EQ Magazine - February 2009 - (Page 31)

RICK SUCH MacMillan (left) and Lukather auditioning amps during the Ever Changing Times sessions. played all together in one room until we got a take. Today, a lot of guys record one instrument at a time to make everything perfect. What’s up with that? DUMP YOUR COMFORT ZONE MacMillan: I told Luke, “Forget about the past, just be yourself, and shut up and play.” I also nagged him into exploring more organic, vintage tones. Lukather: I needed somebody to pressure me into doing something different. I called Hollywood Rentals, and I said, “Send me all the weird stuff— the silly little Supros and Magnatones and whatever—and all the vintage AC30s and Marshalls.” Then, during the sessions, I let the amp determine how I played, because you do play differently when you plug into a different amp. That, in turn, inspired all the interesting guitar sounds for the album. I used a Radial ToneBone for overdrive here and there, but the basic tone is my Ernie Ball/Music Man Steve Lukather Signature Model plugged direct into an amp. Well, I did plug into an ISP Technologies Vector SL subwoofer to get a mammoth sound out of the tiny amps, but any effects you hear on my guitar were added at the mixdown by Steve. I loved being able to just plug in and play, because, you know, I’m so sick of being blamed for that ’80s over-processed rack sh*t. That was not my fault. It was all new back then, and the producers I worked for asked for those types of sounds. It used to kill me when I’d see some effects unit with a “Lukather” patch, and it would be the cheesiest, most f**ked-up sound in the box. MacMillan: For heavy guitar tones, I’m a big fan of Royer R-121 ribbon mics. I also placed a Royer SF-12 ribbon out in the room, and about eight feet back from the amps. I find that mic captures a slightly rounded sound with somewhat compressed highs. It’s very effective for getting rid of the nasty edges to guitar tones. I’m still a big fan of positioning a Shure SM57 close to the speaker cone, and I’ve also found that an Audix I5 works just as well. I miked the ISP subwoofer with either a Sennheiser e602 or a Shure Beta 52. I didn’t want to have a lot of high frequency leakage into the subwoofer tones, and those mics naturally roll off the high end. I’d usually record all of the mics, and then decide which tracks—or combinations of tracks—to keep later. Quite often, it ended up being the combination of the Royer and the Audix. GIVE UP Lukather: I wasn’t interested in doing a million takes. If a solo didn’t work— either because I didn’t have the right sound, or because I wasn’t inspired at that moment—I’d just move on. A part either works or it doesn’t. You can’t batter it into submission, or force inspiration to save you. It’s always better to just surrender, and then come back later to give it a go with fresh ears. GO EASY ON THE LEVELS MacMillan: When recording to Pro Tools—even though, as a rule of thumb, I use my ears, rather than watch meters—I generally like to keep the meters about half way up. Everything usually sounds great there, and I like having the headroom available for the final mix. By keeping everything at about 50 percent, my mix comes together a little easier, because I don’t have to pull levels back all the time. SEEK COUNSEL Lukather: It’s great to have someone in the room with you, so it’s not just you deciding what is good and what is bad. There was a lot of stuff I probably would have thrown away that ended up making it on the record. Steve would be like, “No, man. That’s really good. I’m telling you—keep that part!” After I lived with it for a while, I’d realize he was right. It’s always good to have at least a second set of ears in there. That’s why people have producers. WATCH, LISTEN, AND LEARN Lukather: I’ve learned as a closet engineer to keep my eyes open to how different people work—whether it’s miking techniques, or how they hit the EQ. For example, I’ve found the best engineers won’t boost frequencies. Instead, they’ll find the ugly ones, and pull them out. This approach creates space—which is important for a dynamic and exciting mix— rather than have every boosted frequency fighting for prominence in the mix. BEGIN WELL Lukather: First off, what’s going into a microphone has to sound good. You can’t take a crappy-sounding amp and expect it to magically sound good just because you put a sexy microphone in front of it. The quality of the source sound is critical. After that, it’s about the engineer enhancing the source sound. www.eqmag.com FEBRUARY 2009 EQ 31 http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - February 2009

EQ Magazine - February 2009 Contents Talk Box Sounding Board Dave Cooley Low vs. Diamond Hank Williams III Travis Franz Ferdinand Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drum Heads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Apple Logic Pro 8 Cakewalk Sonar Near-Field Monitor Roundup Gadgets &�Goodies Sounds Room with a Vu

EQ Magazine - February 2009

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