Recording - May 2017 - 18

PAU L B RYAN
- and the making of -

AIMEE MANN'S
Mental Illness

need 80 Hz grumbling around on a vocal, so I'll do that. And I
do compress; on Aimee's vocal it was Summit TLA-2 compressor.
I use the Shadow Hills [Mono Optograph] a lot on bass. I
think I used it as a vocal compressor once too. Aimee's set up is
pretty solid; it's usually a Neve 1073 to the Summit.

OK. Kind of hard to argue with. [laughs]

Yeah, it's pretty great. I'll definitely EQ and compress drums, but I
try to keep it natural. I only add it if I'm missing something, or something's bothering me when I listen. But unless I'm looking for some
kind of effect, I won't do anything radical. The more I record, the less
I'm compressing and tweaking on the way in. It's a cliché-"Oh, you
should move your mics around [to get the sound]", but it's really true.

Absolutely. Was the bass done through an amp or was
that direct?

I would generally run that through a Summit TPA-200 tube
preamp and then to the Shadow Hills and occasionally an Empirical Labs Distressor, which can be kind of cool, too.

One of my favorite things on this record is the way that the
drums are really understated. Like the song "Simple Fix";
there's a really cool hi-hat groove and a fat snare drum all
perfectly in place. It's more "drums as percussion" than
modern and in your face.

Jay Bellerose played the drums. He's like a percussion orchestra.
You just have to mic him properly and get out of the way. I always tell
people, "Don't say anything for like five takes, let him work it out,"
because he basically listens to the sounds you're getting and adjusts.
With a lot of drummers, you've got to record them and listen and then
start twisting knobs, and pretty soon you're overcompressing the kick or
you find the toms are too close-miked because they hit too hard. Jay will
listen, and he hears the tones you're getting and he adjusts how he's hitting the drums. I don't really need to twist many knobs because Jay is just
a master of his instrument. Having said that, I mic him pretty specifically.

What did you use?

I used a pair of old AKG C12As, they look like a 414 but they're
tube mics and have the C12 capsule. I used those as overheads,
and a pair of Royer R-122s for overheads on one of the drum
takes. And then a [Shure] SM57 on the snare, always, and then
underneath... you know, I always mic it underneath, but I don't
really use it very often. But I use a Michael Joly-modded Oktava
MK-012. I have a pair and that's what I also use for hi-hat on this
record. The tom toms are [beyerdynamic] M160s.

How about kick?

The kick drum, I have an old [AKG] D12E that I use. You
know, one of those old square Frankenstein mics? And I'll also
18

RECORDING May 2017

use a [Shure] Beta 52 on the kick. So you get the woolly '70s
impactful thing from the D12E and the Beta gives you the
stubby stuff and a little more of the high end if you need it.
Then on room mics I had a pair of AEA N8s. Do you know
those mics, they're kind of new ribbons?

I have a pair of those and I use 'em for everything.

Yeah, after some trial and error I actually mounted them on
the wall so they just stay up. They are in just the right spot for
doing a string quartet or doing the drums.

What about drum processing?

Generally, I have a UREI 1178 [a stereo version of the
1176] on the overheads and Distressors on the snare and on
the kick drum. I don't usually compress toms or hi-hat.

That'd be dangerous.

Yeah, it's all just a little bit, just to get the sound of the gear.
You know, even compressing a snare can be dangerous; you
have to be careful to not make it too dead, especially on a
dynamic drummer. I keep some compression there, especially
just to get the sound of that 1178... you know, it just adds a
little something. I have a Dramastic Audio compressor on my
2-bus for mixing; when I'm tracking, I'll often use that as an
overhead compressor, as it has kind of a SSL vibe.

For piano, you have an old upright? I noticed the high
end was clear as a bell on the recording.

Yeah, its an old Steinway. It's called a Model X, I think it's
probably from 1890, maybe earlier. That's ironic that you should
say that, because that piano is super-dark. I think I used the pair
of Telefunken 221Bs on that. Sometimes I'll use the Royers, but it's
such a dark piano it's nice to get the small-diaphragm condensers
working for you with their high end focus.

"You know, even
compressing a snare can
be dangerous; you have to
be careful not to make it
too dead."

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - May 2017