Rick's Articles

Sound Australasia - Volume 1 : Issue 2
Recording the Lowbabies - "The Lowbabies get tactile" When Sound got the latest Tactile Technologies console to review, we decided to mix an album with it. Rick O’Neil did the deed. Words: Greg Simmons. Pics: Dave Anderson.

This story began with a call from Audiovisual Designs, offering us the new Tactile Technologies mixing console for review. At the same time, Sound's regular columnist Rick O'Neil was looking for a special console to mix an album he'd recorded for a band called 'The Lowbabies'. Problem solved, O'Neil's recording techniques, and his reasons for using the Tactile Technologies console were too interesting to ignore. His recording techniques start here…

The Lowbabies are a four piece band headed by Paul Butler, who O'Neil describes as 'the classic mad Irishman'.

The rhythm tracks were recorded at Megaphon Studios in St. Peters, Sydney. To capture the live band feel, the backing tracks were recorded with all members playing together. Lead guitars were re-recorded at Airmotion, part of the Megaphon studio complex. Vocal tracks were re-recorded at Turtlerock, O'Neil's mastering studio. To get the sound quality he was after, O'Neil used some interesting equipment and techniques.

EQ No Way
Many engineers are aware of the degradation caused by EQ, and minimise the amount they use by relying on microphone choice and positioning to get the desired sound, O'Neil took this approach to its logical conclusion by using no EQ at all. "I was trying to create a record that was phase coherent, with good imaging. When you turn EQ on, the first thing you lose is the imaging. Then you lose the sound of the distance between microphones, because you've changed the phase relationship and frequency spectrum. A lot of engineers use EQ to make the sounds lock together. I try to get that by using the right combination of microphones and equipment"

Avoiding the Console
Recording an album without using EQ places heavier demands on the recording chain - particularly the mics and mic preamps. To make a sound 'good', a careful selection of tube equipment was used. A typical set-up would be a tube mic into a tube mic preamp, through a tube limiter/compressor and directly onto tape, totally avoiding the console. "I wanted this record to sound as good as it possibly could, and that meant avoiding the console. I used lots of my own equipment, and I know that if I plug this microphone into this preamp and into this compressor, I'll get a sound I can work with and never have to think about it again. And I can record that sound direct to tape, bypassing the console and keeping the quality as high as possible.

Exotic Microphones
O'Neil certainly has enough outboard equipment to record a band direct to tape, without using a console. He also has a good collection of microphones, including many large capsule condensers. "Most of my mics are condensers with large capsules, and I'm convinced they solve many of my recording problems. A lot of engineers like using small capsule condensers, but if you move them a quarter of a micron you'll hear a sound difference. That makes them harder to work with, because they're fussy about positioning. With a large capsule condenser, the capsule the size of a 20 cent piece, and it's not hard to locate it where it sounds best. "I used about 20 microphones for these sessions. A matched pair of AKG 414s, an AKG 451 AKG C12, two Sony C48s, two RCA ribbons (a DX44 and a DX77), two Beyer M380 ribbon a Shure Beta 57, two Microtech Gefell UM91 tubes, two Microtech Gefell UMT7l’s, two Neumann U47 FET’s, a matched pair of Neumann KM84’s, a Neumann U87,and two Neumann U48 tubes - the only ones in Australia as far as I can tell. They're exactly the same as a Neumann U47, except they have cardioid and bidirectional polar patterns, instead of cardioid and omni. "I also used three exotic old Neumanns that Gary Beers (INXS) bought in Russia - I was renovating them for him at the time. They're called UM57’s. They've got the original Neumann U47 capsule, but the internal circuitry has a lot more in common with the Neumann U67. They were made on the other side of the Berlin wall, and look exactly like the Microtech Gefell M92 tube microphone."

Vintage Preamps "For mic preamps, I used two Telefunken V76M’s, and 16 Neves: a combination of 1073s and 1064s. I also used an API 3124M, which is four separate mic preamps in one box. Each preamp has an individual output but can also be assigned to one of two internal busses to create a mixed output - like a four in, two out mixer. It's very handy." Bad Sounds Vintage mics and preamps may sound good, but they can't match the capabilities of a decent equaliser. What if a sound needed serious processing?

"Recording is not about 'how can we get a sound in the studio?'. It's about the band. They have to make the sound, and that determines the equipment they use. The most important thing is to work out the sounds with the song arrangements, during pre-production. If a sound needs serious processing to make it fit into the mix, then it's probably the wrong sound for the recording. I usually change the instrument and/or the amplifier."

Recording Guitars
Although The Lowbabies have a collection of acoustic guitars, none were considered suitable for the 'no EQ' approach to recording. To find the right acoustic guitar they dropped into Jackson's Rare Guitars and walked out with a Gibson J200 full acoustic. O'Neil describes it as "...a big Elvis hummingbird Memphis-looking thing!".

The acoustic guitar was recorded with a Neumann KM84 positioned 12 inches in front of the 12th fret, a Neumann U48 tube positioned 12 inches in front of the sound hole, and an AKG C12 tube approximately two feet in front of the guitarist. All three mics went to tape via the API 3I24M preamp.

Rhythm guitars were played through a Marshall 1964 JMP head into a quad box, and recorded with an RCA DX44 ribbon mic into a Telefunken V76M preamp. Lead guitar parts were played through either a Fender Twin or Vox AC30 amplifier. A Neumann U47 FET mic was used for louder tracks, while softer tracks were recorded with a Neumann U48 tube. Each mic went through an API 3124M preamp and a Teletronics LA2A compressor to tape.

Some songs featured a 'Vibrato guitar', played through a Fender Twin amplifier and recorded with an RCA DX44 ribbon mic through a Telefunken V76M preamp. This was an early blonde brownface Fender Twin, with no vibrato effect. Vibrato was created with a TC Electronic 2290 processor running an autopan program, using only the left side of the stereo output.

Recording Bass
A Fender Precision bass was used for the album, recorded as a combination of direct and amplifier sounds. Direct tracks were recorded with an ADL valve DI box into an API 3124M preamp and through a Teletronics LA2A compressor to tape. Amp sounds were recorded with a Neumann U47 FET mic into a Telefunken V76M preamp to tape. The amplifier was a vintage Ampeg B1 8, with a 'flip-top' tube head and a single 18 inch speaker "It's got two sounds, Motown or Megadeth, with nothing in between" says O'Neil. "It really is the most awesome bass amp, it rattles, it buzzes, it farts along. Even though it's distorted, you can't really tell. It just sits perfectly."

Recording Drums
For drums, The Lowbabies used a Rogers kit fitted with Ambassador skins. The kit was placed in the large recording room at Megaphon, taking advantage of the acoustic space. Two mics were used for recording the kick: a Beyer M380 and a Neumann U47 FET. The M380 was positioned inside the kick, about two inches back from the point of impact with the beater and ran through an API 3124M preamp .The U47 FET was centrally positioned about three inches outside the rear skin, and ran through a Neve 1064 preamp. The snare was mic'd with a Shure Beta 57 on the top skin, recorded direct to tape via an API 3124M preamp. An AKG 414 was placed on the side of the snare drum, running through a Neve 1064 preamp onto tape.

The Lowbabies' drum kit has a single mounted torn and a floor tom. Both were mic'd with Neumann UM57’s and recorded through Neve 1064 preamps. A Neumann KM84 was used for the hi-hats, and a pair of Microtech Gefell M94’s were used for the overheads. All three mics were recorded via Neve 1064 preamps.

O'Neil has some interesting techniques when it comes to recording the room and ambience tracks. For the room sounds, he recorded a mono track using an AKG 451 and a Neumann U87. The 451 was fitted with a hypercardioid capsule and positioned about 12 feet above the ground, pointing directly at the snare. The U87 was positioned one foot above the drummer's head, with a cardioid pattern, looking down at the snare. Both mics passed through Neve 1073 preamps, then through Megaphon's Raindirk console, where they were bussed to one track. According to O'Neil, this unusual microphone set-up is an attempt to capture the sound the drummer hears. Classical engineers use a similar technique for recording orchestras, placing a stereo microphone just above the conductor's head.

For the ambience tracks, a pair of Neumann KM84s, in crossed cardioid configuration, were positioned ten feet in front of the kit. A pair of Sony C48’s were placed 20 feet in front of the kit, about 12 feet apart and six feet away from the walls. All four microphones passed through Neve 1073 preamps and were mixed via the Raindirk console to a stereo signal containing one Neumann and one Sony per side. This stereo ambience recording, combined with the mono room track, formed the basis of the drum sound used on the album.

Recording Vocals
The main vocals were recorded with a Neumann U48 tube into an API 3124M preamp, direct to tape via a Teletronics LA2A compressor. The same signal path was used for recording backing vocals, except the U48 was replaced with an AKG C12 tube mic. "The singer did a lot of his own backing vocals. If you use the same microphone on the same voice, you can't get different vocal tracks to sit in place without using EQ" says O'Neil. "But changing the microphone and the space around it makes all the difference in the world."

Mixing Down
To mix the album, O'Neil needed a console with high quality tape input circuits, because the sounds on tape were very clean. The console also needed a lot of headroom, because many tracks were recorded hot to tape. Finally, it also needed automation. In O'Neil's opinion, the only suitable consoles were SSL’s and Neves. However the Tactile Technologies console satisfied all these requirements, so he installed it in his mastering studio and used it to mix the album.

The mix from the TactileTechnologies console went through a stereo Focusrite EQ and an Alan Smart (SSL) stereo compressor "to an Apogee UV22 A-D converter with Super CD Encoding. The resulting 20-bit digital signal was recorded into a Sonic Solutions digital editing system.

The album was mixed and mastered simultaneously. Seven of the fourteen mixes needed minor EQ to maintain a consistent sound. Using the stereo Focusrite EQ. O'Neil added +2dB at 3.2kHz and +3dB at 18kHz. This application of EQ was part of the mastering process. It's safe to say the entire album was recorded and mixed without any EQ. Interesting story huh?

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