EQ Magazine - March 2008 - (Page 25)

understood waiting for a Neve to arrive, or going to exotic places to track in hopes of capturing some special feeling in the air. It’s the artist that matters. I think worrying about what equipment was used is nonsensical. Sure. But would you mind sharing what a typical signal chain for recording Drake was? Wood: We used a Neumann U67 as the vocal mic, and a Neumann KM 56—a small valve condenser—on his guitar. We chose the KM 56 because it flattered his vocals, as well. As his vocals were recorded live along with his guitar, we had to make sure the mic we were using for each source sounded good on the other source, as there was a fair amount of bleed. We placed the mics pretty close to Nick’s mouth, and the soundhole of his guitar. We weren’t trying to get a lot of the room in his sound, and we had to get some separation from the instruments that surrounded him in the live room. I’d run the U67 into a Fairchild 660. His vocal Boyd published White Bicycles: Making Music inthe 1960s in 2006. was the only signal that was compressed on those albums. I’d track with the limiter because I was trying to get as much of the final album sound before we mixed. We wouldn’t even use much EQ during the mix. And I’d still work that way—even with what digital affords us. You should be able to pretty much put the entire performance to tape, and be done with it. Joe, is John’s recording and mixing philosophy similar to your own? Boyd: I’ve obviously learned a lot from working with John, and he has informed my approach in the studio. However, I think the biggest influence on my listening—and, therefore, mixing—was my grandmother. She was a pianist, and she taught me a rather arcane, highly conceptual and slightly dubious idea that piano playing was about “singing by hand.” The concept is that a leading melody isn’t necessarily meant to be played louder, but you make it sing out in a way so that both hands stay in balance. A melody is important, and it’s at the forefront because of texture—not volume. I’ve always applied that idea to my mixing. The goal is to make the vocal line—the lead melody, and the romantic, emotional part of the music— clear and alluring without being unnecessarily loud or unbalanced. You want to www.argosyconsole.com 800.315.0878 or 573.348.3333 Imagine - then transform The finest facilities in the world rely on Argosy studio furnishings so can you. 2008 Argosy Console, Inc. www.eqmag.com MARCH 2008 EQ 25 Levels Audio; Hollywood, CA http://www.argosyconsole.com http://www.argosyconsole.com http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - March 2008

EQ Magazine - March 2008 Contents Talk Box Sounding Board Punch In Tool Box Dream Theater Nick Drake LO-FI Recording Tricks Guitar Trax Bass Managment Key Issues Drum Heads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Tascam Gigastudio 4 Cakewalk Sonar 7 Crane Song Avocet Cad Signature Series Mic Packs Waves GTR3 Kjaerhus MPL-1 Pro SE Ableton Live 7 Centrance Micport Pro, Tapco LINK.midi 4x4, Multi-Gigabyte USB 2.0 Memory Sticks Digital Redux Electrotech, Nine Volt Audio Action Drums, Big Fish Audio Hadeeth 2 Room with a VU

EQ Magazine - March 2008

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