Headliner MPG Awards Special 2018

MPG

AWARDS

2018

S P E C IA L

G THE C AT I V E C

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MUN I TY

Noah

Langer & Winstanley

Passovoy

PRODUCING MAROON 5

PRODUCER DUO RECEIVE TOP ACCOLADE

Ólafur Arnalds

A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS

IMOGEN HEAP

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editor’s letter

Welcome to this special MPG Awards edition of Headliner.

I

t’s our pleasure once again to bring you this special edition of Headliner Magazine, dedicated to tonight’s MPG Awards, and the people it represents - the creative community of engineers, producers, and behind the scenes talent that make all the records we love to spin, download, and stream. And my, have we been doing a lot of the latter.

Our cover story is an exclusive with tonight’s Inspiration Award winner, Imogen Heap. It’s a very productive time right now for Imogen - in fact, it’s difficult to believe there is anyone working harder than she is, on such an eclectic mix of musical projects. She

SOCIALISE WITH US: headlinermagazine.net @Headlinerhub HeadlinerHub headlinermagazine

is one of the most forward-thinking artists we’ve come across, not only breaking the mould musically with her unique vocal sampling and production techniques over the last two decades, but through Mycelia, and now her Creative Passports, which you can read more about in the centre spread.

We also talk to the winners of this year’s Outstanding Contribution award - the super-successful production duo of Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. These guys helped shape the sound of Madness and Dexys in the ‘80s, and share plenty of musical stories and anecdotes with us. What a career they’ve had, even if it does mean they’ve spent

more time together than they have with their respective wives..!

Also inside, we chat to composer extraordinaire, Ólafur Arnalds, Maroon 5’s long-time producer, Noah Passovoy, and we learn more about hi-res audio, as we take a look inside one of Berlin’s finest recording studios.

We’d like to wish all the nominees the best of luck, and offer a special thanks to the MPG for helping to build what has become a fantastic media partnership with us. It’s an honour, and a privilege, to be part of your big night.

Paul Watson, Editor

CONTACT Paul Watson paul@headlinerhub.com +44(0)7952-839296

Yerosha yeroshasound@gmail.com +44(0)7872-461938

Art Director Eimear O’Connor

Contributors Adam Protz Yerosha Rhona Lavis

U LT I M AT E P O I N T S O U R C E

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Contents MPG Awards Special

08

24

34

MPG SHORTLIST

REAL WORLD STUDIOS

BREAKING THE MOULD

A full rundown of this year’s categories and nominees.

10 ÓLAFUR ARNALDS

We talk movie scoring, live shows, and virtual instruments with this BAFTA-winning composer.

14 NOAH PASSOVOY

We chat to the long-time Maroon 5 producer about making the band’s latest record, Red Pill Blues.

17 LANGER & WINSTANLEY

The winners of this year’s revered Outstanding Contribution award take us through their huge career.

20 IMOGEN HEAP

We chat to tonight’s Inspiration Award-winner about musical twists of fate, and Creative Passports.

It’s off to Peter Gabriel’s place to witness the launch of AudioTechnica’s 50 Series microphones.

The guys at Cranborne Audio have much to shout about, as their British-made kit is making waves.

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38

RECORDING IN BERLIN

MATT LAWRENCE

We descend on one of Germany’s finest studios, where a hybrid of analogue and hi-res audio is key.

A great insight into production with a very passionate Grammywinner, who’s all about the music.

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41

INSIDE THE HUB

SADAHARU YAGI

We put Shure’s KSM313 mic to the test in our newly built and remarkably haunted studio.

30 DIGIGRID TO THE TEST

London-based producer, Yerosha, puts DiGiGrid’s Desktop series of audio interfaces through its paces.

32 ROCK & ROLLERCOASTER

We chat to The Carnabys frontman, Jack Mercer, about his new Pines project, and love of JH Audio IEMs.

H E A D L I N E R | M P G AWA R D S S P E C I A L 2 0 1 8

This LA-based producer is set on helping The Smiths’ Andy Rourke bring rock music back to the US.

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www.shure.co.uk Š 2018 Shure Incorporated

MPG Awards 2018 Shortlist UK PRODUCER OF THE YEAR (sponsored by Kii Audio)

BREAKTHROUGH PRODUCER OF THE YEAR (sponsored by Focusrite)

UK SINGLE SONG RELEASE OF THE YEAR (sponsored by Shure)

Catherine Marks Charlie Andrew Tom Dalgety

Ben Baptie Guy Massey Jolyon Thomas

Arcade Fire: Everything Now Harry Styles: Sign of the Times Royal Blood: Lights Out

RECORDING ENGINEER OF THE YEAR (sponsored by AMS Neve)

SELF-PRODUCING ARTIST OF THE YEAR (sponsored by Spitfire Audio)

THE A&R AWARD (sponsored by AIM)

Avril Mackintosh Manon Grandjean Matt Wiggins

Brian Eno Glass Animals Sleaford Mods

MIX ENGINEER OF THE YEAR (sponsored by SSL)

BREAKTHROUGH ENGINEER OF THE YEAR (sponsored by Genelec)

Cenzo Townshend David Wrench Mark ‘Spike’ Stent

Jake Gordon Marta Salogni Steph Marziano

RE-MIXER OF THE YEAR (sponsored by Novation)

INTERNATIONAL PRODUCER OF THE YEAR (sponsored by British Grove)

Ewan Pearson Matthew Herbert UNKLE STUDIO OF THE YEAR (sponsored by Synthax Audio) Abbey Road Studios RAK Studios Strongroom Studios

Garret ‘Jacknife’ Lee Lorde T Bone Burnett MASTERING ENGINEER OF THE YEAR (sponsored by Miloco Studios) Barry Grint Mandy Parnell Matt Colton

Adele White Ben Durling Jane Third UK ALBUM OF THE YEAR (sponsored by Universal Audio) Alt-J: Relaxer Glass Animals: How to be a Human Being Royal Blood: How Did We Get So Dark?

INSPIRATION AWARD WINNER 2018 (sponsored by Audio Note) Imogen Heap OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION AWARD WINNERS 2018 (sponsored by PPL) Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley

“I explored every option, but time and again found myself pulled back towards the sound of the Horus�

Jack Ruston, MPG Breakthrough Engineer Nominee 2017

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ÓLAFUR ARNALDS

Ó L A F UR Arnalds Ólafur Arnalds is a film composer, solo artist, and one half of techno duo, Kiasmos. He landed a BAFTA for scoring ITV’s Broadchurch, and hit UK screens again via Channel 4’s Electric Dreams. We’re at Royal Festival Hall, where Ólafur is headlining the Erased Tapes is 10 festival.

The Royal Festival Hall is a stunning building, originally built for classical music. The Houses of Parliament and the London Eye are just a short walk away, and the River Thames provides the perfect backdrop.

“I’ve scored two episodes,” Ólafur says, of Electric Dreams. “Harry Gregson-Williams is someone else who’s scored a couple, also. Each episode is huge, way too much for just one composer to do the whole series.

But this show is going to be huge.”

With a star-studded cast, there’s no need to take that with a pinch of salt. And it can only increase Ólafur’s burgeoning stardom. I say burgeoning, because if anything, Ólafur is already too well known for someone who composes instrumental music. Alongside the likes of Nils Frahm, and A Winged Victory For The Sullen, he is one of the artists who has made it cool to listen to music with classical instrumentation again. His discography is in double figures now, and he recently released a remastered version of his debut album, Eulogy for Evolution, on Erased Tapes Records, who also happen to be celebrating a 10th birthday.

I ask what his relationship to his first record is now.

“I don’t know, to be honest,” Ólafur says, in his gentle Icelandic accent, a little hint of strain in his voice. “I know we’re all trying to sell it, but I was so young. I know people like it, and I don’t think it’s bad, but there are lots of parts where I look at it and think, ‘dude, stop being such a fucking teenager!’”

Considering Ólafur was a teenager when he first wrote these pieces, perhaps he’s being a little hyper-critical.

“Of course! But I have to be! [laughs] When I listened to it before sending it to Nils [Frahm] to remaster it, I just couldn’t

stop myself opening up the recording sessions, and fixing the mix a little bit,” Ólafur says. Frahm does much of the mastering for Erased Tapes’ artists himself.

“That process was interesting, opening up session files from 10 years ago. Some of it was ridiculous, but some of it was charming, in a way. There was a lot of stuff I could do back then that I couldn’t do today. Back then, there was no pressure at all. This was a total hobby. I was just writing songs, not really with the intention of releasing them.”

The story of how Ólafur began writing his trademark piano music is mad, to say the least. He actually comes from a background of drumming for metal bands — the last one he was involved with went by the polite name, Fighting Shit, who managed to be booked on a tour with metal heroes, Heaven Shall Burn.

Being a fan, Ólafur gave them a demo of some prog-rock he’d been making at home. Suitably impressed, the band commissioned him to write the intro and outro tracks on their next album, but using only piano and strings. These two voicings went on to be the main sounds he has worked with since, and it really has gone well for him. I ask if he is aware of how insane that is.

“I was actually doing this stuff, although much simpler, from when I was 14-yearsold, so I was doing both at the same time.

But I did Eulogy for Evolution, and people really liked it — I got all these opportunities to go on tour, and have it become my job, which is something I could never do with the punk stuff. I was just pushed in this direction; and I’m glad, because I wouldn’t have lasted too long in that scene.”

I ask if he had any expectation for his first piano album.

“Not at all,” he confirms. “I didn’t know if anyone would listen to it, I would think, ‘who is the crowd for this?’”

You could certainly argue Ólafur created the crowd, alongside the more mainstream Ludovico Einaudi.

“I was just trying to do film scores, and hoping this album would open some doors. But I didn’t do a film until five years later. Coming from the punk DIY scene,

I worked really hard, and did everything myself. I proactively contacted loads of promoters in Europe, and booked my first tour without an agent or anything. So no expectations, but a lot of hard work!”

Perhaps the most inspirational thing about Ólafur Arnalds is that it appears as if he’s designed his life the way he wants it: one portion of a year he’ll be scoring a film, next he’ll be touring dark lit techno clubs with Kiasmos, and then back to the genteel for the next album.

“I have consciously not gone too far in any one direction,” he says. “When I did Broadchurch, and got the BAFTA, the show got a lot of attention, and the offers came flooding in. I think it’s a subconscious thing, but whenever people come at me like that, I’m like, ‘no, I’m going over there to make techno now.’

“I never let people close me into a certain direction. I think I probably do it subconsciously, because I don’t want to be doing films all year, but I also don’t want to be on tour every day for a year, either. My agents don’t always like it, because once the hype starts building, I go elsewhere!”

It is a swings and roundabouts situation, as Ólafur confirms my suspicion that he has received offers for amazing film projects that he definitely would have taken, if he hadn’t turned his focus elsewhere.

“You have to learn not to care too much, and remember that if it came once, it’ll come again.”

I’m also curious to know if Ólafur has received offers for film and TV projects which he felt he wouldn’t be right for.

“Yeah, there has been some of that,” he says. “That’s been a learning curve, to realise I’m not a chameleon, and I don’t want to be a chameleon. I want to be known for my style, and what I do. I don’t want to be known as the guy who will do a funk score, if the film needs that. Give it to the funk guy! [laughs] It’s been a case of getting my team on the same page: don’t pitch for jobs that I’m never going to be able to do.”

How are things in the techno camp?

“We’ve been touring all summer, and

11 HEADLINER

ÓLAFUR ARNALDS

“Spitfire knows if they leave those imperfections in, it will feel more human; it comes naturally to them, and that’s what makes them great.” there’s a new EP coming out,” Ólafur says. “We don’t usually play these kind of seated venues! But it’s great to be able to do that.

But it has grown very fast, the Kiasmos project. I feel like there’s a great energy around Kiasmos at the moment, and we’re getting a lot of opportunities, with people we look up to coming to us.”

Despite seemingly leaving Erased Tapes in 2013 when he signed with Decca Imprint Mercury KX, Ólafur hasn’t really gone anywhere. Kiasmos still release with the London label, and his first album reissue will also be on Erased Tapes.

At the time, his announcement on Facebook spoke of remaining part of the family. And here he is, four years later, headlining the Erased Tapes is 10 festival. The fact he’s stayed true to his word, and that he clearly remains close friends with label owner, Robert Raths, and the artists, goes to show that the label has a very special community aspect unlike any other.

“There really aren’t many record labels like that anymore,” Ólafur says. “Maybe 4AD, Warp. There’s a handful of labels that can have that effect. Where, if people like one band on the label, they like them all. Erased Tapes is a great label in that sense. It’s small enough that things are personal, and you don’t have to worry about someone else taking all the resources. That can happen with major labels, or situations where the whole team just quits, and then a new team comes in. Erased Tapes is based around a very specific person, and Robert is not going to leave.

He’s always going to be there, and we can trust him. He is moving a lot of units these days, but it still has the indie label feel.” Ólafur, and his friend, Nils Frahm, truly have created a sound, one which is starting to become the go-to piano sound in the music industry. I mention to Ólafur that quite a few people I’ve recently interviewed have mentioned that they deliberately make their piano stools creakier, to achieve the Erased Tapes style of sound (thanks to albums such as Felt by Nils Frahm, and Living Room Songs by Ólafur). Including people on the very opposite end of the musical spectrum, like Rou Reynolds of Enter Shikari.

“I find it funny when people do that deliberately,” Ólafur says.

“Because that’s never what we did, we just didn’t give a fuck!”

In the Studio Since his humble beginnings as the drummer of Fighting Shit, and writing piano music in his spare time, Ólafur has now built himself a mothership of a studio back in Reykjavík.

“I work with Pro Tools all the time,” he says. “I have my tech converters, a few of them, to have enough channels. Most of my gear is vintage preamps and compressors, which I’ve spent a lot of time finding, and looking for. 1950s tube preamps, and stuff like that. It’s the same with the microphones. Normally, I would start by improvising on the piano, until something nice is coming along, or until you find something you feel you can expand on.”

So it’s a more physical process?

“Usually, yeah. What appears in my head tends to be a structural idea, like, ‘I want to do a song where the piano is doing sixteenths!’ It’s almost never a melody, but more an idea I can sit down and find the right notes to fit into it. It’s very improvisational at the beginning.”

12 HEADLINER

Ólafur then takes a whole host of these ideas, and condenses them down, until he has a piece in which a few ideas fit together.

“I then go to the computer, and start arranging,” he explains.

“I get started with the Spitfire Audio libraries right away. Also, I sampled the piano I have at home with the Spitfire guys, so I now have my piano at home, and on my computer [laughs].

The samples don’t stay in the final product; it’s for arrangement purposes, getting the structure of the song.”

Having now worked with Spitfire Audio to bring out his own composer sample pack, the Ólafur Arnalds Composer Toolkit, he has formed a great relationship with the company. In fact, quite a few of the Spitfire guys have come along to see the show tonight.

“I started using Spitfire in 2011, when they just started,” Ólafur says. “There was only one string library out — they’ve brought out many new ones since then, but I’m still using the same one!

I actually pirated it [laughs]. At that point, they were very small, but made a very good product. They weren’t necessarily the best company in the business then, but they definitely are today.

“That’s not to say I haven’t used other libraries; I’ve just never liked them as much. Spitfire have a special approach to everything that no-one else seems to get. When Native Instruments sampled the Una Corda (the piano created by Nils Frahm and David Klavins), it sounded good, and there’s nothing wrong with it, but you look at the interface, and you see there’s a slider where you can turn up the creaking chair, and even turn off the piano. It just feels really constructed, it doesn’t feel natural to play it. Spitfire are just like me and Nils in the beginning; we weren’t trying to make the chair creak.

“Spitfire aren’t trying to make their libraries imperfect, but they know that if they leave those imperfections in, it will feel more human. It comes naturally to them, and that’s what makes them great at what they do.” Ólafur’s process differs, depending on if he’s working on a film, or one of his own albums.

“If I’m working on a film, I’ll send the arrangement with the Spitfire samples to the director,” he says. “That way, if they want changes, I can still change it easily. When everyone’s getting happy, I’ll start replacing the samples with the real instruments.

You then get an improvisational element to adapt to the real instruments. That’s when the magic happens.

For a musician who has an album titled For Now I am Winter, and is associated with the colder climate of Iceland, his future is looking powerfully bright. After the huge popularity of three seasons of Broadchurch, and making time for Kiasmos, it’s finally time for his first, full-length solo LP since 2013.

“Me and Janus still have a few more Kiasmos shows in the fall,” Ólafur says. “But apart from that, I’ll just be writing the new album, until at least Spring time.”

I ask what on earth we should expect. “[laughs] It keeps changing! This album has been long in the making, even before Island Songs!”

Let’s wait and see. www.spitfireaudio.com

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Noah Passovoy

Producer Profile

PRODUCING MAROON 5 Noah Passovoy has a CV that reads more like a list of people you could only dream of being invited to a party with; besides his main collaborators, Maroon 5, he’s also worked with P!nk, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Ellie Goulding - the list is long. He really is one of the hottest and most in-demand producers in the hotbed that is LA right now.

At the time of this interview, Noah is currently suffering from the end of year push that most of his clients tend to avoid.

“It’s usually around this time, after Thanksgiving, where everyone is just ready to be done,” he says. “But this year, people seem to be wanting to work straight through to Christmas!”

I go straight in and ask: how has he managed to get to work with so many amazing artists, and so regularly?

“I ask myself that every day! I got into music quite late, relative to a lot of people. It wasn’t really until college — I landed in DJing, and through that, discovered the electroacoustic programme at the University of Texas.

This introduced me to studios, and I was studying composition. I had the realisation that I don’t have to be a performer, I don’t have to be out there.

I can make music behind the scenes.”

Although Noah is very much known for his work in the world of pop, he cut his teeth on jazz and classical in his college days, and then started working at several different studios

after graduating.

“I moved back to LA, which is where I’m originally from,” he says, the Californian accent offering such a hint. “And then started following the producer’s model — working at studios all day, and assisting. Word just got around, and I’ve ended up really lucky.”

I suggest that it may surprise some to hear that Noah did such a serious degree, in the form of electroacoustic music, which tends to be very avantgarde, and perhaps as far from popular music as you can get.

“It was very serious,” he confirms.

“But at the same time, if you look at a lot of techniques being used today in pop music, they come from the more radical side of music. A lot of it comes from granular synthesis! I’ve always seen a parallel between the two. Much of the academic side does become applicable to the pop side of things.”

From his university days, Noah was very influenced by the avant-garde, 20th century composer, John Cage.

“With pop production, and modern music in general, people are just

trying to be really creative,” Noah says.

“Breaking barriers. Especially with the capabilities a computer has — it’s made people think outside the box a lot more.

I don’t think we’re going to hear a pop song that’s four minutes of silence anytime soon! But there still are going to be techniques being used that were developed by these composers.”

Maroon 5 Having worked with such varied and talented pop artists, I ask Noah if there’s an experience that stands out the most in his glittering career.

“Well, the thing about music is, every experience is always new and unique,” he says. “It would probably be one of the times with the Maroon 5 guys, though, as I’ve worked with them for so long. It’s so hard to pick out just one, though!”

Noah has collaborated with Maroon 5 so many times, he’s virtually a member of the band. Red Pill Blues is the sixth album under the Maroon 5 moniker, and it sports a leaner, more electronic sound, and A-list features.

“I realise Layla is allowing my mixes to take on a whole new personality...”

14 HEADLINER

Noah Passovoy

Producer Profile

E “I’ve worked with my Genelec speakers for a long time...”

“I didn’t get to meet everyone,” Noah concedes. “The brilliance of modern record making is that not everyone has to be in the same room. Kendrick [Lamar] did the vocals for Don’t Wanna Know with his people, and then sent it back to us.

“I actually think this record has more of an acoustic sound. I know it might not sound it. The first three records were very rock and soul. The fourth and fifth went very electronic, as the band all learned more about the production side of things. This new record is actually a blend of the two, which is a difficult thing.

A lot of the drum sounds are acoustic that we heavily processed; the idea of getting a live kick drum to sound more like an 808. This was me drawing on the electroacoustic background, and processing sounds.”

The chosen location for the event was Conway Studios in Hollywood. We discuss the gear that helped shape Red Pill Blues.

“I always have a pair of Yamaha NS10 speakers that I use, and then a pair of Genelec 1032s. I actually hate NS10s, but I know them. I’ve worked with my Genelec speakers for a long time, and find they complement each other well; I think my Genelecs fill in the gaps left by the NS10s really well.

“Artists tend to like the sound of Genelecs because of their EQ curve, which is nice for them to listen to when tracking or listening to playback. In general, though, my belief is that the best monitors are the ones you

know; and I’ve spent years using the combination of 1032s and NS10s, so that’s what I use. It works great for me.”

And what of the plugins?

“We used Waves kit on absolutely everything,” Noah reveals. “They’re the ones I’ve really come to rely on, sonically.

Waves’ C6 Multiband Compressor is one that I used all of the time. Likewise, I love some of their reverbs, too.

“The Waves CLA-76 finds its way onto the vocals, because I like the aggressiveness it adds to anything running through it. Though sometimes it can be a bit much, so I might do it in parallel, or use the Tube Tech CL 1B, or the CLA-2A. I’ve also been really liking the Waves F6 lately - on anything with resonant frequencies that I need to take care of. It’s like the C4 or C6, but with six completely independent bands.

“Then, of course, the Waves H-Delay gets used a ton on vocals; and the SSL channel gets used on drums all the time.

I really love those SSL dynamics.”

Cloud Collaboration With Pro Tools being integral to the making of Red Pill Blues, Noah and Maroon 5 were keen to make use of one of its newest and most exciting features: Cloud Collaboration. It’s an instantaneous music file sharing system for Pro Tools, that is already making life easier for many a musician.

“Like I was saying, we couldn’t get everyone in the same room, at the same time,” Noah sighs. “Which was

unfortunate, but it also means you can get a lot more done in a shorter period of time, without having to wait on people.

So, for example, Jesse [Carmichael, rhythm guitarist] might have an idea at his house; he can put it down, and send it with Cloud Collaboration.

“In the past, the band and I would just be sending Pro Tools sessions back and forth to each other, which was a nightmare. Using this system, I can still be ‘the hub’, and everyone in the band can get on with writing their parts on their own. It’s made things infinitely easier, rather than me chasing people around the country, or even getting people to fly back to LA.” Having been such a firebrand in the production world already, Noah’s future ambitions are relatively simple.

“I just want to keep making records; that’s the number one goal,” he says.

“And I hope people continue wanting to make records with me. My favourite place is being in a studio. As long as people continue to let me sit in a studio with them, and let me help achieve their vision, then I’ll be happy. Just being able to sit in a room, and make music!”

And he’s all too right — Noah’s gratitude for these simpler parts of his profession ensure that the big, sparkly projects with international superstars will always keep coming his way. www.genelec.com www.waves.com 15 HEADLINER

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A method in the Madness

We chat to dynamic production duo, Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, whose musical journey has been an extraordinary one. Early on in their career, these guys were instrumental in shaping the sound of ska legends, Madness, and they went on to work closely with numerous leading artists: from David Bowie to Bush, Dexys Midnight Runners to Morrissey, Elvis Costello to A-Ha, Catatonia to Blur – it doesn’t get a whole lot more eclectic than that. Tonight, they are deservedly recognised by the MPG, as they are presented with the Outstanding Contribution to UK Music award.

“We met in the late ‘70s, when I was working in a studio called TW in Fulham, and Clive’s band came in there,” Opens Winstanley. “Then I remember I was doing a Stranglers album in ‘79, and I got a call from Clive about a band called Madness.”

“Yeah, I got on with the band, as I knew them vaguely through their older brothers,” adds Langer. “They then signed with Stiff, and then Stiff and myself thought we would like to work with Alan, and it turns out Stiff had already spoken to Alan, and it all kind of worked out. Then, after that, we did loads of stuff together.

That was the beginning of it all, really.”

What’s nice about the Langer/ Winstanley relationship is that both producers bring something quite different to the musical table: Winstanley is always hands-on, at the heart of the recording process; and Langer comes from the songwriter and arranger side, therefore spends most of his time in the live room, away from the console.

“When I was a kid, my uncle gave me an old tape recorder,” says Winstanley.

“Actually, it nearly killed me, as the mains

wire was joined together with tape, and it stopped working, so I undid it without unplugging it, but that’s another story! [laughs] But I was always intrigued why some records sounded better than others: George Martin records, and Phil Spector records always sounded fantastic on the radio, and it always interested me why that was the case.”

“For me, I’d started this band called Deaf School at Liverpool College of art, and we signed to Warner. We did three albums: one with Mutt Lange, one with Muff Winwood, so I had studio experience,” explains Langer. “So as a kid, when I was listening to Abbey Road, or whatever, I would focus on what the bass was doing, spending my time analysing records as a teenager.

“As Alan says, being George Martin seemed like a great job! But it wasn’t a planned thing for me to be a producer; I thought I was going to carry on in bands, and be a songwriter. But after a couple of years, we realised we were producers.”

Musical Mindset The guys have similar musical interests, which obviously helps: both grew up with Motown, The Beatles, and in that whole ‘60s psychedelic period.

“People were experimenting with sounds, so when it came to doing Madness records, we were kind of picking bits from those records, and using stuff we knew, because we grew up in that era, really,” Winstanley says.

“I really came at production from a songwriting and arranging perspective, trying to work out how to make the record really aurally exciting, and Alan would be getting busy with what mics to use, and how,” Langer explains. “We would, of

course, listen to the band a lot together, but we had separate roles. Quite often, we would both have the same idea, though, so that was always a good sign.

We chat a little about the start of the Madness relationship: Suggs was just a teenager, but a hard-working, talented one at that, and they were all characters.

“I remember when we did the first [Madness] album in ‘79, Clive asked me if it felt the same as when I did the first Stranglers album, because it was something special – and the answer was yes, it did,” Winstanley recalls.

“I think Madness just worked, as a band of kids. They were all real personalities, even then - Lee [Thompson, saxophonist] in particular,” smiles Langer. “And Suggs has spent his whole life developing who Suggs is – at 17, he didn’t really know the person, but the person became his work.

It was fascinating to watch.”

The relationship is still going, too. I ask Langer to take me through the process working with the lads ‘as a band’.

“They sounded better when you recorded them than they did in the rehearsal room in lots of ways,” he admits.

“The first album, which is pretty simple, was done quickly: two weeks rehearsing prior to recording, and they responded well to arrangement changes and practicing what they were doing. I went to see Lee Thompson the other day, actually, as he has a film coming out, which is really funny; and he said, ‘thanks to Clive for making me practice!’ [laughs] “But Lee never had a [sax] lesson, really; he got kicked out of his lessons, as the serial number on his sax had been scraped off, and he was always playing a semitone out, essentially. We would then harmonise it to give it a sense of character, 17 HEADLINER

L A N G E R & W I N S TA N L E Y

so it sounded really good, but we didn’t realise that his fingering was a semitone out at the time!

“He had the mouth piece almost off to try and play in concert C, but by album two, he’d learnt how to do it properly,” Winstanley laughs.

“For me to have done three albums, and loads of touring with Deaf School, and straight into working with Madness, it was just continuing the route, really, except I wasn’t in the band,” Langer says. “I knew what rehearsing was all about, and arranging. I didn’t know other people would like it, and we’d have all these hits, but I knew what we were doing.”

The first record was recorded at Eden, and TW studios, and mixed in what has to go down as the best equipped shed ever.

“Yeah, a shed with a brand new MCI console,” smiles Winstanley. “I was setting up a studio at the same time with another producer, Martin Rushent, in the grounds of his house, but the kit showed up before the studio had been finished, so yes, we basically mixed it there in his shed! By the time we did the second album, the studio had been finished, so we mixed that one in the proper studio.”

“I think we did Teardrops next, and Treason, which wasn’t really a hit, but then we did Reward, and that was a big hit. So it was kind of continuing,” recalls Langer. “I had my own band in between, and when we did the second Madness album, we spent a bit longer on it. I was also supporting them with my band, so they were playing Baggy Trousers and Embarrassment, and I would listen to them in soundcheck. That was the last time I was in a band, it was all studio after that.”

In the early ‘80s, the guys started working with Dexys Midnight Runners.

“We did The Celtic Soul Brothers as a one-off, and that wasn’t a hit first, then Come on Eileen came out, and then The Celtic Soul Brothers was released again, and this time, it was a hit; that

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happened to us quite a bit,” smiles Winstanley.

“It’s funny, because it teaches you it’s all about timing,” adds Langer. “You think you have a hit, it isn’t a hit, later on it is a hit – so you realise you were right all along. Bizarre [smiles].”

It was in the early ‘80s that Langer and Winstanley’s Westside Productions made its first major acquisition: Dave Gilmour’s epic Hook End facility.

“It was two studios, so it was a complex, really,” Langer reveals.

“We were working with China Crisis in The Manor – that was the studio to use at the time - but Alan was driving round in the mornings looking for a place for us to get hold of when I was still sleeping.”

“I thought The Manor was alright, but we wanted something better, so I got up early in the morning and saw Dave Gilmour’s house was up for sale. Alvin Lee owned it before Dave, then Dave put it on the market,” Winstanley explains. “I said to Clive, ‘you have to come and look at this place’. It was 22 acres, and we thought, ‘ahh, we can’t afford this - it’s too much money’, so we finished the China Crisis album, Clive went out to California on holiday... [pauses] and I made a silly offer, and it got accepted! [laughs] There were no mobile phones, of course, so I had to try and track Clive down; we got a Swedish merchant bank onboard to lend us the money, and that was the start of another chapter.”

“We then we spent the next year building the studio,” says Langer. “We had a massive control room, a massive live room with a Bösendorfer piano, and these amazing wooden beams.”

Mixing it Up Life was, ultimately, very good to Langer and Winstanley during the ‘80s; they were flying along, and the Absolute Beginners movie with David Bowie in 1985 was another standout moment.

As the ‘90s evolved, however, things began to change, and computers started to take over.

“The fact we had Sony digital machines that were £200,000, and all of a sudden, 10 years later, you’d pay £2,000 for a computer that could do a similar job – that was when things started to get wobbly,” Winstanley says.

They did a great job on Bush’s debut record in ‘96, though.

“Yeah, when we did the first Bush album, it was on Radar, and even when we did their third album, we transferred it through the converters, just because we didn’t want to use Pro Tools converters,” Winstanley says.

“But we were still recording real bands in studios if they could afford it,” Langer points out. “Bush definitely gave us a lease of life, and suddenly we were working with bands in America; we almost got the second Foo Fighters album, which would have changed things again, I think - perhaps we’d have got a couple more years work out of it. We were flown over to the US to meet Dave Grohl, so it looked like it was going to go ahead, but it didn’t – it was probably my fault, as I suggested he drummed on it.

“He did drum on it in the end, so I was right, I guess! But it was considered outrageous for me to suggest it at the time, as the [Foo Fighters] drummer [Taylor Hawkins] was sitting right there next to me!”

In 2004, the studio rates had started to come down, and work was harder to come by. When Nomis Studios came along, and asked if the guys would sell up, it felt like the right thing to do, and the right time to do it. Today, Langer is still in Deaf School, and works on some studio projects , but Winstanley spends most of his time in Portugal, and doesn’t work in music production anymore. I ask if there is any sense of nostalgia when thinking back on their incredible careers.

“It’s not a matter of choosing, we just don’t have any work,” says Langer, very matter of fact. “We haven’t since we worked on [Madness’ 2009 album] The Liberty of Norton Folgate, which was 10 years ago. I worked with an artist on Domino, and Domino give me the odd bit of work, but budgets are small. I started my own band a few years ago, so did an album for Domino with them; that was kind of like unfinished business for me, as I thought I was going to be in a band, not married to him [points at Winstanley].”

“We’ve spent more time together over the last 40 years than we have our wives,” Winstanley laughs. “But I like life in Portugal now; I did buy Pro Tools, and a little desk, set it up in my study, and I haven’t touched it! I thought, ‘this is bollocks’, as I don’t like that way of

working. I like a big console, and I always had someone else to program any Pro Tools when working with Radar, so it’s just gathering dust, really.”

Would the two ever work together again, though?

“Oh yeah, if it was the right thing, that would definitely be fun,” Langer says, as Winstanley nods in agreement. “I would say today, though, the engineer/ producer/songwriter working on a screen, creating commercial pop on a laptop - that is a modern day producer.

But we can still make records. A lot of rock bands at the moment are selling records, and I think with a bit of assistance, we could work with them.

“There is enough music that we understand still being made. I don’t really understand Radio 1 pop that much, but I love some of the production, and sounds going on in there; but it’s not a world we know, so it would be wrong to try and get into that.

“Look at It Must Be Love and Our House: those records were all about construction, making things perfect in the right place and bringing out certain things – that was about seeking perfection, and we would always do that our way – so we definitely still have something to offer.”

Without a doubt.

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IMOGEN HEAP Words Paul Watson / Photographs Robert Leslie

We chat exclusively to tonight’s MPG Inspiration Award-winner, Imogen Heap, about her fantastic Creative Passport concept, women in audio, and taking Harry Potter to Broadway.

It’s a particularly productive time right now for Imogen Heap; in fact, it’s difficult to believe there is anyone working harder than she is, and on such an eclectic mix of musical projects. She is one of the most forward-thinking artists we’ve come across at Headliner, not only breaking the mould musically with her unique vocal sampling and production techniques over the last two decades, but through Mycelia, which we learnt of in 2016 when we first met her.

At the time, Imogen described Mycelia as a ‘think and do tank’, for the purpose of connecting the dots between artists, services, and fans, for a flourishing music industry; the idea still being to help come to light a verified open global music works database, and with it, a music maker database. Imogen brings to the table the Mycelia Creative Passport - a digital container to hold verified profile information, IDs, acknowledgements, works, business partners, and payment mechanisms, to help get music makers and their works linked and open for business.

“Things are moving fast, and, rather exciting,” opens Imogen.

“From Harry Potter to the Mycelia Creative Passports, to just having finished a commission for a game, something I haven’t done before, and also with the mi.mu gloves team, preparing for a fundraising event for a select group of 50 people, who we hope will become [mi.mu] investors. Another exciting project is Life of a Song, which describes the music industry through the lens of the song, Hide and Seek, over 12 years. What comes back to me, and how; the splits; biography; and all related works and people. It’s a busy time for me at the moment, and thanks to all the various groups of people I’m working with, I’m managing to find time to make music, too!”

In case you’re unaware, Imogen composed all the music for the uber-successful West End production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which will hit Broadway in April; and if you haven’t seen her perform with her mi.mu gloves, well, you haven’t seen her perform at all. It’s worth a Google, we can assure you.

Imogen’s Creative Passports are out of the thinking phase, and have moved into the doing phase of development for the music maker database. With various attempts at a global musical works database failing over the years, the latest hope gathering momentum is musicNOW, ‘striving to promote fair and transparent compensation to creative rights-holders for digital usage.’ It seems now could well be the time. “musicNOW is looking good to get funded; the kENUP foundation are behind it, who are an outsider to the music industry in a sense, but have seen the screaming opportunity for growth from the current lack of a functioning open musical works database. The palpable energy and punch they have to take it on is inspiring, alongside an incredible amount of research they’ve done in understanding the issue.

“They reached out to Mycelia, and we are very supportive of their work and aims. They’ve got a good shot at this, but it’s going to need many music champions to collaborate in making it a reality, individuals and organisations alike. We’ll be doing our best to make sure the Creative Passports are ready for music makers to directly author into, and lead how that, or any other music database is shaped and run on behalf of our works. Music makers are the connective tissue; the key to a future flourishing music ecosystem is in us, being networked and linked together.”

AN INSPIRED DECISION Sounds like a great idea, and all the better for getting Mycelia and the Creative Passports to where they deserve to be. Let’s 21 HEADLINER

Imogen Heap

“It’s very nice to be recognised by the MPG, and I am honoured to receive the Inspiration Award.” talk a little about this MPG Award, then.

“Yes! The MPG got in touch, and said they’d like to present me with the Inspiration Award, and I gratefully accepted.

There is an art to producing records, when you’re working with an artist or band, to help them find their own unique sound, which I don’t think I’ve mastered, as anything I produce ends up sounding like me, even if I try not to! This works to my advantage when I’m producing my own releases though, obviously! I really appreciate the recognition for the producer side of my work, as many artists who do produce their albums don’t get acknowledged for that side of their work.

“I know the MPG with my FAC hat on, as they are also through part of the Council of Music Makers (CMM), a body collectively representing music makers’ interests in the UK, bringing together the MPG, FAC, MU, BASCA, and the MMF. To have everyone pulling their resources together, and finding common ground to shift things forward in the music makers’ favour is vital for big change.

“I’m encouraged by the recent Spotify announcement in adding producer and writer credits to their platform. It’s by no means exhaustive, but a step in the right direction. Many music fans will discover they are, in fact, fans of producers now as a result. Services are realising that they have a real role to play in helping to empower the music maker as a whole, and go beyond just being a music streaming service. If they don’t support the source food, there’ll be much less new growth for their playlists to feature.”

I ask Imogen what she thinks about the new generation of young female producers coming through the ranks, and how the industry is embracing them.

“I think it’s a case of ‘just try and stop them!’ [smiles] It’s only natural that we have more opportunity with great technology at our fingertips, in our laptops. There’s no problem of pretty much having to be a guy to get into the studio industry of the past; and the more stories of women producers we hear now will, of course, help there, too. I had a coffee and chat with Katia Isakoff recently, and she’s cooking up a storm to help shift the perception that women don’t produce albums. It’s another thing I hope Creative Passports can help with, also.”

HARRY POTTER ON BROADWAY We chat a little about the mega-success of the epic Harry Potter play that Imogen scored. Tickets are still like gold dust 18 months into the West End production, but more impressive still, the Americans want in on the action, and Imogen is in the midst of tweaking the production for Broadway, which will be running concurrently to the London production from April. Wow. “Yeah, this has been pretty life changing,” Imogen concedes, with a laugh. “Thankfully, any changes that need to be done for Broadway are minimal, and I’ll be doing remotely from my studio, using video footage, working with Martin Lowe, who’s on site in New York, as music supervisor. I’ve always made stems of my songs, but my sessions weren’t in the best of order, so I reworked much of my past catalogue, with my studio assistant, Alexis, which was core to completing the two and a half hour score in a few months. Headphones on for hours on end, 22 HEADLINER

furiously making and mixing!

“Coupled with that, the best stroke of luck was, not long before I got the gig, Soniccouture got in touch, wanting to develop a virtual instrument together. This ended up being what is now called the Box of Tricks, and that has been a saving grace for me working under pressure but still to a standard. Say if I wanted to try something - for example, tie this section to that section, or make a transition that sounded believable without having to go back to the studio and record all those instruments, I had everything on hand: my Array Mbira, my Tongue Drum, some Vocalpads, Body Percussion, Boomwhackers, WhirlyTubes, and Vibes. I was able to be really on the fly, my stems and dear Alexis on hand! Our PPL sheet is just ridiculous, though!”

Did Imogen ever dream she’d be working West End and Broadway at the same time?

“It is really mental, and the most amazing thing about it is, 23 years in the music industry, and having done so many things I’m so passionate about, that often pay no money, suddenly, I have a wage – and I have never had that before,” Imogen smiles. “I did a 30-minute orchestral crowd sourced nature film which premiered at the Royal Albert Hall, for example – that was a great expense, but a childhood dream to conduct my own orchestral works in that venue – as if by magic, much of that stuff is now absolutely perfect for Harry Potter. It’s quite uncanny.

“Another example is a 30-minute acapella score I did, that took me forever, which I never released, but I had demoed up a version for the choir, as a reference, and that features beautifully, too. It feels like this is a marker in my life, where all the past passion projects have found a way to support hungry, otherwise unfunded goings on like Mycelia and Creative Passports.”

And I understand there is to be a Mycelia tour of sorts?

“Yes, we’ll visit a different city for 40 cities a year, to bring music makers and shakers together around live music, exhibitions, workshops, and panel discussions. Ideally, dishing out Creative Passports to music makers, and linking up to services as we go, to help kickstart a flourishing future music ecosystem with music makers at its beating heart.”

Things are certainly looking up for the music industry, then?

“Yes, it really is on the up, and we will see great change.

Fairness and transparency throughout the value chain I truly feel is coming, as it’s the most efficient way for any business to run. Before I started to delve into all this, I was wondering how it would work out for music makers – nothing seemed to be on the up – but now I see there is a huge surge, a lot of it coming from fellow music makers, who are building their own solutions, services, and technology, as they know where the innovation needs to happen. Coupled with this, the rise of Blockchain is breathing life into future business models, and has opened up the discussion for the industry at large to look at itself.

And finally, any creative tips for those music makers?

“Do what you can’t see in the headlights. I use that whenever life and work gets overwhelming. Just start chipping away at whatever you can handle or see, and eventually, you’ll finish it.

That space in the light has your name on it, so start there.” www.myceliaformusic.org

REAL WORLD: A-T 50 SERIES MIC LAUNCH There are some locations that have the wow factor, and Real World Studios is one of them. Located in the sleepy village of Box, just outside of Bath, this facility is world famous, and owned by Genesis founder, Peter Gabriel. Commercially, it’s as active as it’s ever been, and the studio’s client roster is right out the top drawer: Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, Tom Jones, Guy Garvey, and Paolo Nutini have all made records here recently, just to name a few. For 24 hours only, I’m a resident at this epic place (room six, four-poster bed, and my own sink), and along with 50 plus media and studio owners from around the globe, it’s going to be a day of flitting between Real World’s Big Room (control) and Wood Room (live) to listen to Audio-Technica’s 50 Series microphones. So let’s dive in.

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Today, we will be mostly based in the Big Room, which boasts Real World’s legendary SSL console as its centrepiece, complemented by oodles of analogue outboard.

The 50 Series comprises three high end studio microphones, the AT5040 studio vocal microphone, the AT5045 instrument condenser, and the latest member of the family, the flagship AT5047, which may look just like the AT5040, but there’s a bit more to it than that, as we’ll soon find out.

We are ushered to the room’s lush balcony area, so we’re looking down on the musicians; and you can tell instantly that it’s a beautifully treated space with a great acoustic, so we’re going to be in for a treat. Furthermore, Real World’s resident engineer, Oli Jacobs, is at the helm when it comes to mic placement and audio capture, so he’ll treat this just like any other session, giving us as transparent an opinion as possible.

First up is Kweku Mainoo, who’s recently returned from a musical trip across Africa. Oli has positioned an AT5047 on vocals, and an AT5040 on Kweku’s acoustic guitar. As Kweku starts doing his thing, it also becomes apparent he’s pretty light on the strings (no pick in sight), and his voice is pretty gentle. It’ll be interesting to see how this sounds back in the Big Room later.

For his next song, Kweku moves onto the African harp, which looks equally as difficult to play as a regular harp! Oli has miked this up with a

clip-on ATM350a and an AT5045 instrument condenser. We admire his playing, a round of applause erupts, and we return to the Big Room to hear the results.

As Oli pulls up the first track – guitar and vocals – he explains that he is playing it to us as recorded, dry as a bone. It sounds incredible. Then, he tells us he’s slightly lied, and admits he couldn’t resist a tickle of compression on the vocal, courtesy of an LA2.

As we listen through, it’s incredibly warm, and extremely honest sounding.

I really can’t believe the tone of the guitar, especially considering how Kweku hardly seemed to touch it.

It’s still right in your face. I wonder what it sounds like strummed? Epic, presumably.

Oli solos the vocal, and then the guitar for us, and despite the inevitable spillage between the two - as is the nature of any live recording – there is still a separation of sorts. He seems very impressed, too, and I get the feeling if he wasn’t, he would tell us.

Next, he pulls up the African harp recording; first, just the ATM350a signal, which, being a clip-on, comes with a bit of noise, which Oli admits he ‘kind of likes’. Then, he plays us the AT5045 signal, which is as true and pure as you could hope for. Again, it’s terrific audio capture, and Oli seems suitably impressed.

We are then taken through the microphones in detail: namely the

REAL WORLD STUDIOS

“The 5047 is slightly more universal; the 5040 is perhaps more for the purist.”

differences between the AT5040 and AT5047. The AT5040 spec is hugely impressive in itself, of course: 5dB self noise, and a staggering signal to noise ratio of 89dB. But to understand why the AT5047 was made, Audio-Technica insists, we need to understand ‘the dark side’ of the AT5040. Sooner or later, when you put a loud signal in front of the AT5040, if your input is not good enough (let’s say you don’t have a 72-channel SSL, for example), this mic will start to resonate, and will drain too much current, so everything kind of breaks together.

“In other words, it’s a diva,” smiles, A-T’s product manager, Alex Lepges, a little tongue in cheek. “However, what you do get from the 5040 is a very pure signal; you just have to know how to treat her.”

With the AT5047, Audio-Technica has ultimately increased the impedance [to 150 Ohms], and installed a transformer output, which was actually developed in-house. A transformer mic has a different tonality to a non-transformer mic, of course, but the big question is: when should we use an AT5040, and when should we use an AT5047?

In short, pull out the AT5040 when you want to capture in the most natural possible way; and if you want something a little more versatile, grab an AT5047, with the wider dynamic range. The 5047 is slightly more universal; the 5040 is perhaps more for the purist.

A Groovy Kind of Love So now it’s time for the next live performance of the afternoon, from the Chris Woods Groove Orchestra - and what a band this is. We head back to the Wood Room, and this time there are four musicians below us: Chris himself, guitarist; a tabla player; a double bassist, and percussionist on a marimba and a hang drum, the latter of which is a tuned instrument, which looks like it might have been stolen from Area 51. Oli gets the guys to do a quick run through, but he has positioned the 50 Series A-T mics on past experience: what he knows might work well, and where.

“Stabbing in the dark a bit, to be honest,” he tells us, which gets a laugh. He has an AT5040 on guitar and hang drum, an AT4080 ribbon mic on the marimba, an AT5047 and AT4081 ribbon on the double bass, and a stereo pair of AT5045s on the tablas. The band plays for a good 20 minutes, and they are tremendous – to say Chris Woods feels this music is a wild understatement, and it’s a genuine privilege to witness him perform. And for the finale, Kweku Mainoo joins them for some ad-lib vocal overdubs.

Back we go for the final time to the Big Room to listen to the results, and first up, we all demand to hear the tabla player’s solo – it was absolutely insane! And the AT5045s do it justice, too. The room responds with rapturous applause, and

we move on to the full tracks, of which Oli has created a rough mix for each, again, with just a smidgen of compression, and a touch of reverb, which he dials in and out, to demonstrate pure source sound versus slightly processed. The universal response is one of entire shock that what they are hearing is the sound at source, with next to no processing.

Kweku Mainoo is seriously enthusiastic: “I was blown away by the purity of what the 50 Series mics captured. Normally I would request reverb on my vocals, but in this instance, I was happy with the natural sound of my voice. Also, I would normally need four mics to get a clean sound when recording the African harp, but not today.

I’ve definitely added these mics to my musical shopping list!”

“The concept was a journey from voice to ear: a behind the scenes look at the mics to understand who the designers are, how the mics are made, and a chance to experience their sonic quality first hand,” concludes A-T’s Tim Page. “There is a sense of mystery about it in that many high profile artists record there, but not many people get to visit, so it was definitely the right place to go.”

It was, indeed.

As I make my way down to breakfast the following morning, all I can think is, ‘how do I get by hands on a pair of 5047s?’ www.audio-technica.co.uk 25 HEADLINER

Hi-Res Audio

Recording in Berlin

RECORDING IN BERLIN Berlin is one of the world’s greatest musical cities. Home of neo-classical, a huge electronic music scene, three different opera houses, and seven different orchestras. It has a bit of everything. So it’s no surprise that Gregor Schweiger’s new studio is kitted out for any project. Located in the heart of the city, this engineer, producer, and mixer opened up in March 2017 after a year-long build, has already worked in classical, punk rock, hardcore, EDM, and Argentinian tango(!) The key to his success? No compromising.

Gregor Schweiger started out playing in bands at a pretty good level, which, of course, led to making demos in various studios. At a session, an engineer once told him, ‘at a point, punk rock will not pay your living’, and it seems Schweiger took that firmly on board.

“I definitely turned my passion into a profession; I got into the audio side of things, studied sound engineering in 2006, finished in 2010, then got an internship at the Philharmonic Concert Hall in Berlin for six months, and got very into classical music, which opened my musical horizons, and gave me a perspective of many things other than punk rock,” Schweiger smiles.

He got hold of the rooms in 2016, and worked on them for a year before he eventually opened his studio to the public in March 2017. Because there are so many genres thriving in the bustling German capital, Schweiger says he has to be ready for any project that might come knocking.

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“Anything that the customer wants me to be, that’s what I am,” he insists.

“Recording guy, someone who takes care of signals, someone who can influence their playing, or the producer.

And so far, 90% of the people who record here also end up mixing here, so I mix the record, as well.”

Schweiger hasn’t pushed the studio in any direction so far, and as this article’s introduction suggests, that has been a very wise move.

“This city is full of music, and besides a handful of studios, the way the music business is now, you really can’t be too picky with one project,” he says.

Currently, Schweiger is working on a very cool project called Olga Show.

In a nutshell, it’s a female violinist and drummer, husband and wife combo, both of whom are street musicians.

They came up with the idea of playing around with what classical composers might sound like if they’d had today’s instrument repertoire at their fingertips.

“First, they said everyone would have a drum set, as that was something that was missing 300 years ago, so they rearranged recording the violin concerto of Mendelssohn, and double concerto of Bach, for low violin, drums, and orchestra; and they want to add synthesisers, as well, as maybe that’s an aspect classical composers might refer to if composing today,” Schweiger explains. “We are working on the synths at the moment. It’s a lot of fantasy, but that is the whole idea.

Since there are only two of them, we recorded both pieces live in the studio, with an electronic bass player also, and everything else was overdubbed.

“The violinist was eager enough to overdub pretty much the whole orchestra: she did all the first and second violins, and violas, and then someone else came in and did the cellos. Each one was done individually, so it’s a massive project. And that’s the whole idea: Olga Show. Olga is

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her name, she does everything strings related; everything else is for show.”

That does sound like a lot of work!

The project started with 11 days of live

“Get your room pretty much perfect, and you’re winning.” tracking, before improvisation, then a flautist came in and recorded some overdubs.

I ask Schweiger first about his sizeable analogue console, which looks like something API would make.

“Almost... [smiles] It’s actually a Six Audio console, and it’s the very first and only one; it’s actually based on the API 500 series, and has two 500 slots on each channel, so you don’t have to choose if it’s EQ or compression, you can do both at the same time,” Schweiger explains.

“It’s got 64 channels, it’s analogue surround mixable, and maybe the most flexible console I have ever seen.”

Certainly looks the part, too. What’s particularly interesting about Schweiger’s setup is, it’s entirely analogue, barring one very important digital component.

“We put a lot of work into building the rooms, and built our control room around our [Amphion] speakers, our very fine Steinway grand piano, and this amazing console, so it was too late to save money on the converters,” he smiles. “We had to stay in the same league as every other product in the

studio; and actually, converters are something you should never save money on in the studio anyway, in my opinion.”

For this reason, Schweiger invested in two Merging Technologies Horus units.

“When I record, I do it at 96kHz, 24bit... maybe not the biggest considering I have a product as good as Horus, but I like it very much; and we have been recording since the end of September, so it’s probably the biggest project I have done in the studio,” he says. “It’s great becaue you don’t have to worry about the converter: it’s there, and does all it has to, super-duper fast; it comes in, and goes out, and still always sounds the same, so it’s just really convenient.

My setup is two Horus combined to 64 inputs and outputs, and it’s superb. They are connected via Audio over IP to the computer.”

Schweiger’s recording chain varies, depending on the audio application: “For live recording, I go into the console, then Horus, because it’s the best way of getting good monitoring for the musicians, as I stay all analogue; and for overdubbing, it comes from the Horus, and then into the console; and the stuff that’s been recorded then goes into the preamp, then Horus, then the console.

Then, from the console, everything goes together to the monitoring; and when mixing, everything comes from the Horus to the console... If you follow? [laughs]” Just about! Schweiger works in Nuendo almost exclusively, and on 80% of his projects, the DAW is only doing recording and playback, everything else is in the console. In terms of the

Recording in Berlin

conversion, it was really all about achieving true transparency.

“I compared the Horus with some other top quality converters, but found colouring in the audio; I have the analogue equipment for that, and many classical musicians don’t like colouring in their recordings, so doing that would put me in a corner right away,” Schweiger says. “And there are preamps in the Merging input cards, so for remote recording, it’s a no brainer: mics, cables, and a Horus. It’s the versatility, the usability, and the sonic quality.

“I want it as clean as it gets, and it gives me the most options for when it comes to mixing, and it doesn’t matter what the setup is: a mix project in 44.1 sounds just as amazing as when I work in 96kHz with Horus; and if I open a session in 48kHz, it just changes itself. I don’t have to do anything.”

I ask Schweiger to give our readers some pointers to create a top studio environment.

“Get your room pretty much perfect, and you’re winning,” he says. “Good monitoring is number two: get used to your speakers, that way, you learn how to react to stuff that you hear, so it works on every other speaker. And thirdly, as producer or engineer, you have to have the ability to feel the emotions, and know how to react. Don’t put the pressure on, but don’t lose your head on days of takes. Just get the musicians into a relaxed situation.” www.merging.com

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In The Hub

Shure KSM313 Review

SHURE KSM313

We go inside The Hub, Headliner’s unique recording space, located above one of St. Albans’ oldest (and most haunted) pubs, to put Shure’s KSM313 ribbon mic to the test with singer-songwriter, Cara Rodford, and her ukulele.

In the last six months, when talking to renowned live sound engineers, we’ve heard Shure’s KSM313 ribbon mic crop up time and time again. Normally, being hailed as the ultimate microphone for miking up a guitar cab – the fact that, thanks to its Roswellite technology, it can handle such high SPLs, is a huge plus point, and that it’s durable enough to tour, of course. Furthermore, a few guys out on the road have also been using it to great effect on kick drums, so it’s definitely a versatile tool in the world of live sound.

However, we thought we’d try it out in The Hub, Headliner’s newly built recording space, which is set above one of the oldest (and most haunted) pubs in St. Albans, Hertfordshire. Rather than get a rock band in, and mic up the cabs, we thought we would use the KSM313 in a much more intimate setting, recording some acoustic instruments and vocals. So, we got young artist, Cara Rodford, and her ukulele, to come and

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spend an afternoon with us.

What’s particularly cool about the KSM313 is its dual voicing, which gives it two separate sonic signatures. In a nutshell, if you mic it up from the front, it’ll give you that rich, warm, traditional ribbon sound, but if you turn it around, it offers a much brighter and sparkly tone.

This became crystal clear as soon as we A-Bd it with spoken voice through our trusted Genelec 8341 studio monitors.

To the Test First, we decided to lay down some ukulele – miking it from the front, about six inches from the 12th fret. We were going to try a few mic positions, but actually, the tone was so nice right away, we just went with it.

One take from Cara (as is standard), and we had a listen back through the speakers. I’ve experimented with a few mics in the past few weeks on the uke, including our trusted AKG C414 XLII, but this definitely edges it.

Next up, a vocal. Cara likes to sit when she sings low-tempo numbers, so all we did was adjust the stand slightly, and turn the mic around, literally, to use the rear of the mic for the voice. As I put on my A-T M70 headphones to take a listen as she did a run through, it already felt controlled, and sounded great.

Halfway through the track, I hit the space bar, and suggested we go for a take.

One take later, we sat down in front of the speakers and played it back – no processing at all – and it sounded tremendous. Cara normally likes a nice reverb on her voice, and like most singers, doesn’t like the sound of her own voice on its own, yet she had no issues with the dry sound – in fact, she kept saying how much she liked that approach. Unusual.

I dialled in one of my go-to plugins, the Waves SSL E-Channel, on both tracks, tickled the uke with a little topend, and added a touch of low mid on the voice, but honestly, we’re talking

In The Hub

Shure KSM313 Review

“The warmth of the mix was outrageous; suddenly, the uke was leading the way, cutting through with its sharp hits, and the sound filled the room.” marginal amounts here - way less than I normally would. Then I dropped the Waves NLS buss compressor onto the master track – only at 10%, just for a little colour - and the Waves SSL G-Master Buss Compressor. The sound through the monitors was so pure and crisp, I found myself backing most of it off, if anything.

I asked Cara if she minded if I laid a picked acoustic guitar down on top, and she agreed. Headphones back on, I rolled the track (several times, I should add, certainly no ‘one take wonder’ here!), and once I was satisfied I had it, I panned it a little to the left, the uke to the right a little – maybe at ten to two - and hit play. I was genuinely astounded at the warmth of the guitar sound. I know my guitar – it’s a big bodied Epiphone, and has a lovely tone – but since Headliner has had this studio space, I’ve often had to roll a touch of low off, or brighten the top a little. Not with this mic, when you’re miking from the back. Great, full sound.

I then, rather greedily, asked if I could add another guitar part. Cara didn’t really have a choice, as I’d already got the

capo on the fifth fret, and was ready to put down a different pattern. A handful of takes later (they’re different chord positions up there, that’s my excuse!), we had it. I moved the uke back into the centre of the mix, and put the guitars at about quarter to three, respectively.

The warmth of the mix was outrageous; suddenly, the uke was leading the way, cutting through with its sharp hits, and the sound filled the room.

Really impressive, and nothing on them, in terms of processing. I know my room, I know my speakers, and I haven’t ever got an acoustic guitar sounding this good in here – and so easily, too.

We’re both keen to lay down more stuff – I decide it’s only fair to let the artist do this(!) So Cara has a few backing vocal ideas. Twenty minutes later, we’ve doubled the choruses, and added two harmonies, both of which are cut nice and tight. I give them basically the identical treatment as the lead vocal (normally I’d apply more top-end to BVs so they cut through, but not necessary here), and we play it back again.

It definitely helps having a great artist and such quality monitoring, but this track was literally mixing itself. This KSM313, in short, is a beauty.

We decide to finish it off with a little shaker part – miked maybe a foot from the mic, and using the reverse of the mic again; we get that nailed in a few minutes, and despite initially going for a reverb on it, we decide we like the ‘in your face’ feel that this whole track has, so we leave it dry. In fact, the only effects used before we render it are Waves’ CLA Vocals on the lead, with a hint of H-Delay utilising the lo-fi, just because I love it.

I played it at home, on my laptop, and in the car (still love ‘the car test’), and it passed with flying colours. So if you’ve got a bit of budget, and you want to capture great sonics from basically any source, why wouldn’t you grab yourselves one of these? The only awkward moment will be when the guys at Shure try to prise it out of my hands! www.shure.com www.waves.com 29 HEADLINER

The Briggs Studio

DiGiGrid Desktop

DIGIGRID TO THE TEST

London-based singer-songwriter, producer, and programmer, Yerosha, works out of The Briggs Studio in Islington, London, and has been putting DiGiGrid’s compact Desktop series of high-end audio interfaces to the test, using some go-to mics and headphones, and a Fender P Bass.

DiGiGrid was born when live console giant, DiGiCo, and plugin specialist, Waves, partnered up to create a set of smart, networkable, high-end audio products. Today, I’ve got the entire DiGiGrid Desktop series of interfaces set out in front of me, and I’m going to see how they all stack up.

First, a quick look: the M, which is designed as an entry level interface for musicians and singer-songwriters, with one mic input with phantom power, and one line input that will also take Hi-Z inputs, which is handy. But the best bit is, if you want to expand, you can: full integration with a larger DiGiGrid system is very simple, so if you need extra mic and line inputs, just connect it with one of the others in the range.

Which brings me onto D, the more expanded version of M, with four inputs (two mic/line, two line/instrument), and six outputs. A nice audio interface for

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a portable recording setup, in a small studio, or the interface section of a small live band, even.

Then there’s Q, a super-compact, high power headphone amp. Q accepts phono, XLR, and Bluetooth inputs.

With the DiGiGrid network option, I’m thinking Q would be a nice addition to a vocal booth, giving the performer more control over what they hear.

And finally, the S. Not as much fun as the other devices, but certainly very useful when you begin scaling up your system; it’s a power and network distribution device. You can plug in M, Q, or D, and it will distribute power to all the units over PoE (Power over Ethernet) audio. And let’s be honest, cutting down cables and adapters you have in your system is never a bad thing.

First Thoughts They’re purple, all of them - like Prince, or the Crown Chakra. Eggplant purple.

It makes a nice change from the usual masculine black. All four boxes had relatively minimal packaging, and a onepage ‘get started’ guide, the full manual being available online.

The units all seem very robust, too; their solid aluminium structure would lead me to believe that these boxes can be thrown in a bag, and can endure a fair bit of rough and tumble. Handy for on the go recording, or just moving from studio to studio. And they’re extremely portable. The knobs and switches don’t seem at all flimsy, either.

All the units are nicely laid out, and well lit, so it’s very easy to find your way around them; and they each sport a rubber base, and lockable power supply. Nice little touches - an indication that they were designed by people with experience.

If already in the Waves ecosystem, everything is easy to install: a simple process of logging into Waves Central,

The Briggs Studio

DiGiGrid Desktop

“DiGiGrid’s networking ability makes it a great choice for entry level, budding producer, or recording artist, with an eye for expansion and integration into a broader system.” and selecting the relevant software for the desired unit.

DiGiGrid in Action In the spirit of simplicity, I thought I’d kick off my initial recordings with M, using the ubiquitous, and ever-useful, Shure SM57 and SM58, monitoring spoken word, and a bit of vocal work through my equally ubiquitous, and also ever-useful, Beyerdynamic DT100 headphones.

The thing that I noticed immediately was a great level on the headphones. I remember in my bedroom studio days how difficult it was to get a decent level on any headphones when trying to track a vocal. Any budding bedroom vocalist won’t have that problem with any of these units. The headphone section is loud, and detailed. The metering on the top of the unit, either side of the headphone volume knob, is a lovely touch, too.

M was quick and easy to get an input level into, and equally quick and easy to get a comfortable monitoring volume on the cans. Right away, I could hear there was a lot of headroom in the DiGiGrid mic pre, which will come in useful for throwing down ideas, without breaking any sort of artistic flow. A forgiving mic pre is a wonderful thing to behold -

especially if you’re new to recording.

On playback, the recordings sounded fine: the 58 sounded like a 58; the 57, well, sounded like a 57! The point is, it’s a very nice and clean, transparent mic pre.

Content with the setup, I plugged in a Fender P Bass into the line/Hi-Z input on the front of the M, flicked the mix button, and dialled up the volume of the bass.

Sounded great – warm and full. The mix switch on the front of the unit is a very useful way to monitor input signals, and mix them into one another, like a little two-signal mixer with mutes.

The next recording I made was using the Earthworks TC25 - a mic I like to use for a bit of room ambience, and for drum overheads. I also decided to switch things up, and use my Focal Spirit Pro headphones for this recording.

Since all the units share the same components, I moved over to the D. With the more detailed mic, and more detailed headphones, the unit did not disappoint. I got the same high quality I was expecting from the Earthworks and the Focals. Great bass response and detail, too; it drove the headphones well, and delivered everything I expected to hear. I should also point out that the headphone amp on the DiGiGrid drives Apple earbuds particularly well, too. A

lot of people consume music on them, some even occasionally use them as a point of reference, so it’s well worth the test. The D has independent headphone and speaker outputs, sharing a DIM and mono switch, and the speaker out has a mute – this is very useful if you’re recording in the same room as your speakers, as so many people do.

In Conclusion The DiGiGrid Desktop family is a very well put together proposition.

It’s well thought out, high quality gear, with robust construction, and quality switch work. The sound quality is top notch, and the price point is competitive.

Also, the networking ability makes it a great choice for entry level, budding producer, or recording artist, with an eye for expansion and integration into a broader system. You can start in the bedroom, and let the kit grow with you, just by adding to what you already have.

All existing in the same ecosystem.

It’s all super-clean, detailed, and full-range; the line and mic pres are wide, and open, allowing colour or character to be added later with whatever fancy plugins or hardware kit you desire. www.digigrid.net 31 HEADLINER

Pines

Rock & Rollercoaster

ROCK & ROLLERCOASTER

For the last 12 months, Pines has been writing, arranging, and recording tracks which will form his first solo record. The former Carnabys frontman, who’s shared stages with a string of greats already, including Blondie, Bruce Springsteen, and Kings of Leon, is now preparing for his first solo show, where his live setup is going to be crucial. We chat about making wise listening choices, and translating the studio recordings to the stage.

“It’s been a different process than I’ve been used to,” opens Pines, in a typically reflective mood. “But this last year has been all about creating a new sound – an alternative soul vibe – which is very different to the music I was making with The Carnabys. The whole approach has been different: rather than rehearse the songs with a band, then record them, I’ve been locked away for the best part of a year, tweaking and fiddling away, using some amazing technology, which I’ve learned a lot about; and now it’s a case of learning how to play these songs live, with a totally new band. It’s been... [pauses] crazy, actually, but a massive learning curve, and it’s changed my outlook on music production, too.”

Pines has played so many diverse shows with The Carnabys since they formed in 2011 – from tightly-packed London bars, to Isle of Wight Festival – so you would be forgiven for forgetting

32 HEADLINER

he is still only 23. Fairly insane, isn’t it? “[smiles] Yeah, we gigged a lot, and that has been a massive help to get me to where I am now. But I’ve developed as an artist and a songwriter since I’ve been in the studio,” Pines declares.

“Performing has always been a natural thing for me, probably because I have done so much of it, so I now have to get back out there, focus, and show I can deliver – hopefully at a new level altogether.”

The Carnabys were true rock and roll, and the shows were loud, proud, and intense. Pines will certainly bring an energy, but a different one, incorporating large chunks of soul.

What he has always looked after, first and foremost, are his ears, and then his stage sound, and that will be a large part of this debut show.

“I have used in-ear monitors for about four years or so now, and since using

them, I have learned how vital they are for a vocalist,” Pines reveals. “If you’re in a particularly small venue, it’s very common that you get a lot of bleed from other monitors and amps, so having the in-ears really helps you hear your own voice, and particularly as a singer, you don’t have to strain to hear your own voice within the monitors.

“Then, on bigger stages and festival gigs, you can move around the stage at ease, whenever and wherever you want, and you can hear yourself the whole time. As well as that, you get the noise reduction from exterior noises, and it helps to keep it all compact.”

Upping the Ante Very recently, Pines ditched his old ears, and switched to JH Audio Roxannes.

Since doing so, he is looking at them in an even more favourable light: “It’s the first time I’ll be going

Pines

Rock & Rollercoaster

“What I look for in in-ears is to be able to get as close to the front of house mix as possible, and really get that energy; and the JH Audio Roxannes definitely give me that...” on stage wearing JH Audio, but after rehearsing with them a couple of times, I found the difference to be pretty unbelievable,” Pines says. “You can really feel what’s going on in the room, and as a performer, feeling that energy is key.

What I look for in in-ears is to be able to get as close to the front of house mix as possible, and really get that energy – and the Roxannes definitely give me that, more so than any other model I’ve used.”

Pines dropped into Headliner’s recording studio, The Hub, where he has recorded all of his new material, to lay down an acoustic version of one of his new tracks, Golden Gai. Rather than put on studio headphones, he chose to work with his Roxannes in the entire time, which helped get him right in the zone.

“I am completely in my own little world when I’ve got them in,” he laughs. “I can hear everything very clearly, and it’s a very true and honest mix. Also, the low end is off the scale! I was laying down a simple keys part over the top of the track, and I genuinely thought the Genelecs were on in the room; but that growl,

and all the sub was all coming from my in-ears. It’s also great that you can adjust the bass, which I know I’ll be fine-tuning at soundcheck, before the first show.”

And what about laying down vocals?

“It felt more like I was performing, to be honest; and actually, if you look at the video footage we shot of the live session, you’ll see that come through,” Pines smiles. True enough. “I felt like I had a little more freedom to move, too, as the fit is so snug; plus, I could crank the volume, and not worry about the click bleeding through. It was more of a live experience, if that makes sense?”

Tell us a bit about your new band... “[laughs] They’re crazy, but in a cool way,” Pines says. “It’s a seven-piece, including a brass section, and it’s definitely a very soulful sound, but the show will have plenty of energy, just quite different from what fans of The Carnabys might expect. But I can’t wait to get out there and play the new material.

“I’m also trying the new Lectrosonics Duet wireless system at my next rehearsal, which I am told is fantastic.

We used their PDR recorder for some guitar work on the recording sessions, and the quality was unreal, so I expect great things..! The combination of the Roxannes and the Duet should be sick...”

And finally, how would you describe the Pines sound?

“It’s raw, it’s real, and it’s not perfect, and that is what I love about it, and what I have always loved about music. You might end up at someone’s flat at the end of a night, someone puts on a record and says, ‘can you hear Keith Richards cough at the end of that track?’ And it gives you shivers. And that’s what I love about music that is imperfect.”

By the time you’ve read this article, Pines will have performed his debut show at Notting Hill Arts Centre (hopefully to a full house!). We look forward to bringing you a review of that show, and if you want to say hi, head on over to the Headliner table, where he’ll likely have consumed most of our wine. www.jhaudio.com www.lectrosonics.com 33 HEADLINER

Focus

Cranborne Audio

BREAKING THE MOULD

After years working under a corporate cloud, four dynamic and enthusiastic audio fans decided they would go it alone, and set out to design and build high-end products with a creative twist for the music makers within our industry. The result is Cranborne Audio, a fresh, in the moment, and determined young British company, driven wholly by passion.

“I have always wanted to run an audio company,” says managing director, Sean Karpowicz, eyes widening. “When I was at Soundcraft, I met these [three] guys, and I was amazed at the talent, and the complementary skill sets. This team was special, and I felt it; and we worked together to create some very special products, like the Signature [console].

Even though we were a little hamstrung in the way we did it, we had the essence.

But the idea with Cranborne Audio is that it’s just us, and we make all of the decisions - and that is what makes the difference.”

The four-man, ex-Soundcraft team of Karpowicz, creative director, Andy Pat, director of engineering, Ed Holmes, and product manager, Elliott Thomas, share a goal of making top quality studio recording easily accessible to the entire creative community, without breaking the bank. And at the heart of the operation is no-compromise, lovely analogue hardware. Fantastic.

“I conceived the idea for Cranborne Audio when the announcement was

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made that [Soundcraft HQ] Potters Bar was closing,” Karpowicz recalls. “I was upset, of course, but knew it was also an opportunity for me to get so many of my ideas out and into the market. I knew the guys so well, and knew we could do something special. I also thought as it was Cranborne House that was closing, calling the company Cranborne Audio would be very cool, and apt.”

Post-Soundcraft, Karpowicz first went and worked for Aston mics, and says part of the draw was the fact that everything was high-end, made in the UK, yet still affordable.

“It was at Aston that I realised it really doesn’t take that much to make something happen; one or two very driven people, and good talent,” says Karpowicz. “Ed followed me to Aston as hardware engineer, and although we had never worked directly together before, we knew we could talk tech, and work fast.

“But the whole Cranborne thing was burning in my brain. I then messaged Andy and Ed, and we met at my place.

They both understood what I wanted to accomplish.”

The first ideas – and there were plenty – centred around the production of preamps. Karpowicz knew Ed Holmes was a whizz with these products, and felt that was where the business should focus all of its attention.

“Pre-amp was in my head for good reasons, and Ed had also been thinking about it; when Ed was at Soundcraft, he took the Ghost [console] preamp and fixed it,” Karpowicz smiles. “The Ghost had a sound, and it is a challenge to resurrect something where parts are basically obsolete. So I knew how capable he was.”

But six months down the line, with a product roadmap taking shape, Karpowicz became aware that Cranborne was a little too engineerfocused, so approached highly skilled musician, Elliott Thomas, someone he’d worked with very closely at Soundcraft, and whose approach to audio was always from the musician’s perspective.

“Our product roadmap started out as,

Focus

Cranborne Audio

“We have tried to make products that work for today’s musician and engineer, with a modern workflow...” ‘let’s make the best mic pres we possibly can, and as many as possible’, but actually, I realised that’s pretty boring,” explains Karpowicz. “What I also realised, pretty much immediately when I first met Elliott at Soundcraft, was that he was criminally underutilised. I remember I needed to learn the Si range of consoles, which was quite complex, and I kind of knew it, but he knew it inside out. I got the down low off him so fast, and normally people don’t operate at my speed, but he was whizzing through stuff, faster than me. He understood it to a crazy level. We then became good friends, and have been since leaving Soundcraft, so I knew I wanted him involved at Cranborne.”

Karpowicz met up with Thomas, and shared some of his mic pre ideas, and received the honest and to the point feedback he was hoping for. Thomas was about to come onboard.

“You were talking about mic pre this, and mic pre that, and showed me what you were working on – and I remember saying, a mic pre that does this and that is all good, but gear is a means to an end, and it’s all about music, that’s where it starts,” explains Thomas. “Look at NAMM: all those people are there for one thing, music; writing music, playing music, producing music. So it’s great to have a superb mic preamp, but it’s not great in itself. It has to be something more.

“So I said, ‘ok, so what about if it had an input and a headphone output, so you could do this and that?’ Turning it into something a bit different. And then the mic pre became the core thing, and a great place to start, but there are products that can be built around these, so we moved on from there, I think.”

So the ball was rolling, and Karpowicz

and Thomas went away to develop on this idea in parallel.

“We bounced ideas back and forth a lot, me and Elliott, and it was clear that he was the perfect addition to the team,” Karpowicz says. “Elliott and Andy work because they are creative and visual, Ed and I work because we are the geeks!”

Going to Market The Cranborne Audio product line is testament to what Karpowicz and his team are all about: meticulously British built, very well thought out, and made with passion and drive.

“I am a millennial – it pains me to say it, but I am – and that means I see things in a certain way, but I love analogue audio, and vintage sound,” Karpowicz says. “I love a late ‘60s LA2 or Pultec because they sound magical, and to appreciate that, and to be a ‘digital native’, as I call it, affords us a unique perspective that nobody else gets. And that is what [Cranborne Audio’s tag line] a modern approach to vintage sound means: we have tried to make products that work for today’s musician and engineer, with a modern workflow, incorporating the cool bits that we all fell in love with about audio.”

And this is what the team have tried to get across in their first three products: the Camden 500 mic pre, the 500R8 rack, and the 500ADAT. Let’s look at them.

“I have always loved the 500 Series format; it’s affordable for what it is, and it’s smaller than the huge channel strips you see. So I thought it’d be cool to make a rack with USB built in, and do it right, and think about what we needed on it – that’s the brief I gave Elliott, and the 500R8 is the outcome.”

I ask Thomas what the thinking

process was at his end.

“It was really easy, actually; you have to think about what you want to achieve: musicians have to be able to hear themselves, so we put in a monitoring bus; a producer might want two sets of speakers rather than one, so ok, let’s add a switch, so you can easily go between the two. We also had to find a way of playing it back, so we put in a summing mixer. It was all about working from the outside in. If you look at what that unit can do, it’s a ton of stuff, but there isn’t a lot on it – it’s all about simplicity.”

And it’s hardware that has been made with care – the prototype I’m having a look at has heavy duty knobs that make a classic ‘click’ as you turn them, which feels nice and authentic – and I’m told the final product will be more authentic still.

To summarise, the 500R8 has a built-in 28-in/30-out USB interface, a discrete analogue summing bus, and a monitor controller. It’s what the Cranborne guys describe as ‘your dream box in a studio’.

It works without any 500 modules in it, too, which is cool – and you can fit up to eight in this rack. But they don’t all have to be Cranborne Audio modules, of course – in fact, Karpowicz is very clear to make this point..!

“I would be very disappointed if I saw eight [Cranborne Audio] Camden 500 modules in a 500R8; yes, I think our Camden mic pre is outstanding, but the idea is, the user can create his or her own channel strip, out of whatever 500 modules he or she wants to, and that’s the real beauty of it,” Karpowicz insists.

The Camden was the first product to see the light of day at Cranborne, and we can’t wait to get our hands (and ears) on one: in a nutshell, what the guys have tried to do with the Camden is create 35 HEADLINER

something that redefines the term ‘linear’, in terms of phase and frequency response. So we should expect clarity and detail, and, getting technical for a second, the entire frequency spectrum arrives at your recorder at the same volume and same time with less than 0.001% Total Harmonic Distortion and 128dB Equivalent Input Noise.

Practical Solutions I ask Karpowicz to give me an example of how the 500R8 can improve workflow in the studio. He comes up with a belter: “The producer, Joker – he makes dubstep music, and he makes these wonky, crazy sounds using SSL compressors; and this 500R8 enables Joker to do that, because in order to do that, he had to get a really high-end audio interface, he had to break out into analogue, then he had to get a 500 series rack, then he had to find a way to sum it back in. It’s a lot of money for that kit, and it’s tough to be a musician these days; you don’t sell a lot of music, and everyone streams. My point here is, how does he afford it? So, Joker can now get all his stuff in a much better workflow.

“It’s a much cheaper and easier way of working, in a smaller footprint. This guy still works out of a flat in Bristol, as far as I am aware, in a space-constrained bedroom studio, and he wants to be motivated, and in a good place when he makes music. Often that is 2 or 3am, I would imagine, and with this system, you’re always good to go, so you can rock out in your headphones any time.”

It’s a nice explanation, and makes me think how the 500R8 might fit into 36 HEADLINER

Headliner’s own recording space. We have a Babyface Pro USB interface, which is fantastic for our workflow, but the idea of having these modules available so easily is very appealing.

“The Babyface Pro is a great product, I have one myself! So if you’re happy with the USB drivers, the TotalMix [software], its low jitter A-D, and good signal to noise ratio, and you just want 500 series modules to fit into your workflow, you shouldn’t buy a 500R8, you should buy a 500ADAT, because the Babyface Pro has ADAT I/O,” Karpowicz explains.

Interesting... “And the thing is, 90% of the people that have ADAT I/O in their interfaces don’t use them, which is kind of crazy. So, if you already use something you really like, and have grown accustomed to, buy a 500ADAT, connect two ADAT cables, and suddenly, you get extra I/O that you never had, or even realised you had. It has all the same features as the 500R8, pretty much, and it’s a bit cheaper, there’s just no USB.” Very cool solution – and fair play to Karpowicz, he isn’t at all precious about his products. He knows there is a lot of fantastic audio kit out there, he just wants Cranborne to fit itself into as many workflows as possible, and make things easier for everyone. How refreshing.

“And if you do switch to Cranborne, the biggest thing you’ll notice is that you’ll spend a lot less time looking at a screen,” Thomas says, with a smile.

“You’ll be more in the moment, as people do get too accustomed to digital. I was always obsessed with mic positioning, and getting it at the source,” adds Karpowicz. “I’d spend tons of time

getting everything sounding perfect, and it’s a bit of a lost art, to some extent, these days: ‘oh, that sounds a bit thin, but I’ll just add a saturation plugin’.

“Some of my best experiences especially in live sound – have been just whacking up the fader. And that’s because I care about placement. Nothing replaces putting up a very good mic in the right place, and having a good player; and once you’re in the digital realm, you can add from there – great - but you cannot replace that analogue front end.”

Director of engineering, Ed Holmes, says the coolest thing about Cranborne is the fact that pro quality will now be accessible to everyone: “People like me, who have always wanted to get into 500 Series stuff, now have product that is affordable, and that allows more users to get involved with the format in general. I want to be able to look back next year and know there are people out there using stuff that I have poured so much love into, getting the tone out of it. I want people to be able to play something back and go ‘yes, that!’

And that is what I want to give people.”

Karpowicz is more to the point: “We outperform mic pres that are twice the price, and they are also discrete. [smiles] People who never thought they could have something with this kind of quality now have it at their fingertips, and that is the coolest thing.”

Look out for a Cranborne Audio kit review, coming soon to Headliner. www.cranborne-audio.com

Happy tenth anniversary to the MPG Awards SSL is proud to support the celebration of the incredible talent of the UK’s engineers, producers and artists

The Value of Music

Matt Lawrence

THE VALUE OF MUSIC

As a studio dweller myself, I enjoy stepping into other people’s, as it’s an insight into their world. I have a great appreciation for fairy lights and plants, and in this instance, I am not disappointed. “I want more! This is nowhere near enough; I’m trying to have it that every band that comes to the studio must bring me a plant.”

I like the sentiment. The plant enthusiast is producer and mixer, Matt Lawrence, Grammy Award-winner for his work with Mumford & Sons on their album, Babel, in 2012. I have joined him at Miloco Studios in Bermondsey, London.

Born and raised in and around Bath, Lawrence played in bands from the age of 13, starting on keyboards, before progressing to guitar.

“I realised I was a bad musician; appalling, really,” he smiles.

During his time as a mediocre musician, Lawrence took an interest in music tech, helping to do sound for school concerts, and trying to convince them to turn an unused room with kit into a studio, sadly without success.

“I was lucky, as at that time, Bath had a rich music scene: Tears for Fears’ studio was there, Peter Gabriel’s Real World, along with a couple of others.”

He and a friend went along to a studio to ask advice on how to get into the biz, and were given two pointers: “The guy said: if you want to do this job, just start now; and if both of you are able to work in studios, I will eat my hat, as the chances are so low.”

As his father worked in the further education sector, it was an unpopular decision to forego university; however, after signing up for a week’s ‘taster’ package delivered by said studio, Lawrence found his way in. By being

on hand – from assisting on sessions, to painting the walls - he was given access to the kit, where he could practice.

“It was a demo studio, really,” he recalls. “Working on a Soundcraft desk and a Fostex E16 tape machine, which was a classic back then.”

His moment came when he was asked to step in when the main engineer hurt his back, and from then on, his mixing career began - not without its hiccups.

“I very rarely make mistakes, but back then, on one of my early sessions, I did accidentally record over a guitar solo,” Lawrence explains. Ouch. “The band said I should lock myself in the studio, as the guitarist was raging! Instead, I looked him in the eye and said, ‘It’s ok, you will do it again, but better’.”

When an engineer from Tears for Fears’ studio stopped by, and mentioned an assistant role was opening up, Matt took the opportunity.

“I was so nervous, but I knew I had to go for it,” he explains. He got it, and two weeks later, the studio was sold to Van Morrison, where he would stay for the next three and a half years working on albums for Annie Lennox,

Stereophonics, Christy Moore, and Paul Weller, to name but a few.

“Once you’ve lasted that long with Van without being sacked, you’re in a good position,” he laughs, “but I knew I wanted to move on.”

So over egg and chips at a Happy Chef down the road, Lawrence asked Van’s advice on where to go next: Hollywood’s Record Plant Studios, or London’s Metropolis? He decided on the latter, and worked there for 12 years.

Having a look through his mixing credits, it’s impressive to see its diversity.

“I can do orchestral sessions, but I also mixed Skepta’s first single,” Lawrence tells me. “I rally against specialising. I can think of nothing worse than working on the same style of music; it would be horrific!”

Quincy Jones, in a recent feature in Vulture magazine, notes that he ‘didn’t have to learn a thing to do Michael Jackson’, as he had played all kinds of music. Thoughts..?

“What I listen to in my own time is influenced by the work that I am about to do; it helps to get me in the zone.

I like going on these little journeys; it fig.2: Waves SSL E-Channel

fig.1: Sonnox Oxford

38 HEADLINER

The Value of Music

makes me a better mixer, producer, and engineer. You can take things from one genre, and apply it to another.”

Quincy also claims contemporary producers are ‘lazy and greedy’...

“I don’t like feeling out of my depth, and I don’t like blaggers. When it comes to sitting at a mixing desk, engineering or recording, you can’t blag your way through that; you either know how to do it, or you don’t. It’s all a matter of depth of experience.

“I have 10 ways of doing everything; if seven things break down in a studio, I can still get it over the line, and knowing that makes me feel more confident. I’ve always been resourceful and cunning, and if things change, I know I can run in the new direction.”

Creative differences plague so many projects, so when a mix does come in, who actually gets the final say?

“Every session is unique, and my style is to fill in the gaps; I don’t need to put my sound on it. If the band are being creative, fantastic; but if, for example, they’re not on schedule, I will pipe up.

Most people just want it to sound good.”

For any creative, half the battle is to actually start. I ask what Lawrence needs to get the session going.

“I love to hear the original mix, and what they didn’t like about it. I need to hear the elements of the groove that they found important. Without knowing that, you can accidentally straighten out a delicate shuffle by being an idiot with the kick and snare, and then you’ve messed with the whole feel of the song. I see a mix like a window into the song; if there are four mixes, you are hearing a song from four different angles.”

The other creative battle is knowing when the work is finished.

“With a rock band, it’s kind of obvious when it’s done, but with avant garde, or ambiguous music, you can keep morphing it, as all options are valid.

That’s when you need someone to say they love it or hate it.”

Streaming is now the way most people consume music, with Tidal the only platform offering high fidelity audio.

Couple this with earbud headphones, it invariably means a drop in sound quality.

“Part of my monitoring is listening through earbuds now,” Lawrence smiles.

“It’s funny, you walk into an SSL Studio with amazing speakers, but the mixer is listening through buds, as that is what the kids are using.”

In the Mix Lawrence isn’t stuck on a set system when it comes to digital versus analogue.

“I do what’s best for the music. In the days of tape and half-inch, I’d print to file as well, then, when it came to mastering, we’d take both, and see which was best.

In my last studio, we had a lovely old Neve we used as a summing mixer, but even then, sometimes I’d bypass that, and just stay in the box.”

Chandler’s TG1 Abbey Road limiter is a favourite of Lawrence’s.

“It just sounds so exciting,” he enthuses. “I was doing a Planet Funk record, and I put the drums through it, and their jaws hit the floor. Personality to sound is really important, and I try and get as much character in as possible.”

And what about plugins?

“I love the Sonnox Oxford EQ; their limiter is fantastic, as are their

Matt Lawrence

suppressors and de-essers; I use the Sonnox SuprEsser to remove harshness from a great many frequencies, and on many instruments, not just on vocals; as you can see from the screenshot [see fig.1], I’m using two on the piano.

“Then I use a lot of Waves kit, too: the SSL E Series channel strip is a go-to for me, as I know it from growing up on an SSL [see fig.2]. I also love the Waves EMI TG12345, which is a copy of the desk The Beatles used on Sgt. Pepper; and the Waves Abbey Road plates are amazing - they actually remind me of being at Abbey Road! It’s the best plate modeller I have come across. I run all four instances of this plugin simultaneously, to see and compare which one suits the instrument best, before I fine-tune the settings.

Normally A or D work for me.”

So, mixing or producing?

“I love producing. It’s been such a big part of my life. But producing an artist properly is so big; you have to join the band, really! It’s so creative, but it takes so much out of you, so I couldn’t do loads, back to back. I would love to produce one album a year.”

Lawrence is optimistic about the future of music, and how we consume it.

“It’s amazing, seeing how important music is for people. Daniel Bedingfield was overwhelmed with the number of people who wrote to tell him that his song Gotta Get Thru This literally saved their lives. There are no words. It adds value to everything, and the value of music is definitely coming back.” www.waves.com www.sonnox.com 39 HEADLINER

Recording in LA

Sadaharu Yagi

SADAHARU YAGI We chat to Grammy-winning engineer, mixer, and producer, Sadaharu Yagi, about his Japanese roots, the bustling Los Angeles recording scene, his go-to analogue and digital audio kit, and his goal of producing real rock music with ex-Smiths’ Andy Rourke’s new musical venture, Blitz Vega.

Sadahau Yagi’s route into music started in his home country of Japan, where he began drumming as a young lad in local bands and small rehearsal studios. Although music production wasn’t even a consideration back then, today, he is an extremely reputable engineer and producer based out of Los Angeles, and has worked with a string of star performers including Wyclef Jean, Limp Bizkit, Shakira, and Shania Twain.

“I started out as a musician, like many producers do, really,” Sada explains. “That was when I was in middle school; and then I started taking a real interest in production, as I was a record collector, as well, so album credits and producers’ names got me interested.

That, ultimately, led me to LA to work in production.”

Sada is a huge analogue fan, though he is also impressed by how far plugins and Virtual Instruments have come, both of which feature a lot in his studio workflow. His whole approach seems to

have quite the hybrid feel.

“Yeah, I do everything, really: I work in the box a lot, but I prefer to make decisions on a record in the recording process rather than the mixing process,” he explains. “Saying that, there is so much freedom now with the quality of plugins and stuff that I find I am able to change the sound in the mixing process, as well, now. You can’t deny this technology nowadays, so I fully embrace that. The biggest change in the last 10 years is the quality of Virtual Instruments. They used to sound like shit – and no guitar emulator would sound anything like a Marshall amp, but now it’s very close, which is amazing for me in my work.”

We chat a little about how all the New York studios migrated to LA, and that the City of Angels is the ultimate hub for film and music. It must have been interesting to see that develop, no?

“Yeah, and Chicago, as well,” Sada points out. “But now it’s only LA; it’s

the centre of business, and it has a lot of great studios. Another great thing [about LA] is, there’s no problem finding gear here, as it’s all out here now, as long as you’re going to great studios.”

Sada works on a number of eclectic projects, though currently, much of his time is taken up working with Andy Rourke and KAV on their new project, Blitz Vega. The idea, production-wise, is to try to bring that classic British rock sound back to America.

“Andy lives in New York, but flies to LA for recordings; we have done a number of sessions already, and the concept of the album is really to go back to analogue, authentic performance,” Sada reveals. “In the UK, rock music is back, but not so much in the US – and that’s the idea. On the Blitz Vega project, I am using a vintage Neve console - it’s British – if you have access, why not?”

Why not, indeed? Sada has used some interesting techniques when making the Blitz Vega record, one of

which incorporates sampling real drums and triggering them from a Roland TD-50 drum kit.

“Because we want to get the dance music groove into rock music, we are sampling the drums from real drums, so it’s authentic sounding,” he says.

“On one song, it was already mixed, but we sampled the kick and snare into our Roland TD-50, as we really liked the sound; and that is now the sound of our drum recording. So the TD-50 works great as the trigger. It’s tricky, as it only takes takes 44., 24-bit files, and we recorded all the other stuff in 96kHz, but we imported these audio files into the TD-50 and recorded it again with analogue signal, back to the console, and using the Neve mic pres, so it sounds really great!”

Blitz Vega are coming close to completing the project, and it looks like we’ll get to see them out on the road sometime in 2018.

“We listen to Primal Scream or Happy Mondays, so we want to achieve a dance groove, but not in an EDM way; in a rock way, with that underlying groove,” Sada reiterates. “It’s been 20 years since Primal Scream now; the market is oversaturated with big beat EDM stuff, so we want to bring some of the ‘90s back.”

I ask Sada about his full setup – it’s a real mix, though, when it comes to monitoring, it’s always been Genelec.

“In many studios in the US - probably the same in the UK - Genelecs and NS10s are standard; and when I am recording, I really need to have a good pair of speakers that I can rely on. The NS10s

sound different, depending on what amp you use, so in that sense, a powered speaker is better, and way more reliable.

“So I use the [Genelec] 1032s – they are very nice. And the studios in LA all have these. I have also used the 8250s - I used these only yesterday, in fact, on an acoustic project, and I loved them.

They’re just very versatile speakers.

“If you have a good Neve mic pre, and a U47, that’s all good, but if you don’t know what you’re monitoring on, it doesn’t make any sense, so you need to

“Genelec is kind of the studio standard here in LA - you find them everywhere...” have a speaker you can trust – and in that sense, I really appreciate that Genelec is kind of the studio standard here in LA – you just find them everywhere.”

In keeping with the analogue theme, Sada intended on tracking this record to two-inch tape, but he got the opportunity to use a very smart master clock made

by Japanese company, Abendrot Audio – the Everest 701, which has proved a real eye-opener.

“I have never paid much attention to master clocks that much before, but the Everest 701 allows you to capture analogue sound into a digital recorder,” Sada reveals. “Many people say digital sounds are colder than analogue, but it’s nothing to do with that, it’s in the

process of A-D conversion where you lose some information, which is why when everything is recorded into digital, it’s less information, and that is why people say, ‘it’s not warm enough’. But it’s not that at all, it’s the information loss of the convertor, and the master clock is a big part of it, so the Everest 701 is really allowing you to record analogue sound as analogue sound.”

So it’s an old school setup at the core, with some interesting twists, I guess? “[laughs] Yes! And again, I use lots of VIs, but also real analogue synths, as well; in every song, I use the Korg MS-20 synth, with real synths, and my Neve console. I also use the Odyssey, and there is an original Minimoog in there, too. The VIs are all layered on the top, so we are getting as much old ‘60s sound as possible, ultimately.”

It sounds like this will be a seriously cool sounding project...

“Definitely – we just have a bit more recording to do, but we have already completed mixing for many of the songs, and we have been talking to some great guests who will be making appearances, some of which are really into the analogue concept,” Sada explains. “It’s all off the record for now, so I can’t tell you a lot, but let’s just say we have some great guests, and leave it at that! [smiles]” Fair enough! We look forward to seeing what comes of Blitz Vega, and wish Sada the best of luck with the release. www.sadasound.com www.genelec.com

SPITFIRE AUDIO