amazing. What does it take to maintain enthusiasm
to publish issue after issue? I cant imagine. No matter
how deeply you care about recording and music, I have
to assume youre human and [have the potential to] just
plain wear out. On top of which there are the skills
required: the ability to get out into the world and to
track things down, to say nothing of people skills. Most
of us take from the world, but seldom give anything.
Tape Op is a magnificent gift. Thank you for
om
sticking with it.
Michael Myshack <swampmessiah@gmail.com>
I humbly thank you. There are days that all the
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feedback I get seems to be people complaining about our
content, their free mag not arriving (its usually the post
offices fault), and public relations folks pushing an
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overwhelming amount of requests regarding their clients
down my throat. I do wear out at times, but appreciative
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letters like yours keep us all going. -LC
Ive been sporadically poring over the last two or
three issues, so I cant even remember who was being
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interviewed, but the bottom line is this: Once again, the
way Im tracking has been directly improved by
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something Tape Op put out there for me to absorb. In
this case, it was simply that an engineer or producer
likes to mic guitar cabinets with a close mic and also
mic them at more of a distance to capture the space of
the sound as well. This is something Ive been pursuing,
because my recordings sound too dry. I just tracked a
beautiful electric guitar part the other night using a
[Shure] SM57 an inch from the grill, as well as a [Coles]
4038 about eight feet back. I put a little [Universal
Audio] 1176 compression on them and panned out a
bit, and there it is: a much better recording. We will
never know all of the work that each amazing peer out
there is doing, let alone each persons full bag of tricks,
but Tape Op has provided such an amazing service to the
world of music recording creatives. So, thank you to you
and all of your contributors, a thousand times over. As
always, Im looking forward to my next issue.
Brad Kelly <www.yrlk.com>
Just a quick shout-out to Larry and John. I remember
that first TapeOpCon in Sacramento, CA [2002], as well
as meeting you guys and really feeling the love that you
bring. It is truly amazing that that sense of wonder, and
commitment, and joy hasnt slackened at all. The
excitement about the music, as well as the process, is
still as vivacious now as back then. Keep up the stellar
work, and know that it is appreciated and enjoyed.
Paul Grove <www.bludatta.com>
Congratulations on 20 years of Tape Op! I think my first
Tape Op was from around 2004, a year after Id bought a
house and turned most of it into a studio. I couldnt
believe it. Finally, there was a publication that spoke to
what my friends and I were doing: recording ourselves,
not because we couldnt afford a commercial recording
studio, but because we were fascinated by recording. Our
friends were willing guinea pigs who were also getting
valuable experience making recordings. As Jon Brion
[Tape Op #18] said when we first met, You should always
be recording yourself and others. What struck me was
how down to earth, yet knowledgeable, both interviewer
and interviewee were. Some folks had schooling, but most
had just interned, cleaned toilets, made tea, and learned
on the job. Exactly what we were doing in our makeshift
control rooms (sans tea). There have been, and still are,
so many things Ive learned from Tape Op interviews,
reviews, and rants. Today I was cutting a vocal with Erik
Sanden (from Buttercup) on a song that we re-recorded
in order to find a better tempo and key. This harkened
back to Trevor Horns [Tape Op #89] interview, in which
he said record budgets were large in the 80s, but that
allowed them to do things exactly like that. Like Trevor,
we fixed the song. Getting the vocal was easy at that
point, and with just a tad of coaching, Erik nailed the
vocal. Thats just one of hundreds of examples of how
Tape Op makes a difference in my working life. Thanks. I
cant imagine how daunting it was to keep the mag going
early on, but I, and many readers like me, am so glad you
kept going. Saludos y abrazos!
Joe Reyes <www.buttercult.com>
Im writing for two reasons: first, the interview in #112
with Jerry Boys was fantastic. Hes the sort of engineer
(and has had the career) that we all dream about when
we get into music recording. Second, thank you for being
you; and thank you and John for 20 years of Tape Op. I
first got word of Tape Op when it was only four years old,
and I started contributing shortly thereafter. When I look
back on those TapeOpCons [2001-2007], all I can
think about are the good times, good
people, and good music I experienced by
attending them. I still keep in touch with many of the
folks I met at those conferences. In fact, I just did an
interview with Matt Boudreau for his Working Class Audio
podcast [www.workingclassaudio.com] and we realized
we hadnt seen each other in 10 or 11 years. Where has
the time gone? I havent contributed any articles in
years; life, career, and other obligations have gotten in
the way of that, but I still read every issue cover to cover.
Heres to another 20 plus years! Keep cranking them out
and Ill keep reading.
Graham Hick <graham.hick@gmail.com>
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 You guys do an awesome, awesome job. Always a
pleasure seeing your magazine show up in my mail box.
Keep up the great work!
Adam Rau <adamarau@gmail.com>
Whats up, Larry & John? Thanks for continuing to
produce such an awesome mag. As a dude who published
one for five years, I know all too well the blood, sweat,
and tears required, and you guys are crushing it. Keep up
the amazing work!
Tim Scanlin <timscanlin@yahoo.com>
First and absolutely foremost, thanks. Tape Op is
amazing. I havent been to school for production or
engineering. And yet today I am lucky enough to be
working in a recording studio, thanks to a self-education
fueled and fed by your magazine (and other resources
like it). I still have my first issue of Tape Op (or at least
I think it is my first, Ive tried not to lose any along the
way), delivered back in September of 2006. Well, fast-
forward ten years and Im a happy
subscriber to your Tape Op archive,
which is an amazing resource. Thanks
for putting that together (love the new website, too).
John Paul Thompson <johnpaulthomp@gmail.com>
Just a reminder to our readers: not only do we deliver
print editions for free (in the U.S.) and PDF issues to
anyone with an email address, we also have Archive
Subscriptions available (the first month is free!), which
allow readers to access all of our content online. We also

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have the Complete Digital Box Set, which gives a
subscriber access to all issues, from #11 on, as PDF
downloads. And dont forget that there is always lots of
great, free content on our website! <tapeop.com> -LC
.c Ive been a subscriber for two years now, and it just
keeps getting better! I think I read more of your articles
than any other magazine I get, including my beloved
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Vintage Guitar magazine. Keep up the good work.
Daniel Voznick <chezvoz@sbcglobal.net>
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Send Letters &

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editor@tapeop.com
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14/Tape Op#114/Letters/(Fin.)
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 Kevin McMahon
Appropriate Responses

by Zac Meyer
photos by Owen Shaer

The Middle Hudson Valley of New

York State has long been a bastion
of creativity, counterculture, the
arts, and especially music. While
Woodstock is the hippie hamlet
famous for lending its name to the
legendary festival, as well as as a
hub for some of the biggest
musicians and artists of the 60s and
70s, it is in New Paltz a markedly
younger town than Woodstock
where producer and engineer Kevin
McMahon runs Marcata, a studio in a

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beautiful old barn. It is here where
he has produced Swans, Real Estate,
Titus Andronicus, Widowspeak, and .c
more excellent artists that come to
the pastoral isolation of Ulster County
to record in peace. I drove up here to
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get the tour and discuss the perks of
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having a barn studio. Spoiler alert:

Theres a grain silo for reverb.
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What are the origins of Marcata? two levels. There was an upper area, which consisted out of that space, along with everyone else there, while
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The studio was started in Harlem by The Walkmen, and of brick walls, cement floors, a normal industrial area, I was also working at Bearsville Studios in Woodstock.
then later they had me run it. At that point we were and then a deep pit that was an eight-foot drop to Its up on the side of a mountain, and its A room was
working with a lot of the same bands. I was also another level. an airplane hangar-sized live room. There was the mix
doing live sound for them and a bunch of other When you put mics up in the rafters at room I was told Bob Clearmountain [Tape Op #84] did
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people. I used to work at the club Brownies, in New the old Harlem location was it how a lot of his work in, which was looking at the smaller
York. I knew about The Walkmen, but I had no idea you hoped it would be, or was it a B room where [Meat Loafs] Bat Out of Hell was
they had a real studio. I had worked at studios in the tough spot to work with? recorded. They had a cottage, which was their smaller
city, but I just had a little setup in my basement up If you like a live sound, and I really like a live sound, then facility on the same property. Sometime in the 90s
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here in New Paltz when they asked me to run Marcata. it was a dream come true. If you didnt want that, you they closed the big complex and moved it all into the
I went and saw the space it was a big live room, a were kinda fucked. The upper level was close to the smaller cabin. They had hired me to repair the console,
control room, a tape machine, and a console. It was ceiling, so I could put bands up there and the close and when I was done they said they didnt have money
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a great space, with a really live room, up at 138th and mics really got them the faraway mics would get just to pay me but I could have time in the studio. It was
Broadway. The building had been some kind of Nash the room. But even cooler than that for reverb and all barter, and I had about a year in there where it was
car production facility [the Nash Garage Building] way we did have a plate reverb were the hallways of this me and a friend of mine who were the only people
back when. It was a garage, so there was a helix ramp space. There was a long catacomb that wrapped all the using it. I thought I was going to move the Harlem
going up the middle. They rebuilt everything around way around, with tall ceilings that was priceless. I location into that space, but the hammer fell with
it, so the live room was a very odd shaped and had used that all the time. Columbia [University] kicked us some legal issues at Bearsville. There was a bunch of

How did you get into being an audio
I have a dear friend, Burt Price, and we worked together
equipment from those two spaces that needed
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somewhere to go very quickly. Then I found the current
location of Marcata, which I knew about from being an
audio tech and previously having them hire me to work
on the console. I knew the barn was here, and I knew
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there werent a lot of sessions happening in the space.
I moved gear here as a temporary solution, and it
ended up being like, Wow, this place is really
awesome. Its a pretty cool spot. I believe theres a
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bit of history in here. Ive been told that one of Vic
Chesnutts early records, About to Choke, was partially
done in the space with an awesome guy named Garrett
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Uhlenbrock. Everybody from this area, whoever was in
a band over the last 25 years or so [prior to McMahons
moving in] has worked in here. But I dont really do a
lot of local projects, so now its a different sort of
space. The tape machine is the only thing left over
from the Harlem era. The other things Ive purchased.
Being a tech is a great thing, because you can get If you could push a button and make the
expensive things for cheap, if you know how to fix
them. I bought the MCI 36-channel console for a
thousand dollars. With countless other pieces of
equipment people are like, Its big. It sucks current. I No, I dont think so. Back then there were definitely labels
dont have space for it. I dont really know how to align
the tape machine. That aspect is an exciting part of
being a tech.
tech?
at the first studio where I started recording. He showed
me a lot and introduced some of the basics to me,
including the detail-oriented work ethic required to do
it. He continues to be someone I ask questions, which
is another important part of it; having some backup
when you really are in over your head. I had also
bought an Ampex 440 1-inch, 8-track. That thing used
to break, and about the fourth time that I hired a tech,
I was like, I cant afford to be paying somebody $70
or $80 an hour to do this. Furthermore, I was thinking,
Thats good money. There was a guy that Id hired a Hes still around now, and doing some very awesome
number of times, Ken McKim [Tape Op #86]. Hes down
in New York City now, but he was the original tech for
Bearsville. Hes hands down one of the best techs in the
world. He built the Retrospec tube DI. Hes apparently
self-taught, but knows everything and costs a lot of
money per hour. He would always be cheaper than
other techs because hed actually fix the problem and
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do it fast, with precision and purpose. I was inspired by
him to try to be as good as he was, so he really set the
role model for what kind of a tech I wanted to be. There
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are many different kinds out there, in terms of fairness,
self-motivation, and reliability. I ended up meeting this
guy, Jeff Blenkinsopp from EARS [Expert Audio Repairs
& Services, Inc.]. He used to be Pink Floyds tech, and
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he produced Secret Machines first LP [Now Here Is
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Nowhere] while I was working with them as a live
soundman. He also has a company in Long Island City
thats called the The Analog Lab. I interned with him
for a good year or more and learned an incredible
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amount. Another brilliant guy is Chris Muth [Tape Op
#45], who designs the Dangerous Music gear and has
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been on the scene for a long while, particularly in his
role with designing mastering consoles and fixing
cutting lathes. He was very involved with Sterling
Sound, along with many other world-class studios in
the NYC area. I was really lucky to be able to hang out How do you feel about Kickstarter?
with those guys and have them each show me really I was positive that it was the most ridiculous thing I had
different things, which have all been instrumental in
what I do as an engineer, as well as enabling me to fix
a lot of gear. Before I got really busy producing, being
a tech was saving my ass in terms of making a living.
I mean anybody doing recording is like, How do you
actually carve a living out of making records? What do
you have to do to make ends meet? And people think
its just, I wanna be a recording guy. Its gonna be small label or self-funded, a lot of times you get to the
awesome. But every dollar you make, you had to work
all these different ways to ensure you could make, or to
keep, it and not give it away. I never wanted to be a
studio owner, but theres no way I could afford to do
half the records I do on their budgets if I was giving a
studio fee to someone else.
Mr. McMahon/(continued on page 18)/Tape Op#114/17
economics of the music industry go
back to what they were in the 90s,
would you do it?
giving out money, and its sad that its not happening
now, but its really not that sad. At that time period it was
like all the bands were basically waiting for permission, in
some form or another, from somebody. People werent in
the headspace of saying, Were gonna make a record.
And frankly the deals that many labels gave were
impossible for the bands to ever recoup. The labels usually
gave money that represented 20 times the amount of
money that it actually takes to make the record. Then the
band has to recoup $300,000 before they make a cent. I
learned this firsthand, being in a guys band [A Don Piper
Situation] who was signed to Capitol Records. Theyd
signed him, in my opinion, on the strength of one song
that really had only a little something to do with what he
was about. It was a pop song, a great song in itself, but
a lot of his music was way more atmospheric than that.
music, thankfully. But he was close to a casualty of war
and the effect of the artist going through the machine,
which is often traumatic. Hes a super inspiring guy, and
another role model for me as an artist. The label inevitably
dropped him without releasing that record, after sitting
on it forever with ever changing promises about its
release date something many artists go through. His
lawyer was smart enough to wait it out. The label
eventually bought him out and allowed that he could sell
2000 of his own records and keep all the money from it.
This has become a model I quote bands about; what it
means to keep 100% of your income and what is
sustainable as an artist to survive, which is important to
consider more than going for the goal of a platinum
record as the only statement of success. Now things are
totally Wild West. A band can put out their own records
and know they are making the record because theyre
paying for it, and hopefully make real decisions about
how much they can spend, based on a realistic goal that
they can handle. Thats opposed to thinking they arent
paying for things that really are all being tacked onto the
bill that they have to recoup before making any profits. I
think it is essential for bands to know what the stakes are
for them in any record they make, and who, in the end,
is really paying the bill. Bands are!
ever heard. And Ive been totally shocked that in this day
and age when you ask people if they buy music, theyre
like, What do you mean, do I buy music? The records
only going to cost them fifteen bucks, but theyll donate
$50 if youre saying you want to make a record! There are
a lot of bands doing that, and its certainly a better deal
for them than paying the label back. Whether its on a
end of your budget in the studio and youre thinking, Do
I actually want my name on this thing if I stop now? No,
I probably dont. So theres gonna be a ton of extra work
thats gotta happen on this. Which is awesome to do. If
youre doing that, it means you care.
 If youre working with a lot of bands that enough, and somebodys gotta tell you that. They were Yeah, headphones. A lot of it was also based on my live
dont have big budgets, and you really probably pissed by the end from doing those guitars over sound background. I got my real formative experience
love the album, are you going to wind and over again! But it made a huge difference. at Brownies, where I worked for about 10 years. I
up doing work for free? You had to be the bad cop. couldnt afford to be an intern at a studio, and with live
Oh, my god. I am always doing that. I believe that you It was difficult. It took a long time. I hadnt done a lot sound nobodys asking you to work for free. Its not a
cant know what all is going to happen when you start of music as mellow as that I have done mellow lot of money, but it also brought me into contact with
a record. I mean, thats the story with Titus music, like Laura Stevensons Wheel, which has a huge clients. What I didnt know at the time was that I was
Andronicus The Airing of Grievances, which started dynamic spread with incredibly quiet and delicate training with no safety net, where shit is breaking all
when a band from Glenrock, NJ, still in high school, passages. A lot of The Walkmen projects, as well as the time, and youre hearing what the band actually
contacted me to do a record. They were the first band many moments in [Swans] The Seer, and [Titus sounds like. I saw one band play five times, and one of
I recorded when I took over engineering at Marcata, Andronicus] The Monitor are incredibly quiet, along the shows stood out in a magical way. Why is that?
with their moms dropping them off in Harlem. They with my personal music as Pelican Movement. But a What is it about that playing? Because when youre
were very rough around the edges. They were called lot that I work on has an intensity behind it that you making records, youre trying to capture this, and if you
Seizing Elian at first and then, years later, they became feel while making it, which can be really inspiring. It dont understand that its all about the nature, the
Titus Andronicus. When they got their deal with makes it very easy to know where you are supposed organic relationship humans have with playing music,
Troubleman [Unlimited Records] they were presented to be going. Days is certainly not loud; but its not the then you may be missing something. This accounts for
with $2500 to make what became The Airing of quiet [that is the issue], its the lack of intensity, the sterility. Maybe its because people over-perfect
Grievances. I easily did three times the amount of work which is very different than most of what I do. I do and fix things. Maybe its because bands get uptight
I was paid for, because it was just, This stuff is think that record came out really well, and I am really when they go into an expensive studio. Maybe its
awesome. Its gonna be awesome. I cant stop now. proud of a lot of things about it. Especially the way because theres not an audience giving them the
The Walkmen are a well-known name, and that that record sounds, which I think has a timelessness energy back. Whatever it is, I know that during that
opportunity provided a lot for me certainly, but I would to it. I have a grain silo that I use as a reverb time period I was seeing bands that I loved, as well as
say the foundation of my career came from that Titus channel, which I put together for that record. I hearing the records that were made and thinking,
moment. Working with a band that was very young, probably put every single sound through it I spent These records are bullshit, compared to their live
not really in a great space, in terms of the ability to close to two weeks sending sounds into the silo to energy. Theres nothing magic. Its clean, well-
make the record that needed to be made to put them make that record have a special sheen. The drums are recorded music, and the band is playing in a vacuum.
on the map, and they were heavily underfunded. It was also a great presence. Matthew [Mondanile], the Although I did a session in the city recently at a studio
a lot of work beyond the pay, and had I operated on a guitar player, was really good at drums and played that was in the round and I had forgotten the other
level of business as usual and not cared about the some drums on it, and Martin [Courtney] played a lot aspect, which is that youll fucking go deaf!

finished product Id be in a very different place now [in
my career]. If youre just engineering, your day
conceptually stops at the end of that day. I mean,
great engineers put their heart into it too, but a great
producer could never be like, Your budgets done, Im
done. I need to be smart enough to know that Im not
going to get paid for every hour of work I do, and set
up a situation where I can control or absorb expenses.
Im doing that right now on five records.
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of the drums too. There was a lot of sound design to Swans must be not that youre
them while recording them, which is always a lot of recording them in that way but they
fun to be able to do. It was not live, as many things
.c must record live and loud, right?
I record are; it was all to a click track. Put the drums They are super loud. Id say half, or less than half, of The
down. Put the guitars down. Layers. One of the things Seer was cut live. I flew to Berlin to meet up with
I think is brilliant about their music, which also them because they were on tour, and I found this old
makes it elusive, is that there are no bells and concert hall-based space called Studio P4. We recorded
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whistles. We had to make it awesome. about four songs there live, but we ended up redoing
How was it moving Marcata into its some of those again here in this space, along with
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I love that album Days by Real Estate. Tell current location? many other tracks that we did at andereBaustelle
me about that. The studio that was here before me had changed hands [Tonstudio, in Berlin], which was a totally fantastic
I thought it was part of a successful transition. The first a few times. The current incarnation didnt do a ton place to work! A lot of that wasnt done fully live. But,
m

record they made [Real Estate] also did really well, of recording, but had an amazing Harrison 32 more than them cutting live, there is also the volume
critically, but it was clear that the jump from that console, which they used to hire me to work on, that Michael [Gira, Tape Op #53] wants to listen to in
@g

record to Days was ten or twenty fold from where they
were, and Days was everywhere. I believe a lot of that
was the process being way more focused on detail, and
le
from time to time. I had originally set up my control the control room deafeningly loud, at all times!
room in the outer barn and also used it as a live Frankly, youre always in danger of blowing out your
room in-the-round style because, when I first speakers. I actually added a second set of speakers and
moved in, I thought it was temporary and did not ran them together so I could get the volume we

raising the bar of how people play the music, which is

sometimes about perfecting the musical notes, as we want to integrate my setup with theirs. I eventually needed without risking the speakers. When we would
would see on this record. That process was a choice of made it into a facility with a separate control room, do mixes, he would go out to the car, turn up the
mine to push them hard. Temperament-wise, they have as it is now. stereo all the way, and then give notes like, The low
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to be ready to be pushed, and not take that as a sign How did you like that? end is rattling the car. [laughs] For the mastering
of disrespect, a vote of no confidence, or failure. I think In the round? I had already worked that way for a super session, the mastering engineer and I stood 200-feet
we redid the guitars in their entirety like three or four long time. It definitely keeps you on your game. All my away from the car and heard metal shaking. But that
times, because everybodys playing these chords and personal spaces I had in the city were that way, and does give useful information.
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everybodys out of tune. We spent so much time there was a really good studio called 33 & 1/3, owned Tell me more about making that album.
intonating their guitars, tuning, tuning, tuning, and by Eric Ambel [Tape Op #13] and Mark Roule, who Im probably still recovering from it, actually. Michael
then I realized it wasnt about the tuning or taught me a great deal. That studio was on Grand and doesnt stop being in the moment, ever. Theres no
st

intonation, but rather, Okay, youre playing this shape Kent Ave [in Brooklyn] back in the mid-90s. It had a plan that isnt subject to being turned on its ear,
of a chord, and when you get up here and play this Neve console and really good equipment, located in a often on a whim, and then acknowledged to be a
voicing youre bending your finger this way and former bank. wrong somehow. So you turn and go back to
bending one string. Thats a big part of what I So you used in-ear monitors while you something you fully dismantled, no matter what the
perceive my job to be. I was like, This is not good were getting drum sounds? consequences are and no matter when. To say that

18/Tape Op#114/Mr. McMahon/(continued on page 20)

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The Two Kick Drum Setup
I always keep two kick drums like this. It really
gives that big, open marching drum sound. I have a
microphone inside the drum being played, getting the
dead kick drum sound, and then I mic this second
kick drum. While Im describing this drum setup, I
also want to mention the square ribbon mics on the
toms, because they are amazing and it seems no one
knows about them yet! They are Potofone mics, made
by Ed Potokar. <potofone.com>
you cant go back, or do a given operation, is not an
option. The minute that you think you have a way to
protect where you are, that is your undoing. You must
be prepared to be in the moment, at all times, and
figure it out. There are things that come out of that
place that are really affirming, and then, at the same
time, its a very difficult process. Its incredibly
rewarding, and the fact that the record did what it did
was incredibly important to me, because that was the
only one I had done with him, from top to bottom.
Were all using the same tools, and its not about
getting a good sound as much as that I am interested
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in making the best thing that that person may have
ever done. I mean, with Michael, I am more the lucky
one, in terms of working with him at that time period,
because the vision he has, at this time, also has the
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perspective of all these other years where hes tried
other things. But I believe that record is something
that is special, because it also felt like my life
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mission, which I think shows. Does that make sense?
Yeah, I think it does. Im also a fan of
that album Almanac, by Widowspeak.
I love that record, and I love that band. I love how easy
st
it is for them to make an amazing record because their
vision is so palpable. Theyre living up here now. They Theres no wi-fi here. I dont want it! Youre out here, <www.kevinsmcmahon.com>
got jobs, integrated into the local community, are
woodshedding, and they are probably going to write
another awesome record. Almanac was very
20/Tape Op#114/Mr. McMahon/(Fin.)
interesting because it was their first, sorta bigger, town for some reason. There are bookstores, music
record that they had made. Kyle, the drummer, had stores, good bars, and bands around. People can
only done metal music before that. He was very open definitely come here and sorta move in. When thats
to anything, and was very inventive. The whole the way that the band works, those have been some
Fleetwood Mac comparison with that record was of the most special situations. I like the idea that
something I heard when I went and saw them play youre here, and this is what youre doing. I also
the first time. But they sounded like Mazzy Star on understand if its not for every record. The new Titus
their earlier record, which was not a comparison they project that were doing is based in NYC. Weve done
were into. I was totally hearing this Fleetwood Mac everything up here in the past, but now its important
thing that was screaming to happen, and Rob [Earl to the band, and the flow of things, to have people
Thomas, guitar] was like, I fuckin hate Fleetwood go home and sleep in their beds and not disassemble
Mac! [laughs] I had dug up Tusk and became their lives. Titus Andronicus The Most Lamentable
obsessed with that record before meeting Tragedy came out amazing. Theres not been, to my
Widowspeak. When I met them, I said, What kind of knowledge, a rock opera that has done what that term
synchronicity is this that Im totally in love with this is supposed to be since The Wall and Tommy. I am hell
Fleetwood Mac record? I think [Tusk] is some of their bent for this album to be something people are
best work. It was fun to have a drummer on it where talking about in 30 years. Its an appropriate response
hes like, I am an open book. It was like the Real to the evolution of the band.
Estate record, in that we did songs to a click and built They did that concept album, The
it up. It was all about creative sounds, every step of Monitor [a Civil War themed record].
the way. They live in this very visible, animated world Yeah, thats a concept record. This is going to be a straight
you feel like youre in it. It makes it easy. Working up rock opera. There are some things about the follow
with them is like walking into a cartoon; a world that up to The Monitor [Local Business] that wont be
they have fully understood. appreciated until after this next record. Its incredibly
Shes got her voice. exciting. Patrick [Stickles] is so smart. A completely
Molly [Hamilton] is phenomenal! She was petrified raw, but sublime, brutally honest, and visceral visionary
singing live, and in the studio. She was super shy, at fucking genius, if you ask me. He should be a
that phase, but worked hard at taking it seriously and filmmaker. I mean, he is a filmmaker. Its gonna be
the need to overcome that. One interesting thing awesome. I tend to attract difficult characters!
om
she got started recording by using the microphone Well, it sounds like you like music that
built into her computer. She couldnt sing if there was is rough around the edges, so...
anybody around. Towards the end of recording The people themselves, maybe more than the music I
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Almanac, and then on The Swamps EP, I set her up in have learned more about psychology and mental
a room, and Rob and I cleared out for two days. I had illness than I ever thought I wanted. Mental health is
her set up her computer; I ran a mic through a preamp an incredibly misunderstood topic, and especially
and back into her computer so she could do it herself amongst any of the arts that we celebrate, it may be
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in [Apple] GarageBand. So she recorded all of her the very thing behind someones genius that may be
vocals with a [Neumann] U 47, through a really good making it hard for them to actually function to what
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preamp, and her doing it herself. Bands sleep here our society says is normal. Being submerged in this,
sometimes. During Almanac they were living here, for extended periods of time, takes its toll, especially
making fairly intricate meals on a little grill, and to when you are not aware, because it comes with the
m
shower theyd come to my house. The bass player, job. I think I attract complex characters. The Seer led
Willy [Muse], is a tailor and he was tailoring clothes into the last Titus record, and right into a string of
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for them to do some video shoot. So were doing other records. There were eight records in a row where
overdubs, weve got Kyle [Clairmont Jacques] on everybody, at the heart of them, was super intense,
drums, Mollys in there working on this drawing and many having real mental health challenges. I
[points to a drawing on the wall], Willys out there started having panic attacks! Its one thing if you do
hand-tailoring a coat. They moved in and were really five records a year; but the last two years Ive
involved, creative people the whole time. averaged like 20 to 25 records, per year. When youre
Time Travel spending all of your time surrounded by this, it
Instead of putting mics in the rafters, one way becomes another universe and, as a producer, it
to get a big room sound is to put a cardioid mic next becomes important to be ready for it on your end. As
to, but facing away from, the kick drum, possibly Ive gotten older, Im very thankful for what I have
I wanna make the most artistically awesome, visceral
facing down, with baffles behind the mic so
records. Where its like, Here are the minutes of my
reflections travel as far as possible to the mic.
life that are going by, right now. Were not getting
Its hard to imagine that happening in them back. Were gonna be dead, and this record is
Manhattan. what I want to do with them. r
youre isolated, and youre in the middle of nowhere.
Zac Meyer works at Ishlab in Brooklyn, NY, and plays in The
But there is the town, which has a lot of activity
Dust Engineers and Tiny Victories. <zac.r.meyer@gmail.com>
going on there are two record stores in this small
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 In Dave Grohls documentary, Sound City, viewers
were treated to stories from the vivacious, smart, and
funny Paula Salvatore the manager of Sound City
Studios for nine years. But what one might not learn
from that appearance is that Paula has since run the
famous Capitol Studios for over 25 years as the Vice
President/Studio Manager. This year [2016] marks 60
years of Capitol Studios, as well as the iconic Capitol
Records Building they are housed in, so I dropped in to
talk with Paula and some of her colleagues, including
Patrick Kraus (Senior VP, Head of Studio, Production &
Archive Services/Universal Music Group) and Ursula
And the mastering studios as well, how
many are there?
PK: Five of those.
PS: Two of them have Neumann lathes.
Are you specifically on the studio end of
it, as far as management?
PS: We oversee it all, but we have a guy who manages
and books the mastering. It all funnels to Patrick.
Thats why I brought him in here. Hes the leader.
Paula, howd you end up managing
studios?
PS: When I first came out from Rhode Island to

Kneller (Director Special Projects/Universal Music
Group). Capitol Studios remains very busy under
Paulas management, and as Don Was says, Shes as
good as they come, man. Shes wonderful. She runs a
tight ship, and the studios are in tip-top shape.
Youre one of the better known studio
managers, and you are running a
famous studio. But I guess it was the
Sound City film that really gave you
some visibility.
Paula Salvatore: I know. I think Im the first woman to
get in a movie for running a recording studio. Isnt
that funny? I beat Rose Mann-Cherney, my mentor.
How many active studios are there in the
building, not including mastering?
Patrick Kraus: We have five actual studios. A couple are
Photos: Portait - LC, Capitol Tower - John Piro, Capitol Music Group
California, I really wanted to be a musician. My dad
had gotten me a sewing machine instead of a piano,
so I went to school in Boston for fashion design,
because it was right next door to the Berklee College
of Music. I thought, Okay. Ill meet musicians. Ill sell
them clothes if I have to. Thats what I came out to
do in California. I started sewing for a few companies.
We did clothes for the group Angel. Id accidentally
sewed my finger, and the girl managing was like a
tyrant. I decided to hang it up and go get a job at
Music Plus [record store] on Ventura, next to Du-pars
Restaurant. Its now a Trader Joes or something. That
was fun. I got to meet the Toto guys. Every rock star
was coming in, plus all the people from CBS Records.
It was great. I started playing softball with a studio
team, and a friend that worked at Music Plus with me
introduced me to some people. He brought me to a

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production suites, which are basically spaces for studio called Sound Labs. I went in there and was like,
people to write. Oh, my god. This is so great. They were doing vocals,
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22/Tape Op#114/Ms. Salvatore/(continued on page 24)
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 and I came out to use the bathroom and saw the office.
I was like, Oh, they have offices! I dont have to be a
musician to work here. I had a boyfriend at the time
who talked me into working with him, so I could go on
the road with him. That didnt work out. I said, You
made me quit my job! I went back to Music Plus, feeling
like, Woe is me. What am I going to do? My friend said,
You know, this girl just quit Kendun Recorders in
Burbank. She was in traffic. So I called my friend, Vini
Poncia, whos a producer for KISS, Ringo Starr, Melissa
Manchester, and artists like that. I said, What do I need
to learn to work at a recording studio? He said, Oh, 24-
track; Dolby, non-Dolby. I said, Okay, thats good. So
I called them, out of the blue, and said, Hi. I know 24-
track and Dolby. They said, Well, funny. We just did
lose somebody. I went over there, and they said, Okay,
well get the manager to come over. Im sitting in the
waiting room and this very distinguished woman comes
out. Shes like, You dont really have any experience.
You sewed and worked at a record store. I said, You
know what? I have no bad habits. Im ambitious. With
those other girls, youre going to have to retrain them.
Theyre going to give you attitude. So they hired me
that day! She said to go down and talk to the president.
My timing was impeccable. I was working there for a
year. They had mastering with Jo Hansch, and Kent
Duncan cut Stevie Wonders Fulfillingness First Finale.
Quincy Jones was doing George Bensons Give Me the
Night there. It was a happening studio. After a year the
woman that was the manager got into an accident, so
she decided to take time off. They brought in Rose
Mann[-Cherney] from Record Plant. She was just
amazing. We sat around a table and learned so much
together. I did that for almost three years. Then I left
because of a relationship break-up, and Id kind of had
it with music. I went back to the clothing mart
downtown for six months and then I realized, Oh, my
god, these women are nuts. So I went to an AES show
and ran into an engineer. He said, Theyre looking for
someone at Sound City. I went there and took the job.
I was working nights there, and days downtown. The
manager there was a producer, and since he didnt come
in enough I got the job as manager.
How many years were you at Sound City?
PS: Nine. From 81 to 90.
A lot of great records got made there.
PS: Yeah, it was crazy. Rock and roll is fun but long hours.
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Sound City was broken all the time. The owners werent
putting a lot of money into the studio, so theyd get
the weekend guy to tar the roof. It was nuts. In 1990
my boss said, Go talk to Rick Plushner at Neve and tell
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him that we might get a console. We didnt have a
dime, you know? We couldnt even tar our roof that
kept it from flooding! I told Rick, Let me take you to
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lunch. Im not buying anything. Every time Sound City
was going to buy a new console, they said, We have
this money coming from Korea. Wed always have this
money coming, and then there would be a world event
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that would stop the money. It was the craziest thing.
Rick called me back and asked, Do you mind if we take
two people from Capitol Studios to the lunch? Im like,
Yeah, but I cant pay for them. I didnt know they I used to hear about getting into here, way
were checking me out. I was off the wall, talking about
24/Tape Op#114/Ms. Salvatore/(continued on page 26)
Sound City, life, and I even said how late I went in. Im
glad they didnt tell me, because I would have been
much more reserved. They werent looking for that.
PK: Right. Who was it from Capitol?
PS: Jeff Minnich. Back then Charles Comelli was the director
here, and Jeff was the chief tech. Jeffs now running all
the digital archiving of the Fox networks. Hes a genius. He
built Studio A. He was here for 20 years. A week later, Ellis
[Sorkin] from Studio Referral Service called me and said,
I heard theyre looking for a manager or director at
Capitol Studios. Im thinking, I just had lunch with those
guys! They didnt say a word. I was really offended. Then
Jeff Minnich called me and said, Hi. Would you like to go
to lunch? He took me out with the VP of Capitol Records.
I said, Im going to Europe for the first time for a month.
It was not even September 1st. If you were to start
working at Capitol, when would that be? I said, October
15th. No ones canceling my trip. They said, Come over
to check it out. The girl working here was running
mastering, and they suggested I talk to her. I came in here
and I was already having heebie-jeebies. It was not Sound
City. There was no long hair. There were no rock and rollers.
I remember thinking, Am I ready for this? This girl sits
down with me and said, You know, this is a corporation,
Paula, and things dont run like an independent studio. I
said, Okay, fine. I went right out the door and said,
Whos that woman, and who is she to me? If shes anyone
over me, Im not coming. Jeff said, No, no. Shes equal
to you. I said, Okay. Then he took me around. Jeff is
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very studious. They called him Spock. We walked around,
and then he brought me to the second floor, where I met
Bob Norberg. There was one runner with long hair. I asked,
Do you work for us? He said, Yeah. I was just so
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indoctrinated from Sound City, you know? Finally Jeff
brought me to the E floor, and he said, What do you
think? I said, Its big! Its very big. And nice. Ive got to
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think about it. I really was freaked out. They said, What
do you need to live on? Guess how much I was making
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at Sound City, after nine years. Take a guess.
PK: In 1990?
PS: Yes.
PK: $35,000.
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PS: Well, I was making $28,000. They asked, What do you
need to live on? I said, Between $30,000 and
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$40,000. They said, Okay, well give you 40. I said, Ursula Kneller: Yeah, its the 60th anniversary of Capitol
Do you want to know before I go to Europe? He said,
That would be nice. It was that weekend and I said,
Yes. It did take me calling in to Joe [Gottfried, co-
owner of Sound City] and asking if I could get my
second week of vacation. He said he couldnt do it. I
said, All right, Im gone. It was a hard move, but it
was the best move I ever made.
Much more stable, right?
PS: My dad was an insurance man. He said, Paula, you
dont have insurance. Are you crazy? Coming into this
office, Studio A was brand new. It was a little slow.
PK: It really is amazing, where we are at in this point of the
business. You remember the 90s. All the mid-size studios
went under, basically. The big studios had to cut their
rates tremendously, and they didnt have any money to PS: Exactly. You take it for granted.
invest. These places started to fall apart. UK: That was kind of our philosophy. We get people walking
back, for peanuts.
PK: Then they couldnt invest, or wouldnt invest; but now our
company is 100 percent behind this being successful.
PS: Its weird, they went through so many phases of dont
put any money in. Studio A was brand new. They were
doing Star Search preliminary auditions. Studio B was
busy with Dwight Yoakam and Pete Anderson [Tape Op
#57]. Studio C had some things going on. I had never
been in here before I was working here. I didnt even
know it as a studio. It died in the 80s. It got old. What
happened was EMIs CEO, Jim Fifield, came in with his
wife and she said, What are you doing? She totally
lambasted him about the condition of Studio A and said,
You have a legacy here. They put in the millions and
rebuilt this gorgeous room that you see now. It wasnt
until a month later, when we had booked [engineer] Don
Murray and Dave Grusin for this movie/musical called
For the Boys with Bette Midler that they opened the
walls up. Theyd taken away so much of the live room for
the control room for Studio A that people were mad about
that. How they made up for it was to open the walls into
Studio B. We had a 60-piece orchestra every day, and the
word went around town that we were doing this. We
started getting scoring, TV shows, and records.
Thats amazing.
PS: The key was having music contractors in town know about
us. Sandy DeCrescent did all of John Williams dates. Shes
still doing it. She said, Im going to tell everybody, and Im
going to be here. I still booked something with her last
week, even though shes retired.
PK: Its incredible, what a small business this world really is.
Not even just in this town, but between New York, and
here, and London.
I heard Paula mention Lee Fosters name
earlier. Hes on the other side of the
country, managing Electric Lady.
PS: Its like a small high school sorority club. When I go to
Grammy events and see the same old people and clients,
its like the days of Camelot or something.
I assume Capitol Studios has been staying
consistently busy now.
PS: Oh, non-stop. Maybe theres a day open, here or there,
but we put a new console in Studio C. We have a new
Neve 88RS in A as well, and were getting ready for our
60th anniversary.
Studios, and also of the building itself. We have a whole
campaign planned for this year, throughout the entire
year. We just want to pay homage to our legacy, put on
some memorable events, and celebrate the fact that weve
been here for 60 years and are still thriving. The biggest
event we have planned is this Capitol Studios tours and
WAX Record Fair two-day event [which occurred May,
2016] with guided studio tours and interactive studio
experiences. Outside were going to have food trucks, bars,
live music, and the WAX Record Fair for vinyl enthusiasts.
Music fans love to see historic studios like
this. It hit me after I got a tour of Abbey
Road one time. I realized that most
people cant ever go in there and see it.
up every single day, asking to come in. When people
walk through, they always want to go to the studios. This
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 seems like a very fitting thing, to actually allow people to see
these iconic studios and learn more about what we do. Paulas
going to tell all kinds of fun stories about what has thats
happened here. Theres obviously a demand for it, and we
wanted to give the public a rare glimpse inside.
Just dont let them into the underground
echo chambers!
UK: Theyd have to sign a really big waiver.
PS: There was a time when too many people were going down
there. Now we have new procedures in place.
Whats the day-to-day of running this place?
PS: I spend a significant amount of time on the phone, booking
time, scheduling, and juggling things. We have a staff of four
engineers two writing room engineers and another four
mastering engineers. Plus there is a tech department and our
VP/General Manager/Chief Engineer. Everybody gets involved
with the projects. We have six setup guys; every night they
have to come in and turn the whole room around. We do all
the setups the night before.
So things get prepared, and they have a list of
what is needed?
PS: You walk in at 10 a.m. and just test the mics so that
nobodys waiting. We dont want any downtime. Were
working with orchestras and such, and you have to be
ready before the downbeat.

Online Bonus
extra content:
Patrick, how did you end up in this

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position?
Patrick Kraus: Well, when I was in high school I worked in
the .c record stores, like Licorice Pizza. I had enough exposure to
label people from that that I knew I wanted to be in this
business somehow. Then I had some friends who were in
a band and worked in a recording studio. They brought me
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along and I thought, I want to do this.

Profile
Paula Salvatore: You were raised in Santa Barbara?
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PK: What I would say about Santa Barbara is you cant wait to
get out of there when youre a kid and then you spend the
rest of your life trying to get back. When I was done with
Esse quam videri. school I moved to L.A. and started knocking on doors. I got
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Favorite green vegetable: Brussel Sprouts a gig at a studio making coffee and answering phones.
PS: Was that The Bakery [Recording Studio]?
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Favorite Beer: St. Bernardus ABT12
Best studio lunch: Fish tacos from Baja Burrito
Last movie I saw: Guardians of the Galaxy
le
PK: Yes, The Bakery. Within a month of getting the gig, the guy
who was the second engineer was always late. He was late
one day a month after I started, and the owner was so

pissed. He was talking to the guy on the phone, Dont even

My greatest accomplishment: bother coming in. He turned to me and said, Are you ready
My kids got all the musical references in to jump into the session? Yes, Im in! I had no idea what
The Blues Brothers I was doing, as usual with these stories, but somehow it all
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worked out. I spent a few years working at various studios

Theyre all great but if I had to pick one piece as a second engineer, and then a first engineer, the hours
of Retro gear I'd go with the 2A3 EQ. were so crazy. Sometimes youd go to work on a Thursday
um

Its on every vocal I mix, and its great on afternoon thinking youd come home that night, but then
youd work all the way through Saturday. After a few years
almost anything I record as well.
of that I wanted to find something a little bit saner. Pro
It has a great character. Tools was starting to come into the world. I never thought
st

-F. Reid Shippen (Keith Urban,
Lady Antebellum, Dierks Bentley)
www.retroinstruments.com
26/Tape Op#114/Ms. Salvatore/(continued on page 28)
in my life Id have to touch a computer for anything, but I
started seeing these guys in sessions running Pro Tools.
Remember the days when people didnt quite trust Pro
Tools? So wed run it at the same time as were running the
tape, and maybe well use a couple bits and pieces.
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PS: Al Schmitt did that a lot at the beginning.
PK: For a while wed have these sessions and thered be a
guy either in or next to the vocal booth with this
computer rig. I wanted to see what that was about. I
had lunch with a friend of mine who also worked in the
studio world and told him, I want to do something
thats 9-to-5, in audio, using computers. She said her
husband worked at Warner Bros Records in the
mastering department and let me know they were
looking for somebody. I went and talked to this guy,
and he introduced me to his boss. It was Lee
Herschberg. I spent 17 years as a mastering engineer.
Things changed and the companies all contracted, so
they were like, Oh, the janitor? Youre the A&R guy
now too. They finally got around to me. Okay, youre
the audio engineer. Can you put a sentence together?
You should manage the studios. Then I started
managing the studios, got the archives, and they gave
me production. I ended up as an executive at Warner.
PS: With Lee?
PK: Lee had retired.
PK: I ended up running the digital supply chain at Warner
Music. Sony was putting together a business to supply
digital supply chain services for the music industry, so
they asked me to go over there and help build that
business, which I did.
Ursula Kneller: Sony DADC [Sony Digital Audio Disc
Corporation]?
PK: DADC. Then my boss there ended up moving over to
We had students from those three schools come in for a two- PS: We do baking and restoration too.
day seminar. Theres so much knowledge in this building. Everything needs to be done.
It wasnt just the engineers. We got some interest from PK: Yeah. I think between the three vaults I was talking
the A&R folks from the labels too. It was really cool. about, we probably have four million assets. Weve been
You guys seem to put out a lot of fires. trying to make sure we have everything preserved for
PS: I hate when theres a fire that I dont know about. future generations. Its not just digitizing analog tapes.
PK: Im not overseeing the day-to-day so much. I interact We also look at collections of CD-Rs that we might have
mostly with Paula regarding the strategy of the studio as a part of an archive. There might be 150 CD-Rs that
and with Ursula and how we present ourselves to the have some Sharpie scribbled on it. People who are
marketplace, events we can do to raise the profile of the working in the business now, or who have been in the
place, highlight the legacy, and those kinds of things. last 20 years, have a pretty good chance of trying to
We have to operate in the corporate environment of figure out whats on those things and what the
Universal Music Group, which is a huge company. I relevance is. But fast-forward 50 years and people wont
interact with people at headquarters. We have sister have any idea what to do with these things. Were
studios around the company, so we try to find ways to trying to get as much information about these assets
work together and get some efficiencies that way. and preserve them in a way that theyre future-proofed.
Most studios are very independent. This is Whats the difference between rough mixes and final
very different. mixes, or the difference between an EQd Dolby 1/4-
UK: Capitol and Abbey Road are the only two large, label- inch tape versus a flat mix on a 1/2-inch tape. Thats
owned studios left. the kind of knowledge that over time is going to start
PK: There used to be a time when all the recording studios to dissipate a little bit.
were owned by labels, in New York, Nashville, and L.A. And as things get digitized sometimes
Abbey Road doesnt really belong to a label. Its owned youre not sure what the source was too.
by Universal Music Group, but its its own business unit, PK: Right, so we need to be as transparent as possible, and
so its not really affiliated with a label so to speak. EMI document pictures of the tape boxes. We have situations
as a label isnt owned by Capitol or UMG anymore. where years ago somebody might have received a box full
PS: EMI always had Abbey Road. of tapes or assets and we didnt really know what to do
PK: But theres no RCA Studios. Theres no Sony Studios with it. They put it in the archive and figured theyd
anymore. They own Battery, but they dont really run it worry about it later. but then So now were opening up

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Universal as the President of Global Operations. He as a recording and mixing facility. Its a totally different boxes and finding tremendous assets. r
asked me to come over and run studios, productions, business now. <www.capitolstudios.com>
and archives. PS: Henson was A&M.
What year did you start working at What kind of tech staff do you have on- .c
Capitol? site to deal with this?
PK: I started at Universal a year ago. Of course its such a PS: We have a big tech staff. It has to be almost 24-hours.
small business that from the moment I walked into the We have three day guys rotating. One of our techs was
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door I kept running into people Ive known forever. Its so good at mastering vinyl that now hes doing that 90
a lot of fun. percent of the time. We had a lathe in storage so he
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Had you been to the Capitol tower before? started putting it together and testing it.
PK: I was here in 91 for a Beastie Boys party up on the PK: Hes amazing.
roof for Check Your Head. I dont think there was PS: Don Was was working on Blue Note releases for the
anything happening in the studios that night. Then I 75th anniversary, and he gave him half of them. He
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came again in 93, 94, 95 when all those listening tests won a mastering shootout.
were going on with SDMI [Secure Digital Music UK: We have so much vinyl mastering happening now that
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Initiative]. I remember by then, Capitol Studios already we had to double our vinyl mastering resources.
had a fantastic name. PS: Thats one reason we were so excited about the vinyl
Whats going on in the studio today? fair in May.
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PS: We do a really great philanthropic event every year for UK: Exactly. Theres such a focus on vinyl these days. Were
the last 26 years. It started with Joe Smith, whos a churning them out and the quality is at such a high level.
sponsor of CalArts College in Valencia. Its a school Theres a wonderful back catalog. Do you
program where they come in with ten or twelve bands and take care of archive stuff too?
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do an original song. The teacher, David Roitstein, picks PK: Yes. We store most of our stuff in the US with Iron
whos going to be in the bands. They come in every year Mountain.
for two days and track and mix it, and we release a CD. Ive heard about that yeah.
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Is it to get the students familiar with PK: We have probably close to two million assets. In London
going in and doing a session? we have a facility in a part of town called Woolwich. Then
PS: Yes. A couple of the guys who participated are now we have the old EMI facility in Hayes, where we have
full-fledged musicians that come in. historical artifacts going back 1897. Just incredible stuff.
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UK: One thing we did last year was Maximize Your Mix.
PS: It was to get some kids in the studio to experience
what its like working with professional engineers, and
give them a chance to get hands-on experience.
UK: We worked with UCLA, USC, and Cal State Pomona.
28/Tape Op#114/Ms. Salvatore/(Fin.)
Old EMI tape machines, gramophones, theres a Nobel
Peace Prize from one of the scientists who worked or did
research in the scientific research department. EMI built
the electronics for the royal microphones over the years,
so we have a bunch of royal microphones from the 30s
and 40s. All this amazing stuff.
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 When one thinks of the great recording engineers who have indelibly
shaped the recorded history of jazz music, names like Rudy Van Gelder
[Tape Op #43] or Fred Plaut might readily come to mind. But if you were
to ask some of the most prominent jazz musicians of the last 25 years
artists such as John Scofield, Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Dave Holland,
Joe Lovano, and the late Michael Brecker they might also mention
another name: engineer/mixer James Farber.
Hes, without question, one of the greatest if not the greatest jazz
engineers of his generation, says saxophonist Redman, who came to
prominence in the early 90s. A master of his craft. His discography
speaks for itself.
Quite simply, James is as good as it gets, says guitarist John Scofield.
Farbers engineering and mixing credits include over one thousand
albums five Grammy-winners in the Best Jazz Instrumental Album and
Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album categories among them and over a
dozen records each with all of the above-mentioned artists. After getting
his start as an assistant at NYCs famed Power Station (now Avatar
Studios) in the late 70s, learning from engineering greats such as Bob
Clearmountain [Tape Op #84] and Tony Bongiovi, as well as working on
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James Far
ber
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everything from Bruce Springsteen to Haitian compas records, he went
on to join legendary producer Nile Rodgers as an engineer for several
years.Working with Nile really taught me how to think like a producer,
recalls Farber.I carry that over to everything Ive done since.
In 1988 Farber was asked to engineer James Taylors Never DieYoung, and
left Rodgers to embark on a freelance career. He quickly gravitated toward
jazz; an early interest as both listener and player. With several standout
records for saxophonist Michael Brecker, word of Farbers talents spread,
and he quickly established himself as one of the preeminent recording
engineers for jazz and acoustic music in New York City. He remains a
consistent choice today for some of jazzs brightest talents.
I caught up with James at Avatar Studios, where hed just spent a week
engineering new projects for ECM Records (including Jack
Dejohnette/Ravi Coltrane/Matt Garrison Trio, Meredith Monk, and Vijay
Iyer/Wadada Leo Smith Duo). I had a chance to learn more about his
musical and engineering background, his working methods in the studio
(including live concert recording dates at clubs such as The Village
Vanguard), and his experiences working with some of the biggest names
in modern jazz.
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The Sound of M
odern Jazz
 For someone who has worked on as What got you interested in recording?
many records as you have, I was My father worked for RCA designing tubes. So we had all
surprised to find that there werent kinds of gear in the house, including a good stereo
any previous interviews with you. and an old tape recorder. I was fascinated by those. I
Yeah, Ive managed to stay under the radar. I dont have remember my fifth birthday party, all the kids would
a website, you cant find my email online. I have no come over and wed record ourselves into the tape
manager, and Im not a member of organizations or recorder. Its a toy Ive played with since... forever. I
social media. So Im a little bit hard to find. People always had an interest in it. I remember watching TV How long did you assist at Power Station?
usually just get my email from someone else thats and thered be a scene from a recording session. Id I was an assistant for only about a year. I barely knew what
worked with me. Its all word-of-mouth. think, I want to do that. In high school I had a rock
How do you deal with the ups and downs band and I was the guy with the tape recorder. The
of the freelance lifestyle? recordings always sounded pretty good. At least I had
Sometimes its all or none. You just take it when you can get good levels and had an interest in doing it right. Then
it. Sometimes itll be two weeks in a row without a day the same thing in college: I got into playing jazz
off. Sometimes its a month with nothing going on. But I piano in some groups. We gigged in bars a couple of
enjoy my time off. Im not a workaholic; I dont go insane nights a week and played what I called dollar jazz,
when Im not working. And when I have to work hard for because thats what it cost people to hear us. We were
a long stretch I can still do it. Now that Im in my early playing a lot of blues and CTI [Creed Taylor
sixties, its not as easy as it was to do all those long days Incorporated] tunes, some modal stuff. I wasnt really
in a row as when I was 25 but not impossible. that versatile with the changes, but we played a
bunch of standards too. But I always had the tape
recorder and would record our gigs.
What were you using at that time?
As a kid I had a Sony tape recorder and just the two
mics that came with it. And then I had a Teac
Tascam 1/4-inch, 2-track and later a 4-track. We
didnt have mics, so Id borrow a couple of [Shure]
SM57s from somebody. Nothing fancy. I ended up
going to UW Madison to study communications. I
Those guys came from Media Sound and opened Power
Station in 77. I saw this place and I said, Wow, this
is the real deal. Neve console, big room. It was
unbelievable. So I would come here and hang out with
Iven as much as I could. Eventually an opening
developed because they built Studio B and needed
another full-time assistant.
I was doing, but I had a good sense of balance in music
and learned really fast. I had such good training from the
engineers here: Tony Bongiovi, Bob Clearmountain, Neil
Dorfsman, and Scott Litt [Tape Op #81]. I worked on a
couple of big records: Bruce Springsteens The River,
Graham Parkers The Up Escalator, and Blondies Eat to the
Beat. I got promoted to staff engineer when Studio C
opened, so I only had to assist for a year. These days, you
better plan on five years before you get anywhere in a
studio, although many people dont even go that route
anymore. They just work for themselves and figure it out.
Then around 1984 I had been on staff here for 6 years
I got a call from the studio manager. She said, Mick
Jagger is making a solo record with Nile Rogers, but the
staff engineer and Mick arent seeing eye-to-eye. He
requested a replacement and youre the only one
available. So youre starting on Mick Jaggers record
tomorrow. Thats the way things used to work. Nile and
I ended up having this great rapport, and I continued
working with him for the next three years. That was sort

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figured at least it was something involved with of like going to graduate school. Tons of overdubs and
media. I took radio production and electronic music punching; I got to be very precise with that. We made 12
composition. I was always splicing tape and using
.c or 15 records together, mostly R&B and pop, including
tape recorders and I got good at it. But nobody Thompson Twins Heres To Future Days, Grace Jones Inside
could tell me how to do this professionally. You Story, and Niles second record B-Movie Matinee.
know, You gotta know somebody. You also engineered a lot of Haitian
There wasnt as much information music in the early 80s, right?
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available back then. Yeah, there were a ton of these Haitian compas records
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No. The schools were just cropping up. When I graduated
college in 75 I hung out in Madison for a while and
worked in listener-sponsored radio. Eventually I
moved back to New York and enrolled at Institute of
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being recorded at Power Station. I started assisting a
producer named Fred Paul on some of those and we
got along great. Nobody else was into it here. It was
a little bit like a chore. Oh, we have to do those

Audio Research, which was just starting up. Thats sessions. But I really liked the music and those guys,
kind of how I learned a little of the technical end... at and Fred started requesting me as the engineer. Bands
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least enough to talk my way into an assistants gig. would come from Miami, Montreal, Boston, and
You ended up here [Power Station/ Brooklyn wherever there were big Haitian
Avatar] assisting, right? communities. Wed do an album a week. Maybe a
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I had one other job before this. My teacher, Jim Jordan, couple hundred in two years.
at IAR worked at Big Apple Studios in SoHo. He got me What did that involve, as far as
hired as a part-time assistant. I was making $3 an instrumentation and setup?
hour, still living at my parents place in New Jersey. I Everybody played live. It was two electric guitars,
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would drive into the city and between gas, tolls, and Rhodes and/or piano, drums, two percussionists, horn
parking I definitely lost money. I have a photocopy of section, background vocals, and lead vocal. It was
the first check I got for a nine-hour session for $27. It amazing training. They were always night sessions: it
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was pretty exciting. I had a great intro to the business. would start at 7 or 8 p.m. and go until around 4 in
My first week in the studio I was the assistant on the morning. Everybody was speaking in Creole. A lot
Philip Glasss Einstein on the Beach mix. They were also of people hanging out; like a party scene. Wed do
doing a lot of punk sessions there. I learned from these everything live, but then wed overdub and replace
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guys how to set up mics. Its the kind of gig you learn better performances of certain things. The formula
by Josep
h Brancif by doing and watching. Then I got introduced to this was: Monday for basics, Tuesday replace the horns,
photo by orte place through a good buddy of mine from UW Madison Wednesday replace the background vocals, Thursday
Reuben
Radding who was friends with Iven Walters, the son of Bob the lead vocals, and Friday wed mix. Wed rehearse
Walters, who started this place with Tony Bongiovi. the mix old school; a couple people had their hands

Mr. Farber/(continued on page 32)/Tape Op#114/31

 on the faders. I wrote down numbers where things
happened and tried to memorize everything. It was
all tape, so wed leave the 2-track running and if we
made a mistake we would just rewind the multitrack,
let the 2-track run, and then edit the 2-track
together when we were done. I listen back to those
records and feel like I couldnt improve upon them
now in fact, Id probably make them worse. They
were done so instinctively, yet they really defined a
sound of a genre of music. The producer, Fred, took
me down to Haiti in 1982. He said, Im taking the
band down and were gonna play a week of gigs. Why
dont you come down and do live sound? You dont
have to do much: set it and forget it, go to the bar.
But youll get to see Haiti. Its good that I went
with supervision because its a wild place! But the
radio was on down there, and 75% of the albums on
the radio in Haiti I had recorded here.
Were you also working on jazz records at
that point, or did that come later?
Some. Id be setting up for disco horn sessions, and
whos in the horn section? Michael Brecker, Jon How do you deal with setup and
Faddis, and Randy Brecker. It was all New York jazz
players. Mike Mainieri, the vibes player, was producing
records here and I was assisting on some of those. So Normally that is preamp, to converter, to Pro Tools, no
I met all these guys and talked to them about music
all the time. Its great when musicians start talking
about classic jazz recordings and you can join in on
the conversation. I knew the history of the music and
overlapping. That tends to be a bigger, more
homogenous sound. But if everyones in the same
room, Ill set the musicians up to reflect the imaging
I want in the final mix. If its a good-sounding room,
Ill also have a stereo pickup that I can add to the
close mics. Maybe a Decca Tree with three
omnidirectional mics; maybe an X/Y pair, or maybe an
ORTF [Office de Radiodiffusion Tlvision Franaise]
pair facing the wall. I usually dont have a lot of
inputs left to do anything too elaborate. And
depending on how much individual fixing you need to
do, you might be limited as to how much you can use
the room mics. When I do recordings at clubs like The
Village Vanguard, Ill always have a stereo mic right in
front of the stage hanging down overhead,
capturing the natural image and balance. It might be
an X/Y, or it might be an M/S [mid/side]. And Ill
always have a stereo pair of omni mics back in the
room, just capturing the air of the room and the
audience. The combination of those two things will
add a lot of the depth in the recording.
monitoring in a small club like the
Vanguard?
processing. Monitoring is done on earphones. It
requires a lot of pre-planning because youve got to
plan the load-in, the running of the cables, and the
backend setup. Then theres setting up the stage,
drawing is designed for a very specific sightline to
that booth over there. You really have to pay
attention to this next time because its not an
arbitrary drawing. I leave nothing to chance. I ask
so many questions before a session, to the point
where sometimes Im annoying people. I really try to
get all my questions answered. How many toms in
the kit? How many snares? How many amps does the
guitar player have? Acoustic guitar, as well as
electric? The worst thing to me is coming in, with
everything perfectly planned, and all of a sudden
the drummer is adding a tom and I have it to put
the channel all the way down at the end of the
console, and its not near the rest of the drum mics.
That drives me nuts. [laughs] If I dont know all the
players, Ill also have all the musicians names on
the input list. That way, if the assistant or I have to
talk to them, we can address people by name. The
better relationship you can have with the players,
the more comfortable you can make them feel, the
better theyre going to play, and the better what I
do is going to sound.
Do you find yourself sometimes taking
on more of a producer-like role?
The lines all get blurred when its just the artist and the
engineer. Often Im the only one in the control room,
and the artist is the producer. In those situations, I
might have to help with producer-type things. I would
never make suggestions to anybody about what to

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all the classic records. Sharing that history really which is tricky because its a concert for the people in play or anything, but if I like a take, I will say so. But
helps. I cant play on their level, but just having some the club. You cant destroy that just for the sake of the I will only do so with people who Ive been working
understanding of what it takes goes a long way. So in recording. You know, you cant start putting up baffles with a long time, who trust me enough to know that
the early 80s, when it came time for [the group] Steps or something like that Id never do it. So youve
.c if I say that, that its something that they would want
Ahead to make a studio recording here, they came up really got to figure out how to make what theyre to hear from me. If Im working with someone for the
to me and said, Listen, we know that youre the guy presenting to the audience work for your recording. first time, I probably want to build up a certain
on the staff who really loves jazz, and we want to give Then you get a short sound check and youre rolling. amount of trust before I start interjecting on that kind
you a shot at recording this record. That kind of put How long do you allot for setup on a
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of thing. Working groups, like Brad [Mehldau]s trio,
me on the map for jazz. studio recording date? have often been playing their music in concert, and
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I found a radio interview you did with If were not doing takes within an hour of the musicians they come into the studio prepared. They know each
pianist Bill Evans when you were just arriving at the studio, somethings wrong. That other so well that takes happen very quickly. Brad will
out of college. It was obvious that you includes a big band, anything. I go fast, but that rarely do more than two takes of a song. Well record
were a big jazz fan, even then. comes with experience and working with excellent 15 to 20 songs in a day sometimes.
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Oh, totally. Jazz is what I listened to at home thats players. Its never a few hours of experimentation. Do you also encounter the other end of
what I played and what I loved. Engineering-wise, Im The guys come in and they want to play. Ill usually the spectrum more these days, such
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a huge fan of the early stereo records: late 50s, early come an hour before a small group session. Ill go as take-splicing, mistake-fixing,
60s. I love the sound of early stereo Rudy Van Gelder right into the control room and Ill do my setup in and so on?
recordings, with the drums in mono on the right there. As the musicians are arriving, Ill start micing Yeah, people are a little less likely to accept a rough
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speaker. There were no pan pots just left, center,
right. I also love Fred Plauts Columbia 30th Street
recordings, where you really sense each of the band
members positioned on a stage.
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them and fine-tuning where things are placed. I do a edge. In the old days, there were always rough edges.
lot of pre-planning. Ill send in a very detailed setup Sometimes a little valley in the performance will help
to the studio. A studio diagram, complete mic input to give the peak its impact. But some people like to
list, what preamps Im using, comments about inserts do a lot of takes because theyll develop something

Do you still draw on those in your if Im using a compressor, all the patches, where the over the course of playing it. When you have a lot of
engineering approach? reverb is going to return and send from. If there are musicians playing a song together, maybe theres a
Well, Im always working for someone, so I want the two [Neumann] U 47s and I need one of them, Ill horn player who, the more he played it, really got to
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record to reflect what theyre into. A lot of piano specify #1, the shiny one, or the matte one. If some places he wanted to get. But maybe by that
players hate that mono Rudy piano sound; they want Im recording here at Avatar, and I want to use RCA eighth take, the rhythm section sounds a little tired.
a big, expensive stereo piano sound. Also, if the music 77s on a big band trumpet section, Ill say, I want To find that place where its the right take for
is complex, and we need isolation for editing, that #6 on Trumpet 4, and #1, 4, and 5 on the other three everybody giving some preference to the leader
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hard-panned mono approach doesnt work because
you dont have leakage. The leakage is what defines
the room and allows the hard-panned instruments to
sound less detached from each other. So, in that case,
Ill usually have stereo piano and stereo drums
32/Tape Op#114/Mr. Farber/(continued on page 34)
trumpets. I just know which mics have certain
characteristics and which ones are going to work. All
that goes into the setup notes. When I show up, the
assistant is really prepared. If the piano isnt where I
drew it, Ill take him or her aside and say, Listen, this
whose record it is thats a magical choice.
How do you deal with the variety of
monitoring setups you encounter as
a freelance engineer? Do you ever
bring your own speakers?
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 JOSHUA REDMAN sounds bright, so I better make sure I really have those sounding really boomy. You might have to roll off some
I really cant imagine my life as a recording artist without cymbals featured in the mix and not too much low bottom. Or a drummer might have really dark cymbals and
James Farber. Hes been there from the beginning. The first resonance, otherwise Im going to have a dark record his drums are a lot louder than the cymbals, so I might
record date I did after moving to New York was with a bass when I get home. You try to learn the control room in need to add some treble to the overheads. Ill do it to
player named Mario Pavone, Toulon Days and James 15 minutes and take your best guess. I might depend on compensate for things, just to get the music to speak
engineered that record. Of course, I had known of James the mastering engineer a little bit, in those cases. better but I dont go in thinking Im going to improve
work well before then. I remember, in particular, Michael When youre getting sounds, is it mostly somebodys sound. When I get someone elses recording to
Breckers first solo record called Michael Brecker. It came out right mic, right place, or is there EQ mix, Im a little less attached to it. Im not shy about
in 85 or 86, I was still in high school. I loved Brecker and involved? changing it, so Im a lot more apt to turn some dials.
was so excited to hear the record, and I was blown away by I approach most records thinking that Im not going to need So does mixing your own recordings
the sound of it. I thought, Who recorded this? And then I any EQ, except maybe a low filter on the hi-hat. A lot of usually amount to level riding?
started seeing his name pop up on all kinds of records around records I do actually end up with no EQ for recording, mix, Well, Im always doing that, even during the recording. Ill
that time. James did my first record as a leader, and hes done or mastering. I was trained by rock engineers, so I would always try to make a rough mix thats 90% finished and
the vast majority of my studio records to date. He has been use EQ a lot more when I started out. As I started working in an emergency, if everything else got destroyed
so much more than an engineer. He has great sonic ears, with better musicians, I learned that that wasnt as releasable. Those roughs are a guide in the final mix.
obviously thats why he gets such a great sound but he necessary. If the music is well-arranged and well- Sometimes its a just matter of fine-tuning that final
also has great musical ears. Hes a musician. He really hears performed, things like treble and bass naturally work 10%. During recording, we rarely listen back to
and feels music. I have leaned on him heavily in the studio, themselves out. The cymbals are going to provide the everything. The artist needs to take home reference mixes
not just for advice about how to make things sound good, treble, the bass is going to provide the bottom, and the to listen through all the takes later. Maybe theyll find an
but also for creative input. Ive actually credited him as piano and horns fill in the midrange. Theres going to be intro that can be cut into the master take, or maybe they
associate producer because, for a lot of the things that Ive this natural spread of the spectrum. Its going to be rich, end up changing their mind about a take they liked in the
done, hes really had an important production role. Hes been and everythings going to relate musically. Of course, Im moment. Im always mixing as Im recording to ensure a
a sounding board, someone to bounce ideas off of. Hes not talking about doing a pop record where there are 20 good rough mix. Not only can the artist go home and
helped me make important musical decisions. guitars youve got to carve out space for. In that case, enjoy the mixes theyre using to evaluate takes, but there
You have to take the studio for what it is and try to use youre going to need a lot of EQ. But acoustic music, which are instances where that rough mix will make it to the
that environment to craft (hopefully) as creative and honest is designed to fit together live, should also fit together in final record. Sometimes well just run out of time in a mix
a studio record as you can. People say, Oh, were going to the studio. What I do is to choose mics that are flattering session. Or maybe after the mix the artist went back and
go into the studio and it should feel just like were playing to the instruments. Panning is very important to me listened to an alternate take and said, I should have
live. But you dont play live into an empty room with a having a space for everything. Most often, Ill change a mixed that one instead. Ah, well, the roughs almost as

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bunch of mics and high-fidelity equipment. Theres an mic or the panning before Ill turn to EQ. But if something good; Ill just use that! [laughs] And that happens more
attention to detail a subtlety, a focus that you get in isnt right, Im not afraid to turn a knob all the way. than occasionally.
the studio. Thats very important, and you have to Sometimes therell be a lot of humidity; the bass is just Y o u ve also become known for
engineering records live-to-2-track.
understand that. But its still jazz, its improvised music. You
JOHN SCOFIELD
have to preserve the spontaneity and in-the-moment
.c In an improvisational context, where
I met James first when he was an assistant at Avatar, you might not know what the next
feeling; the organic quality of the music thats the heart and
and then I remember he recorded a Bennie Wallace record dynamic turn will be, how do you
soul of jazz. And I think James has a really great intuitive
that I was on. I remember getting Michael Breckers first anticipate fader rides and keep
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sense of how to strike that balance. He has a great instinct
solo record and being amazed by the sound. That was things sounding balanced?
for when things are starting to get too controlled or too
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James work. Im always reacting and searching for that magic balance.
sterile when youre starting to lose the rawness and the
There are very few engineers who know how to record Im just trying to get it to a place where if I do no riding
magic. He knows how much to use the studio and how far
jazz. Its quite a different thing than normal pop music. or automation it would sound good. I probably use more
to push it, but he also knows when to stop.
As well as being a fantastic engineer, James is a piano riding on the live-to-2 mixes than I would on an actual
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I dont own any gear, which is unusual. Im lucky enough to player and knowledgeable jazz aficionado. Hes really mix session because Im actively searching for that place
work at places that have enough gear to make a record. done his homework, studying the great jazz recordings where everything sits right. On a dedicated mix day, Ill
@g

No matter where I go, Ill figure out a way to make a that came out in the 50s and 60s during the golden era get to play with that balance for a while and try to get it
record with what they have. The speakers, however, are of acoustic jazz. I think one of the most important nailed down before I turn on any automation. Then from
the one thing that I prefer to keep somewhat constant. things about James style is that he really makes it there, Ill turn on the automation and do the fine-tuning
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Ill try and persuade people that, to get what they expect comfortable for the musicians. That is the most on any sections where it needs changes. But in a live-to-
of me, theyre better off in a place that I know well. If Im important thing at a session, even more important than 2-track situation, right before we start to record a tune,
working at Studio A or C at Avatar, Ill use ProAcs, and I the sound. He understands that spontaneity and Ill ask the musicians, Whats going to happen during
know which amp in the control room that Ill hook them inspiration are central to the music, and he encourages this tune? Ill have a little notepad: Intro, Melody, Horn
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up to. I know that I can work that way and take that to happen at the date. Solo, Piano Solo, Bass Solo, Trading, then Vamp Out. Ill
something to mastering that I can cut flat. At Sear Sound James has been innovative in setting up the band so know what to expect; and Ill be looking ahead and
they have Genelecs, and I have certain settings on the that its not as isolated as some other engineers like it to prepared for the next thing. Often well also record a
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back that work. I have a different setting for Studio A and be. This often allows the musicians to hear each other in multitrack backup. Ill record the flying faders automation
Studio C, and I know that with those settings I can trust a more natural way, not completely dependent on while Im doing the live mix, so if I really botched
what Im hearing. If I go somewhere that doesnt have headphones. Hes found out that some bleed actually something like I put up a horn fader in anticipation of
monitors I know, then Ill have the client rent a pair of helps the music sound better in the recording. Also, his a solo and the guy leaned in on the mic and hit the
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ProAcs and do my best to figure out the room. Ill go in style of panning and stereo placement is quite loudest note of his life I might just go back later and
a little early and listen to albums Ive recorded for 15 or innovative. When I listen back to of all the recordings punch some new automation into the live mix. Thats a
20 minutes. Ill say, Okay, this control room is a little weve made, most of them at Avatar or Sear Sound, I feel last resort.
boomy, so I better have the bass sounding big, otherwise so lucky that I had James on those dates. His Do you ever use compressors or limiters to
its going to be thin at home. Or, This control room contribution is paramount. help with dynamics?
34/Tape Op#114/Mr. Farber/(continued on page 36)
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 BRAD MEHLDAU
James was the choice of lots of folks when I started
recording my own records, around 1995, so first he was
chosen for me. Then, quickly after that, I always chose him,
with only a few exceptions for my trio recordings and other
projects. James has his own aesthetic, which is very distinct
its naturalistic, but it uses all of the resources of the
studio. His knowledge and experience are unparalleled.
Ive been with a number of recording engineers who do
not know what to do when the musician makes a request
to change something they are then out of their comfort
zone. For me, James ability to be flexible, and go out on
the limb with the artist when need be, is a sign of his
mastery. He has the breadth of knowledge to not lose sight
of the big picture, so when something deviates from the
norm, he still preserves the important elements clarity,
good tones, and balance. When he goes to mix, he
understands whats happening he understands that often,
for example, great dynamic contrasts are intentional, and
that he shouldnt ride something too much to try to
artificially compensate for something that isnt there. Or, on
the contrary, he knows when he should finesse something
and bring it to the forefront a bit more.
James knows that Im not crazy about what folks call the
Rudy Van Gelder sound for piano. I really dig it on lots of
records, but it is for a certain context the piano is part of
a rhythm section and playing behind horns. So its boxier
and smaller than I want. James has found a sound for me
when I record with my trio that captures more room sound.
For me, it feels bigger. Yet it is still distinct and we dont
miss details in any of the three instruments nothing
covers anything else. Also, I would say that I favor a darker
sound than is perhaps associated with jazz recordings, and
James always finds that.
I tend to use compression on vocals and electric
instruments, like electric bass or electric guitar. Rarely on
acoustic instruments though, unless I have a trombone or
a trumpet thats really peaky and Im going to get too
many overs if I have the average level where I want it. I
might also use some parallel compression on drums. Drum
dynamics can be a little wider than the bands dynamics, Youve become renowned among jazz How long do you normally allot for
so Ill blend some compressed signal underneath. Its not
like a squashed thing that youd have on a pop record.
Basically what that lets me do is to contain sections where
the drummer starts bashing and the toms are really I like spaced tube cardioids, such as [Neumann] KM 54s, for
getting rumbly. Then on really soft sections like an intro
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or brushes, itll make things a little more present and fat.
But on the 2-mix, theres always a compressor on a pre-
fade insert. Itll be in there from the tracking all the way
through to final mix. Its part of the sound I like. It glues of the center mic making them not seem so separate. The
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everything together and keeps things from sticking out
too much. So instead of the individual compression, Ill
have that control for the occasional things that might
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take you out of the performance by coming too far
forward. Sometimes itll control some low-end thats out
of hand. But I use a very gentle setting: the slowest attack
and the fastest release. It really lets the music breathe, but requests Coles [4038s] for the overheads. The Coles are
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it gets your record louder, and it makes it more even-
sounding. I also like to mix down to tape, which gives you
maybe 3 dB of natural limiting.
How much does preamp choice matter
to you?
36/Tape Op#114/Mr. Farber/(continued on page 38)
A good preamp is important. Ill always try to keep the saw what he meant. So when I record him I use Coles,
same model of preamp across a drum kit or horn section. but I dont use them for anybody else. That has
I dont want to vary within one type of instrument. If Im something to do with the particular sound of his set.
working on an old Neve, like the 8038 in Sear or the 8068 What about horns?
in Avatar Studio A, I rarely use an outboard preamp. I For reeds it could be a [Telefunken ELA M] 251, a U 47, a
could use that vintage of Neve preamps on everything [Neumann] U 67, or a [Neumann] M 49. Sometimes Ill
ever and be really happy. If Im working on a modern use a combination of a tube mic and a ribbon on a
board, like the Neve VR up in Studio C here at Avatar, Ill saxophone. Ive developed different things with different
use all outboard preamps: old Neves, Focusrites, and GML horn players, but my basic sound on a reed will be the
[George Massenburg Labs]. I dont have any experience best tube mic I can find for that reed in that studio. For
with the whole specialized ribbon mic preamp. Thats brass its almost always ribbons. It might be an old RCA
probably something I need to experiment with more. 77 or 44, a Coles, a Royer, or it might be an AEA mic.
Lets talk about your micing approach for How do you approach upright bass?
individual instruments. When you I usually use two mics a high and a low. Rarely a direct,
have the piano isolated, whats a typical unless the player requests it. More often than not its a
starting placement? tube mic at bridge level and a ribbon higher up in the
Ill usually have two stereo pairs, one inside and one same plane. The tube is maybe a foot from the wood of
outside, and maybe even something further in the room. the bass, maybe about 8 inches from the bridge. If theyre
Maybe X/Y [AKG] C24 mics inside, an [AEA] R88 or in a booth, and their instrument is loud and Im hearing
another Blumlein ribbon pair just outside the piano, the booth a lot, I might have to go closer. If theyre in a
maybe a couple of omni mics behind that, and maybe really nice sounding room, I might be able to go a little
spacing the omnis in such a way that they would relate further away. Once I get something that sounds pretty
to a Decca Tree formation with the Blumlein as the front good, Ill mark the position of the peg on the floor and
mic instead of an omni. Ill then vary them to different then Ill say, Okay, move an inch closer. Move an inch
degrees in the mix depending on how much presence I back. Well try and find something where theres just the
need, how much air I need, or whats going on with the right amount of resonance and presence, and the right
rest of the band. If its a solo track, I might balance them amount of room blend.
differently from the group material. The C24s placement Whats your go-to reverb for the more
is one of those things that I end up running back and straight-ahead jazz dates?
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forth to the control room 10 or 15 times. How far in, how Im a big fan of EMT plates. When Im doing something
high up, the angle of it: every 1/16 of an inch makes a thats live, organic, and just needs to sound natural, the
complete difference on that piano image. Thats one of EMT gives me a subtle sense of space to counteract the
those things that you cant always just guess at or know
.c close mics. Its something about the natural decay. I try
from experience. Even the same piano might even behave not to make it that noticeable, but if you got rid of it
differently, depending on the player or the tuner. Im youd think, Thats too dry. There are other times where
always looking for an even image, from top to bottom. If Ill use a lot of Lexicon reverb, like on the ECM records
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the pianist plays a chromatic scale up and down the where a different kind of space needs to be in place;
piano, I dont want any note to sound like its out of something a little more lush or sustained. Thats got its
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order. A lot of times, with extreme cardioid placements, place too. Again, every artist has a different conception.
that can happen with notes sounding like theyre If Im working with certain European artists, they
jumping around or a like theres a hole in the middle. sometimes like a more noticeable reverb and sustain.
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drummers for your rich and detailed mixing, say, a small group jazz record?
drum recordings. Do you prefer a spaced Its budget-related. Sometimes someone will call me to
@g
pair over the kit as your main pickup? mix their album ten tunes they recorded at a studio
in Brooklyn, and they only have enough of a budget for
overheads which I refer to as cymbal mics. But I add a one day of mixing. So thats a little over an hour a tune.
center overhead, perhaps a Neumann 582 or a tube U 47 I can do that. Some people say, Thats too risky for me.
mic in omni, in the same horizontal plane. This enables I really want to spend a lot of time on the little details.
a hard left-right spread of the cymbals, with the addition They can say, I cant afford your rate, plus the studios
rate. Im gonna go to a guy and spend five days in his
omni mic adds sustain to the cymbals and gives a nice house doing this. Then Ill get all the details I want.
general pickup of the entire kit. I start getting sound with But I think, sometimes, if the big picture sounds good,
these three mics, and then mix all the other mics into and inviting, and has a nice soundscape, and a couple
them as I go. But sometimes a musician comes to me and little details arent 100 percent, thats a better
says, I like the sound of this microphone on my experience for the listener. Thats not cool with
instrument. For example, [drummer] Jeff Ballard everybody. But I can mix something really fast, if I need
to. Normally, if I record a small group jazz record, I mix
not something I generally like for overheads theyre a it in two days. If its a trio or duo, maybe one day. A big
little dark. Ill say, Okay, let me try what I usually do, and band, usually a minimum of three days. Although
then if you dont like it well put that up. With Jeff, sometimes you need ten but you never get ten, except
theres something about the way his kit is set up the on a rare occasions. Almost every time I work someones
sounds of his cymbals and toms once I put them up I locking out a studio, which usually means 12 hours.
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 JOE LOVANO Do you have a reference system at home to right amount of the reverb return in the mix. Things
James has done almost all my dates as a leader. Each check your work? like that are so subtle but can add up to something
of my sessions have been so different, from a standard I listen to all my work at home. Rough mixes, mixes, and much bigger. So you cant really copy somebody.
piano/bass/drums/saxophone quartet, to larger mastering Ill check everything out after Im done Theres no sense in anybody hiding what they do,
ensembles, to the Gunther Schuller-arranged project, with each phase and decide what needs to be tweaked because nobody can replicate it. Its impossible.
Rush Hour, with string orchestra, a huge woodwind going forward. Ive had the same stereo for a long time. Youve done over a thousand records, at
ensemble, and percussion. On each of them James really Its not that fancy, but its a really good sounding this point. What inspires you in your
captured a live concert in the studio. Everyone set up stereo. The whole system preamp, amplifier, CD work these days?
like a band, blending and playing in the dynamics of the player, speakers and wires probably cost me $5000, Well, the music. Thats why we all get into this. I feel like
music, often without headphones. which is not a lot of money. I have an Adcom preamp, Im a very lucky guy to have the gig that I have. Ive
He captures the players energy. You can record a amp, and CD player, and my speakers are Cantons. gotten to work with the best, and get to know them.
piano all day long, but to record the piano player, thats Everythings matched. Once my old Adcom CD player Technique-wise, I dont make that much progress, but
another thing. The same thing with drums. Its easy to died I replaced it with another brand. I hooked it up at Im always learning something new. One day
get a drum sound. But you get Elvin Jones on the date, home and everything had changed. So I brought it back something hits me and I realize I should have always
you dont capture drums, you capture Elvin. Every and had to buy a new CD player that cost over $1000, been doing it that way. That still happens, where Ill
drummer thats on every one of my sessions with James, because that was the only one that that company made figure out a better way to do something that I thought
you really hear their personality come through, and that would sound like what I had. This was already in I always knew how to do. And, of course, the people
thats really special. Of course, each of those players the days of MP3s, so all my friends laughed at me. in the jazz business are the greatest. Aside from being
have a distinct approach. But its up to the engineer to Youre spending that much money to buy something super-talented, theyre interesting and smart great
let that happen and not make the snare drum sound the that only plays CDs? And I said, Yes, but if this people to have a lunch break with. Conversations go
way he wants it sound; like every other snare drum. reference goes away, Im screwed. I have a good pair everywhere. Its still a lot of fun. Sometimes I think
By the time we recorded 52nd Street Themes [2000 of Grado headphones if I want to hear something late back on it, and I wish that I had brought a camera
Grammy winner, Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance], at night. I never listen on earbuds or to MP3s. I dont around with me and documented all this stuff. I wasnt
which was done live to 2-track, we had already worked really know what thats like at all. My feeling is: make thinking along those lines while I was going through
together quite a lot over the last ten years. A lot of trust the best sounding record for the people who can listen it all, but now, reflecting on it, Im pretty grateful for
was involved. We really played the music, and I in the best environments; and if you do that, it should the experience. r
completely trusted James to follow us. We didnt just sound pretty good everywhere. Joseph Branciforte is a producer, composer/musician, and
play a chart; I was conducting as we were playing, What are some projects that youre recording/mixing/location recording engineer based out of
pointing at people, and theres a lot of free playing in particularly proud of? New York City. <www.josephbranciforte.com>

between sections. James was in there listening,
watching, and following us, like a member of the band.
Sometimes if were going somewhere where we have to
mix a record in a day and thats the only time available,
I might be there for 18 hours. Once Im there, Im fine
until were done. Ill crash later. Once Im working and
focused, I can kind of go forever.
How important is mastering to your
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There have been a handful of artists that Ive been
continually working with over and over through the
years. Some artists who Ive made multiple records for
over a dozen in almost each case are Michael
Brecker, John Scofield, Joshua Redman, Joe Lovano,
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Brad Mehldau, and Dave Holland. Chris Potter is
coming up into that area, although I havent quite
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made that many with Chris yet. All the collaborations
with them really stand out. Producer-wise, for the past
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process? 30 years Ive been working with Manfred [Eicher] from

Thats really part of the process for me. I have my favorite ECM and Matt Pierson, who ran Warner Jazz. Those
mastering engineers, and I attend mastering sessions recurring relationships build really strong projects.
99% of the time. I wont use tape until I know whos What makes those records so special?
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going to master it, because it can really be botched. Great music, first of all. Sound-wise, there are a lot of
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Its got to be someone who really can deal with it, like
Greg Calbi [Tape Op #86] or Mark Wilder. With tape, we
get to convert to digital at mastering with the highest
quality A/Ds, which are better than the ones that are
little variables coming together to make the whole.
You could have the same band, and all the same mics
in the same room, and try to re-create that recording
two months later, and its going to sound different.
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available in the studio. We really get to choose the Different atmospheric conditions, humidity, different
wires, the circuitry, the playback chain, and set the reeds, different strings on a bass, and different heads
playback level of the bass tone so its tweaked just on the drums. There are going to be so many variables
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right, as well as really maximize that 2-track playback.
And then youve got a high-resolution mix that youve
got to get down to 16 bit/44.1 kHz. What piece of
gear do you use for that? And what dither circuit
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that youll never get the same record twice. So when
someone comes in and plays me a record Ive done and
says, I want my record to sound like that, I say, Ill
try, but its probably impossible. Its going to sound

sounds good? So, every step of the way there are
these subtle choices that define the sound. There are
so many layers of this that Ive just developed
preferences over time. At one point I did a lot of
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like you guys here, today. Its really impossible to
copy something somebody else does. Ive had
engineers who have seen me work wholl say, I tried

the mic you used, I put it in the same place, I used

comparison and then eventually settled on things that the same EMT plate for reverb, and it sounded
I know will work. I know if Im mastering at X place, I completely different. Of course, its the player, and
know what their best choices are just like I know the then its the subtle ways that things are combined.
best mics at a certain studio. Maybe its the amount of bus compression, or just the

38/Tape Op#114/Mr. Farber/(Fin.)

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 Ive been a fan of The Low Anthem since hearing their BKM: We had no plan at all, other than to make our new BKM: Well, wed been on tour for about five years, and in
2007 album, What the Crow Brings. Each subsequent record. We had 400 feet of snake, a few mics, and a the meantime had various warehouse studios where
release has found Ben Knox Miller, Jeffrey Prystowsky, and the bunch of songs. But the record outgrew that room wed always do our own recording. Wed come home for
and we began to see the long-term potential of the a few months to work on the record, then move shop
rest of the band evolving and expanding their sound, and again. It seemed that we were moving shop every
space, so we ripped out the kitchen sink, smashed
pushing boundaries with impeccable musicality and season, and after five years of not living in one place,
out a window, and built QRD [Quadratic-Residue]
production. In 2012, in search of a place to rehearse and make or having a permanent setup, we came home and really
diffusors. The kitchen was bigger.
their new record, they found the Columbus Theatre, a beautiful How are you integrating the Columbus wanted to decompress for awhile. We had demos for the
old opera house built in 1926, in their hometown of Theatre into the studio? Its an new album. We packed up our last studio, a decrepit
Providence, Rhode Island. I spent some time with the fellas, and incredible space, with so many swamp of a mill building where some guy used to breed
got a preview of their new record, Eyeland. Cuts like Air rare reptiles in North Providence. We were looking for a
variations available.
Hockey Fire and The Pepsi Moon left indelible impressions. BKM: We built a patchbay that makes it easy to record place where we could keep all of our equipment,
because much of it was in my parents attic. We wanted
I feel that theyve clearly reached a new level with this record that any sound in any of the acoustical settings in the
to find a space that would allow us to become self-
includes sharp production and recording skills, as well as an theatre. The concrete dressing rooms under the
sustainable, as well as keep producing work.
approach uniquely their own. Bob Ludwig [Tape Op #105],
who mastered Eyeland, wrote, Its a truly wonderful album,
a real piece of art, and something that doesnt come by too
often. Last fall, after finishing the new record, they opened The Low Anthems New Album
Eyeland Studio at the Columbus Theatre, along with partner
and systems designer Brian Webb. The studio is located on the
second floor of the theatre and it is unlike anything Ive ever
seen, utilizing the theatere itself for tracking, which makes for
endless sonic possibilities. The first official recording session at
Eyeland Studio took place last August with Jeffs personal hero,
renowned drummer Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band,
followed shortly thereafter by Cat Power, and Xylouris White
(with Jim White of Dirty Three). The main hall also serves as
one of the finest live music venues in the Northeast. Miller and

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Prystowsky, along with Tom Weyman and Bryan Minto,
formed the Columbus Cooperative, which has been presenting
concerts for three years in the theatre, by such artists as Daniel
Lanois [Tape Op #37], Iron & Wine, Of Montreal, Charles
Bradley, Bonnie Prince Billy [Tape Op #40], The Mountain
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Goats and Amanda Palmer, who said in a tweet, Arrived and
rehearsed at the stunningly beautiful and bizarrely DIY
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Columbus Theatre this place used to be a porn palace and is
now run by a bunch of young freaks with vision. Daniel
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Lanois, upon seeing Eyeland Studio (then a work in progress,

a year before it was finished), wished The Low Anthem this
blessing, You renegade mother Y#,>Y, with the hearts of lions,
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lit by rising stars. May your spirit live on!

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Tell me a bit about the room across from

whats now the master control room.
Adventures
Was this the beginnings of what
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ultimately became Eyeland Studio?

Ben Knox Miller: Its currently a dry room, as well as a
drum school on Saturday mornings, run by Rachel
Blumberg. But that was mission control when we first
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moved in here. It felt a bit like outer space, in the

darkness, black curtains, with the gear lights
illuminated. You feel like youre mixing in a vacuum.
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We moved in there for the control, at first, because

we wanted to hear exactly what was in the speakers
and not be fooling ourselves. We needed to know
what the opera house actually sounded like on
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mainstage and the large theatre lend themselves as
JP: We were at the end of the Smart Flesh tour, and we
unique natural echo chambers for the studio.

were so used to riding into town in the tour bus,

playback. But soon it got claustrophobic. You could Jeffrey Prystowsky: Theres a silent movie organ, too. An
looking for the venue, for the pizza place, and
mix a three-piece and be totally cool and comfortable, original Wurlitzer from 1926. The mechanical
whatever forms of alternative media there were
but any more than that and it was too crowded. instruments and pipes are high above the theatre
available. It was nice to break that routine and
So when you first moved into that small seats, behind the mural.
decompress back home. I first saw the theatre, and
room, you knew youd be using the How did The Low Anthem journey lead
there was an ominous marquee that said Opening
rest of the space, eventually? you to this place?
 Soon, which hung there for so long that no one 1926, a year before the first Western Electric theater How did you find the time to juggle the
really believed it would ever actually open. I suppose PA systems were produced, so its designed to project bands obligations, and the new
it was soon in the cosmic sense. [laughs] Anyway, naturally. He thinks of the room as an instrument for record, while handling the
I was having pizza across the street and I thought, natural singers. For a lot of big hall recordings, the Columbus Theatres reopening?
This is a music venue. In Providence, at the time, sweet spot has turned out to be the orchestra pit. Go BKM: What are the responsibilities of a band? We were
there was really nothing like it, so I started to figure. The sound comes up off the hard floor and fills following our instincts, without knowing where we
research, making some calls. We had no plan, and no the double proscenium, which then draws the sound were heading. The record kept going down every
real intent to move in. Through a mutual friend, Ben out into the room like the bell of a horn. He was rabbit or wormhole it found. The process started
and I got a tour of the theater, which had been excited to be offering the space to amateur unfolding outwards faster than our band unit could
closed since 2009. Once we saw it, we knew we had acousticians. maintain. We came in as a five-piece band, but the
to make our next record here. Wed just come from a When did you open the doors to the other members were restless to get the album out,
pasta sauce factory and the gator pit, so we got the public, and how did you go about and to go back on the road. Jeff and I tried to keep
gear out of Bens parents attic, swept the floors, and handling all of the code issues and the long view. Jocie [Adams] split to start her solo
started recording! renovations? project, Arc Iris. We lost Tyler [Osborne], our
guitarist, in the same manner. Two years into our
work at the theatre we lost our manager, who took a

m and Theater/Recording Studio job at Red Light Management and was given other
active artists to work on. Nonesuch, our label, pulled
out, and our publisher, Chrysalis, was bought twice.
Our professional outfit was going through uncertain
change the whole time, but we kept listening for
these occasional signs from the universe. We needed
to keep on.
JP: Its all been about the timing, and not necessarily
purpose. What are the odds wed meet this owner at
the perfect time, and hed be open to us occupying
this incredible space? Suddenly we became the people
who are running and managing this space, and making
all of these changes. While our old structure collapsed,

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other incredible things seemed to fall into place.
Again, we didnt come in thinking about a purpose.
This has been, and continues to be, a process.
So now youve got the theatre, the band,
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guys able to manage all of these
things? If the new record requires
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you to hit the road, will you be able to
leave the place in capable hands?
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JP: Now youre getting inside our minds. [laughs] Weve

got an incredible team, the most technically talented
and soulful engineers around, like Andrew Nault.
They can handle things when we hit the road. They
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know the spirit, though were sure there will be

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growing pains. We havent advertised the studio, and

in Eyeland theres no website. Its all been word of mouth, up to
this point. Were still putting the pieces together. I
mean, theres an element to this story that really is
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the band behind the theatre. I see Ben down there,

building and sanding the stage. Were involved in
every gritty aspect.
by Eric M Lichter The studio seems to have evolved in such
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a short time, with some great buzz.

How have you guys evolved as
photo by Cat Laine recordists and producers?
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BKM: Anything we personally know about recording, we

learned by recording. Deconstruction and
Was the owner immediately receptive to BKM: We opened on November 21st, 2012, and we told reconstruction. An approach to sound that is not
what you guys wanted to do? him that if he would let us, wed put our efforts into influenced by gear slut mentality, commercial trends,
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BKM: We knew right away that someone had been using
this space in a DIY way. Jon, the theatres owner, is
also a musician, who comes from opera. He has owned
the theatre for 50 years, and there are artifacts from
all the different eras cluttered in holes, crawl spaces,
and crevices throughout the building. It was built in
building something here. It was a gradual process. or anybodys how-to.
Once the building was active again, he began JP: Our production choices on this record were strongly
showing up more and more. It had been hard for him influenced by a chance trip to Stan Shaffs Audium in
to see it in the state it was in, but as things San Francisco. Its an immersive sound environment
improved he found ways to make stuff happen. with hundreds of speakers. He shuts the lights off
We fed off each others energy. The Low Anthem/(continued on page 42)/Tape Op#114/41
 and plays these sound field compositions to a crowd in Brian Blade
total darkness. He was combining field recordings, pure at Eyeland Studio
sound processes from synthesizers, and various We were on tour with my friend, Daniel Lanois, and played
samples in a surround sound sensory deprivation a show at the Columbus. I met Jeff in the foyer and he
environment that was mesmerizing. After experiencing showed us the studio space, where Brian Webb and Ben
the Audium, Eyeland, which was nearly done, became Miller were crawling over the circuitry of the dismantled
totally unchained from its original ideas. We started at Trident console. I felt inspired by them and the space, and
the beginning, again. The early recordings that saw the potential in what they were doing. Its a studio
survived became materials that we played with, that operates within this awe-inspiring theater, but it was
without any regard or preciousness about their origin. the generosity, focus, and spirit of everyone involved that
BKM: We treated our work like magazine pages and truly made it what it was. The studio itself is patched into
decided to make some collages. the entire theater, which allowed us to set up right on the
Brian Webb, your studio partner and stage, as we would for a live show. It was great working
systems designer, is a big part of with the guys. Brian is an incredible engineer. He and Ben
Eyeland. are constantly focused, coming up with great ideas at a
JP: Hes awesome, hes amazing, and hes smart. Brian moments notice. Ben was a saving grace as well,
Webb is an intrepid electrical mechanic, and an repairing my ailing pump organ that was damaged in
empathic, soulful man. transit. The experience was just incredible.
The first few sessions in the new,
updated studio was with Brian Blade BKM: I like to work for as long as possible, sometimes for
and the Fellowship Band, as well as 16 hours, 24 hours, or longer. Staring at a screen is
Jim White. exhausting. Hearing the music, rather than looking at
JP: August was a bit of a blur, with two of my favorite a visual representation, is good for me. Also the tape
musicians recording back to back. Working with these sound doesnt fatigue my ears. Where performance is
world-class artists was amazing. Eyeland is not a concerned, each take is do or die. Thats nice. Not to
clinical environment. I think Brian and Jim felt mention those little breaks while it rewinds. [laughs]
comfortable and at home recording here. r
You recently added a 2-inch Otari MTR-90
24-track analog recorder to the Eric M Lichter is a producer/recordist at Dirt Floor, in
Eyeland setup. How has working with Connecticut, and was in Tape Op #92. <www.dirtfloor.com>

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tape changed your approach? l .c
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42/Tape Op#114/The Low Anthem/(Fin.)

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 # !
Certain bands are meant for certain times, What made you feel Huey Lewis and the
and arguably no band better captured the Hip
to Be Square culture of the roaring 1980s
than Huey Lewis and the News. From musical Huey and I were friends. We enjoyed each other, and most
pop culture landmarks like The Heart of Rock &
Roll, I Want a New Drug, Heart and Soul,
and Workin for a Livin, Huey and the guys
fused rock n roll, soul, and new wave into a new
sound that legendary producer Jim Gaines
helped craft from the ground up, from the
bands very first hit Do You Believe in Love all
the way through the end of a decade-long
greatest hits run. Gaines could also be found
working side-by-side with late Stevie Ray
Vaughan producing many of the guitarists
most celebrated hits, including The House is
Rockin, Crossfire, Tightrope, and Life by the
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Drop. In addition, Jim also worked with guitar
legend Carlos Santana on his Grammy-winning,
chart-topping Supernatural LP, not to mention
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also tracking and mixing hits for Steve Miller.
Sitting down with Tape Op for a rare interview,
Gaines began by looking back over his own
career as one of rocks great producers:
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Im a lucky guy. Im just a hard-working hillbilly staying in the business. I packed up my family, moved
from Arkansas, and Ive been very lucky
throughout my career to be involved with all
these great artists. Thats the way I look at it.
44/Tape Op#114/Mr. Gaines/(continued on page 46)
$ " $$"
$!#$"$
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News had the potential to make you
want to roll the dice on them?
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of that band is from Marin County, so we would all hang
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out together and have a good time. Huey Lewis meanwhile they released the album, and it didnt do
manager, Bob Brown, managed the group Pablo Cruise,
and they used to open up for us when I was working
with Steve Miller. At first Huey had this band called
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Huey Lewis and the American Express and they
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changed their name to the News because they
thought theyd get sued by the credit card company.
They played a lot at Georges Club in Marin County,
where I lived, and one night I was invited down to see
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them. That night his manager asked me, Would you be
interested in cutting some demos with them? We cut
some demos at The Automatt [in San Francisco].
point in time, Huey and I were in the same boat. He
Chrysalis Records came in, the A&R guy sat right beside
me in the control room, and he said, I want to do this
band, with Jim Gaines, at this studio. Its a done deal.
A month later they were in Los Angeles working with
Bill Schnee on what became their first studio LP; the
self-titled Huey Lewis and the News. So I said, Im
done. If the record companies have gone so political
that theyre not going to give me a chance, Im not
to Oregon, bought two businesses, and I couldnt have
cared less. There really wasnt a Huey Lewis and the
News record before [the second album,] Picture This.



$#!$"
Nobody ever knew about it, because the label had
taken them down to L.A. and turned the band into this
slick L.A. sound. Huey had initially wanted me for my
R&B and rock background, and thats what the band
really was. Id started my new life up in Oregon;
anything. I get this call from Huey and he says, Jim,
theyve given us five guys to check out for producers
on the next record. We want to produce it ourselves,
but you have to come back out here and engineer it.
Youre the only guy who understands this band and
what the hell were trying to do here. And my initial
reply was, I could care less. I got screwed over and I
aint coming back. He said, Please, please? I promise
you, well work together on this thing. I said, Okay.
I decided to stay living in Grants Pass, Oregon, but to
fly back out there to do the Picture This album. At that
had a one-truck, failing yogurt business and I was in
the windshield repair business, plus I had a diet center.
I was fixing Mercedes windshield cracks, and we were
on the phone laughing the whole thing off about our
shared predicament. So I decided to take a chance and
give this thing one more shot. I moved into a hotel in
San Francisco, and we cut the album at two different
studios. The way I saw Huey Lewis and the News
when Id seen them live and I knew I was going to
be recording them in the studio the whole idea was
to capture their essence as a live, good-time band.
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 When you see them, they have a lot of fun, with big about singles. The melody has got to be very dominant. drug lyrics on the radio. We were thinking, They
smiling faces, and Hueys out there working the crowd The hook line needs to be repeated; not over-excessive, might not even want to release this thing, because of
and playing great harmonica. I was trying to capture but quite a few times. Is the hook line catchy? Heres all this anti-drug stuff that was going on. Nancy
what I saw in the band. As a producer, Im a raw energy one of the main things: Can you sing along with it? Reagan had the Just say no deal and all of that, even
guy; groove and raw energy are the first two things Im That song sounded very young, and very summertime though Huey was talking about love. So when we were
looking for. Im not looking for everything to be picture sounding, and thats what made that song work. cutting it, we wanted to make it fun and up, with these
perfect, pardon the pun. Sports is still considered one of the most cute little effects on it, but we didnt know what was
You worked with Huey Lewis as a co- iconic albums of the 80s, and it going to happen with it. The damn thing almost got
producer for the better part of a launched the band into pulled because everybody was so concerned radio
decade, which resulted in thirteen international stardom. As its sonic wouldnt play it. When it became a big hit the whole
Top 40 hits. What about you as a architect, what were your ambitions thing became a snowball, because of the amount of
producer made Huey feel you would heading into pre-production for your plays it was getting, and then the video became
be the right collaborator when you second record with them? successful. MTV helped a lot with that one.
two were first starting out together I had a blueprint in my head for those records, as far as The drum sound you got with that
in the studio? the sound goes, because Im one of those old-school band is one of the finest Ive ever
All I can say is this: when we did those first records, guys. Im making the mix right there as Im cutting; Im heard. A good example is Stuck
especially the first two [Picture This, Sports], we were cutting to a mix. Thats how I work, even today. Im With You. What was the secret
creating a new sound. I didnt go with it in the front of starting the song knowing what the mix is going to behind that sound?
my mind saying, Im going to this session to create a sound like in the end. I know that sounds weird, but I First off, Stuck With You was an interesting song
sound, but once Id get into the session, and Id hear think any engineer will tell you that. When youre because we were in-between [the albums] Sports and
those songs coming up, then Id start to say, We need starting a song you know where youre trying to go and Fore! and we got a call from the record label saying,
to do this to make that work. Like I said, the band had youre cutting to the level, the sound, and the We need a single to tide us over until the next record
gone and done their first record with Bill Schnee in dimension of the song. Where you want it to be. Im comes out. We went in the studio and cut that one
L.A., and Bill is great at engineering, but I have a cutting to that level at all times. song so they could have something for radio to prepare
different concept and approach to engineering than he Whats the story behind the recording of for the next album. When it became a hit, it was like,
does. Im a little more loosey-goosey; its gotta-make- the famous heartbeat intro at the top Holy mackerel, the damn thing is on the air! The
my-ass-wiggle thing, and Im not as much into the of The Heart of Rock & Roll? I drums were done in the B Room at The Record Plant
technical side. The first thing I wanna ask is, Can I get understand it was a bit challenging, [Sausalito, CA], which was my favorite tracking room
it from the amp?, if its a guitar thing. Or if its an given this was 1982. back then. It was live enough for me. I had a drum riser

organ, Can you change a few of those drawbar We spent a minute on that heartbeat intro. We were
settings? Then we let the mics do the work. We get to
the console, and we can do EQs and whatever we want
there. But my approach when we were doing those
records was I wanted to create some fun, good-time
songs. All of us did. Thats the way the band was, and
we were all in sync at that point in time. We were all
on the same page. Thats why they brought me out of
retirement; because they felt like I understood what
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working at Fantasy Studios, and I remember we were
all sitting there trying to figure out, What the hell
does a heartbeat sound like? So we tried a kick drum,
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and that was not going to work. Sean [Hopper] and I
were dicking around with some sounds, and we took a
synth sound from this [Roland] Jupiter-8 he had. We
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spent about four or five hours working on that sound,
because we thought that there was a lot of low-end
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built, because I dont like putting drums on a flat floor
any more than I have to. When you put drums on a
really hard-surfaced floor, the toms and kick drum dont
have that after-ring. It dissipates. So if I put Bill
Gibson, Hueys drummer, on a riser and raise it up 6 or
8 inches on something thats not solid, Id get a whole
different drum sound. It was amazing we heard the
bottom-end come up drastically. I had a special riser
that was built out of 2 x 6 boards; it was heavy and

they were trying to go for.
Do You Believe in Love was the bands
first Top 10 hit, and is still in regular
radio rotation 30 years later. Was that
associated with a heartbeat, and we knew we had to
get the right low-end. Again, that kick drum wouldnt
give it to us. It was too straight. I think a heartbeat
almost has a little delay to it, so I ran the sample
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open. When I wasnt using it, it laid up against the
wall. But when I put it down on the floor and had a
rug on it, thats how I created a lot of the drum sounds
in that room. I remember when Rod Stewarts road guy

song an example to you as a producer through a little bit of delay. It had a little bit of slap to come in there, and he said, That will never work.
of one that was an obvious hit, even it like you hear on the single. So Sean Hopper, the Then, when he listened after wed set it up and tracked,
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while you were still in the studio keyboard player, and I came up with that sound out of he said, Wow, because the toms took on a different
recording it? a synth sample, with some tricks on it. atmosphere. They had more of a sonic low-end boom
It was one of the last songs that came in. It came from I Want a New Drug is a classic radio and that rose above. Plus, the kick drum was not as dead,
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Mutt Lange [he wrote it], and bam! We had a Top 20
single. That is a very catchy song. It came to us at the
end of the session when we were wrapping up, but
were still looking for another song. The way Johnny
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video staple of the 80s, as well as a great and the snare had an extra low mid tone. Its a simple
example of the fusion of new wave and little trick, but it was part of my sound back then. We
rock elements that you and Huey had an AMS [RMX16], which was the gated reverb
blended so well. Were there any sound that Bob Clearmountain [Tape Op #84] made

Colla and the boys set up those harmonies, that melody cutting-edge synthesizers or other gear famous. I bought one, and one day these people at
really stuck out at me. All those guys in that band sang, at play in the production of that hit? Guitar Center called me and said, Weve got this
and they sang great harmonies especially when we Sean Hopper came up with that great synth riff that reverb unit wed love for you to try out. Just tell us
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put Chris [Hayes], Bill [Gibson], Johnny, and Sean
[Hopper] together. Johnny Colla did a lot of specifying
of what he wanted on this song. There are certain
things about a single. Youve got to remember that a
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sounds like horns. The synthesizer sound throughout what you think. It was the Yamaha SPX90. I got this
the Sports album was a Jupiter-8, but we did have gated reverb sound out of it and it only cost $350. Im
some [Yamaha] DX7 going on too. This is when the thinking, Well, this is stupid. I paid $10,000 for the
MIDI world was starting to kick in, so we hooked up a AMS. So I ordered three of the Yamahas, sold my AMS,

single is played on the radio, and there are certain
things about radio that you have to be a little careful
of: You dont want the solos too long. You dont want
it too congested [mix and arrangement-wise] so that
the clarity is not there. Im talking about what I know
46/Tape Op#114/Mr. Gaines/(continued on page 48)
couple of things: a [Roland MKS-80] Super Jupiter,
which was this extra module you could get, and an
organ. Sean is a great organ player, and we would go
direct with his sound. When we did that song, the
record company had this whole big thing about, No
and I used the Yamahas a lot for my drum sound. At
that point in time I used [Neumann U]87s for
overheads. Sometimes depending on what mics I
had I used [Sennheiser] 421s for toms, because I
liked the attack and the way it projects the midrange.
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 For the kick drum, in those days they didnt have an
[AKG] D112, so we used [Electro-Voice] RE20s. I might
have used two mics, an RE20 and something a little
more bottom-oriented. I liked the RE20 because it
could take the impact and give you the attack. There
are times I like to use an [AKG] C414 on the toms if I
can get by with it; it depends on how close that ride
cymbal is to it. Especially the floor tom, because it
makes the floor tom whip and the 414 has got a great,
smooth bottom-end. The other big thing is having a
live room you can work with. I kind of ran the Record
Plant for a while; I was their number one client and it
was my room. When I didnt want it they could book it, Hip To Be Square is still one of the most
but back in those days theyd always have to clear it
with me because I was doing so much in there. Bills
one of those drummers who comes from a rock
background, but the Huey material had a lot of R&B
feel to it. All the guys in that band Johnny Colla
played with Sly Stone for a while came from an
R&B/rock hybrid background. Bills one of those guys
who lays the groove down on that backside. If youre Doc [Stephen Kupka] from Tower of Power is on that
an R&B guy, thats where you want it. He plays to the
song. Thats what I like about him; hes not trying to
play a drum part, hes playing to the song. A lot of
drummers dont get that, but he did.
Jacobs Ladder, the first single off of
Fore!, was sonically like nothing Id
ever heard before it hit the radio in
1986. Does anything stand out about
its recording?
Plant that had a slate floor. It was weird, because it had Once I got the gig I was told, First of all, were going to
actually been set up to be an iso booth or a live echo
chamber. It was roughly 12 x 14 feet and it was a pie
shape, but not real pie shape. I would set the amps up
in that room. On Chriss guitar sound on Fore! I would
use a [Shure SM]57, of course, which you cant go wrong
with. But if I was looking for coloration, I would pick a
condenser mic, and I might use a [Neumann] U87, or
even a ribbon mic like a [RCA] 77-DX. If I was looking
for a brighter sound, I might have put a 414 on his amp;
it really depended on the character. I always had a 57 on
him, but that second mic was just another coloration.
popular hits from Huey Lewis and the
News catalog. It showcases the unique
use of horns you injected into 1980s
pop, at a time when no one else was
really doing that. Did you draw on
your own background from having
previously produced Tower of Power?
song. I went for a flatter sound on the horns for that
album because we were trying to create a new cut. Stevie was not happy with his guitar sound
sound. We kind of did, didnt we? Some of the [San
Francisco] 49ers [Joe Montana and Ronnie Lott] were
hanging out in the studio and we got them to sing
some of the background parts, so it was a fun song to
record! Sean plays great organ, and we did use a real
[Hammond] B3. For micing the B3, I still like to use
look around for a studio, so we checked out a couple
and Stevie decided he wanted to do the record at The
Power Station in New York. So we went to New York to
rehearse for three days, and then we went into the
studio we were booked for six weeks there. Id never
worked at The Power Station, and had no idea what I
was getting myself into. Id been at rehearsals, trying
to see how this ten amp thing was going to work. We
got in the studio the smaller room at Power Station,
where they had an iso station that was fairly dead. Id
set Stevie up in it. Its not very big, so I could hardly
get ten damn amps in this room, much less record
them! Suddenly Stevies also not feeling very good
about this, because he wants those ten amps live. It
takes a while to get all this mess set up. We were still
working on 24-track analog, at that point. The 32-track
Mitsubishi [digital] machines were out and available by
then, so Im thinking, Man, I really need those extra 8
tracks on that Mitsubishi. But its digital, so I thought,
These guys arent going to go for it. So we screwed
around for a couple days and tried to get something
because it wasnt live enough, so I said, Heres the
deal; I just worked at this studio in Memphis called
Kiva. They have a huge tracking room and a huge iso
room. I want to try and record on digital, because I
really need those 8 extra tracks. I next said to Stevie,
This rooms not going to work for your amps. Its not

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a couple of U87s on the top [of the Leslie cabinet],
That actually came from Bruce Hornsby. I dont honestly and then whatever you want to on the bottom. We
remember what the original demo sounded like, but I used to use an [Electro-Voice] RE20. If you want a
know it was one of those songs that could be set up a really live low-end you can use a condenser down
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little differently, because its a unique song. The there, but the problem with using a condenser on the
arrangement we all came up with was like, Wow, it bottom is the wind noise. That Leslie rotor generates
works for this song, because it was such a different style a lot of wind noise, so its better to use something
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from everything else they were doing. I didnt look at thats a little tight.
that song at the time as a radio friendly song, to be Following your seven year run co-
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big enough. Kiva will give us a week to come down and
experiment, and Im sure it will work better. So we
went down to Memphis, to Kiva, to set up, and now I
had this big, huge live room to put the amps in. Just
to hook up ten amps, thats like a scientific feat within
itself! We had double 200-watt Marshall stacks, a 150-
watt Dumble Steel String Singer, a vintage 1959 Fender
tweed Bassman, and all kinds of other equipment. I
ended up renting the whole studio. They had a B studio

honest, like I did Stuck with You. I try to capture a
little bit of live-ness to the music, and thats the concept
they wanted. I do it today with a lot of bands that work
with me I look at it as if youre going to see a live
producing the lot of Huey Lewis and
the News greatest hits, you teamed up
with Stevie Ray Vaughan for his final
album, In Step, with Double Trouble.
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right next to their A studio, and I remember I told the
owner, I need this whole building. I dont need
anybody in here but us. I put the big amps in the big
iso booth, and I put the Fender Vibratone and a stereo

performance. Thats the sound I want to hear, except What do you remember about Stevies Gibson amp around the corner in this other little studio
with us in control. If I hear that music, I want to see a expectations heading into the studio? for isolation. The first day we cranked up, the ceiling
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live performance going on, and I approach my Id been working with Carlos Santana, and Carlos and was rattling; they had these big round baffles that were
engineering like that. As a producer I try to get the Stevie did a show together somewhere. Stevie and rattling. I had to bring in a carpenter to tear open
engineers working for me to get that same concept. It Double Trouble were getting ready to do a record. All of these damn things and fill them with foam, tape up the
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has nothing to do with a bunch of room mics in fact I
dont remember having room mics for that band. Its the
way I micd Bill Gibsons drum set, and the way we
approached the guitar sounds. We didnt have a lot of
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Stevies records previously had been done in Austin or ceiling, and then we had to start over again. Now this
Dallas with local Texas people, but the band were room had a hum in it, and its not an A/C hum. It was
looking for somebody different. During that show a hum like if you went and stood underneath a big
Stevie was explaining this and Carlos said, You should power line. Wed feel this hum coming at us, the

big, giant amps; we had a nice little room for them. call Jim Gaines. So next thing I know management magnetic kind, but it was in the room! I have ten amps
Theyre not the kind of band where you drag out the big calls me, I fly down to L.A., and I meet Stevie and the and two [Ibanez] Tube Screamers going, and Im
stack of Marshall amps and kick their ass on power Double Trouble band. I knew, at that point, that they thinking, What the hell am I gonna do? I called a
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sounds. Most of the sounds were self-contained rhythmic were looking at four or five producers, at least, to do friend in New York, and said, I cant figure out where
sounds, with little solos. Chris Hayes is a great guitar the album. So I walked into the Sunset Marquis for this this is coming from, but Ive got a feeling its the train
player. Hes not like a heavy-duty rocker; hes more like a meeting, we all got introduced, and about the second switching complex across the street thats got some
jazz rock player, in a lot of ways. One of my tricks is I or third thing out of Stevie Rays mouth was, How do microwave or something coming through this building.
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double mic an amp. No matter how many speakers it has, you feel about recording ten amplifiers at once? What am I gonna do? He told me, We had this
I use two mics and it gives me a lot of lower mid-sound; The albums opener, The House Is problem in New York, and had this copper mesh all
but it also gives me a different presence than you can Rockin, has a wall of guitars that over the control room to break up the signal. And I
get with one mic. Youve gotta work with the tones on leaps out of the speakers. What was the said, I cant copper mesh this damn room. Its huge.
the amp, and we had a great little room at the Record process like for constructing that? So I went out, got some chicken wire and conduit,
48/Tape Op#114/Mr. Gaines/(continued on page 50)
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 built something like a batting cage with an open front,
and put Stevie in it with his guitar. About 70% of this
hum went away. Im known as the crazy son of a bitch
that put Stevie in a chicken coop! So then Eric Johnson
calls him and says, Hey man, I gotta tell you about
this new thing I discovered. He tells Stevie to go to
RadioShack, buy these six little grey stereo cords, and
use them. Eric says, Because theyve got an arrow
pointing which way the signal flow is, and your signal What were your favorite moments of
will be much better. First of all, these damn things
were only about 6-feet long, so Im thinking, Oh, my
god, now I gotta go through this whole experiment.
So they quickly found out you cant run a 6-foot cord
12 feet. They go through trying this and trying that, Stevie would go out there at night and play Jimi Hendrix,
and I have to do this jerry-rigging thing to hook up all
these amps going at once. Finally we got it working,
and the whole idea of this record was, We want to do
live solos, and well overdub rhythms. So in this iso
booth, with ten amps going, I have a vocal mic an
SM57 and then I have the rest of the band in another
big room tracking. On The House Is Rockin we had a
[Hammond] B3 [organ] set up in its own little iso
booth, and the piano was overdubbed on that one
because there was so much noise in the room with the
drums. So thats how we started the session. Im telling
you, it was a test from God for me to pull this off.
What microphone selection on the
guitar amps did you go with to capture
all of that live energy?
I had to mic the room and use it as a blend. I was
running 8 or 10 tracks, just as one pass of guitars. I
micd all the cabinets separately, but in some cases I
put them together as a unit. Some I wanted to keep
separated. It was so loud in this room we called it the
Room of Doom! You almost had to beat your
assistant with a whip to get him to go out there.
Stevie was running through two Tube Screamers and
two wah-wah pedals. That was his normal setup. If
you got those cranked up with two Dumbles going
thats the loudest amp ever made! So I had our guitar Was there anything about working with
tech, Csar Daz, constantly changing out speakers
and fixing things. I had set up Studio B as our spot
to fix guitars it was a mess! Stevie would go out
there for each song and adjust things. We might
adjust it six times for a certain track, because we
dont have to do that many takes. We were doing
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takes to fit the solos and the feel of the track. I spent Stevie was actually the same way. He hated his vocals, so
$1500 one day on speakers; we blew speakers out like
crazy! And when you change speakers, guess what?
Tones change, so you have to reset settings, because
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these were some loud damn amps going on! With his
little amps, like the [Fender] Deluxes, you can only
push them so much. I had to separate amps out, and
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combine things that I thought I could deal with and
mix later. I had planned on really dealing with them
even more than when I was recording, because you
cant go in there and start individually dissecting
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each one of these tracks while theyre going down on
tape. You have to treat it as part of a general sound.
If, for instance, I needed a little more brightness
somewhere in a song, Id pull up one amp. If I needed
a little more bottom-end, Id pull up another amp.
50/Tape Op#114/Mr. Gaines/(Fin.)
That sound really comes from the tonality of the
amps, and thats what he wanted. I needed those 32
tracks, because if I wanted to do an overdub, that was
8 more tracks. If you were recording on a 24-track,
good luck. Youre gone, youre over with. Thats what
saved my ass, being able to go to 32-track digital,
because I could make it without bouncing [tracks
down], or anything else.
listening to that level of genius
coming out of the control room
speakers while youre sitting there
recording all this amazing playing?
and youd swear Hendrix was in the building. Stevie
was like a ball of energy, and thats how he played. You
felt every ounce of his energy level coming through
that guitar when he played. Id never heard anybody
play like that. Being around Albert King, in his young
days, and Steve Cropper Stevie was on their level. He
had a passion and fierceness when he played. First, he
was a very energetic person. He was fun. He had a big
smile, and was the nicest guy. If you shook hands with
Stevie, it was like shaking hands with a blacksmith! He
had one of the hardest hands I ever shook, because
his hands were so strong, which is another reason I
think he could pull some of that stuff off on the guitar.
Ninety percent or more of Stevies solos were live not
overdubbed. The whole idea of recording that way was
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Stevies, and thats one of the reasons he approached
me. He said, How do you feel about doing solos live?
I replied, If you can pull it off. We may have to do 15
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takes, until you get the right solo. He said, Im going
for the solos live. I said, Perfect. No problem with
me. We may have gone back and added rhythms
underneath as an overdub. The only effects Stevie
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would let me put on his guitar were the Roland
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Dimension D a chorus unit with four little buttons
on it and delay.
Stevie in the studio that would
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surprise his fans to hear? For
instance, Jimi Hendrix in spite of
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what a confident guitarist he was
hated the sound of his voice and
recording his vocals.
therefore he didnt want to sing. He would come into
the studio, and on a little stand next to the vocal mic I
had every Halls cough drop known to man. Whatever it
took to get over that insecurity. He was a guitar player
who was forced to sing. Playing guitar was the easy
part, whereas doing vocals is a very sensitive thing. To
get him to do vocals I had to pat him on the back and
say, Come on, man. You can do it. He would pace back
and forth in the control room before each songs vocals.
Hed quit smoking and missed that, I think. During
those takes Id tell him, We need to do it again. No
one had ever told him, No, its not good enough. Here
we went again with a little tension, but I got vocals out
of him. I knew how to speak vocal talk, like, Man, that
word needs a little more hot sauce on it. Or grease.
I use that word a lot, and people know exactly what
Im talking about. Later, after the record was finished,
he told me, I never worked that hard in my life for
vocals. I replied to him, Well, do they sound good?
He said, They sound good. I appreciate you pushing
me. I remember I told him, Thats my job. Thats what
I get paid to do. I saw a lot of critical reviews of my
work with him that said it was the best vocals hed
done, and Im not going to say it was difficult, but it
wasnt easy either.
You produced one of Stevie Ray Vaughans
most celebrated posthumous songs,
Life By The Drop, the closing track
on The Sky is Crying album. This is a
rare recording of him playing acoustic
guitar in a very naked performance. I
understand this song was actually an
afterthought?
Yeah, we didnt end up cutting that particular song in
Memphis. We ended up going to Los Angeles to do
vocals and mix [for In Step]. Stevie had said, Were
going to save this song, cause its just a little
acoustic song, for L.A. We didnt need all the crew
and everybody there. Once we were in the studio, he
played it for me in the control room and said, This is
how thiss gonna go. Since it was only him and a
guitar, I wanted to get a big guitar sound. They had
great mics there, and I used a [Neumann] U67 close
to the [sound]hole so I could get the bottom-end of
the guitar, because its a warm mic. Towards the
bridge I put a condenser like a [AKG C] 451. I also
used a dynamic mic so I could get close and get the
picking out of it, without a lot of vocal leakage. As an
engineer you try to separate that a little bit, but
youre not gonna be able to entirely. He had a vocal
mic hanging right in front of his mouth, and that was
all done live with no overdubs. I think I had a room
mic going on a separate track. I wanna say it was
maybe four or five takes.
When you look back, after all these
years, at this amazing catalog of music
from Stevie, to Huey Lewis, to Carlos
Santana do you have any favorites?
Ive been fortunate to be involved in several classic
records, but I have to say Stevie Ray. First of all, it was
such a challenge. And to pull it off, and for it to end
up being a legendary record, it made me a
legendary producer. After that record, I was a blues
god for a minute. Steve Millers Fly Like an Eagle was
also a special, special project to me, because Steve
would let me experiment and try out-of-the-norm
techniques, like cutting vocals in the control room right
beside me, or cutting guitars with a Fender Princeton
amp, at my feet, under the console. I was allowed to
do those things. With Santana, just working with him,
because his passionate guitar playing is one of the
finest in the world! Im telling you man, Ive worked
with a lot of cats, but he could play two or three notes
and make you cry. r
Author Jake Brown has written over 35 books covering the
world of music. <jakebrownbooks@gmail.com>
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 Band of
Horses
Why Are You OK
Ive been a big fan
of Band of Horses
since their first two
Phil Ek (Tape Op #29)
produced LPs on Sub
Pop. Main songwriter and
leader Ben Bridwell connected
in a believable and soulful way, with
the bands arrangements and playing perfectly
supporting the songs. Subsequent LPs including Mirage Rock
produced by Glyn Johns (Tape Op #109) were solid efforts but
just didnt connect for me on the same emotional level as those
first two LPs. Perfectly following up on their first two LPs, but
also expanding on their musical ideas in a natural way, Why Are
You OK might be the bands best LP to date. That I like this LP
so much is especially gratifying, as three fifths of it was recorded
at my Panoramic House studio over three two-week sessions.
It all began when our old pal Jason Lytle (Tape Op #7) called
saying that he might be producing the next Band of Horses LP,
and he wanted to bring Ben out to see the studio. We all met
up for a nice dinner and studio tour, and plans were made to
start recording. When asked about an engineer for the project,
I suggested they talk to Seattle-based Robert Cheek who knows
the room well, is a great engineer, and is easy to get along with.
In the end Robert recorded the entire album: three sessions at
Panoramic, one at Echo Mountain in Asheville, NC, and one at
Applehead Recording in Woodstock, NY. I recently chatted with
Robert about the recordings:
The first session at Panoramic was more about Jason and
the band seeing if they worked well together, and if the studio
was a good fit. Everything went great and everybody got
along, so that set a template for rest of the sessions. It wasnt
the fastest way to work, but wed pick a song and stick with
it for four or five days until we felt we had it in a good place.
Ben really wanted to spend the time to get the record right,
so the sessions were fairly relaxed. Jason and Ben would
usually spend a half day tightening up the song and
arrangement and review lyrics and such before we started
tracking. Once they were done, Jason, Ben, and Creighton
[Barrett, the bands drummer] would work out the
arrangement on the floor until Jason and Ben felt it was ready
to track. We tracked all the drums and most of the bass to 16-
track, 2-inch tape at 30 IPS with Ben and Creighton playing
the song, usually to a click, and Bill [Reynolds] on bass.
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Reynolds is also a very solid engineer and producer who was
worked with Lissie, Luther Dickinson, and Calexico (Tape Op
#13), but Robert said he had wanted to take more of a band
member role, and let Jason hold down the production seat.
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Robert went on to say, Drum micing was pretty standard
spot micing. We had the new Telefunken drum mics on hand
and used the M82 and M80-SH on kick and snare. Once we had
the rhythm track, Jason would work with the rest of the band
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[Tyler Ramsey and Ryan Monroe] to flesh out the tracks and use
everybodys musical contributions. Once we had the song pretty
much done, Ben would do the lead vocal. I got the sense early
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on that wed be moving around to different studios, so I wanted
to keep the vocal chain pretty consistent. I used a [Neve] 1073
and [UA] LA-2A since I thought Id be able to find those at
whatever studio we ended up at. At Panoramic we used the
[Wunder] CM7 and the [vintage Neumann] U 67 that Bill
52/Tape Op#114/Music Reviews/(continued on page 72)
[Bradley, of The Mic Shop] recently worked on. We ended up
using the 67 on most of the tracks because I took my 67 [also
worked on by The Mic Shop] with me to the other two studios.
Once everybody felt the song was done, most of the band would
take a break and Jason would spend a day nerding out on
synths and editing.
The song Country Teen, which was written by Ramsey,
stands out on the album in a good way. Robert explained that,
We tried a lead vocal with Ben several times, but it just didnt
quite click. Then we had Tyler sing the lead, and everybody
pretty much agreed that it just needed to be a Tyler song.
Near the end of the last session at Panoramic, Rick Rubin
came up to the studio for a day and ended up as the albums
executive producer. Apparently he [Rubin] was driving and
heard Band of Horses on the radio, wondered what they were
up to, and contacted management. [Rubin worked with the
band on Infinite Arms and Mirage Rock when they were on
Columbia]. A few days later he was on a plane and at the studio.
He was super chill and dug the studio and vibe. Since we were
almost done with the record he was able to listen to every song
and gave Ben and Jason some suggestions on arrangements
and stuff. They took notes and we were able to implement a lot
of his suggestions. The album was self-funded by the band, but
with Rubins involvement they were able to recoup their
expenses and release the album through Interscope Records as
part of the Universal Music Group where Rubin is now working.
The band began the record in March of 2014 at Panoramic,
and the last session was in March of 2015 (also at Panoramic),
with the Echo Mountain and Applehead sessions in between.
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Due to shows and two babies being born during the sessions,
they were a bit more spread out than everybody would have
preferred, but it kept things relaxed and gave us some time off
and perspective on the album. Ben really wanted to do the last
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session at Panoramic and bookend the album there. The vibe at
all three studios was great. Everybody loved Panoramic, but
Echo Mountain, where the band did some previous records, is in
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an old church and its and where Tyler lives, so that was like
coming home. We had dinner with the studio owners most
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nights, and my assistant Clay [Miller] was awesome, we wanted
to take him with us to the other sessions but it didnt work out.
Applehead was just super inspiring. We were there in March so
there was still snow on the ground, and the studio is like a
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cabin, so we never wanted to leave. We tracked the opening
song there.
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Dull Times / The Moon, which opens the album, is a great
song and clocks in at just over seven minutes. Its one of my
favorite tracks on the LP and reminds me in an oblique way of
Breathe on Dark Side of the Moon. When I mentioned doing
this review to Larry, he said, I just got that album. It sounds
great and the first song reminds me of Pink Floyd!
Once the album was finished Jason and Ben went to Dave
Fridmanns Tarbox Road studios [Tape Op #17] and Fridmann
mixed the album. There were one or two songs that we werent
100 percent sure would make the album, but Fridmanns mix
definitely got them to a really solid place and they ended up on
the record, commented Robert. Finally, mastering was done by
Greg Calbi [Tape Op #86] at Sterling Sound.
In the end this is a great album; one that not only
recaptures the sprit of the first two Band of Horses LPs, but
pushes things further out sonically with more experimental
arrangements (as you might expect with Jason Lytle producing)
while never losing the immediate pop feel of the great batch of
songs Ben wrote for the album. Hats off to everybody involved.
<bandofhorses.com> -JB
Music Reviews continue on page 72>>
Those Pretty Wrongs Those Pretty Wrongs
We interviewed Jody Stephens in Tape Op #58 about working at
Ardent Studios in Memphis, TN, and playing in Big Star. In the
years since, Jody sadly saw the loss of his bandmates, Alex
Chilton and Andy Hummel, as well as Ardents founder, John Fry
[also in #58]. Jody is currently Director of Business
Development at Ardent Studios, and this year released the
closest thing to a solo record hes done yet; Those Pretty
Wrongs, a collaboration with longtime Tape Op friend and
contributor, Luther Russell. The album features Jodys sweet
voice, accompanied by Luthers harmonies, and some wildly
varied arrangements. Songs were written via long distance
collaboration, with Jody sending Luther voice memos of
lyrical/melodic ideas and Luther setting the pieces to music. As
Luther says, Many times Jody would start with what felt like a
chorus, and that was not a bad thing. The record was certainly
created in a unique way, and its a real treat to listen to.
How did you two meet?
LR: In 1991 my band [The Freewheelers] was signed to DGC
by Gary Gersh, and he introduced us. I remember Jody
visiting me at some horrible place I lived back then. We
became friends, but amazingly we never played music
together until a few years ago. I think thats why this
works so well!
How did Those Pretty Wrongs come about?
Jody, werent you asked to open for the
documentary about Big Star [Big Star:
Nothing Can Hurt Me] in L.A.?
JS: Danielle [McCarthy, the films producer] asked me if I
would sing some Big Star songs after a screening at the
Nuart Theater in Santa Monica. I said, Yes, of course.
It was a great opportunity to carry on playing, and really
to start down a new road with singing lead. I
immediately thought of Luther, and gave him a call to
help out on guitar.
LR: Luckily most of the Big Star songs he chose to play I
already knew!
JS: We ended up doing more shows, including Amoeba
Records, The Grammy Museum, and KCRW.
LR: One time, before this, I had called Jody out of the blue.
I was in some session; I thought of Jody, and I called him.
I was almost being a punk, but I asked, Have you ever
thought about doing a solo record? The Big Star song,
For You, is so amazing. Its all the proof anyone would
need that he could do it. But Jody said, No, I havent. Ive
got songs I work on, from time to time. I said, If you
ever do, think of me. He asked me to do this Big Star stuff
a year and a half later; and then, the next thing you know,
it morphed into exactly what I was talking about. It was
initially gonna be a solo record, but it became a duo
because Jodys that kinda guy. It ended up being a
collaboration. I did say to him, Whatever you want this
to be, it will be.
Did you guys do the basic recordings at
Ardent Studios?
LR: Ive had my eye on Ardent for a long time! One time, in
1991, I dropped in and got a tour. It was great to cut in
there, and everyone was super cool. It was interesting to
get the sounds there, and then bring them back [to
California] and to shape them somewhere else. It
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API
535-LA 500-series line amp
The API 535-LA is a line-amp module based on the
companys venerable 325 booster card. It utilizes the same
AP2503 transformer, 2510 differential amp, and 2520 op-amp
that have been the DNA building blocks inside the companys
consoles for decades. The module provides up to 45 dB of
gain, and it can attenuate a signal to null. It sounds great,
and it fits right into any number of setups perfect for
creative gain-staging, utilitarian amplification, or driving long
cable runs. I found the 535-LA to be incredibly useful, more
so than I initially thought it would be.
The front panel has a detented, variable input-level knob
that goes from fully cut to unity gain, as well as a polarity
button, a 20 dB input pad, and a smoothly variable output
knob for 645 dB of gain. Overall gain is also affected by a
three-position ratio switch that selects different taps of the
output transformer. Also located on the front panel is a
calibrated-level button that bypasses the input and output
knobs, and shifts control to two recessed trimmers located
below their respective knobs. These are set to unity gain from
the factory, which is nice to have for double-checking what
youre actually doing to the signal. But you could also adjust
the trims to your liking to set up fully repeatable gain-
staging, like on long inter-facility cable runs, for example.
The module is as solidly built as any other gear from API.
Likewise, the sonic quality is right where youd expect it to
be harmonically full and not too colored, yet not so
transparently hi-fi to be invisible. Its probably an overused
term, but API gear has always struck me as inherently
musical in the sense that whatever signal you pass through
it seems to pick up a little more motion as well as note
definition. The 535-LA lives up to those characteristics.
The 535-LA was a great pairing with older mic preamps
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missing output controls, like a preamp stripped from an old
Magnecorder PT6 tube reel-to-reel. I love the PT6 preamp; it
has a ton of gain, and it sounds amazing cranked, but I
usually have to run a compressor after it just to get control of
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its beastly output. The 535-LA was a perfect match, and I was
easily able to track with the PT6 preamp wound up into full-
on fuzz. It also came in handy with a Dizengoff Audio D4,
which also sounds wonderful run on the hotter side. The D4
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has an output trim, but its really just a fine gain control, and
using the 535-LA allowed me to get this preamp to sit right
in its sweet spot.
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The 535-LA also let me explore more with the gear that I
use every day. Even units with onboard output controls I could
leave much more wide-open when coupled with the 535-LA.
I dont have a console at my studio, and I miss that type of
gain-staging. The 535-LAs input control was great because I
just thought of it as a fader and kept it close at hand. While
54/Tape Op#114/Gear Reviews/
the unit is designed to perfectly handle hot signals, I did
occasionally run across some distortion, but only when I was
being absolutely ridiculous and loose with gain-staging. While
not unpleasing, I didnt find the distortion entirely useful.
Most of the time, the 535-LA felt open, and it only imparted
a mild but musical coloration. I never thought twice about
including it in a signal path, and most of time, I could just
forget about it until I needed it for adjusting gain.
Its real value was made clear when I started to pair it with
gear that was far away from me as a level control for a
keyboard mixer in the corner of the room, for example, or with
gear at the bottom of a rack behind me. With the 535-LA
nearby, I was able to stay in my monitoring sweet spot,
without rooting around on the floor or asking the musicians
to stop playing so I could get them to change their signal
levels. This sort of ergonomic advantage wasnt something I
had considered. Having that kind of dependable, never think
about it, quality of level control always within hands
reach had an immediate streamlining effect on tracking
workflow. I realized that there were several limiters that I had
stopped reaching for, only because they were at the bottom
of racks or their gain-staging was tweaky. Using the 535-LA at
the end of the chain, I could leave the inputs and outputs
nominally set for the best noise floor, and just get more clean
make-up gain when I needed it.
Initially, I wondered if the 535-LA could function as a low-
gain mic preamp, but it never quite delivered on that level.
Even with hot sources like snare drums and loud guitars, it just
didnt quite cut it, flexibility-wise. Vintage API 325 booster
cards have long been a target for modification into mic
preamps, with varying amounts of success/hassle. The
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arguments seem to fall on both sides; some think its an easy
mod, and others say it isnt worth the effort. Like all things,
success probably depends on component selection and .c
modding skills. The 535-LA is certainly not inexpensive, so I
cant imagine it will draw the sort of modification attention
given to older 325 cards. So you can give up the idea that this
is a cheap way into an API mic preamp.
l
After using the 535-LA for a month, I realized that a
second one would be great just for fine gain control of the mix
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bus, and for using it as an input or output control on some
older, modified broadcast limiters, where Id really rather leave
the settings alone. For the mix bus, the 535-LA really has that
API sound, and it does exhibit a tiny bit of self-compression
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at higher gain settings. Like running a console hot, it can add
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circuit weight to mixes, whether you sum in-the-box or you
use an analog summing bus.
The 535-LA seems basic and unassuming at first, but it is
a seriously great-sounding and flexible tool for any studio or
sound-installation that is in need of gain-staging control, line
drivers, or analog-console mojo.
($595 street; www.apiaudio.com)
Thom Monahan <www.goldenvoidstudio.com>
ZAOR Studio Furniture
Miza Griprack
ZAOR was founded in 2014 by Italian master piano-builder
Michele Zullo. His companys product line of stylish, modular,
studio furniture came to my attention just this year via Simon
Ct of Audio Plus Services, ZAORs new North American
distributor. Among ZAORs suave offerings, the Miza Griprack
immediately piqued my interest. Its a simple, yet ingenious,
combination rack unit and speaker shelf that slides onto the
back of a desk or table, and clamps into place using large,
underside thumbscrews.
The Griprack is available in 2 or 4RUheight configurations,
and it features a modern, curvy design. Constructed from 1
thick MDF and wood, its available in three color schemes:
grey/oak, gray/weng, and black/cherry. For my room, I chose
a pair of 4RU-sized Griprack 4s to use with an existing table.
Units are shipped unassembled, but ZAORs packaging job is
really impeccable. Theres not much to say regarding assembly,
as the process is fairly self-explanatory. If youve ever put
together IKEA furniture, the Griprack should be a breeze to
assemble. (Note that the build quality of the ZAOR rack far
outshines the quality of even the expensive IKEA stuff.) After
great pause in order to admire the aforementioned packaging,
both racks were easily assembled and slotted onto the back of
my desk in less than 35 minutes.
The slots that fit around the desktop are about 1.5 in
height, which would seem to work well for most tables,
though a table surface thinner than 0.75 might not be robust
enough, in my opinion. Something to be considered when
matching a desk to the Griprack the 4RU version weighs
approximately 20 lb empty. Filled with gear and topped with
powered monitors, the rack could be putting a lot of weight
on the back of your desk. In my opinion, youll want to favor
a work surface with a heavier, sturdier build. Other potential
hindrances to consider before choosing the slide-on racks
include table-leg location and under-table buttressing that
could impede the slots.
Once in place, the Gripracks side panels will have about a
9 overhang from the back edge of your desk. If your desk is
normally against a back wall, youll have to pull it out by
almost a foot. The Griprack 4 model rises 11 above the
tabletop, making the platform on top of the rack an ideal
elevation for monitors when combined with an average desk
height of 28-30. I found the approximately 9 deep by 20.5
width, high-density urethane pad glued to the platform to be
pretty damn good in decoupling the monitor from the rack
(and thereby your desk). I tried adding some Auralex MoPads
[Tape Op #30] for even more isolation, but the difference was
negligible to my ears.
My favorite design feature of the Griprack is that when
mounted on the back of an average-sized 30 deep tabletop,
the rack only occupies about a third of the tabletops depth,
which leaves a surprisingly large area in front of it free. With
both racks mounted, theres still plenty of room for my full-
size MIDI keyboard/controller, and I can continue to use my
desk for non-audio related tasks (paying bills, accounting,
miscellaneous Tape Op work, etc.) without feeling cramped.
Because the side panels of the rack bubble out from behind,
they hide messy cabling. Conveniently angled fronts allow for
easy access to the installed gears controls, regardless of
clutter that may occupy the desks surface. Due to the tilted
front, rack gear slides in easily, and if a drink is spilled, the
liquid goes under the rack, never touching any electronics. It
really seems like ZAOR has thought of everything here. Even
the rack rails are the type with square holes and clip-on cage
nuts, a design I prefer no worries about stripping a rail.
Cage nuts and matching rack screws are included.
ZAOR obviously put a lot of effort into the Gripracks
meticulous, form that follows function design, resulting in a
beautiful, superbly conceptualized product. Now almost any
table or desk can be transformed into an elegant and efficient
audio workstation. By the time you read this, an improved
Griprack Mk2, thats both stronger and lighter, should be
available for purchase. Eccellente!
(Griprack 2 $249 street, Griprack 4 $299;
www.zaorstudiofurniture.com)
SM <scottmcchane.com>
 Primacoustic
Stratus broadband ceiling cloud
Primacoustic has been making high-quality sound-control
products since 2000. I have owned a pair of Primacoustic
Recoil Stabilizer speaker-isolation platforms [Tape Op #62] for
many years now, and I love them. I had recently upgraded the
acoustic treatment in my new mix space, and things were
sounding great in the mix position, but not so great when I
moved back from the desk. The ceiling in the rear half of the
room in particular needed a little more attention, but I didnt
want to spend a lot of time throwing together a solution using
the wall-mount absorbers I had on hand. So I decided to
purchase the purpose-built Stratus ceiling cloud kit from
Primacoustic consisting of three adjoined 24 48 panels. longing for new speakers that could deliver more low end and
When assembled, each panel of the Stratus kit consists of
a fabric-covered, 2 thick Primacoustic Broadway broadband
absorber made of glass wool with resin-hardened edges; two
aluminum rails framing the longitudinal edges; and two
crossbars across the top face of the panel between the rails.
Brackets link the panels together into a single cloud, and
Radials ingenious SlipNot suspension system hangs the
completed cloud from the ceiling.
Assembly is very straightforward, requiring nothing more
than a screwdriver and a small wrench. The parts are
machined well, the screw holes line up perfectly, and the
series of bars, braces, and brackets come together as
expected. All hardware is included, and the printed
instructions make everything clear.
Once our three-panel cloud was complete, we got the tape
measure out and marked the locations on the ceiling for the
included drywall anchors. We drilled guide holes as instructed,
before hammering the anchors in. Wear some eye protection
when you do this, unless you prefer the sweet feeling of
drywall dust in your eyes. Once I had flushed my eyes with
water (I never learn), we screwed in the provided eye-hooks
to the anchors. (Obviously, if your mounting points are at
ceiling joists, you can skip the drywall anchors and screw
directly into the joists.)
We then attached the SlipNot cables to the hooks. SlipNot
is a unique suspension system that combines aircraft cable
with a cam-style releasable hook at one end and a simple
eye-sling at the other. I have hung ceiling panels using
other methods in the past, and SlipNot is the easiest system
Ive encountered. Aligning the cloud to the ceiling was as
simple as pulling on the cable to tighten or loosen the hold.
Cinch it, baby!
When you install effective room treatment, the results are
immediate. In the case of the Stratus cloud, music from my
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speakers gained a new level of clarity and focus. Before,
reflections occurring behind me were adding unwanted
resonance to my overall sound picture, resulting in distracting
and harmful masking of sonic detail. Now, whether I am
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sitting in the mix position, or pushed back from the desk, or
standing farther back in the room, there is a much more
consistent listening experience.
I would not hesitate to recommend the affordable and
um
professional-looking Stratus cloud kit as an effective solution
to getting your mixing or tracking space under control. The
whole assembly and installation process took two of us less
st
than an hour to complete from cutting open the box, to
enjoying a more accurate sonic environment. Primacoustic
offers a whole array of acoustic treatments and kits to fit a
variety of budgets, needs, and preferences, so check out the
companys website for more solutions.
($229.99 per panel, street; www.primacoustic.com)GS
Focal Professional
Trio6 Be active monitors
There are many important components of an audio chain. You
save your pennies to get a nice mic, a new preamp, perhaps some
different flavors of outboard gear; or if you work in-the-box,
maybe you collect plug-ins. Congratulations, you have begun your
journey on the path to a gear acquisition habit that will confound
your significant other, friends, and extended family and leave
you with an unquenchable thirst for more. But heres my advice:
Save the money you were going to spend on rehab, and get
yourself a pair of great-sounding monitors. All the fancy toys mean
little if you cannot accurately hear what your gear is doing.
In getting a new mix room set up and workable, I found myself
there is some consensus in the belief that at lower volumes, IMD
reach higher volumes. Moreover, I wanted something I could trust.
On the recommendation of Tape Ops own Scott McChane, I started
looking into Focal Professionals SM series of reference monitors
[Tape Op #60, #61, #108]. I was originally considering the
Twin6 Be, but was intrigued by the new Trio6 Be.
The Trio6 Be is unique in that it is a nearfield monitor with three
drivers 8 subwoofer, 5 mid-woofer, and 1 tweeter that can by the featherweight mass but extreme stiffness of the woofer cones
operate in two-way or three-way mode with the push of a switch.
Three-way mode fires up all three drivers, and claimed frequency
response is 35 Hz 40 kHz (3 dB), or 40 Hz 20 kHz (1 dB).
Two-way shuts off the subwoofer, limiting low-end response to
90 Hz (3 dB), with the reasoning being that this mode is useful for
checking mix translation to systems with limited bass response.
Each driver has its own internal amp (200 W, 150 W, 100 W),
and there are three trim pots on the back panel for low-shelf
(250 Hz), low-mid (160 Hz, Q=1), and high-shelf (4.5 kHz)
om
adjustment (3 dB). Also on the back is an XLR input jack
alongside a sensitivity selector (10 dBV or +4 dBu), and two 1/4
jacks for switching between two and threeway modes. One jack
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goes to a remote switch (like a footswitch) that you provide, while
the link jack connects to the other monitor(s).
A welcome feature is the ability to position the monitors either
vertically or horizontally, with a mid/tweeter plate that can be
l
rotated in 90 increments (using the included hex key). The
cabinet is beautifully crafted with side panels of cherry wood. The
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speakers look real purdy up there on my bridge. Need a workout
but hate to work out? You can stay right there in the studio and
break a sweat hoisting the Trio6 Be around. This sucker is heavy!
Between the amp, wood, and drivers, each speaker weighs in at a
m
beastly 44 lb! Overall size is roughly 20 11 14. Trio6 Be, I have been able to eliminate the use of my separate
My first listening experience after setting up the Trio6 Be pair
@g
was David Bowies brilliant and final album Blackstar, one that Ive
heard extensively in various formats. I imported 16-bit, 44.1 kHz
files from CD into a Pro Tools session, and played the songs
through the beautifully clear DAC of my Crane Song Avocet 2
monitor controller [Tape Op #103]. Just calibrating my ears to the
Focal speakers was a joyous journey. There was so much beauty in
the detail and placement of elements. Greater space and depth
were apparent, which engaged me in the music like never before.
The speakers sounded very good. I listened to a few other
selections of music, and again, the speakers sounded lovely.
But sounding good is not what I would call the primary goal
of a reference monitor. I want accuracy. I want truth. I want to
work for the mix. And importantly, I want to be able to listen for
a long time, sans fatigue. And on this point, the Trio6 Be delivers.
I can trust this speaker, whether I am listening at low volumes, or
I have it turned up. Its response is impeccably smooth, and even
when the level is rising, there is no perception of excessive
pressure in my ears, nor is there a frequency bulge due to
unmusical behaviors. The music coming out of this speaker never
hurts it just gets louder. In a phone conversation with Andy
Gear Reviews/(continued on page 56)/Tape Op#114/55
Hong about this smoothness and painless volume (yes, we geek
out internally too), I got schooled in intermodulation distortion
and its sonic effects. Since Andy was so bloody articulate, I asked
him to explain it again to make sure I didnt miss anything:
Intermodulation distortion is the introduction of spurious
frequencies to a complex signal (one consisting of two or more
frequencies), in which the new frequencies are sum-and-difference
products of the original frequencies. Both harmonic distortion
(HD) and intermodulation distortion (IMD) result from
nonlinearities in the system thats reproducing the signal,
especially when the system is being pushed to extremes. Of
particular note is that IMD, unlike HD, often includes components
that are not harmonically (and musically) related to the original
frequencies. There is no single standard for IMD measurement, but
is more fatiguing than HD, and at higher volumes, its more
annoying than HD sometimes to the point of being painful.
When I first visited the Focal Professional booth at a trade show
some years ago, I was able to handle some of the proprietary parts
and materials that Focal utilizes in its speakers. I was amazed by the
manufacturing precision throughout, and I was especially impressed
and tweeter domes, as well as the massive stability of the spider
supporting structures. A technical discussion with one of Focals
engineers ensued. In short, Focal designs and manufacturers its own
drivers, establishing the most exacting tolerances possible,
especially in regards to the mechanics of true pistonic motion,
which, when coupled with the use of high-rigidity composites and
alloys, ensures that voice coils, magnets, and diaphragms maintain
perfect alignment, even as they near the limits of full excursion. In
other words, the drivers are able to change displacement linearly
with the output signals from their respective amps throughout
their total volume range which in turn means lower IMD.
For more on what Andy is talking about, check out Focal
Professionals website for details on the technology behind the
Trio6 Bes W composite sandwich cones, pure Beryllium inverted
dome tweeter, and Class G and Class AB amplification. In practice,
what does all this mean?
The bass response on the Trio6 Be is excellent and without sag.
I can feel the beater of the kick drum on my chest, and I have
learned to trust what I am hearing as fact, not hype. Theres enough
power here to handle all the low end that big-bass genres like EDM,
dub, and hip hop serve up in heaps, with plenty of clarity, punch,
and detail coming from the speaker. For most of my work with the
subwoofer, with the exception of the occasional check on unwanted
crud that sometimes floats around down in the sonic sub-basement.
Likewise, the midrange on the Trio6 Be is beautifully detailed.
For me, the mix translation of this critical area is worth the price
of admission. This speaker offers an extra level of insight to what
works and what needs attention in what I consider to be the most
crucial segment of the spectrum to get right.
Mastering engineer Ed Brooks [Tape Op #39] from Resonant
Mastering in Seattle (and formerly of RFI) reinforced what I was
hoping was true. I sent Ed an updated mix of a song for a recent
Andrea Wittgens record I produced. The song had just not been
sitting well with the other material on the record, and it needed a
revisit, so I remixed it using the newly installed Trio6 Be speakers.
Ed commented that he liked how rich the mix sounded in the mid
and low-mid frequencies. Granted, I wasnt starting totally from
scratch, but I got the mix together very quickly using the Focals, and
the result sounded great. What more could I ask for?
On my previous, smaller monitors, I was always mixing a tad
bass-heavy to be certain that mixes sounded right when I got
them out of the room. Maybe it was the room itself, or maybe it was
the speakers, but I have no such issues now with the Focals. In fact,
 Gear Geeking w/ Andy
The nascence of my music-technology career goes back to high
school, when I wrote a 1-bit sampling drum-machine program for
my Apple ][+, utilizing the computers cassette-tape storage port
as the A/D converter. In college, I moved up to a Mac Plus. When
I got kicked out of college and ended up at Digidesign (now
Avid), my primary machines were a portable Mac SE and a then-
secret Mac II that was encased in plywood. When I returned to
college and continued on to grad school, I had several versions
of Mac II computers, supplemented with various UNIX
workstations. I stayed a loyal Mac user for many years thereafter,
always having at least one current-model Mac at home, even
when I switched to a Windows laptop for work. During that time,
I even built a couple FrankenMacs with parts that I repurposed
from other Macs or purchased online. But eventually, I switched
almost entirely to Windows. Today, my three main computers
my near-silent rackmount studio PC from Endpcnoise.com, my
ultraportable Toshiba touchscreen laptop, and my Microsoft
Surface 3 hybrid tablet are all running Windows 10. I find
that Windows 10, supplemented with Cygwin (a Unix-like
environment for Windows), is the best OS choice for my needs.
Windows 10 has a better balance of mouse/touchscreen UX
paradigms than previous versions of Windows, the vast majority
of programs compiled for previous versions still run in
Windows 10, and Windows 10 works on a broad range of devices,
even older hardware like my year-2008 studio PC. Importantly,
Windows 10 has been super stable on all three of my primary
devices. Decades ago, the Blue Screen of Death made regular
appearances in Windows, but since installing Windows 10 a year
ago, Ive only seen one BSOD. I recently visited the office of especially alongside much more famous folks like Hans Zimmer,
Cakewalk, developer of Sonar [Tape Op #107], and I sat down
with CTO Noel Borthwick to talk about Windows 10. The original
Cakewalk sequencer first shipped for Windows in 1991, and the
company has remained in an active relationship with the
Windows development team ever since. Noel explained to me
that the most significant change in Windows 10, in regards to
real-time audio needs, is in the Windows Audio Session API
(WASAPI) layer, which manages audio streams and handles audio
engines and endpoint devices. Interestingly, even though most
professional DAW applications rely instead on the ASIO protocol,
for Microsoft to make gains in WASAPI performance,
optimizations had to be implemented in the Multimedia Class
Scheduler Service (MMCSS) and in various Windows kernel
components. The fallout of these gains is that Windows 10 has
better low-latency performance, with lower CPU loads and fewer
interrupts, which ultimately means improved performance for
ASIO and other real-time processes too. To put it more directly,
in Windows 10, youll likely be able to load up your DAW sessions
le
with more tracks and/or use smaller (lower-latency) I/O buffers
than in Windows 7 or 8. Admittedly, I experienced one gotcha
here. Changes in MMCSS caused audio dropouts in Cubase 8 and
in the initial release of 8.5, but an easy workaround was to
pe
manually elevate the Cubase process to maximum priority. That
workaround is no longer required with the most recent releases
of Cubase 8.5. On a related note, many of the workarounds and
optimizations that were recommended by DAW publishers for
um
previous versions of Windows are no longer useful in Windows 10
(and some are actually detrimental). For help on this topic, read
Cakewalks Windows Optimization Guide <goo.gl/sUkGV2> for a
concise set of tweaks. I would also suggest turning off or
st
removing any default Windows features and apps that you dont
plan to use (e.g., Cortana, Money, Sports, Xbox, etc.), as
instructed by TenForums.com <goo.gl/Ttaoux>. All in all, Im very
happy with Windows 10, and Im looking forward to the
Anniversary Update in August. AH
56/Tape Op#114/Gear Reviews/(continued on page 58)
on my first couple mixes, my bass levels were a wee hot because I
was so accustomed to juicing the bass, but after a couple of days,
I quickly arrived at trusting exactly what I was hearing.
I experimented with placement width as well as
horizontal/vertical driver configuration, and I found that regardless
of arrangement, the Trio6 Be pairs sweet spot is quite large and
accurate. The phantom center is strong and is especially impressive
with vocals, which seem to hover in a three-dimensional space.
This, by the way, was the comment I heard most when others sat
right in front of the speakers: Its like I can reach out and touch
the singer! Or, The singer is right there. Also, because the
imaging between the two speakers is so strong, panning is
accurate and pinpointed.
I love these monitors, and they will not be making the return
trip to their origin of departure. The Focal Professional Trio6 Be is
a fantastic choice for anyone seeking a high-end monitor that is
on the bleeding edge of technology, and one that you can
absolutely trust to serve you dutifully for years to come. It gets
an A+ for fit, finish, sound, and build quality, as well as for
flexibility, trustworthiness, and honesty.
(Each $2795 street; www.focalprofessional.com) GS
Sylvia Massy w/
Chris Johnson
Recording Unhinged:
Creative & Unconventional Music
Recording Techniques (book)
When I interviewed Sylvia Massy almost a decade ago [Tape
Op #63], I had no inkling Id eventually end up in a book of hers,
setup, which required reconfiguration to display values quieter
om
Al Schmitt, Jack Joseph Puig, Bruce Swedien [#91], Geoff
Emerick [#57], George Massenburg [#54, #63], Bob
Clearmountain [#84], Tchad Blake [#16], Bob Ezrin [#31], Linda
.c
Perry, Dave Pensado [#111], Eric Valentine [#45], and others.
Sylvia has produced and/or recorded artists like Tool, System of
a Down, Johnny Cash, Prince, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Sevendust,
and Tom Petty. In other words, shes got real chops and
l
experience. In this full-color, 233-page, hardbound book, she
covers the art of recording unhinged in her own style, with a
ai
lot of guest appearances by some of the aforementioned crew.
Its a very visual read, as she also illustrates, literally, many
of the setups and sessions discussed, and she includes some of
her drawings of hilarious, dense, full-panel, busy studio scenes
m
throughout the book. Her art is unhinged and fun for sure. Her
morphed Polaroid session photos and other wild pics
@g
throughout provide even more stimuli.
Much of this book is bent on kicking recordists in the ass, and
keeping any rules at bay while reinforcing experimentation,
fun, and happy accidents. But its not all crazy times, as tips on
getting better vocal takes might go from absurd (upside down?)
to sublime (posture, lights down, headphone mixes, no audience,
and hot tea). Various chapters cover guitars, piano, vocals,
drums, bass, strings, mixing, rooms/spaces, organ, horns, and
synths. The section on production approach is amazing, where
she examines producer mavericks like Lee Scratch Perry, Konny
Plank, Joe Meek, and Sylvia Vanderpool-Robinson (founder and
producer of Sugar Hill Records). She then continues on with tips
for song arrangement, click tracks, hooks, bridges, and more.
There is so much real, great advice in this book.
Im serious. Anyone who is recording especially someone
just really getting his or her feet off the ground in this world
needs to own and read a copy of Recording Unhinged. Where else
would you find information on sphincter control while singing,
and how to mic a chicken? Nowhere else.
($29.99; www.halleonard.com, www.sylviamassy.com) LC
SPL
IRON mastering compressor
Soon after longtime Tape Op writer Garrett Haines, owner of
Treelady Studios, sent me a detailed review of the SPL IRON
compressor, Jessica Thompson, former Chief Mastering Engineer
at The Magic Shop, contacted me to offer her opinions too. I
always look forward to Jessicas contributions, and lucky for all
of us, Jessica also included observations from Michael
Romanowski and Piper Payne, her colleagues at Coast Mastering,
her new digs. All four perspectives are included here, starting
with Garretts detailed review, and ending with succinct
statements from Jessica, Michael, and Piper. AH
GH: This is a very good compressor. If you have Gear
Acquisition Syndrome, you might want to stop reading now.
Consider this fair warning.
The SPL IRON is a tube compressor aimed at mastering
use. Unlike reissues or revised classics, IRON is a refreshingly
new product a unique design born from the mind and
experiences of Wolfgang Neumann, mastering engineer and
cofounder of SPL.
While the name and the tube-based topology might suggest
an aggressive tone, I would not classify the IRON as a colored
processor. SPLs use of 120 V rails for the concomitant solid-state
circuitry, including proprietary op-amps, results in the quietest
tube compressor Ive ever encountered. Comparing IRONs self-
noise against some prominent, tube-based mastering
compressors was not a fair fight. For example, the Pendulum
OCL-2 exhibited a self-noise around 85 dB, and the Manley
Variable Mu about 90 dB; but IRON did not even register on my
than 110 dB. Furthermore, IRON utilizes custom transformers
that are shielded by mu-metal and are manufactured by Lundahl,
whose corporate slogan is, If you can hear it, its not ours
which further extends my insistence that this is more of a high-
fidelity piece than not.
Compression is achieved by splitting each channels signal
across two different twin-triode tubes, with different response
curves, which results in a natural, non-fatiguing compression.
The attack and release settings, which are available on six-
position rotary switches, are dependent on the selected rectifier
circuit, of which there are six choices utilizing different diodes
(germanium, silicon, LED, mixed). Meanwhile, the sidechain
control voltage can be affected a few ways. Control signal peaks
are limited by a feed-forward photo-resistive opto-isolator, which
in plain English means that sudden peaks wont make the
compressor shit the bed. There are four built-in sidechain EQ
curves, taken from Mr. Neumanns client projects. Finally, a
sidechain input allows an external signal to be piped into the
detection circuit more on that in a moment. A three-position
tube-bias switch, alongside the threshold control, allows you to
further adjust the character of tube compression. A kind of global
tone-shaper with settings for AirBass and Tape Roll-Off makes an
appearance as well. Rounding out the unique features is an auto-
bypass function that does a hands-free in/out comparison, so
you can sit back and evaluate. Did I note you can gain-stage the
input and output in 2 dB steps? There is a lot to take in. I havent
encountered a learning curve this steep since the Crane Song
STC-8. Ultimately, I found some general settings that often work
for me, and then I tweak as time permits. I was relieved to have
another respected IRON user (who declined to be named) tell me
that he employs the same usage strategy.
In use, IRON is in the same league as classic mastering
compressors. When I first saw the unit at the New York AES
Convention, I had my own auditioning material and headphones
with me. I compared the IRON to some household names and
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 found it could do what the others do in terms of dynamics control, but with more adjustability and a
lower noise floor. Back at the studio, I put a demo unit through more sophisticated tests.
For most compressors, I like to set the VU meters on gain-reduction mode, so I can get an
impression of how much Im sitting on a signal. The IRON requires some serious abuse before the
compression becomes evident, so I had to get comfortable with seeing greater reduction readings than
I am accustomed to. On fast settings, the IRON can be unobtrusive. For example, on rock songs, I was
able to grab stray transients almost invisibly. On a classical brass performance, IRON stayed out of the
way until I needed some control on a few passages. I did a lot of folk and singer/songwriter projects
during which IRON operated like a spy it got in, did the job, and disappeared without anyone
knowing. I often run IRON in full parallel-processing mode (using the blend fader of my Manley
Mastering Backbone [Tape Op #82 online]) with fast settings for attack, release, and rectifier making
it the most sublime $6,000 Oxford Inflatorstyle plug-in Ive ever heard. Sigh.
But I do have some concerns with the IRON. First, I contend that the majority of mastering
engineers use a console or signal-chain switcher. So I question the inclusion of the auto-bypass
function. Second, the included sidechain EQ curves, while very useful, are neither intuitive nor
standard. The response plots presented in the manual are overlaid and difficult to read, despite being
presented in color. In black and white, they would become an inseparable web. The image would be
easier to digest if it were spread across individual response graphs.
Moreover, the external sidechain connection is an input, not an insert. Many people might not
know the difference, since inserts are the norm these days. An insert jack, usually of the TRS variety,
allows you to route the control signal to an external processor (like an EQ) and return the resulting
signal to the same jack. A sidechain input, like the unbalanced TS jack on the IRON, requires you to
start with an in-phase source, feed it to the external processor directly, then route that processors
output into the sidechain input. This strikes me more as a feature for mixing, where the audio from
one instrument, say kick drum, is routed to the sidechain of another instruments dynamics processor,
for ducking, de-essing, or other mix-correction tasks. In my opinion, a mastering compressor should
have an insert, not an input.
And finally, the IRON is utterly sublime on lead vocals. Why is this a problem? With a street price
of $6000, few engineers will have the chance to audition, let alone actually use, the IRON on vocals.
I would like to see a mono version, perhaps with some of the mastering recall features removed, with
a lower price tag. This would allow the IRON to be used in more tracking and mixing situations. In an

om
age when fewer vocalists seem to know how to work a mic, having a dynamics processor with the
IRONs transparent leveling capabilities would be a major advantage.
I am still undecided as to my decision regarding the depth of controls, especially regarding the
.c
rectifier circuits. On some days, I find the differences among options to be so miniscule that they seem
pointless. Furthermore, I confess to a level of impatience on my part. I like to audition a compressor
and make a fast decision regarding its merits on a given track. Auditioning the IRON is rarely a quick
process. This cuts into my productivity. On the other hand, some mastering projects are a series of
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0.5 dB equalization changes paired with a gossamer approach to compression. Few analog units can
manage minute adjustments as well as the IRON. Again, I remain conflicted. Is this a blessing or a
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curse? Perhaps the answer is, its both.

With that said, its refreshing to see new gear that is more than a rehash of some classic circuit.
IRON is its own design, and I really like that. And even though SPL might have gone overboard with
features, the results are a first-rate unit with phenomenal sonic qualities. I recommend demoing one
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yourself, but be prepared to devote a bit of time trying out this device; the longer you test it, the more
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rewarding it will turn out to be.

JT: I have a friend who repairs tube amps at Main Drag Music in New York City, and he has an
encyclopedic knowledge of tubes. He can talk my ear off about the intricacies of bias adjustment. What
I immediately loved about the SPL IRON is that I dont need to consult a tube expert to use it
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effectively. I can play around with tube bias and rectifier selection using, quite simply, the knobs
and my ears to make mastering decisions based on how the music sounds. This unit offers enormous
flexibility during mastering. When working on a well-recorded acoustic bluegrass mix, I found I could
adjust the IRON to pull everything together, while gently tucking in any mandolin plucks that stuck
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out. I then sent an in-the-box electronic dance mix through the IRON and played with its rectifier
settings to get a more interesting, dimensional sound.
MR: Since refusing to return the demo unit, the IRON has become an integral part of my mastering
chain. It is a workhorse piece that I use every day. I cant think of another compressor that offers as
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many different possibilities for shaping dynamics from quick and clean, to smooth and vibey, and
everywhere in-between. In variety and musicality, the sidechain EQs far exceed utilitarian high and
lowpass filters. Ive also gotten a lot of use out of the AirBass and Tape Roll-Off modes, which can
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help balance problematic mixes without having to add additional filters or EQ.
PP: The IRON has now completed my mastering dynamics-processing chain. It has a smooth, yet
flexible handle on fast transients. It controls bass with dimension and impact. And it can handle any
type of music I put through it. It really irons out the dynamic wrinkles in a master!
($5999 street; www.spl.info)
Garrett Haines <www.treelady.com> &
58/Tape Op#114/Gear Reviews/(continued on page 60) Jessica Thompson, Michael Romanowski, Piper Payne <www.coastmastering.com>
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Please Support Our Advertisers/Tape Op#114/59

 PreSonus
StudioLive 16.4.2AI digital mixer
& audio interface
Contributing writer Eric Tischler reviewed the original
StudioLive 16.4.2 digital mixer and interface for us in 2010
[Tape Op #80]. Eric loved the mixer enough that he swapped out
his analog Harrison console and Otari 2 tape machine for a
StudioLive 24.4.2 and laptop. A couple of years ago, PreSonus
upgraded its StudioLive mixers, adding functionality to position
them in its AI line, which also includes rackmount mix engines,
control surfaces, and a suite of software for Windows, macOS,
and iOS all contributing to a seamless integration strategy,
as the Active Integration label suggests.
Ive been using digital mixers for close to 30 years going
all the way back to the Yamaha DMP7. The DMP7 sounded noisy
and gritty, but priced at $3,700, it was the first affordable
digital mixer aimed at project studios. And even though it was
small enough to mount into a standard 19 rack, it had a ton of
features for its time, including three-band parametric EQ on
each of its eight fader channels, a stereo compressor for its
stereo mix bus, and three multi-effects processors. Accessing all
of these features required paging through parameters displayed
on a two-line, backlit LCD panel and using a small set of
buttons, much like editing patches on the once-ubiquitous
Yamaha SPX-90 of the same era.
The StudioLive 16.4.2AI is also compact enough to
rackmount, but in terms of both features and usability, theres
no comparison. It has sixteen fader channels with Class-A mic
preamps, four subgroups, a stereo mix bus, six aux sends, two
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stereo aux returns, control-room monitoring, and talkback all
of which have corresponding analog I/O. In addition, it
operates as a 24-bit, 96 kHzcapable, 3218 audio interface for
Windows and macOS. .c
Inside, the 16.4.2AI has enough DSP power to offer a high-
pass filter, gate/expander, compressor, limiter, and four-band
parametric EQ on every input channel and output bus. When any
one of the fader channels or buses is selected, a row of sixteen
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rotary encoders allows you to easily tweak the dynamics and EQ
parameters, while the sixteen LED bar-graphs, which normally
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show signal levels, are repurposed to indicate the values of
these parameters. PreSonus calls this functionality together
with comprehensive metering, aux/submix routing, and
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copy/save/restore utilities the Fat Channel. (And again,
theres a Fat Channel on every input channel and output bus.)
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Furthermore, a 31-band graphic EQ is available on the aux buses
as well as the main stereo bus, and there are four onboard
stereo delay/reverb FX processors on their own dedicated sends
and returns.
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In addition to Fat Channel, most of StudioLives functionality
is accessible through the plethora of real knobs, buttons, and
encoders adorning the top surface of the mixer, so in actual use,
the 16.4.2AI is a breeze to get around. But still, theres a small
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LCD window (with six lines versus the DMP7s two) alongside an
array of buttons for page/parameter navigation and a rotary
encoder for changing parameter values. Here you can view and
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edit FX settings; store and recall channel presets and mixer
scenes; and manage system-wide settings, like sample-rate,
pre/post sends, subgroup delays, device cascading, networking
mode, and remote-device entitlements.
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Huh? Networking mode and device entitlements? Well, nows
a good time to talk about that Active Integration strategy.
On the back of the 16.4.2AI is an Ethernet port. On top is a
USB port to insert the USB Wi-Fi dongle thats included in the box.
60/Tape Op#114/Gear Reviews/(continued on page 62)
Use either method to connect the 16.4.2AI to your data
network (via a standard Ethernet router, switch, or Wi-Fi access
point); navigate through the system settings to choose static
or dynamic IP; and Shazam! Your mixer is now able to connect
to other devices on your network. That includes other AI
hardware from PreSonus, as well as Windows, macOS, and iOS
devices running the free UC Surface application.
Let me start off by saying UC Surface is effin awesome. I
installed it on my studio PC and my touchscreen-equipped
laptop, both of which are running Windows 10. I also installed
the iOS app on my iPad Mini. UC Surface allows you to see and
change pretty much every parameter of the 16.4.2AI. Whenever
you tweak something in the app, the 16.4.2AI and all of the
other instances of UC Surface connected to it are updated in
real-time. Thats Active Integration at work. Very cool!
Even cooler is that UC Surface is a joy to use. Why? Because
PreSonus bucked the industry norm and eschewed
skeuomorphism. On the contrary, the company focused on
actual usability not some back-assward notion that what
you see on the screen should look and operate like a literal
piece of hardware. Therefore, UC Surface is devoid of virtual
knobs, brushed aluminum finishes, fake shadows, and all of
the other skeuomorphic impediments that hinder the user
experience. Instead, its graphic interface is flat, modern, and
utterly usable. And importantly, its just as easy to manipulate
with your fingers as it is with a mouse. In fact, because the
application supports multitouch (on Windows and iOS), its
best used with your fingers.
For example, changing a fader level in UC Surface is as easy
as touching anywhere in the fader box and sliding your finger.
You dont have to grab the fader; as long as your finger
initially lands anywhere within the fader box, you can slide your
finger up or down to move the fader. With eight fingers, you can
move eight faders simultaneously (or as many as your
touchscreen supports), and modifier keys allow you to quickly
null a fader or move it more slowly for greater precision. Plus,
multiple EQ and dynamics parameters can be adjusted
simultaneously by touching and moving the control points of
their corresponding graphs and sliders. Sliders zoom to a
bigger size when youre interacting with them and then shrink
back to their normal display size when you lift your finger. And
the whole GUI, which supports low and highresolution displays
alike, can expand or contract in an intelligent manner to fit the
constraints of the application window or device screen, with
different subpanels folding down into tabs. Thoughtful details
like this are evident throughout UC Surface. Clearly, PreSonus
hired an experienced UX team instead of a glorified illustrator
to design its software. Kudos!
Now lets field the inevitable questions:
If the 16.4.2AI is already easy to use via its physical controls,
why would you want software-based virtual controls for it? Well,
because sometimes youre not sitting next to your mixer like
when youre ringing out a performance space, repatching mics
in the live room, checking out the singers headphone mix, or
recording yourself in the iso booth. A neat ancillary feature is
the ability to lock down all of the digital controls on the mixer,
so when you step away from it, someone else cant change your
settings. And you can even offer remote control of the 16.4.2AI
to the members of the band so they can tweak their own
headphone or monitor mixes.
Well thats neat, but wouldnt you be risking the band
screwing up the main mix? Thats when the device entitlements
I mentioned earlier come into play. You can limit the
functionality of connected devices on a per-device basis. For
example, lets say you grant control of only the Aux 1 bus to the
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drummers iPhone, while the singers iPhone can change
only Aux 2... and so on. Meanwhile, the bands merch guy
is doing double-duty as the monitor engineer, so you give
his iPad access to all of the aux buses.
Hmmm. Isnt UC Surface too complicated for a musician
to use during a performance? Yes, it probably is, so
PreSonus also offers QMix-AI, a free iPhone app thats
dead-simple to operate. Its primary screen shows two bar-
graphs, labeled Me and Band, with a huge scroll wheel in
between them. Functionality here is obvious slide your
finger up or down, anywhere on the screen, and the scroll
wheel moves, changing the balance between Me and
Band. Secondary screens in the app allow you to see signal
levels and configure which channels make up the mix.
Even if youve got a guitar pick in your hand, you can
operate QMix-AI by brushing the screen with the back of
your knuckle.
In addition to all that, UC Surface gives you access to the
integrated Smaart Measurement Technology from Rational
Acoustics. Wizards walk you through measuring and
analyzing frequency response and delay, so that you can use
the built-in tools (or external devices) to compensate for
the system/room response and for inter-speaker delay.
Moreover, Smaart-powered RTA and spectrogram displays
can be layered underneath UC Surfaces EQ curve editor,
which lets you visualize what youre hearing as you EQ
individual tracks, submixes, or the main mix.
Bundled with all StudioLive mixers is Capture 2 for
Windows and macOS. Its an application that allows you to
record multitrack audio onto a connected host computer
in as simple of a manner as possible. Theres no need to
think about routing, as all connections are one-to-one
between fader channels on the StudioLive and tracks in
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the application. You can record-enable tracks individually
and start recording, or you can hit a single button to start
recording on all tracks immediately. Basic editing and
bouncing tools are available to splice, move, cut, copy,
and paste events, and then recombine them. Thoughtfully,
the application allows you to sync the timeline to the time
of day or to MIDI Time Code. Theres even a Virtual
Soundcheck mode that allows you to load up previously
recorded soundfiles and play them back through the fader
channels, as if the band were playing live through the
mics. Virtual Soundcheck remote-controls the 16.4.2AI,
configuring the fader sources for the band-less
soundcheck, and then creates a new Capture session, re-
configuring and arming the tracks so that youre ready to
mix and record the real band.
Also bundled is Studio One Artist 3, the intermediate
version of Studio One, a highly functional DAW application
thats come a long way since we reviewed it back in 2010
[Tape Op #76]. Studio One opens Capture sessions directly.
(You can also export your Capture sessions in OpenTL
format.) Interestingly, PreSonus ported the Fat Channel
code to a native plug-in that runs in Studio One. This means
that when a session saved in Capture is opened in Studio
One, you have the option to recall any saved mixer scenes,
including Fat Channel settings, into Studio Ones virtual
mixer (minus FX settings). Plus, this scene migration works
both ways; you can make changes to a mixer scene in Studio
One and then recall the scene to your 16.4.2AI through
Capture. But it doesnt stop there, because Studio One 3,
Capture 2, and all of the AI mixers share the same 64-bit
codebase for their audio engines. Therefore, your tracks will
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sound identical regardless of where youre hosting the mix,
so scene migration truly is a seamless process.
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Importantly, unlike my DMP7 from decades ago that
compromised sound for features, compactness, and
affordability, the 16.4.2AI sounds clean and has plenty of
dynamic range. I didnt have a first-generation StudioLive
mixer to compare with, so I asked Eric Tischler to spend
time with a new AI mixer and send me his findings:
When last we spoke, Id retired my Harrison analog
console and Otari MTR-90 24-track tape deck to go digital
with the PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2 and Capture and Studio
One software. Since then, Ive been very happy. The
reduction in hassles, the flexibility (I got two of my heroes
in the UK to send me vocals for a record not something
I wouldve wanted to deal with on tape), the cost-
effectiveness, and the sound quality all have been very
satisfying. To that last point, I got excited when I learned
that the design of the new StudioLive AI series incorporated,
among other things, subtle improvements to the sound; but
time with the board has demonstrated that the new features
that allow synchronizing the console to the recording and
control software are the real selling point.
But lets talk about the sound. The differences between
the original and new AI series were largely negligible. With
the AI, cymbals resolved more delicately, guitars were a
little brighter, and vocals seemed to have extended range.
On the original StudioLive, the stereo image was notably
better, as were acoustic guitars and bass; electric guitars
had a little more mass but sounded a little less pristine. If
this mish-mash of observations doesnt add up to you, then
you, like me, might think this is just another failed A/B
listening test (meaning my observations are...
questionable), or the differences were down to
performance. Maybe guitar strings got a little duller, the
tubes got a little hotter. Similarly, I couldnt detect a
dramatic difference in fidelity in the onboard effects
(dynamics, EQ, and reverbs). Surprisingly, headphones
sounded unquestionably better with the AI; I dont know if
thats due to the changes in circuitry or DSP firmware, or a
new headphone amp. Bottom line both StudioLive
mixers sound really good. (I might prefer the AI for jazz or
classical, and the original for rock... or not.)
After reading Erics comments, I contacted PreSonus for
an explanation. It turns out that the AI series utilizes the
same Burr-Brown converters as the original StudioLive
mixers, but improvements were made to the circuit board
layout and power supply. In addition, the AI mixers now
employ the advanced audio engine thats also in Studio
One and Capture, as I explained above. Understandably,
these changes affect the overall sound of the mixer in a
subtle manner.
I also asked Eric how hes been getting along with his
original StudioLive. Heres what he shared with me:
Back in 2012, a couple of years after I purchased my
StudioLive, I recorded a radio session for The Wedding
Present. My band The Jet Age was going on tour with them,
and we were doing a gear share, so Id essentially set
everything up by the time they arrived for the session. I
tracked the band live in one room, and the integrated board
and software made it super easy to pull everything together,
especially during mixdown. Other than a couple of RND
Portico preamps, it was all PreSonus. The fact that the mixer
actually sounds good (or neutral) meant that I knew exactly
what I was going to get on playback, and the EQ and
compression were then totally predictable. They were doing
songs from Seamonsters, which is one of my top three
records of all time, so it was a thrill to be able to do those
songs justice with this rig.
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More recently, I recorded, mixed, and mastered A Quiet
Reminder by The Jonny Cohen Love Machine for Teen-Beat
Records, and they loved the sound that was a full
PreSonus production. I think the StudioLives preamps really
helped because theres just a hint of sweetness there, so
when I wound up mixing and mastering, I really didnt need
much additional seasoning. Also, I wound up using more
compression than usual on some tracks, and the Fat
Channels dynamics processing let me do a lot while
sounding like I only did a little.
Thanks, Eric! Now, if youve read this far, and youre still
curious, let me enumerate a few more features of the
StudioLive 16.4.2AI, as well as some of its idiosyncrasies:
Each of the sixteen fader channels starts with a Class-A
XMAX mic preamp (XLR) and a line input (1/4 TRS)
connect your source to one or the other. Up to +65 dB of
gain is available. An analog direct output (on DB-25
connectors) allows you to immediately feed other devices.
For example, you can use the 16.4.2AI as an onstage
monitor mixer and send line-level splits of your mics to a
separate FOH mixer; or you can patch an input to another
channel for parallel processing; or you can feed another set
of converters. Anyway, you get the idea. Additionally, theres
an unbalanced analog insert send/return loop, followed
immediately by the A/D converter. After conversion, the
signal travels in the digital domain to the Fat Channel and
to the sends for the Aux and FX buses. You have a choice of
three tap points for each Aux and FX send bus:
precompressor/EQ, postFat Channel, or post-fader. Theres
also a Digital Send/Return loop, which you can place pre or
postFat Channel, which streams the signal to/from your
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DAW. Following the fader are the assignments for Main, Sub,
and Solo buses.
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The Digital Send is always active, but the Digital Return
can be bypassed. In other words, you can choose either
the analog input or the Digital Return as the faders
source. This means you can bring in sixteen analog sources
into the fader channels, send them all to your DAW, and
then choose to monitor the analog source or DAW track on
a per-fader basis. Its not quite a full inline-console
experience, but its halfway there. Unfortunately, the
button that switches between analog input and Digital
Return cant be controlled by Capture or Studio One, and
the 16.4.2AI doesnt support ASIO Direct Monitoring, so
doing punch-ins while using a single fader for playback,
recording, and input monitoring (as you can do with Pro
Tools HD, Cubase on Windows, a dedicated hard disk
recorder, or an analog tape machine) is impossible to do,
unless you want to suffer through the latency introduced
by the host buffer. One workaround is to configure pre and
postfader aux sends for your headphone feed, and then
set up separate tracks in your DAW just for the punch-ins,
like you would need to do in Pro Tools LE back in the day.
Too bad if only the 16.4.2AIs Digital Return button
could be auto-controlled by the DAW, punch-in workflow
would be much improved.
In fact, none of the 16.4.2AIs functions can be DAW
automated. Conversely, you cant use the 16.4.2AI as a
control surface for your DAW. (There are other products
in the AI line that offer this kind of functionality.) At
least you can save and recall whole mixer scenes.
Unfortunately, you cant isolate and exclude specific
channels during recall, but you can exclude functions
across all channels in the recall operation like all
channel names, or all bus assignments, or all EQ
settings, etc.
 Recalling fader positions is done manually, because the
faders arent motorized. This process, which PreSonus
calls Fader Locate, is easy to do using UC Surface, but its
a clunky operation on the actual mixer itself (even
though it has been greatly improved from the original
StudioLives Locate mode, which effectively locked you
out of real-time mixing with the faders until you exited
the mode). When you enable Fader Locate, each LED bar-
graph shows you the direction to move its corresponding
fader, with the number of lit segments above/below the
bar-graphs center-point hinting at how far you have to
move the fader. Arguably, this is incrementally better
than the VCA faders of yore, with simple arrow lights
pointing up or down, but I would prefer if the bar-graph
showed me an estimate of the faders target position
instead. (If you have UC Surface running, you see the
physical fader location superimposed with the target
location much easier to grok.)
Fat Channel settings can be saved and recalled as presets
in an onboard library (or transferred to/from UC Surface). A
truly useful feature is the ability to A/B between two Fat
Channel settings, or to audition saved presets without
having to overwrite the current settings. Save, recall, copy,
compare, and audition operations are all simple to do
because the backlights of the various buttons walk you
through the process. You can copy settings between Fat
Channels as well as between mix layers for example, copy
all Aux 1 send levels to Aux 2 which speeds up building
your mixes. Unfortunately, sends are only accessible within
mix layers. In other words, theres no way to simultaneously
access all of the sends for a single, selected channel.
Instead, you have to page through the appropriate mix
layers to see a channels sends.
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In the Settings panel of UC Surface, theres a tab thats
confusingly called Aux Routing. You might assume that its
a patch-panel for the Aux buses, but its actually for
patching the buses (Main, Sub, FX Send, and Solo) and
secondary inputs (Aux Return, Talkback, Tape In) to Digital
Sends 17-32 (to your DAW) and to the S/PDIF output on
the rear of the StudioLive. (The S/PDIF output parallels
Digital Sends 31-32.) And more confusingly, Digital Sends
17-32 show up in your DAW labeled as StudioLive AUX1-16.
Huh? Why the 32 Digital Sends arent just simply named
StudioLive 1-32 in your DAW is beyond me.
The onboard facilities for control-room monitoring and
talkback are fairly extensive for a compact mixer, even if
you are limited to a single stereo CR Output and a single
headphone out. I appreciate that the monitor bus is a
summing bus, which makes it super easy to do things like
record a guitar DI signal as a guide track while listening
to a rehearsal recording from a mobile phone connected to
the unbalanced Tape In input. By the way, if youre micing
anything nearby the 16.4.2AI, be cognizant of the cooling
fans inside the mixer. The fan-noise volume of the
16.4.2AI is somewhere between Macbook laptop and Mac
Pro tower levels.
The option card that comes preinstalled includes two
FireWire 800 ports, and it supports the Apple Thunderbolt
to FireWire Adapter; but we all know that FireWire is on
its deathbed. PreSonus announced a Thunderbolt option
card a couple of years ago, but it doesnt yet exist. AVB
Ethernet and Dante cards are available for purchase now,
allowing you to network and stream audio between
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devices equipped with those standards. (But unlike the
FireWire and Dante cards, the AVB card doesnt support
multitrack recording.)
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Clearly, the 16.4.2AI would be a great central piece for
your project-studio or live-sound rig. Then, add an iPad or
a touchscreen laptop as the first step towards expanding
the capabilities of your rig. Later on, if you find yourself
needing more channels in the future, you can cascade a
second StudioLive AI mixer, and the combined set of fader
channels (up to 64 total) will all be accessible in Capture
and Studio One. Or connect to any StudioLive RM or RML
rack mixer via AVB over Cat 5e or Cat 6 cabling, and use
the RM or RML as a stage box or monitor mixer that you
control from FOH. In other words, as your needs grow, so
can your AI-powered system.
All in all, Im very impressed with the StudioLive
16.4.2AI for its sound, capabilities, and affordability.
There are other digital mixers within earshot of its price,
and some of them even include features that are missing
from the AI, like motorized faders or an onboard
touchscreen. But none of them beat the 16.4.2AI in terms
of its comprehensive analog I/O, the quality of its bundled
software, its support for a wide variety of workflows, and
the richness of the AI ecosystem. Its nearing three
decades since my first forays into using a digital console,
but even with all that experience, Im still amazed at how
much the 16.4.2AI offers!
Thanks to Eric Tischler for checking out the AI and
offering his thoughts on its sound. By the way, if youre
missing Erics elegant writing, you can find him at Tone
Report <www.tonereport.com>, where dozens of his
excellent guitar-pedal reviews have been published.
($1,599.95 street; www.presonus.com)
AH w/ Eric Tischler <www.sonicboomerangrecords.com>
 Carl Tatz Design
PhantomFocus eChair
Carl Tatz is an award-winning studio designer best known for
his PhantomFocus System [Tape Op #82], a wholistic approach to
optimizing all aspects of a monitoring system in order to achieve
the best performance from the speakers, the room, and ultimately
the engineer. To that end, his company, Carl Tatz Design, now
offers a task chair thats been specifically conceived to handle the
kinds of duties both stationary and moving that we as
engineers must fulfill when were sitting in front of our monitors.
As a chair geek, I rushed to check out the PhantomFocus
eChair (with the leading e presumably standing for engineer) as
soon as I finished watching the very informative video on CTDs
ecommerce website, which features eChair designer Steve Knight
demoing all of the chairs features. Ive had my eChair for several
months now, and although I still prefer my HG Capisco saddle
chair [Tape Op #72] at my office desk, the eChair is what I sit on
at my mixing console. Sit may not be a fair word to use in this
context, because the eChair offers an incredibly active, not-
quite-seated experience, which CTD calls ZenWave.
Let me start by explaining two patented features of the eChair
that Ive seen in no other chair. First, the ActiveTilt seat pan
pivots (not slides) forward and backward on a set of elastomer
columns. Second, the Free-Float backrest can be unlocked, so
that hidden springs actively push the backrest into your lower
back as you lean your body forward and backward. Think about
these two functions for a second, and then try to envision
yourself doing what you do when youre working at your mixing
console. Yup, youre constantly alternating between leaning
forward to make adjustments, and sitting upright to better hear
the consequences of those adjustments. And other times, youre
pushing with your legs and leaning your body sideways or even
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backwards to reach for gear in the racks. In all of these instances,
the eChair follows your movements, agilely providing physical
support and eagerly massaging your back at the same time all
the while earnestly promoting good posture.
Other features include a standard recline, which allows the
seat pan, backrest, and arm rests to tilt backward together in
unison, and a unique decline, which is a tilt-forward position you
would use in conjunction with extended seat height to straighten
your spine and transfer some of your weight to your leg muscles,
a body position that reduces pressure on your lower-back. Big
paddle levers below the seat pan assure easy operation of the
aforementioned features, and the levers can be pulled for
momentary adjustment from a locked state, or pushed down to
allow freely unlocked variation. Additionally, the eChair doesnt
skimp on any features that are expected on professional task
chairs. Armrests have height, width, and yaw-angle settings; the
height of its backrest can be changed; and its lever-activated
pneumatic lift makes seat height adjustment easy.
The seat pan and backrest utilize an open, suspended
weave of nylon fibers, much like the iconic and ubiquitous
Aeron chair from Herman Miller. But thats where the
similarity between the two task chairs ends. Unlike the Aeron,
the eChair, with its ActiveTilt seat pan (and its higher-density
foam at the front curve of the pan), doesnt cut off blood flow
to my legs. And after a day spent working at a mixing console
on an eChair, I feel refreshed and invigorated, without the
cramps and pains that normally come with hours of sedentary
posture in an Aeron. (I still have a few of the Aeron chairs I
purchased years ago, at an auction of a failed startup
operation that hadnt even gotten to unwrapping its newly
acquired furniture before the first dotcom bubble burst.)
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To put it succinctly, sitting in an Aeron versus sitting in an
eChair is a night and day difference. My back especially is thankful
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of the eChair, perhaps because the Free-Float backrest massages
my back and rehydrates the intervertebral discs, increasing the
space between the vertebrae and taking pressure off the nerves
that radiate out from the lower spine, as Steve Knight carefully
explains in his CTD video. Or perhaps its a combination of all the
chairs motion-complementing features that discourages me from
clenching my back muscles when trying to hold an extended body
position at my console. Whatever the reason, the eChair is
keeping me healthy, happy, and focused on making better
recordings and mixes which fits in perfectly with the
PhantomFocus ethos.
If I could offer any ideas for future versions of the chair, Id
ask for some way to adjust the ActiveTilt elastomers to better
match my lean build, greater tilt-forward decline angle to allow
me to transfer more weight to my leg muscles, and optional
casters with higher friction for use on hard floors. (Regarding
the latter request, I ordered my HG chairs with higher-friction
castors, and its nice to know that these chairs wont roll into a
rack of gear when inadvertently bumped.)
With that said, the eChair is an easy recommendation. Perhaps
youre planning to buy yet another 500-series module that youll
use here and there, or youre scouring eBay or Reverb.com for a
certain mic that youll occasionally shoot out with all of the other
mics in your cabinet. Why not instead consider the purchase of a
PhantomFocus eChair? Its a product that will have a positive
effect on everything that you do in your studio, day in and day
out; and it probably costs less than the 500-series module or
vintage mic that youre eyeing. Its certainly cheaper than an
Aeron. By the way, the high build-quality of the eChair is
reflective of the fact that its manufactured by Crown Seating, a
leader in ergonomic seating products across multiple industries.
($550 direct; shop.carltatzdesign.com) AH
 Warm Audio
WA-2A tube optical compressor
Warm Audio continues to disrupt the pro audio world, this time
with the WA-2A, a mono tube compressor based on the revered
Teletronix LA-2A a design that is now over 60 years old. The
companys mission, to produce pro-level gear at affordable prices,
has worked out well both for its founder, Bryce Young, and its
customers, myself included. Warm Audio mass-produces high-quality
mic preamps, compressors, and equalizers, relying on economies of
scale to keep the retail costs down while still maintaining excellent
build quality and premium componentry. These are not just straight
clones of vintage pieces; Warm gently expands the feature sets with
additions like stereo linking, variable signal paths, and expanded
gain-structure settings on many of its pieces of gear.
The WA-2A is as much a true LA-2A as any modern compressor
can be. It is based on the Teletronix schematic with the same all-
discrete tube audio path as the original circuit, using modern,
custom-wound transformers from CineMag and the well-regarded
Kenetek T4B optical attenuator. Along with the four tubes for the
audio path, the WA-2A even provides an optional, unpopulated,
tube socket which allows the user to install an original (almost
impossible to source) 6AQ5 opto driver tube in place of the factory-
installed modern-equivalent 6P1 tube. This tube doesnt affect the
audio path, it is a voltage driver for the optical cell and basically
boosts the control voltage to the light source in the optical cell
which controls the gain reduction. The Kenetek T4B is a spot-on
substitute for the extinct T4B, but it is socketed and can easily be
subbed out with your choice of T4B, should you wish to try various
modern T4B options.
The WA-2A only takes up two rackspaces, but the top of the WA-2A
om
is vented, and I would recommend leaving a full empty space above
the unit. Even after long days of use, I found the unit to run only
slightly warm to the touch, but ample cooling, I am told, will extend
.c
the life of the T4B cell. The units front panel reflects the aesthetic of
the original, with a flat-grey paint job and three vintage-style
chicken-head knobs for output gain, peak reduction (threshold), and
meter-mode selection. One toggle switch powers up the unit and
l
another selects between compress or limit modes. The rectangular VU
meter lights with a warm, vintage-like glow. The pre-emphasis screw,
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originally located on the front panel of the LA-2A, now appears as a
knob on the rear panel, alongside the meter adjustment and stereo-
link adjustment knobs. Audio inputs and outputs connect via either
balanced XLR or 1/4 TRS connectors, while the stereo-link
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connection uses a single 1/4 TRS connector. This unit, like the Warm
Audio EQP-WA [Tape Op #110], uses a standard IEC power cord,
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eliminating the need for a wall-wart power supply.
Im addicted to opto-based compressors for vocals, bass, and lead
instruments due to their smooth (program dependent) release times
le
and transparent (instantaneous) attack characteristics. Plus, with
only two knobs to adjust, finding the appropriate settings can be
done quickly. Having been designed for broadcast purposes, the
original LA-2A would be adjusted by a technician to respond more
pe
to speech frequencies or to broadband program frequencies via the
onboard HF-Bias pot. This bias adjustment affects the WA-2A
similarly to a sidechain high-pass filter. For full-range instruments
and upright bass, I like to leave the bias flat, but for vocals or
um
electric guitar, I turn the bias half-way up, and the compressor
becomes less sensitive to low-frequency information and seems a bit
less grabby or obvious in its behavior. While I was reviewing it,
st
the WA-2A sat on top of my outboard rack, so I could easily reach
the bias knob, but when the unit is mounted in a rack, the bias knob
will be difficult to adjust. Maybe Warm could produce a revision with
the bias on the front panel? I find the bias adjustment very useful
and often play it against the reduction knob to find the most
transparent settings for vocals and lead instruments.
66/Tape Op#114/Gear Reviews/(continued on page 68)
During my testing, I used the WA-2A for jazz, pop, and R&B
tracking, as well as for mixing lead vocal, upright and electric bass,
acoustic and electric guitar solos, and mono drum-room mic. While
mixing in-the-box using analog inserts, I compared the WA-2A to
my Summit Audio DCL-200, Anthony Demaria Labs ADL 1000, and
Inward Connections Vac Rac TSL-1 and The Brute compressors
all of which I find invaluable in my mixes. While I use plug-ins for
many compression duties, these hardware units help vocals and
basses sit perfectly in my mixes. The ADL 1000 provided the most
pronounced color change, with a dark, thick tone that I dont find
that useful for pop, but sometimes just right for heavy rock
material. The Vac Rac and The Brute are my go-to compressors, as
they provide extremely transparent dynamic control and a subtle
harmonic density, even when smashing a vocal by more than 15 dB.
The WA-2A, likewise, does an excellent job of transparent
compression for both light gain-riding and severe clamping. On lead
vocals, the WA-2A maintained a consistent tone, and the
microdynamics remained intact, even with an average of 57 dB of
gain reduction. In plain English, the WA-2A sounds clean and
natural, even when working hard. The overall tone of the WA-2A is
a bit brighter, or more high-frequencyforward, than the Vac Rac
and The Brute, so the WA-2A provides a subtle and unique presence
and energy to lead instruments. I mostly stay in the compress mode
on LA-2As, but the limit mode on the WA-2A provided the perfect
spank and control for a particularly percussive acoustic guitar solo.
That kind of dynamic control easily took the place of an LA-3A in
limit mode. I would not hesitate to put the WA-2A across any vocal,
bass, or lead instrument in my mixes. On bass, I found the WA-2A
to provide firm control, especially of the lowest octave, which
helped an upright bass sit well in a bouncy jazz arrangement. The
WA-2A benefits the source with a bit of sparkly tube sheen, very
musical compression, and a slight transformer-flavored upper-bass
boost. If I were to go the plug-in route, it would probably take at
least two or three plug-ins to start to emulate all the sonic
enhancements that this box provides.
Warm Audio has once again hit the nail on the head, producing
a tried-and-true product in the WA-2A with both vintage character
and modern conveniences. And at its price, its competition is thin.
($899 street; www.warmaudio.com)
Adam Kagan <www.mixer.ninja>
PSI Audio
AVAA C20 active bass absorber
I dont know how many unicorns PSI Audio had to milk to fill up
this 20 tall box full of magic. Actually, its not really a milk box; its
more like a wedge of Swiss cheese. Coincidentally, its multifaceted
shape reminds me of the polyhedral dice used in role-playing games
about dungeons and magical beings. Regardless, the shape has
been optimized for placement in a corner, where the AVAA C20 can
be most effective in reducing unwanted room resonances. Inside
the unit is a pressure-gradient mic mounted behind a micro-
perforated screen carefully tuned to offer a specific acoustic
impedance boundary. Also inside is an acoustic-suspension driver,
which is mounted behind its own speaker grillelike impedance
boundary. An analog amplification circuit propels the driver with a
velocity thats in opposition of the pressure measured by the
screened mic, in order to zero the acoustic pressure at the wall
boundary or corner junction where the device is placed. Hence the
name Active Velocity Acoustic Absorber. To put it more simply, the
AVAA is an active bass trap. Because it works with pressure, it makes
no sound of its own. In fact, its the most impressive audio product
that Ive seen and not heard.
First of all, whats the purpose of bass trapping, and why do you
want to absorb bass when most people want to hear more bass?
Well, heres the conundrum. Within enclosed spaces especially
smaller rooms with solidly built walls as acoustic energy is
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The New MS47 Mark II
Hand built by the Mic Shop in Franklin TN
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Siegfried Thiersch M7 capsule
Custom Haufe BV8 output transformer
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Siemens NOS E81CC tubes.
Hand built point to point construction
Nashvilles best vocal secret!
More info: www.micshop.com
68/Tape Op#114/Gear Reviews/
reflected off of the room surfaces, some of that energy is strengthened while some of that energy
is cancelled out. The frequencies of sound that are most affected have half-wavelengths that are
low-order divisors of the axial dimensions of the room, resulting in standing waves at specific bass
frequencies. Meanwhile, the source locations of the sounds in the room as well as the location
of your ears determine whether you experience augmentation or cancellation of those modal
frequencies. Therefore, youll hear too much bass energy at certain frequencies and room locations,
but at other frequencies and locations, youll hear less bass. Importantly, the bass energy that you
do hear will have a time component to it, because certain frequencies will resonate longer than
others, taking time to settle down. If left untreated, these room modes and resonances will not only
reduce the low-frequency accuracy of what youre hearing in the room, but excessive settling time
of these resonances can mask detail at all frequencies.
If your inclination is to reach for an EQ as a quick fix, keep in mind that EQs can only boost or
cut in frequency domain, with only a secondary effect in time domain. In other words, the ringing
would still be there if EQed, only altered in amplitude. Needless to say, rooms should be treated in
a balanced manner with both broadband absorption and bass-trapping to mitigate standing waves
and normalize decay time across all frequencies. Unfortunately, traditional bass traps take up a lot
of surface area and a lot of volume, due to the material thicknesses (or chamber sizes) required to
be effective at greater wavelengths. Also, many commercially available bass traps are better at
absorbing the mids and the highs than they are the lows, so too much bass trapping, even if the
bass frequencies have yet to be fully tamed, can result in a room sounding excessively dead. Thats
where the AVAA comes in.
If youve already treated your room with broadband absorption, but youve reached a limit to how
much bass absorption you can add due to space restrictions, fear of over-treating higher
frequencies, or even for aesthetic reasons the AVAA C20 should be your next step. This active
bass trap is able to counteract room resonances by creating anti-resonances from 15120 Hz, and
its effectiveness at reducing standing waves at those frequencies is equivalent to busting a hole in
the wall thats 5-20 the size of the AVAA.
I purchased two AVAA C20 units, and after some experimentation with room placement, I settled
on two opposite corners of the room. Although a sensitivity control is on the back of the AVAA, its
recommended you start with the trim pot on the CAL setting, unless your room is overly reactive
(or smaller than 110 sq ft in floorplan). Otherwise, theres nothing left to do after you move the
om
AVAA into place, plug it into an AC outlet, and power it on. The difference in low-frequency accuracy
between having the two AVAAs powered on in my room, versus turned off, is not at all subtle
its immediate and obvious. I was in the middle of a three-day, attended mix session with the band
.c
E when I installed the AVAAs. Ive mentioned in the past that Es bass-heavy sound is a challenge
to record and mix. On the second morning, the band came in after everyone had listened to the
first days mixes at home. The consensus was that there was no consensus no one could agree
on the relative levels of the bass-focused instruments in the mix. Thats when I powered up the
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AVAAs, and all of the band members, even though they were sitting or standing in various spots
throughout the room, heard the bass energy in the room clear up.
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Jason Sanfords home-made instruments and amps, as well as Gavin McCarthys hole-less kick drum,
had contributed a lot of low-frequency energy to the recordings at very specific bass frequencies. Before
the AVAAs were set up, some of that energy was overwhelmingly loud in the mix when heard from
certain points in the room but severely underrepresented when heard from other points. Meanwhile,
the sustain of that energy was exaggerated enough that it was difficult to hear the intricacies in the
bands performance, as if a dark fog was obscuring the view of everything else in the mix. In short,
there was not enough BOO... in the bass but way too much ...OOOMMMmmmnnn clouding the
overall image. Once we turned on the AVAAs, we could all hear the BOOM clearly and everything
else in the mix too. Needless to say, we abandoned all of the first days mixes and started over sans
dark fog. Importantly, even though we had lost a whole days worth of work, we still ended up finishing
on time two days later, because we were able to make better informed decisions and work more
efficiently due to the much clearer picture made possible by the AVAAs.
Being the gear geek, I pulled out my CrossSpectrumcalibrated Dayton Audio EMM-6 mic [Tape
Op #96], fired up my ADAM S3-A monitors [#66] and Sub12 subwoofer [#69], and took
measurements in various spots throughout the room. If you were at all skeptical of my subjective
statements above, please take a look at my before/after waterfall plots of the measured room
response at mix position <goo.gl/hBZXXT>. As you can see, the two AVAA C20 traps are very effective
at taming the low-frequency resonances in my room, even down to 28 Hz. With the AVAAs turned
on, peaked ridges in the waterfall plot are cut back, and furrowed valleys are filled in, and the
resulting spectral decay is significantly smoother and more evenly damped.
I should also note here that I have twelve of the legacy wood-panel RealTraps diaphragmatic bass
traps [Tape Op #36] and nine of the current RealTraps models equipped with limp-mass membranes
[#38, #48, #85] mounted on the walls and in the corners of my control room, as well as a Helmholtz
resonator built into the platform below the couch at the rear wall (along with mid/highband absorbers
and diffusors strategically located). The room was already well treated, but as the plots make clear,
there was still an opportunity for improvement, and the AVAAs have excelled in that regard.
 Each AVAA C20 is a $2000 investment. For that kind of money, you can purchase half a
dozen or more premade bass traps. But as I mentioned above, if youre already reaching the
limits of treating your room with passive absorbers, an AVAA or two should be your next
consideration. Moreover, Ive learned through research and personal experience that a
roomful of premade traps isnt nearly as effective at frequencies below 60 Hz as even a single
AVAA. Plus, an AVAA is a lot smaller and easier to take with you. If you factor in the
confidence youll gain and the time youll save while recording and mixing in a more
accurate-sounding room and the improvements youll see across all of your work the
AVAA C20 becomes a smart investment.
If youre interested in the patent-pending AVAA technology, call up Warren Dent, owner of
ZenPro Audio <www.zenproaudio.com>, the exclusive U.S. distributor of PSI Audio. Warren is a
no B.S. guy, and hell happily let you know how many unicorns were milked to fill the AVAA C20
with magic. ($1,999; www.psiaudio.com) AH

Blue
Lola headphone
In my review of the Blue Mo-Fi headphone [Tape Op #105] last year, I stated that it
was the most innovative headphone Id ever seen. Lola is the new, younger sibling of
Mo-Fi. It shares the same custom-made 50 mm drivers and overall design of its older
sibling, but its feature set has been slimmed down. Most importantly, Lola is passive; it
doesnt have an onboard amplifier like Mo-Fi does (nor does it have Mo-Fis analog EQ
circuit that can be switched on for an extra bass bump). Without the amplifier, Lola
doesnt need a battery and associated charging circuitry. Lola also forgoes the headband
tension adjuster for a lower profile headband with spring tension thats factory set. All
of these changes mean that Lola is significantly lighter in weight and lower in price than
Mo-Fi. Otherwise, the same, unique, multi-articulating headband that was inspired by
the double-arm suspension designs of Formula One racecars, along with super-plush
earcups that are shaped to fit perfectly around actual ears (something that other
headphone manufacturers still havent figured out), result in a very comfortable fit.
(Read my Mo-Fi review for more commentary on the revolutionary aspects of the design.)
In fact, with lower weight, and therefore, with less headband tension needed, Lola ups

om
the ante in terms of long-term comfort.
What about the sound? The reduction in headband tension and a slight change in earcup
shape result in Lolas bass energy being less pronounced than Mo-Fis. (Let me remind us .c
that we all have different head-shapes and ears, so were all going to hear headphone
models differently.) To my ears, Mo-Fis bass is emphasized with a +5 dB shelf from 200 Hz
on down. Lolas bass response, on the other hand, is akin to a +2 dB shelf. The rest of the
frequency spectrum sounds the same between the two models, with a slight bump in
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energy at 46 kHz, an attenuation of a few dB from 7 kHz on up, and a shallow roll-off
that begins at 14 kHz. Importantly, distortion is very low, especially in the critical
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midrange region from 300 Hz on up. Moreover, when driving either of these headphones
with a high-quality source, I can clearly hear fundamentals even down to 20 Hz, where all
of my other headphones are struggling to play back anything but harmonic distortion. To
put it succinctly, Mo-Fi has the clearest and least distorted bass reproduction of any
m

headphones Ive auditioned, and Lola comes a very close second, but Lolas presentation
@g

across the whole frequency spectrum is better balanced. I actually prefer the sound of Lola
over Mo-Fi for both critical listening in the studio and casual enjoyment of my music
collection at home. (With that said, Mo-Fis onboard amplifier offers a huge improvement
in sound quality when listening through the anemic amps of mobile devices.)
le

Two cords are included with Lola 4 ft and 10 ft long both of which are straight and
flat (like linguine), which makes them nearly impervious to tangling. The shorter cord is
equipped with an inline mic and playback controls. Both cords have skinny 1/8 ends, and
either end will click almost fully into the jack on the left earcup of Lola, or plug into the jack
pe

of a mobile phone, even if the phone is protected by a case with small apertures. A 1/4
adapter is included, and smartly, the 1/8 plug also goes deep into the adapter, so the end of
the cord remains low in profile very cool. A nicely sewn, vinyl velour bag is included, the
main compartment of which has a flap with a magnetic closure. Inside is a secondary pocket
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for storing the unused cord and adapter.

What I recommended in my Mo-Fi review is still relevant with the new Lola. Dont buy
these headphones if you need help hunting down sibilance and other high-frequency
st

anomalies. Do buy these headphones as a complement to nearfield studio monitors, even

if you have a subwoofer; unless your room has perfectly tuned bass-trapping to rid it of
all resonances, youre hear more accurate bass through these headphones. A year after
writing my Mo-Fi review, I can now say that Mo-Fi and Lola are the two most innovative
headphone models Ive ever seen or heard. Put them on your shortlist if youre
considering a headphone purchase. ($249.99 street; www.blue-headphones.com) AH
Gear Reviews/(continued on page 70)/Tape Op#114/69
 Demeter
VTMP-2B tube preamp
Name me any boutique, high-end, tube preamp that has been on the
market for over 30 years. Thats right, Demeters VTMP is the only one thats
been around that long. I remember using one in a local studio over 17 years
ago, and while not having enough time to properly evaluate it, I recognized
that there was some serious sound quality happening. These days, Im spoiled
at Jackpot! My (rare) Hamptone Silverbox 4 [Tape Op #55] is a tube preamp
powerhouse, and the depth and response it pulls out of sources and mics is
astounding. Ive never heard a solid-state preamp that can come close,
though I love solid-state for many uses. My Pendulum Audio Quartet channel
strip [#32] also features a quality tube preamp, and pretty much every vocal
Ive tracked for the last 14 years has been through the Quartet. When James
Demeter [#49, #108] sent over the VTMP-2B for me to check out, I took my
time. By spending time with a new piece of gear, and integrating it into my
workflow, I get a real sense of its value. I dont take any of my outboard gear
for granted, nor do I blindly trust it, and lately Ive been replacing a lot of
equipment that has annoyed me due to sound quality, reliability, or
functionality issues.
It took a while to warm up to the VTMP-2B, so to speak. The plain-looking,
low-cost plastic knobs and the thin-metal front plate (that flexes every time
you activate a rocker switch) dont necessarily give off a sense of quality build.
James sent me his thoughts on this: I was a very small, one-person company,
so for the first units, I used an Instafab chassis that I hand-drilled. The first
20 or so all looked a little different. We kept the basic chassis design when we
started our own fabrication, as the units were easy to store. The fact that
almost all of the 3000+ preamps we made of this model are still in use gives
a good idea of the real quality of the design.
Once I had gotten over my misguided prejudice and used it on a number
of sources vocals, upright piano, drum overheads, and acoustic guitars

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I gained a massive respect for the quality of this preamp. Features include the
usual: phantom power, high-pass filter, polarity reverse, 20 dB pad, and a
1/4 DI with an input-selection switch. The overall gain is controlled by a
.c three-step gain switch and a big, round, attenuation knob; and an overload
LED provides warning of high levels (which Ive yet to see light up). The back
panel has the typical XLR I/O (plus a switch for pin-2 or pin-3 hot), as well as
1/4 unbalanced direct tube outputs.
James filled me in on the history of the VTMB: The original VTMP-2B was
l
eventually replaced by the VTMP-2C in 2001. It was very pretty, with metal
knobs, LED meters, chrome buttons, and a thick, metal front panel. It sold
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okay, but was never the hit the original was. A few years ago after some
requests from users and finding a stash of original parts we started
remaking a few of the original preamps. I have always loved this preamp. It
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was the first really complex original design I came up with, and it
incorporated much of my love for true, tube hi-fi design, which I adapted for
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the pro recording market. Its use over the years on thousands of recordings
by music legends, many Gold and Platinum recordings included, is a
testimony to its timelessness.
In use, the VTMP-2B really did deliver in my studio, and is as close as
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anything gets to my prized Hamptone and Pendulum preamps, while delivering

its own flavor. The classic tube circuit design works like it should, presenting
clear tones, lots of depth, and a level of detail you honestly dont find in every
preamp out there. When I think of this kind of detail, its similar to the way
pe

tape decks work. A deck with an average playback head and electronics has a
limit to what it can pull from a prerecorded piece of tape. Small details get
obscured on a system like that, and its not just frequency range or transient
dynamics that are affected (though these sometimes get masked as well), but
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the overall quality of the tape reproduction is compromised. When the same
tape is played on a higher-quality deck, with a better head and electronics,
there will be more information pulled off the tape. Mic preamps act like this
st

as well, and a quality preamp will pull details out of a mic that an inferior
preamp might be masking. Its a simple fact of life, and Ive spent over 20 years
immersed in this quest. The VTMP-2B is a tool that will help you get more out
of your current mics, and at a fair price. Dont ignore it just because its been
around so long, or because the faceplate isnt glamorous, or because Demeter
lags on their pro audio marketing. Youll be making a mistake.
70/Tape Op#114/Gear Reviews/ ($1,700 street; www.demeteramps.com)LC

Recovery Effects
Endless Summer Deluxe &
Endless Summer Pedal spring reverbs
I love reverb all types and on all sorts of instruments. Over
the past few years, Ive enjoyed using spring reverbs on my
mixes. They bring a unique and sometimes unpredictable flavor
to a mix. Demeter makes a great spring reverb [Tape Op #109].
Audio Kitchen made one for Billy Bush that I covet. And I really
love using the Radial Tank Driver [#107] with my old Accutronics
spring that was in my Fender Princeton reverb amp. [Also,
Zerotronics {#55, #62} has a whole lineup of fantastic spring
reverbs. I own four different models. AH] But all in all, there are
not that many spring reverbs made for mixing, so when I learned
that Seattles Graig Markel of Recovery Effects was making both
a mono spring reverb in pedal form and a stereo rackmount unit
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designed for studio use, I was intrigued.
The Endless Summer Deluxe houses a pair of Accutronics
reverb tanks inside a 2RU-height rackmount chassis. On the
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front are knobs for Balance and Brightness one set for each
tank. Balance varies the amount of wet/dry signal, and
Brightness changes the tone of the reverb effect. In back are
TRS connectors for balanced, line-level I/O. The internal
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components are hand-wired with lead-free solder point-to-
point, sans printed circuit board and new-old-stock and
U.S.made parts are utilized whenever possible. The toggle
switch for power is military worthy, and the blue jewel light
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looks good and tells you the unit is on. With two tanks, each
with its own set of wet/dry mix and tone controls, the Endless
Summer Deluxe can be patched into your system for stereo,
dual mono, or even serially chained operation as an insert
effect or in an aux send/return loop.
om
Where do you start with a spring reverb? I went straight for
.c
guitars. It was not the twangy Fender reverb sound I anticipated,
but a much richer and darker sound with an interesting bloom. On
vocals, it provided good depth to the track, but I was also able to
keep it pretty subtle when I wanted a clean sound. The Balance
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and Brightness controls gave the unit a bit more flexibility than my
other spring reverbs while mixing. Typically, when Im using a reverb
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as an aux effect, I turn its output to 100% wet. But I found I
preferred dialing back the Balance control on the Endless Summer
Deluxe so that some of the dry signal was present on the aux return.
m
In this way, the reverb behaved a bit more predictably for me, and
made it more useful, especially when I didnt want it spilling all over
@g
everything. I also found that inserting a high-pass filter was helpful
in preventing the reverb effect from clouding the midrange.
I really liked the variety of tone I could get from the Endless
Summer Deluxe. It can be very dark when you want it to be,
which provides depth and bloom without any ping or clang,
while dialing up its Brightness lets some of the metallic sound
come through. But all in all, it is a rich sounding reverb that I
found useful on a variety of sources.
I used the Endless Summer Deluxe on keys, guitars, and vocals
with varying degrees of success, depending on the song, tempo,
and density of mix. I most preferred it on slower tunes that had
a bit of extra space, so I could hear the anomalies in the decay
of the sound. The anomalies are what I like most about spring
reverbs and tape echoes they contribute to an X factor that
you rarely find in digital effects. Mechanical effects are not
perfect, and thats the beauty of these devices.
I also experimented with sending the output of the Endless
Summer Deluxe to a second aux with an echo plug-in on it. This
is something to try if you havent already. Its a good way to
conjure interesting delays, decays, and tails that arent directly
activated by your source.
Gear Reviews/(continued on page 73)/Tape Op#114/71
<<< Music Reviews from page 52
translated really well. We started with cutting Lucky Guy, Something that the two of us put a lot of heart and care into. Who did the mastering for this record?
which is the second song we wrote. Its got a certain kind Who was the engineer at Ardent? LR: Thats Dale Becker, here in Pasadena, California, at Becker
of magic, and that was the track that made the whole JS: Mike Wilson. Mikes super easy to work with and knows Mastering. Ive done quite a few records with him. His
project seem okay to proceed with. what hes doing. father, Bernie, works primarily with Neil Diamond. Dales
You went back to California and worked with LR: Mike was awesome. Im so glad it turned out to be him. got an amazing set of ears. Jason [Hiller] found him. I
Jason Hiller [at Electrosound] for mixing. You dont know these things going in, but it was a great thought Dale would be right for this. He was patient,
LR: I live there and I work a lot with Jason; it seemed like the chemistry. His enthusiasm and professionalism was perfect. because not only was there a variety of music on this
logical thing to do. Jason was really accommodating. We We had a job to do, and we had limited time. It went pretty album, there was a variety of sounds. It was tough to make
were doing it so piece-by-piece. If we had known how damn smooth with Mike. this album cohesive. There was the constant of Jodys voice
much work this entailed, who knows if he would have Didnt he play flugelhorn on a track? and the vibe of the tunes, but it was all over the map
taken it on! We cut everything on tape and transferred it LR: Yeah, thats funny. It was the last thing. Jody wanted sonically. Dale helped me get it cohesive.
to RADAR. Overdubbing, and not running away with it flugelhorn, and I was racking my brain to figure out how JS: The mastering is stellar. It just sounds good.
without Jodys consent we had to make a concerted we were gonna get that. Just before I left the studio, Mike Its the 50th Anniversary of Ardent Studios
effort to keep each other in the loop. Wed overdub, and was like, You know Im a trumpet major, right? this year, right?
when that was finished wed mix it. It was best to do it as JS: Here the guy had been in the studio, with us every day JS: Yeah! Its a nice coincidence.
it was recorded; once wed finished a song, wed mix it. I LR: with no mention! He probably even overheard me LR: If you had tried to plan this, it would have never worked
tend to like to work that way anyway. Theres nothing more fretting about it. So Jody worked with him on that. out. Theres a different feeling you get when youre in a real
frightening than having this huge record youve tracked, You two co-wrote and co-produced the studio of a certain vintage. When you hear a studio has
then having to overdub, and then mixing it all at once. It entire album. been around 50 years, it gives you a real inspiration.
was best to do it as it went along. LR: I have to say, Jody was interestingly meticulous. He knows JS: Whats interesting is that Ardent is really 56 or 57 years
Jody, did you come out to California for when to go, Leave that funky thing in. But even when old. John Fry started at his parents house and was there
some of that process? we had mastered the record there was something he for seven years before he went to the National Street
JS: I didnt. That was kinda cool, to work remote. wanted to try and do better on a guitar. That required a lot location. Hed incorporated Ardent, and had his first single
LR: When something got finished, and Id send him a mix, of work, but I was really relieved inside that he was caring pressed and in his hands, by the time he was a month into
hed say, Its like Christmas Day! that much. Why not turn every stone over? Its no accident 15 years old. But John always measured Ardents history
JS: It was! Really, it was cool. that hes made so many good records. from renting the space on National. Thats when it became
LR: Our whole goal, when we were at Ardent in Memphis, was JS: Heres the other part of that story. It was just about a big, serious, commercial venture.
to get it as close as possible. It was pretty much there. If replacing a guitar that I had questions about, and I LR: Jody, you recorded the first Big Star album, #1 Record, at

youd listened to any Ardent rough mix it wasnt far off.
One of the things that really stuck out to me
was that theres so much room for the
lyrics and vocals. The instruments arent
fighting for space.
JS: Thats definitely intentional, for a number of reasons. I
always had, in the back of my mind, comments that David
Anderle from the A&R department at A&M would make. LR: I was relieved, but it was one of those things you cannot
He always said that the first connection that anybody
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thought, This records forever. Once its out, its out. I
brought it up with Luther, and he and Jason went back
in. It was a lot of time. He did it, I heard it; and the cool
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thing is that 20 seconds into it I realized that the
original guitar had so much character, and it lent so much
personality to the song, that I was dead wrong about
replacing it.
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hear starkly until you have actually done it. I had my same
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the National Street location?
JS: We tracked the first album at National, and then we did
the overdubs and mixing here on Madison Avenue [after
Ardent moved].
LR: What was the mixing process like back then?
JS: Especially #1 Record, there was a lot going on. We had
16 tracks, and John had bounced a couple of things
down. There were no automated consoles, so it was
almost like the game Twister! Thered be three or four of

makes with a song is with what the singer is saying, and doubts about that guitar. As much as I dreaded it we had us at the console, and we all had a little part to play in
how they are singing it. I was thinking, Okay. There needs to re-track the guitar and remix the track. We were not the mix, whether it was just shoving the vocal up for a
to be a certain close proximity to the vocals. Luther and mixing in the box; we were on digital with RADAR. We had minute or turning a knob. The mix was a performance. It
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I had intended to be just an acoustic project for the to match the mix, send it to Jody; and then if the mix was was awesome!
performances. So we still wanted to keep it vocal-centric. good, wed need to master it again. It didnt scare me, but <www.ardentmusic.com> <www.burgerrecords.org> -LC
@g

But, at the end of the day, of course, there are some really when I gave Jody the track I said, You might find that the
cool background vocals original guitar had some Ardent magic on it. And he was
LR: There was a point in the record where we had to have that like, Youre absolutely right.
discussion, like, Were making a record. Why dont we make JS: People try to be so discerning, or analytical, or critical
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as great a record as we can? If it requires drums, lets drum. when they are listening to music, but the bottom line is,
Thats where both our sensibilities definitely met up. How did you feel when you heard that? It felt great
JS: Luther was playing some really interesting stuff on guitar. thats it! You dont need to break it down. If it feels great,
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I figured if the melody lines and lyrics were interesting, you are there. Move on!
and you had this fascinating guitar to listen to, it was LR: Youre going with your gut feelings when youre recording.
there. You dont need to start adding things that might All you have are your instincts.
get in the way. JS: Luther has a ton of experience in the studio, and I have a
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LR: This is proof that you can do a million records and still bit, but theres one thing I learned a long time ago. People

tapeop.com
learn something, because I learned a lot. When you get a go, Oh, the songs not there yet. Lets double that acoustic
new dynamic with somebody, things come up that you guitar. I think, Why do you think doubling an acoustic
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never really thought about. I was ready to learn. We just guitar will get it there? Not to say that doubling things, on
wanted to have fun and learn what worked with each
other. I wanted to keep Jodys personality and energy at
occasion, isnt the right thing to do, but if theres not
something thats grabbing your interest already, you need to
Bonus & archived
the center of this album. think about putting a part there that will engage you. reviews online!
JS: It was really exciting, and it is such a collaborative effort. LR: Amen.

72/Tape Op#114/Music Reviews/(Fin.)

 The Endless Summer Pedal is also a fun tool. I used it when mixing in the same manner
I integrate any mono stompbox into the process with a Meris 440 preamp/interface
[Tape Op #103] or a Radial Engineering EXTC [#100]. It delivers its own unique sound
quite different from the Deluxes sound. Inside is a small (really small) dual-spring
Accutronics Blue tank, and like its rackmount sibling, the Pedal offers Balance and
Brightness knobs. Brightness affects the color and depth of the reverb, as you might expect,
but Balance here adjusts a boost circuit, letting you dial in a range of tones, from clean
and splashy, to very fuzzy psychedelic bliss. When you get past 3 oclock, things really start
taking on a life of their own. Wet, feedback-prone sonics come to life and are a welcome
addition when appropriate. I liked the Endless Summer Pedal best on guitars, but I also had
fun sending a vocal to it and blending in the result underneath the dry signal. Having both
the Deluxe and Pedal versions available for use while mixing gave me two unique flavor
options. I was going to patch in a third spring option, but I didnt have my snorkel.
The Endless Summer spring reverbs from Recovery Effects are cool and unique sounding, and
theyre certainly worth taking out for a paddle. You can use them anywhere you would normally
employ a spring reverb, but dont be scared to do unconventional things with them. Try them
on drums and percussion, for example, or go nuts and put them across a whole mix. Hell, you
could be so instantly retro and indie rock that Sub Pop, Mute, and Matador will all put you on
retainer. Also, Im pretty sure it is against the law to write an article about spring reverb without
mentioning Dick Dale and referencing Jah. So there, consider me legal. Boing, boing.
(Deluxe $549, Pedal $229; www.graigmarkelmusic.com)
GS <www.geoffstanfieldrecording.com>

Editors Keys
DAW-specific backlit keyboard
Last year, I was recording the upcoming album from Exit Verse (ex-members of Karate,
Chisel, Brokeback) at MINBAL in Chicago. Most of the time, the band wanted to keep the
lights off in the live room. Late in the day, when the sun was close to setting, there was
just enough natural light in the live room for me to see the band through the glass, but
only if I turned off the lights in the control room. I can touch-type in the dark when Im
writing and entering text, but when Im mousing with my right hand and hitting Pro Tools

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action keys with my left hand, I need to look at the keyboard. Thats when I thought to
myself, I wish someone made a backlit keyboard labeled for Pro Tools.
Well, it turns out that Editors Keys does exactly that. And in fact, the company makes .c
several types of keyboards for Ableton Live, Cubase, Logic Pro, PreSonus Studio One,
Reason, and Sonar and of course, Pro Tools too as well as for a number of popular
video, photo, and graphic design applications.
At my own studio, my primary DAW platform is Cubase running on Windows 10, so I ordered
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myself an Editors Keys Cubase Backlit Mac/PC Keyboard. Out of three layout options, I chose US
Qwerty, which is bog-standard ANSI, with 109 full-sized keys, including a full row of function
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keys up top and a numeric keypad on the right. The keys themselves rely on scissor switches,
like Apples keyboards as well as the keyboards on most laptops. Key travel is perhaps a mm or
more than what you find on Apples current aluminum model, but feel is otherwise very similar
between the two. There are several colors utilized for the keycaps, such that keys are color-
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grouped by function, and the various icons painted onto the keys are also colored accordingly.
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With this keyboard, youll have no problem finding any of the primary action keys for your DAW,
whether the backlighting is turned off or on. When its on, all of the colored keys glow
completely, and theres a band of white light around the edge of each key. The keys that arent
associated with a primary action are painted black with white labeling, and these become
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visible by their glowing labels and white edges. Ive been told by Editors Keys that the keycaps
are painted using a modern, laser-screening process. A half-year of use in my studio hasnt
degraded the keycap colors or icon labels in any way. The keyboard still looks and feels brand
new. The only downside with the keyboard is the large bezel surrounding the keys. In other
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words, the keyboards footprint is quite a bit larger than whats in vogue these days.
Beyond that, I love this keyboard. When I first started using the keyboard, I was quite
surprised at how many of the primary key-activated functions in Cubase I was failing to
use, even though I had made the move to Cubase years ago. For roughly a quarter of the
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actions that are available via a single keypress in Cubase, I was going about the hard
way using the mouse and navigating through on-screen menus. It took me very little
time with the Editors Keys keyboard in front of me to learn these neglected key actions,
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and now Im that much faster and my overworked wrists are that much happier.
Moreover, Im doing much less hunting and pecking now. Perhaps my peripheral vision has
picked up on the keyboards well-implemented color-grouping, or maybe learning the action
labels on this keyboard has helped my brain more closely associate actions with key
positions by feel. Either way, Im much more efficient in Cubase now, because not only am
I doing less mousing, but Im also rarely looking down at the keyboard.
Continued on the next page>>> Gear Reviews/(continued on page 74)/Tape Op#114/73
 <<< Gear Reviews from page 73

Even if you think youre an expert operator of your DAW, my bet is that youll
become more action-key proficient if you use this keyboard. Also, if you tend to
switch between applications, it makes total sense to use separate, application-
specific keyboards to help your brain and muscle memory adjust to each action-key
layout. The way I see it, the cost of an Editors Keys keyboard is offset by workflow
efficiency gains offered by this well-labeled keyboard. Hundreds, if not thousands, of
on-screen menu actions per day that could be done with single keypresses adds up
to plenty of time and to a lot of unnecessary wear and tear on your wrists. I cant
recommend the Editors Keys Backlit Mac/PC Keyboard enough.
Check out the manufacturers website for more layout options and keyboard
models, including non-backlit Slimline designs (wired and wireless) and official Apple
keyboards with molded-on keycap labels. Silicone keyboard covers that fit the
MacBook and the Apple Wireless Keyboard are also available, as well as many studio
and editing-room accessories. ($129.99; www.editorskeys.com) AH

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I think a lot of Tape Op readers have been waiting years for a book like this.
Howard Massey is the author of the Behind the Glass series and co-author of Geoff
Emericks Here, There and Everywhere [Tape Op #57, #55]. For his new book, Howard
documented the history of classic British recording facilities, like Abbey Road,
Olympic, Trident, and many other studios where popular and historic recordings were
made. Howard must have interviewed hundreds of folks, and I know this took a long
time to write; you can see the care and love that went into this tome. The book
occasionally reaches back into the early decades of recording itself, or pulls us into
the 90s or current days, but the focus of this book is certainly the heyday of the
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MCI and MCI/Sony Analog Service very well. The book was also written with the cooperation and instigation of the

Subscription from Steve Sadler: British APRS (Association of Professional Recording Services), and we should be
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In the end, Im so glad that Great British Recording Studios is not a general-
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resource that people like us will devour; and its filled with real, geeky insight into
the history, people, and techniques that helped create some of the most iconic
recordings ever.

New Subscribers: $200.00. Re-newal $150.00. ($19.24$34.99; www.halleonard.com) LC

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74/Tape Op#114/Gear Reviews/(Fin.)

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Please Support Our Advertisers/Tape Op#114/75
 Just Start Over
by Larry Crane
I remember a session, 17 years ago, with the band Quasi, for the album Field Studies. Wed tracked a
song, Birds. I thought the initial take was fine, and I believe wed started overdubbing on it. But one
morning the group (Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss) arrived, and they expressed some doubts about the
quality of the take. I couldnt believe it. Wed need to set mics back up for the drums and keyboards,
find a new spot on a reel, as well as get all the levels and headphone mixes again. I thought we were
done with basics, and I probably (stupidly) fought them on tracking the song again. Stubbornness,
combined with adhering to the standard workflow (basics, overdubs, and mixing) were guiding me back
then. It would be the same during the mixing process for this album, when I resisted piping all the
drums and instruments back into distorted amplifiers for It Dont Mean Nothing. In both cases,
Quasis instincts turned out to be totally correct. Just as the distorted drums helped It Dont Mean
Nothing become more intense and messed up, in a great way, this new take of Birds had a more
consistent tempo with a better overall feel, enabling the quirky time signature to fit in the groove in
a better way. If we had labored over the old take for days, it still would not have been as good of a
recording as this new version.
When I look back, I realize how green I was. I hadnt yet learned how to fully listen to a take of
a song. I would put on blinders and assume just because something was recorded with some degree
of quality that it would all work out. What Ive realized since is that I need to hear the song that
is being recorded. Not the version that is happening in front of me, but the core of the material,
the root of the idea, the message, and the emotions that are being channeled and created. Then I
have to think about the potential of this core song, and decide whether we are capturing a version
that is as perfect (as possible) at representing what it could be.
Sometimes my concept of what a song could be is hindered, or limited, by the ability of the
artists, especially in a band setting. This is okay and, in many cases, defines what the group is.
How the individuals come together and perform can be as important as the songs themselves. The
Ramones? Sonic Youth? Radiohead? There is a certain chemistry at work. But a good producer can
recognize when to push (and how far to push) in order to get a performance that brings the most

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out of the song, and the band. Luckily for me, Quasi were policing their own abilities, and they
knew Birds could be better. They were willing to push themselves.
Other times searching for the best version of a song involves casting the proper players,
setting up a new, or more appropriate, recording scenario, and guiding the process through
communication and experimentation. Maybe multiple versions of a song are required, in order
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to get to the best one. Or possibly an early, unsatisfying take of a song might point the way
towards changes that will help create a better recording.
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But notice what is at play in both of these scenarios: The artists, engineers, and producers
must be willing to let go of takes and performances. All involved must be able
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to move forward and try completely new recordings.

In the Weekend Recording Workshops that I host, I hear a wide variety of home recorded
music. A lot of the examples are pretty damn good, and the recordist just needs a little help
with specific mic placement or mixing. But other examples come in that are obviously
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flawed.* In most of these cases, the recording quality, fidelity, and even mixing are not the
@g

biggest problems. No, most of these recordings start with a bad performance. Its usually
painfully obvious: Instruments dont play in time. Vocals are hesitant and inconsistent.
Instruments are accidentally out of tune. Players apparently couldnt hear each other. Thats
all understandable, and weve all been there.
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But the real problem with this scenario is when the recordist doesnt let go. I think the
drummer can just redo his part and itll be better, I was told once. But the track in question
had no click or guide; and it sped up at various times, including at the end. This would
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obviously be an impossible overdub to pull off, even for the most seasoned professional.
I tried adding drums and vocals to help it out, I was told another time, after hearing an
intriguing but disjointed song. It obviously hadnt worked out. In both these cases we
came up with possible scenarios for re-recording the songs, and we always determined that
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starting over would be the best tactic. We now know how the song goes from the previous
recording. Lets discuss its arrangement, possibly tighten it up, and begin a new recording
scenario that benefits the song.
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Dont be too precious with what youve captured. Sometimes you just need to
start over. r

*Note that people in my workshops are coming to me for advice in a

supportive atmosphere, and that, in most cases, they know there is a problem
with their tracks. Im not picking on anyone, just using these scenarios as c joshuaraineyphotography /
76/Tape Op#114/Larrys End Rant/ examples. No one should be afraid to grow and learn, myself included. 123RF Stock Photo
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 The Creative Music Recording Magazine

Extra Bonus
Article:

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Randall Dunn
Sunn O))), Earth, Sun City Girls
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Bonus No. 114

July/Aug 2016
Randall Dunn
Supporting Superstitions
by Alex Kostelnik
photos by Joseph P. Traina

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 Randall Dunn is creating what might be Seattles next chapter Aleph. No. Im up for a hybrid. Opinions about gear are really
in the dark and loud tradition of Northwest music. From the The name came from a book? beautiful superstitions. Theyre helpful in my job, but Im
Sonics and Jimi Hendrix, to the U-Men and grunge, the Pacific It is a story by Jorge Luis Borges. In the book, the character wide open. I will use digital in a way thats subversive,
Northwest has a reputation for spawning loud, raw blues. A finds a place. Hes blind. He stands on these steps that and I will use analog in a way thats subversive. I watch
tireless and prolific man, his discography includes Sunn O))), enables him to see the whole entire universe, but if he people struggle trying to milk something out of a Pro
Earth, Eyvind Kang, Master Musicians Of Bukkake, Rose moves a little to the right or to the left, he cant see it Tools rig. People who have a bit of cursory knowledge but
Windows, Skerik from Critters Buggin, The Cave Singers, Oren anymore. Its also the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. theyre trying to turn it into this larger thing. You see
Ambarchi, Marissa Nadler, Jessika Kenney, Boris, Akron, Sun Its one. It means a lot of things. them fighting against this wall, and theyre not even
City Girls, Midday Veil, Kinski, Faith Coloccia, Jesse Sykes, Black What was your budget? aware that the wall is there.
Mountain & Wolves In The Throne Room. Randall draws from The construction was like 500 bucks or something. It was Henry Miller said, I found a window in
his experience with Drone, Metal, Avant-Jazz, Folk and even film built by Guy Davis, of the band Sage, whos a really great the wall. There was no wall at all.
soundtracks. He travels deep and wide with the musicians he friend. Yes, these are the quotes I love. I have a copy of Sol LeWitts
records. Randall just might turn the page in Seattles family bible What was the first recording you did in quotes on conceptual art. I look at it often when Im in
the part where it rains and rains and Noah starts building that there where you felt like things were the studio. Those are great and helpful.
ark... really happening? Is there hardware that you favor?
Probably Hex [Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method] by Earth. A good board or a particular reverb thats electromechanical.
Why did you move to Seattle? That was the first one where I was like, Oh, this is going to Its magical. Its alchemical. You cant really mess with
I moved here because it was really far away from Michigan. get out to the world and this is an actual record. that. I like those Royer [R-]121 mics. They can take a lot
That was the first reason. What else did I come for? I Did you know Dylan [Carlson] very well at of SPL, more than people think. Usually people are like,
came out here for school. that time? Theyre ribbon mics. Theyre very delicate. I think you can
To the Art Institute. No, I met him though a friend named John Schuler that put those pretty damn close to a loud cabinet and it gives
I had two really important interactions at that school, none looked him up at a frame shop he was working at across you a lot of lows of but it also shaves off all the annoying
of which were with the faculty. One was Skerik, who is a the street from Starbucks headquarters. We kind of just highs. I think Ive only ever blown one. I put the studio up
Seattle jazz and rock musician. He has been really dug him up. Weve gotten to be really close friends since for sale. I put my Studer A80 at Avast! and I use that. I
important in my development as a musician, as producer, then. Its been amazing collaborating and growing with got 16-track heads and it sounds amazing. I used that all
and as a respectful person in the music community. him! week, actually, with Black Mountain, and I didnt have a
Hes a guru. What did you take away from that studio, computer on. I only went to tape through the Trident A
Yes, he taught me how to interact with musicians, how to now that its behind you? range. It was insane. Then when we got the take, I would
treat musicians, how to learn from musicians, and how to I dont want to have a studio connected to my home. Ive put it in Pro Tools and then disconnect the computer and

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be respectful of elder musicians, even financial and realized that I work the same hours now but the
recording stuff in the industry. I was like, That guys disengagement from when Im done is different before
really cool. Then I found out about his band. Then I met I would literally sit upstairs thinking, I could just go
drummer Matt Chamberlain from working with his and down there right now and add 2 kHz to the snare drum.
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Skeriks band, Critters Buggin. I have learned so much How did you approach the Rose Windows
from Matt as well. I got free studio time at The Art [Rose Windows] record and also the
Institute and I tried to get Wayne Horowitz (of Naked Daughn Gibson record [Carnation]?
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City) to come in. In the end, he couldnt, but he said his Both of these were very different. With the Rose Windows
friend could. This young cat named Eyvind. That ended up record we retreated into Bogalusa, Louisiana, to Studio
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move on to the next song. Now Im trying to keep gear
that is extreme in coloration. I kept keyboards, like the
Korg MS20 thats a good one. It does things that you
wouldnt think a synth would. It can be used in music that
you wouldnt expect. I got really into my Shure Level-Loc.
That makes some noise. I have some instruments that are
special, like a really beautiful old Gretsch drum kit that has
a particular sound. There are always snares that I find. I
just try to get things that are unusual that other people

being Eyvind Kang, who also has been a really important
mentor in learning to be sacred with sound and music.
Hes more of a deep philosopher that happens to be a
complete shredder and amazing composer. Ive learned a
in the Country. We wanted it to feel humid and Southern. arent going to have. I have an Indian PA system, with a
It was recorded and mixed like a proper 70s rock record horn and a delay built in thats pretty cool.
[Ampex] 456 [tape] hit hard on a great tape machine. What is happened to the trade known as
On Daughns record we were trying to make something producing?
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lot from him as far as approaches ways to foil your elegant and futuristic; like you couldnt identify the time There are several dynamics going on, I suppose. Now we have
it was made from the production. That record is sung post lo fi production, which is an exceptional and
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habits. Hes really good at playing devils advocate. Those

guys are all such incredible musicians. Im definitely not from so many different characters that I wanted the necessary deconstruction of what came before it. What we
on that level of musicianship, but I choose to focus my production to reflect that. I recorded the drums with Matt have now is a reaction to too many people having access
time on producing. Im at a level where I can actually do Chamberlain at his studio in L.A. and finished it in to too much stuff that happens to be medium grade tools.
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some of the things they need me to, and in return involve Seattle at Avast! Recording. Im really excited about This goes hand in hand with whats going on in the music
them in things that are good for them. Seattle has an them both, and they couldnt be more different. industry: Record cycles are becoming shorter and trends
impeccable, vibrant music community that has no Elaborate on you being a sort of a mentor are becoming shorter. Music is becoming hard to digest
boundaries of genres. to Rose Windows. Lets hear more of or too dumbed down. The Internet has caused everything
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It comes from being a backwater town! Did that story. to move faster, yet vinyl is currently in a bottleneck its
you come here pre or post grunge? Chris from Rose Windows had been a fan of my work with slower to manufacture. What were seeing now is a style of
It was definitely post. It was 93 or 94. Earth. He asked if I would be interested in working with production thats not informed by years of studied labor.
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What was your first studio, how did you
build it, and what did you learn?
I co-owned one with a really talented engineer that was my
partner at the time, Mell Dettmer. I learned a lot from her.
st
them. I heard something special in the demos they did Most of the people who are doing it are just the people
and also when I saw them live. I dove right in and had who can afford to buy the stuff that it takes or what they
an amazing time recording both of their records for Sub think it takes in order to be a producer. Then they fall into
Pop. They have become great friends, and I have been the habit of copying whats currently the style. They equate

We bought a Trident 65 Series board, a 3M 16-track, 2-
inch and then we built it up from there. The construction
of the actual studio was pretty bad. It was mostly drywall
and it had a lot of squares, but I made a lot of great
records there.
What was it called?
just advising them the best I can since. Its been fun owning equipment with having spent the time doing it.
and real watching them grow. They are all such Its created an environment of parasitical production,
singular creative types. Rabia [Shaheen Qazi]s voice is meaning trend production. So if that trendy person uses a
one of my favorites around. particular reverb, you can buy their preset, and then you
Analog tape has an infinite sample rate. think you can sound like them. But its something else.
Do you favor it? Mr. Dunn/(continued on page 82)/Tape Op#114/81
 There are a finite amount of people who learned from old started singing on peoples records, too. I sang on a Cave are very ritualistic about how they approach music. I think
school people. I consider myself that. Phil Ek [Tape Op Singers record and Eyvind [Kang]s record, so thats I look for people who are already doing that, and then I
#29] is a great example of that. I love his work. There are happening more. Some of that encouragement was my just join. I join their cult for like a month or something.
many producers who are older than I am that are great friend, Jessika Kenney, whos an incredible vocalist. She How do movie soundtracks differ from
examples of that. They understand that a record is the made me sing on her Cornish [school] gamelan recital. I studio albums?
sound of struggling for a sound. People want to hear a had no idea what I was doing and she was very generous The intent of the music is different maybe? Whenever you
sound thats unique to what made it. That record has to to have me do that. Im glad I didnt ruin it. It opened have a visual element thats dictating the emotion of the
occupy its own sonic space. Music is not doing that so something up. Ive been really blessed to work with some music and its outside the writer thats going to lead
much anymore. Music is occupying an every space. We pretty incredible rock vocalists in the last five or six years. to something very different. The budgets for film
talk with binaries. Now everybodys saying, Should I use Attila [Csihar] from Mayhem, who sings with Sunn O))). soundtracks are still good. In Interstellar, the music was
this kick drum trigger or that one? Faith Coloccia is one. Emily Pothast from a band called gorgeous. I was okay with the movie, but the music itself
They can now be their own mastering Midday Veil. Rabia [of Rose Windows] is one. These women was really incredible. Really crazy pipe organ music.
engineer, too. have influenced my emotional process in the studio. Rabia Can you use the technology of Foley and
Yes you can be a mastering engineer. You can do all of these sounds like smoke and oil at the same time. Ive learned to sound effects to record musical
things because someone told you that you could do it pay more attention to lyrics, too. Sometimes Ill have compositions? Theyre sort of two
and its affordable. What they miss out on is the finite singers read their lyrics. I will be like, Just read it like its different languages.
experience of sound in a room, interaction of people, poetry. Then I hear certain words and inflections and Im Yeah, for sure. I do a lot of microscopic compression with
decisions that are made under pressure all of the things like, That just changed the whole narrative for me. and stuff. I really like to record acoustic guitar if its played in
that we like about the vitality of the sound of a record. then thatll help us find a new way to sing. This is a very quiet room with a really nice mic very softly. I use
The reason why were obsessed with vinyl and buying something I learned from Jessika as well. Sometimes you a hot mic pre and then gain it back down with
reissues and all of these things is because we want that have to find that voice, and it isnt what the person is compression so you have this overblown microscopic
magic. Yet were not really willing to sacrifice what we singing. Sometimes it needs to sound like a person telling version of whats happening. Its hyper focused.
have to in the current environment of the music industry a story. People can have voices theyre not aware of. You go What about weird Foley tricks like
in order to work with somebody who can give us that see a band and theyre singing loud, but in the studio you making the sound of shoes on gravel?
experience and teach us these things from experience. can do so much more with subtlety and quiet. I think I did a song once where I made somebody go
Youre describing a person reaching for an Theyre often just trying to get their voice outdoors and dig as a rhythm track paired with their
authenticity that wasnt there in the to come out the PA. snare. They just dug on the snare beats and they went,
first place. Yeah. We discovered that with Rabia on the first Rose Shhht, shhht. But then there was a hole left in my
It was never there. Victorians got obsessed with the occult. Windows record. When I saw them live, she was a yard. Im in a fortunate position where people want to

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They were looking for something spiritual, because in belter. Then we experimented with quieter. She found support the same superstitions that I do. r
their age they were facing the industrial revolution and that her intonation was better and she started <www.facebook.com/randall.dunn.90>
were devoid of spirituality. There was a nostalgia for developing more of that style. Sometimes younger Alex Kostelnik runs a studio called Quiet Places.
something that theyd never had access to. Could be singers, you hear them and youre like, Ah, youre not
.c
thats happening with music in cyclical forms. quite at your real voice, yet but youre going to find it.
My friend David Dintenfass says, A kid I like going down that road with people!
should spend $60,000 on a room and Some people hide behind a premeditated
$100 on a mono tape machine instead of voice. Its a way to detach from emotions.
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$60,000 on gear and $100 a month on a Totally. There is a Kate Bush interview where she says: Oh,
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shitty practice space. Their recording I cant listen to my first record. Im way over-
quality will double. emphasizing, doing all this flowery stuff. It took me a
I could agree with that actually. There are a lot of younger couple of records to find what was my real voice. She
people that work with me that have an experience and knew when she had it.
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then they go, Oh, shit. Okay, I get it. Then, they have Do you use special budgets for people who
another experience and they go, What? That wasnt like are poor but talented?
@g

that. The argument is not even about digital. It doesnt There are people who are doing music that Ive chose over the
matter what were using. As engineers, in a way were years to support in a capacity of encouragement, because
degrading the audio when we start to record. somebody has to do it. Someone has to record it well for
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What kind of sound do you try to get that
says, Randall was here.
Its funny. I dont know. Somebody was telling me I had a
sound, and it is heavy and its open. They said it sounds
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them because theres so much weird music that would be
much more awesome if it was recorded in a way that made
people excited about it. There are so many gifted people
that dont get that opportunity. I think my friend Eyvind

like its coming from really far back in the speakers. I is one of the greatest living composers. I will work with
personally think its just really foggy midrange that I him whenever he calls me, no matter what the situation.
havent learned to EQ out properly! It doesnt matter. Im learning so much about arranging
um

The song has a sound it wants to sound like. acoustic instruments and phenomenology of sound
Yeah. I dont believe in balanced mixes per se. that the collaboration is completely amazing.
Do you have any tricks that you use with You get paid in a different way.
singers? Yeah endlessly!
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Ive learned a lot about working with singers in the last few How do you set the stage for bringing
years. Early on I was doing so much experimental or dramatic sounds into a recording
atmospheric music and black metal, and I hadnt worked session?
with a ton of singers. Im learning more about voice as an Some of the bands Ive worked with bring them in anyway.
instrument. Im also starting to sing more in my band. Ive Like Sunn O))), for instance. Wolves In The Throne Room
82/Tape Op#114/Mr. Dunn/(Fin.)
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