Recording - November 2019 - 18

Mirek
Stiles

why it was so good. In some cases, these designs date from the
mid-50s. The book, Recording the Beatles by Kevin Ryan and
Brian Kehew is always handy to have around too!

Studio 2 Famous Staircase

Then they'll test it out on sessions, and once the engineers are
happy, I'm happy, and we've got a product.

What was the first product you worked with Chandler on?

With the RS124, do engineers here still gravitate to the
hallowed original three or use the Chandler version?

The REDD.47 valve mic pre, which was a no-brainer, like, "I
can't believe we haven't done this before." Then we did the RS124
compressor and the REDD and TG mics and the TG Cassette, so far.

They use them interchangeably. I've looked into the control
rooms, and I've seen people use the old ones. I've seen people
just use the new ones or both side-by-side.

How did you guys come up with the idea of putting all
three historic RS124 units into a single box?

When the REDD Mic was being developed, there was
a picture circulating with Sting trying it out. Did you
actually say to Sting, "Hey, we have this prototype?" Or
did you set it up and hope he wouldn't notice?

That was a leftover from the RS124 plugin that we did years
ago. [now discontinued-Ed] In the plugin we modeled all three,
and when it came to the hardware, we didn't know if it was
possible or not, to get the three models in there. But Wade is creative, and he was like, "What's the difference?" When we did
the measurements, we worked out that it was largely the attack
times that gave them their very distinctive sonic characteristics.

What about the SuperFuse?
It was a happy accident from the plugin. There was a mistake in the code. The attack time and the release time started
fighting against one another, and it just made this crazy compression sound. Again, Wade figured out how to do it in the
hardware, and it sounded amazing.

I assume you make side-by-side comparisons with the
originals?
Yeah, Chandler sends over prototypes. Most of these aren't
just straight recreations either. We try to modernize them slightly, not sonically, but with some modern features. When I get the
prototype back at Abbey Road, I will initially test it against the
original gear if possible. I want to make sure that I'm happy
with it before I take it into the studios and put it in front of the
recording engineers because I don't like to waste their time.
18 RECORDING November 2019

I think that was Peter Cobbin and I think he put the microphone up along with a microphone Sting is comfortable with,
probably with an explanation saying this is a prototype...I don't
know for sure, I wasn't there. But yeah, it happened. [Laughs]

I know mics can be pretty personal, whereas most artists
won't care if you slip a prototype preamp or compressor
into the mix.
Regarding the REDD mic, whenever I ask someone to use it
or compare it to their other favorite microphone, they usually
end up wanting to use it. It's that obvious of a difference. I'm
not saying it's suitable for every single scenario, but nine times
out of ten. I've seen people use it even on orchestral sessions
in front of double basses and cellos. Peter Cobbin has three of
them and uses them in a Decca Tree above the orchestra.

What about the TG Mic?
When Wade came up with the concept of adding the tape
curve EQ from the transfer desk into a microphone, I was like,
"OK this is a little weird," but just like adding the preamp into
the REDD Mic, the eq adds to the TG mic's versatility. Right in
the mic you can get more low end or more high end, or scoop

Recording - November 2019

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