Recording - July 2020 - 38

Self Made Sisters
In the studio with Larkin Poe

What are your typical guitar mics?
I look at the mics as a color palette instead of using an EQ.
If I want something to be brighter, I'll go with an AKG C414
or some kind of condenser mic. If I want things to be darker,
I'll lean on a Shure SM57 or a ribbon mic like a Royer R121.

Do you move mics around, song to song?
If you saw my cabinets you'd laugh-they're all marked up.
Over the years, I'd have interns go out into the studio with a mic,
and I'd tell them, "I'm going to play this hundred watt Plexi, and
I want you to move the mic around, and I'm going to yell at you
when I want you to stop." I'd find the sweet spot for that amp
and cabinet, and I'd have them mark it. Now I have all my target
spots-a C414 sounds perfect here, an SM57 sounds great there,
a Sennheiser 421 works here, the R-121 sounds killer here...

Like real-world presets!
Exactly. When working with an artist like Larkin Poe, they
want to work quickly because they're inspired. With the cabinets marked, I can move a mic quickly and know that it'll be in
the ballpark and in phase. The situation I try to avoid is where
everyone is sitting around going, "Wouldn't it be cool if we, you
know, skinned a raccoon and taped it over the speaker cone,
and then miked it with this really indie sounding mic..." At the
end of the day, no one gives a shit about that stuff. It just has to
sound awesome, and you've got to move quick.

Tell me more about your line mixer setup.
I put up multiple mics, and I use the API line mixer to blend them
all. The mix might be a combination of a dynamic mic and a condenser mic or two different types of dynamic mics that fit the track.

You're overmiking upfront, knowing that you're only
going to use certain mics or a blend them in the mix.
Exactly.

Are you a 'keep it clean on the way in and add vibe
later' kind of guy, or do you commit to your sounds
on the way in?
As a guitarist, I understand that when you're sitting there with
your instrument and playing, it's either inspiring or it's not. My
goal is to make it inspiring for the artist so that we can get the
best performance. The amount of gear doesn't matter when the
client goes, "Hey, I want to plug in, and I'm looking for this kind
of sound." You say, "OK, great," and you're off to the races.

Any examples of how you go with the flow when
inspiration hits?
On their last record, Venom & Faith, there's a song called
'John The Revelator'. Rebecca came in wanting to experiment
a little bit, but they weren't sure what they wanted to do. On
38 RECORDING July 2020

one of my studio walls is a cigar box guitar that my wife bought
me, and Rebecca was like, "Oh, let me try this."
She just picked it up and tuned it really quickly. And the
next thing you know, she's playing the song! I was like, "Oh
shit," and grabbed an old Magnavox amp and an iso box and
plugged it in. After miking the amp, I miked the guitar itself,
created two tracks, and blended them to find the sweet spot.

By knowing your gear, you knew what to grab.
As I mentioned before, a client will say, "I want a classic
Fender tone, but I want it to be more aggressive, and can you
make it a little more mid-forward sounding," and I'll be like,
"OK, great. I know exactly what you're talking about." And
in full disclosure, at the end of the day, you really don't know
what they were talking about. [both laugh]

Rebecca mentioned she played acoustic on 'Keep Diggin'-
it almost sounds as if it could have been electric.
It was both. It was a Gibson ES-125 hollow body. I miked it
with an old Neumann M582-a [pencil] tube condenser with
a nickel diaphragm. You put that anywhere near an acoustic
instrument, and it already sounds processed. I used that with
a Neve 1073 into an old UA 1176. I also ran it into an amp
and an iso box into an API preamp and an old Gates STA-Level
compressor. You get the attack and percussion of an acoustic
instrument, but you also have the amp's grittiness.

What was the vocal chain for Larkin Poe?
The normal signal chain that I like to use on vocals is an old
Neumann U47, a Telefunken V72 mic pre, and an old Teletronix
LA2A compressor. Generally, with that signal chain, vocals
sound great-no EQ necessary. Rebecca is one of two singers
I've had in the studio that has caused the diaphragm on the
U47 to crap out because of the output of her voice.

Recording - July 2020

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