MY RIG: KEVIN 'CAVEMAN' SHIRLEY Kevin Shirley has an ear for what works pure and simple. For over 40 years, the mega producer has recorded and mixed some of the biggest names in rock and is showing no signs of slowing down. Earning his stripes as a studio engineer in the burgeoning Capetown music scene of the 1970’s before venturing to Australia and the US to ply his trade as an in-demand producer/mix engineer to the stars, Shirley has developed a virtuoso skillset that encompasses all facets of record making, from the technical to the holistic. It comes as no surprise that when Cold Chisel were looking for someone to produce their forthcoming album Blood Moon, Caveman’s name was at the very top of the list. We recently caught up with Kevin ahead of the release of Blood Moon, to talk us through a
couple of his most treasured pieces of gear and the sounds that shaped both Blood Moon and his broader discography to date. SSL Duality 48 CH Console: “My go-to console is my Solid State Logic Duality desk that I run entirely in analogue mode. It’s got a harmonic driver on it so I can push it to get whatever sound I want out of it. I absolutely love my console. It’s my soul. This console is my con….soul! I’m definitely not a plug-in guy. I mostly use the onboard EQ and compression on my Duality, then I use Protools basically like a tape machine. As far as processing goes - I don’t use digital at all. I’m all about an analog front end and I’m not afraid to overload mics and preamps to get what I want out of a sound.”
Neumann U47: “Almost everyone sounds good on an old U47. Although sometimes the U67 will sound a little bit tighter, which can be helpful, but more often than not I’ll go with a U47 as my default. At the end of the day, when you’re dealing with a singer like Jimmy, you can throw a tin can up in front of him and he will still sound fantastic!” TUL G12 Guitar Mic: “I had always been a big fan of the ‘two different mics at 90 degrees’ method of recording guitar cab, but all that changed when I received a call from my friend (and fellow South African) Tully Mcully, around the time I was recording The Ballad of John Henry with Joe Bonamassa. He asked me about my cab micing technique and offered to design a microphone that would be able to replicate
the effect of these two mics, but in a single unit. He sent me a prototype and I’ve use it on every guitar record I’ve worked on since. I’ve used it with Iron Maiden and I know Bob Rock has been using them also. You can hear those mics all over Mossy’s guitars on Blood Moon!” AMS RMX 16: “I’ve got an old AMS RMX 16 digital reverb unit that usually gets a fair bit of use on most sessions. Don (Walker, Cold Chisel keyboardist) doesn’t like a lot of effects on things, so I made a point of not being too heavy-handed with it. At the end of the day you have to listen to the artist, and there is no point in piling on effects that you just have to take off later on.” Blood Moon is out now via Universal Music Australia. Catch Cold Chisel on tour around the country this summer.
SSL Duality 48 CH Console TUL G12 Guitar Mic Neumann U47
AMS RMX 16
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