Recording - March 2012 - 19

How did you keep the acoustic guitar out of the vocal mic? It was more about being able to crank up the acoustic than the other way around, because she is not really a heavyhanded player. Did you eq or compress to tape? For acoustic guitars I was using an API mic pre with a 550b eq to take out some of the lower mid frequency, just to make it sound more normal. Typically I don’t eq the vocal going to tape. It was a Brent Averill mic pre through an LA-2A compressor. For guitars we don’t typically use any compression when tracking. What about Jay’s guitars? Any cool examples? For tracking on the song “Hard Bargain”, it’s actually acoustic guitar recorded at half speed and sped up. That’s what gives that airy high-strung sound. So were you tracking to tape or direct to Pro Tools? The way we normally set up is that we have an old MCI 24track tape machine with the input transformers, and it sounds really, really great. We tend to run through the tape machine all the time on input because we really love the transformer sound. I am not sure, though, if we ever actually tracked to tape on Emmylou’s stuff.

that would cover the whole setup and give us a really cool dimension. What mics? It was a Lawson 47 on the top and a Bill Bradley 47 clone for the side, and for the kick drum often it was a triggered sample—that kept the kick drum out of the room mics. When we did use a traditional kick drum we used a Sony C500, and a 57 on the snare, but the main vibe of the drum kit is from the two 47s. One song was a djembe with brushes instead of snare? I think that was “Goodnight Old World”. Giles would also do things like rig up a

room or studio. The drums are isolated in a separate room. So we were recording acoustic and vocals and electric guitar all right next to each other. The amps are isolated, but the people are all right next to each other, which makes the communication so much cooler. You can just talk to each other without pushing talkback buttons or talking through glass, and it makes the creative process really seamless. Throughout all the tracking, through to her background vocals, she was sitting in the same chair, 10 feet from the console.

Anything that stands out to as the biggest oops of the album? Any “oh crap” moments? Recording Hard Bargain: a partial gear list I have those all the time [laughs], but one thing we try to always do MCI JH-24 24-track tape machine is not let engineering get in the SSL Duality console way of making a good recording. ProTools|HD Sometimes you just throw a mic up BAE Neve 1073, 1066 channel strips and capture a vibe. Sometimes Calrec 1061 you just have three people starting API 512c and 550b to make noise and you just need to RCA BA6B compressor throw up a mic and capture it. Vintage Teletronix LA-2A and 1176s I think we had some happy acciChandler TG12413 Zener Limiter dents, like on “Big Black Dog” Empirical Labs Distressors where we set up to capture it a cerMics: Neumann U69 stereo condenser mic, Royer R-121 tain way and we had to switch mic and SF-24 ribbons, Sony C500, Lawson MP47, Bill Bradley setups real quickly. I think it sounds MS-47, AKG C12a, Altec 639 ribbon, Coles 4038 ribbon like that’s just what happened, and just adds to the organic off-the-cuffEmmylou’s Guitars: ness of the song! Gibson L200 Emmylou model for standard and modal tunings Any final advice for beginning 1965 Gibson SJN in open D tuning (her oldest guitar) engineers? Gear, or anything Martin in an open A tuning used on the “The Ship On His Arm” else?

“I think a lot of people get hung up on “I don’t have this or I need that”. Make a record with what you do have. Even having limitations in your equipment makes you more creative.”—Jason Hall
For the benefit of our readers, how did you do the half-speed thing in Pro Tools? Hit Command (Apple)-Shift-Spacebar and it will record at half speed. It’s useful for that type of sonic trick. What about Jay’s guitar tracking setup? He’s got quite the pedal selection. There are a couple of songs where you can hear the DigiTech Whammy Pedal, but for the most part it’s going through his pedal board and delays, and his amp was the Swart Atomic Space Tone. Then it was a Shure SM57 into a Brent Averill Neve-style pre, straight to tape. Can you talk about the drum setup? We used a Glyn Johns setup to capture the whole kit. We knew from the beginning it was going to be kind of a hodgepodge, not your typical drum setup, and it was gonna change. So we needed something floor tom with tambourines and play off the rims of the tambourines. What about the keyboard sounds? Jay’s not really into software synths. Most of the sounds were off a Yamaha Motif... maybe a Roland 505 drum machine? How did you track bass? Usually it’s going direct through a Brent Averill preamp into a Distressor; the amp is an Ampeg B-18 and we mic that with a C12, and that was probably going through another Brent Averill into a BA6B RCA FET tube compressor. We may have also used an AKG D112. I heard Emmylou did her backing vocals in the control room? Actually, at Jay’s studio it’s all basically one room, as opposed to having a dedicated isolated control room or talent I think a lot of people get hung up on “I don’t have this or I need that”. Make a record with what you do have. Even having limitations in your equipment makes you more creative. When I was coming up, 4-track tape recorders were the thing, and when I got my first one in high school it was this whole new world, this amazing thing. Some of the choices you would make because of the limitations were really inspiring, like bouncing the whole band down to one track so you could add a double vocal track or a whole track of tambourine while the rest of the song is on one track! And now you have a world-class recording facility in your laptop, it’s amazing. Plus, the job of engineering has changed. It used to be walking into a recording studio was like walking into the control room of a space ship and you had to be more technical, and now I think we see less of that in today’s studios... but that’s a whole ’nother discussion.
RECORDING MARCH 2012

19



Recording - March 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - March 2012

Recording - March 2012
Fade In
Contents
Talkback
Fast Forward
Emmylou Harris: The Songwriter And The Studio
BOSS MICRO BR BR-80 Digital Recorder
Songwriters—Turn Your Songs Into Money!
Reviewed & Revisited: Apple MacBook Air and GarageBand ’11
Ronan Chris Murphy: Sage Advice For The Recording Singer/Songwriter
Cakewalk Music Creator 6
Recording Fundamentals. Chapter 3: Introduction To Audio—Part Two (Where Do The Mics Go?)
Slate Pro Audio Fox Mic Preamp
From Songwriting To Final Master: A Recording Project
Reviewed & Revisited: Steinberg Cubase 6
A Demo In A Day
Once Over—Reviews In Brief
Readers' Tapes
Advertiser Index
Fade Out
Recording - March 2012 - Intro
Recording - March 2012 - Recording - March 2012
Recording - March 2012 - Cover2
Recording - March 2012 - 1
Recording - March 2012 - 2
Recording - March 2012 - 3
Recording - March 2012 - Fade In
Recording - March 2012 - 5
Recording - March 2012 - Contents
Recording - March 2012 - 7
Recording - March 2012 - Talkback
Recording - March 2012 - 9
Recording - March 2012 - Fast Forward
Recording - March 2012 - 11
Recording - March 2012 - Emmylou Harris: The Songwriter And The Studio
Recording - March 2012 - 13
Recording - March 2012 - 14
Recording - March 2012 - 15
Recording - March 2012 - 16
Recording - March 2012 - 17
Recording - March 2012 - 18
Recording - March 2012 - 19
Recording - March 2012 - BOSS MICRO BR BR-80 Digital Recorder
Recording - March 2012 - 21
Recording - March 2012 - Songwriters—Turn Your Songs Into Money!
Recording - March 2012 - 23
Recording - March 2012 - 24
Recording - March 2012 - 25
Recording - March 2012 - 26
Recording - March 2012 - 27
Recording - March 2012 - Reviewed & Revisited: Apple MacBook Air and GarageBand ’11
Recording - March 2012 - 29
Recording - March 2012 - 30
Recording - March 2012 - 31
Recording - March 2012 - 32
Recording - March 2012 - 33
Recording - March 2012 - Ronan Chris Murphy: Sage Advice For The Recording Singer/Songwriter
Recording - March 2012 - 35
Recording - March 2012 - 36
Recording - March 2012 - 37
Recording - March 2012 - Cakewalk Music Creator 6
Recording - March 2012 - 39
Recording - March 2012 - Recording Fundamentals. Chapter 3: Introduction To Audio—Part Two (Where Do The Mics Go?)
Recording - March 2012 - 41
Recording - March 2012 - 42
Recording - March 2012 - 43
Recording - March 2012 - Slate Pro Audio Fox Mic Preamp
Recording - March 2012 - 45
Recording - March 2012 - From Songwriting To Final Master: A Recording Project
Recording - March 2012 - 47
Recording - March 2012 - 48
Recording - March 2012 - 49
Recording - March 2012 - 50
Recording - March 2012 - 51
Recording - March 2012 - 52
Recording - March 2012 - 53
Recording - March 2012 - 54
Recording - March 2012 - 55
Recording - March 2012 - Reviewed & Revisited: Steinberg Cubase 6
Recording - March 2012 - 57
Recording - March 2012 - A Demo In A Day
Recording - March 2012 - 59
Recording - March 2012 - Once Over—Reviews In Brief
Recording - March 2012 - 61
Recording - March 2012 - 62
Recording - March 2012 - 63
Recording - March 2012 - Readers' Tapes
Recording - March 2012 - Advertiser Index
Recording - March 2012 - 66
Recording - March 2012 - 67
Recording - March 2012 - 68
Recording - March 2012 - 69
Recording - March 2012 - 70
Recording - March 2012 - 71
Recording - March 2012 - Fade Out
Recording - March 2012 - Cover3
Recording - March 2012 - Cover4
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