Recording - May 2010 - 12

Interview by Lorenz Rychner

It’s nice and quiet in here... Keb’ Mo’: It’s so small I couldn’t really do a room inside and room, so it’s insulated triple drywall. With air pockets in between? There is just a little insulation in between. It’s not a purely acoustic design, but it’s quiet enough in here that nothing much comes in, except for the birds in the tree above—you can’t keep the birds out... No airplanes on the approach to LAX? No! What it is—the dimensions of the room—I mean it’s just a garage, but as it so happens, I tore this down and built this wall, moved it over to the right by like 5 inches. Just a little bit—this side is 8 feet, that side is 7 feet and some inches, so it’s not a rectangle, so you don’t get those standing waves—that’s all you needed. And they are measured to the “golden ratio”. And in the corners... It’s just storage [laughs], but the cabinets also stop the standing waves. And the ceiling slants, I think it’s 8 feet high there and 10 feet 10 inches here. What’s in the cabinets? Mostly mics, I have only a few but some nice ones. The Genesis mic from MXL [a large-diaphragm cardioid condenser tube mic, reviewed in our March 2009 issue], a Mojave, and an ADK. Which do you prefer for your voice? What I used a lot is the ADK Area 51 [true condenser pressure gradient mic with dual 1” six micron diaphragms and valve pre-amplifier, 9 polar patterns], but I’ve had mine for almost ten years and it might need a little servicing. It’s a great mic.

For mic pres I have a [PreSonus] Blue Tube [stereo tube mic pre], 2 channels of Brent Averill Neve, the Crane Song Flamingo [also two channels of mic pre], 2 channels of Drawmer 1960 [mic pre/vacuum tube compressor], and 8 channels of Grace Designs [801 high fidelity microphone preamplifier]. And the Universal Audio 6176 [Vintage Channel Strip—a classic tube microphone preamp and 1176-style compressor in a single unit]. How do you go about coming up with a new song? Do you do it here? The writing can be done anywhere. Do you carry some tools with you for that when you’re on the road? Apple GarageBand—I always have my laptop with me. And usually everybody has something at their house. When it’s time to make a track that might end up on a CD, how do you go about it? The first thing is the subject matter for me. Then I might have a chord chart, but the first thing I really do is, I complete the song, before I even think about doing a session. Maybe some of the words might get changed later on, but the song has to be complete. Then I start recording, at 88.2, with Pro Tools. It has to start with the tempo, with a click track. Do you call a session here for basics? I like doing tracks one person at a time. I’ve done some tracking sessions here with the drums and keyboards and everything going, but I find it’s such a small space, and even in a big place, it doesn’t matter... If I can get one guy at a time, I can dictate what they’re playing a bit more.

I have been a fan of Keb’ Mo’
(Kevin Moore in real life) forever. His light bluesy delivery is always based on a steady groove, accompanied by nifty guitar work that has elements of finger-pickin’ folk with some southern grease mixed in. I’ve seen him play two sets all by himself without ever losing the audience, winning them over and keeping them with his laidback charm. So it was a real pleasure to spend time with him in what used to be a garage behind his inconspicuous Los Angeles family home. It turns out that Brian Gadson (see his article on page 22 of this issue) had a hand in outfitting the studio, much to Kevin’s satisfaction. The space has a dividing wall down roughly the middle, with an interior connecting door and some glass, but it feels more like a living room than a studio—with couches, storage cabinets, curtains—a warm and friendly place.
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RECORDING MAY 2010

Recording - May 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - May 2010