RECORDING October 2022 - 24

Photo by Marthe Vannebo
Daniel
Lanois
Player, Piano
As this is our mic locker
issue, what are some of
your desert island mics?
Any microphone that's not broken.
[both laugh]
Obviously, the C-37A. I have a bunch
of those, and they all sound a little different.
I still use the Shure SM-7, SM58 and
SM57. I'm a real Shure buff because
they don't give me any trouble.
The thing I hate the most in a session is,
" Are you hearing a bit of a buzz or hum?
Oh, no, stop everything! " That's the worst.
Dynamic might tend to solve that problem.
There's one microphone I really miss
that I loved, and that was the Sony C-500
condenser-a big lollipop-looking thing,
where the ball on the end is the size of
a fist. I used that back in the day, and I
thought it was just the best. and it broke.
It's vintage, and really hard to find another
one that works. If I could go back in time,
I'd get a whole box of brand new ones.
It's the loveliest sounding microphone.
I've had and used them all, the AKG
C12, C24 ... When I lived and worked in
East Berlin at Hansa Studios, I bought 25
microphones from an East German collector.
He had Neumann mics no one had
ever heard of. After a while, I realized I
was becoming a collector, so I sold them
all to Mark Mothersbaugh [of Devo -Ed].
I really like the old American ribbon
mics. I still use the RCA 44 to this day
and the RCA 77, and I love the RCA
BK-5. That's what I'm currently using on
vocals. Let's put that at the top of the list.
That's my current favorite mic. It seems to
position the sound in a certain part of the
24 RECORDING October 2022
spectrum with a presence where I don't
have to turn it up too loud. It just speaks.
I still use the RCA 44 mics on the
drums. Once you find the sweet spot,
it's hard to miss with those ribbon mics
on drums. They're very kind to the low
mids, and they are great on horns.
I'll tell you a funny story. I'm a motorcycle
rider, so I've got a lot of full-face
helmets. So we took one, drilled a big
hole in the mouthguard and just shoved
the capsule of an SM57 in there. When
the singer wears the helmet and puts the
shield down, you get full isolation, and
the singer is never off the mic.
I've used it myself, but I can't get anyone
else to wear it because you suffocate
in about two minutes. I visited Shure
and went to the CEO, and I said, " OK,
problem solved, this is how to have the
singer in the same room as the band
and get total isolation. " I presented it to
them, and I am pretty sure they thought I
was a crackpot! [both laugh hysterically]
It's a genius idea. I just need to work
on the air conditioning part.
What advice would you give
an engineer or musician
today just starting out?
Be present. Don't be distracted. Always
arrive early, leave late, and don't look too
busy. Nobody wants to work with somebody
who's too busy and does not have
time for them. Don't be on your phone lining
up the next thing and all that. Devote
yourself to the session you are at.
Also, be prepared. I hate wasting people's
time. None of this, " Hey, hang on,
let me plug something in, or sorry, there's
a bit of a crackle. " No, no, no-don't be
fixing stuff while you're recording.
When I recorded Neil Young's Le
Noise, I spent two weeks preparing the
equipment, figuring out where the amps
would go and setting them up in the hallways.
I brought out my best guitar. When
he walked in, I just handed him the guitar,
and he heard the most amazing sound.
That goes into house sound. What
is house sound? What is your house
sound? Let's say someone comes in to
do a vocal. The worst thing you can do
is to say, " OK, let me go get a couple
of microphones outta the closet. " No,
have your microphone set up. Have a
sound already.
Label your mics, label your preamps.
Have everything labeled so that when
somebody walks up to a microphone
you hear a sound in a matter of seconds.
Somebody picks up the bass. You've got
the best bass sound.
I work with stations. I have my station
with all my sounds set up, so when I pick
up my guitar, I can play something that
sounds inspiring. It's instant action, instant
results. Don't make people wait.
Wise words!
When I started as a teenager and
was doing sessions all across Toronto, I
noticed that production teams and engineers
were running around half the time,
just trying to plug things in. You couldn't
have done that before we got here?
When I set up my first studio with
my brother, I said, " We're gonna do
it the way I heard that Motown did it. "
Motown had a house drum kit; everything
was miked. You pick up the bass;
it's already plugged in with no screwing
around. The tambourine is already
there, and you've got the best mic for
it. Everything works. That's house sound.
We started doing that, and we started
getting a lot of work. People even
stopped bringing their own instruments
because they could walk in knowing full
well that we were already set up. So that
was it. It's what I still do today.
What's your sound? House sound.
Don't make people wait. Show up early,
stay late.
That's a brilliant mantra!
Thanks so much, Daniel!
All right, buddy. Thank you.

RECORDING October 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of RECORDING October 2022

Fade In
Fast Forward
Warm Audio WA-47F & WA-CX12X
The Nostalgic, Futurist Piano Man: Daniel Lanois Player, Piano
Focusrite Clarett+ OctoPre
Session Log: Ribbon Microphones
ADK Microphones: Munich-7-T T-FET
Moog Music Mavis
Inside The Studio With Mark Hornsby: Cool Mics by Non-Mic Companies
Heiserman Audio H251
Plugin Outlet: sonible smart:comp 2
AEA TRP500
Inside The Box with Joe Albano: Virtual Preamps
Pearlman Microphones TM-12A
MasterWriter
Sequential Take 5
Mojave MA-D
TIERRA Audio New Twenties
RECORDING October 2022 - Intro
RECORDING October 2022 - Cover1
RECORDING October 2022 - Cover2
RECORDING October 2022 - 1
RECORDING October 2022 - 2
RECORDING October 2022 - 3
RECORDING October 2022 - Fade In
RECORDING October 2022 - 5
RECORDING October 2022 - 6
RECORDING October 2022 - 7
RECORDING October 2022 - Fast Forward
RECORDING October 2022 - 9
RECORDING October 2022 - Warm Audio WA-47F & WA-CX12X
RECORDING October 2022 - 11
RECORDING October 2022 - 12
RECORDING October 2022 - 13
RECORDING October 2022 - 14
RECORDING October 2022 - 15
RECORDING October 2022 - The Nostalgic, Futurist Piano Man: Daniel Lanois Player, Piano
RECORDING October 2022 - 17
RECORDING October 2022 - 18
RECORDING October 2022 - 19
RECORDING October 2022 - 20
RECORDING October 2022 - 21
RECORDING October 2022 - 22
RECORDING October 2022 - 23
RECORDING October 2022 - 24
RECORDING October 2022 - 25
RECORDING October 2022 - Focusrite Clarett+ OctoPre
RECORDING October 2022 - 27
RECORDING October 2022 - 28
RECORDING October 2022 - 29
RECORDING October 2022 - Session Log: Ribbon Microphones
RECORDING October 2022 - 31
RECORDING October 2022 - 32
RECORDING October 2022 - 33
RECORDING October 2022 - 34
RECORDING October 2022 - 35
RECORDING October 2022 - 36
RECORDING October 2022 - 37
RECORDING October 2022 - 38
RECORDING October 2022 - 39
RECORDING October 2022 - ADK Microphones: Munich-7-T T-FET
RECORDING October 2022 - 41
RECORDING October 2022 - Moog Music Mavis
RECORDING October 2022 - 43
RECORDING October 2022 - Inside The Studio With Mark Hornsby: Cool Mics by Non-Mic Companies
RECORDING October 2022 - 45
RECORDING October 2022 - 46
RECORDING October 2022 - 47
RECORDING October 2022 - Heiserman Audio H251
RECORDING October 2022 - 49
RECORDING October 2022 - Plugin Outlet: sonible smart:comp 2
RECORDING October 2022 - 51
RECORDING October 2022 - AEA TRP500
RECORDING October 2022 - 53
RECORDING October 2022 - Inside The Box with Joe Albano: Virtual Preamps
RECORDING October 2022 - 55
RECORDING October 2022 - 56
RECORDING October 2022 - 57
RECORDING October 2022 - Pearlman Microphones TM-12A
RECORDING October 2022 - 59
RECORDING October 2022 - MasterWriter
RECORDING October 2022 - 61
RECORDING October 2022 - Sequential Take 5
RECORDING October 2022 - 63
RECORDING October 2022 - Mojave MA-D
RECORDING October 2022 - 65
RECORDING October 2022 - 66
RECORDING October 2022 - 67
RECORDING October 2022 - 68
RECORDING October 2022 - 69
RECORDING October 2022 - 70
RECORDING October 2022 - 71
RECORDING October 2022 - TIERRA Audio New Twenties
RECORDING October 2022 - Cover3
RECORDING October 2022 - Cover4
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