VOCAL COMPING & TUNING WIZARD!

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

A: Too many really to single out one. Here are two. I was the engineer/producer for most of the UK Riot Grrrl scene in the 1990s which included bands like Huggy Bear, Linus, Heavenly, and Comet Gain. I engineered Nick Heyward's solo US Top 5 hit "Kite" and was engineer and co-producer on his 2017 UK Top 5 album "Woodland Echoes".

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: I'm mixing albums for Key West local Bubba Lownotes, also for guitarist Matt Backer who is based in the UK, and I have tracks to mix for a guy called Allen Karch from Baltimore, and Nick Norman who is signed to Lee Brice's Nashville label. I'm recording an album with Key West local Brian Roberts, and am just starting to record a couple of other album projects too. I've got vocals to edit for a new album by Juliana MacDowell who is based in Leesburgh Virginia. I'm always pretty busy and usually juggle multiple recording projects simultaneously.

Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

A: Chris Sheldon. He's a very fine British Rock Producer and Mixer. Probably best known for mixing "The Color & The Shape" by The Foo Fighters. Super nice guy too. Chuck Sabo. American drummer based in the UK. He's worked with many big names. Great tight drummer and easy to work with. Gary Carter. He's a Nashville Pedal Steel player. Great player, many credits, he's in the Grand Ole Opery house band too.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Digital because of its ease of use. Things can be achieved in minutes that would take hours if you were working on tape. I don't know how many years of my life I wasted waiting for tape machines to rewind! :) I think analogue and digital are of similar quality these days, but I do think that most modern records don't sound very good. They're harsh, over compressed and fatiguing to listen to. Just because you have limitless numbers of tracks available to record on, and multiple plug-ins, reverbs and compressors that you can add to every audio track, doesn't mean that you should use them all. Analogue records sound better to me because producers and engineers were limited to generally 24 audio tracks, so they had to make creative decisions as they went and record things properly. During mixing, they had to plan how they were going to use their outboard and effects, because even the best mixing studios had limits to how much gear was available. Analogue recordings sound warmer, more natural, and have more air and space to my ears.

Q: What's your 'promise' to your clients?

A: I'll always give you my absolute best. I'm diligent, focussed and will make you sound great!

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Hanging around with musicians in a room full of cool equipment listening to music all day. :)

Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A: Customer: How did you get my vocal to sound so good? Answer: It was all there in your performance, and I just tidied it up a bit.

Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

A: That you can just make a vocal good just by tuning it. There are so many sterile records out there, where the vocal has had all the life tuned out of it. All the subtlety and nuance of the performance has been lost.

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: What kind of music it is and some kind of background information about their project and how they've recorded it. How many tracks of vocals they're going to send me and what they're looking for me to do. Then I'll ask some technical questions about the files they're providing, and tell them what I ideally like to work with.

Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A: Work out what you're trying to achieve by hiring someone. Look at the providers track record, listen to some of their work, and if you like what you hear and you get a sense that they'd be easy and fun to work with, go with them.

Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

A: A Mac with ProTools. My Neve mic pres. An 1176 compressor. A pair of Adam Monitors, 1 Neumann Mic and 1 Shure SM58. You can pretty much record anything with this combination.

Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

A: I could tell you how long I've been doing this, but then I'd have to kill you! :). I started recording in my Grandmother's attic in South London, then ran a 16 and 24 track studio in Central London for 17 years, making largely demos at first and then progressing to records for most of the major labels. I switched to digital and ProTools in the early 2000s, and have been working in the USA for 12 years.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: I like fat warm productions. I think my favourite period of recorded music is the early 70s through to 1980. So many fantastic sounding records recorded during that period, that still sound amazing today. I aim for that kind of timeless sound in my work.

Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

A: I think it'd be brilliant to work with either Bruce Springsteen or Paul McCartney. Bruce because his songs are just so amazing and he's an incredible all round performer, singer and artist. Paul, because he's Paul! :)

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: With vocals, it's generally there in 4 or 5 takes. Take 1 for level and for the singer to get comfortable with the headphone balance, Take 2 and 3 are generally the best. By Take 4 the singer is getting bored, Take 5 is for recording individual lines that you didn't get in the other takes.

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: Anything where there are live musicians involved. Singer/Songwriters, Rock, Pop, Blues, Americana, Funk and Soul. I'm not the guy you book for EDM, Rap or Hard Rock, although I'd do a good job on the vocals on the latter category.

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Vocal production first, I just have a good feel for when it's right, and putting various takes together into a cohesive and great performance. After that, I'm generally pretty good at recording everything. I've been doing it a long time!

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I'm fortunate to have worked with many successful songwriters, so over the years I've learned about song structuring and keeping it interesting. I'm pretty good at coming up with bridges on the fly if the song doesn't have one, but needs one. Obviously I'm good at producing a strong vocal, keeping the performance and the lyrics central to the song.

Q: What's your typical work process?

A: Ideally, I like to track everyone in the band together. We may not keep everything, but it gives the song a better feel then tracking each instrument individually. After the rhythm tracks are down, I like to do overdubs, then vocals, backing vocals, percussion, any last overdubs, mixing, then live with the mixes for a week and make any mix tweaks.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: My current set-up is on a houseboat! ProTools. Vintage Neve mic pres and eqs, Shadow Hills mic pres, Neve 8816 Summing mixer, Vintage Altec 436C compressor and UA 2x1176. Thermionic Culture, Culture Vulture, TLA EQ1, Roll Music Super Compressor, Neumann U87 and TLM 103, various dynamic mics, Adam and Tannoy Monitors.

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: Production/mixing-wise I love Tchad Blake's work. Steve Lillywhite has made some fantastic sounding and iconic records. Daniel Lanois for the vibe, Glyn Johns because his records sound so good. Denis Blackham for mastering, he's the best!

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: Generally I produce and engineer entire LPs for my clients. Recording, comping and fixing vocals is one of my specialities. I'm there for the whole process from listening to the songs in their rawest form, often choosing the musicians to play on the record, helping the artist make the best decisions possible sound, performance and production-wise, through to mixing and getting the record mastered.