The EM Poll

The Exuberant Engineer

Sep 1, 2006 12:00 PM, By Diane Gershuny

           

I understand that both the recording and the mixing of Roger Joseph Manning Jr.'s recent record, The Land of Pure Imagination [see Fig. 2], was done from both of your home studios.

FIG. 2: When Paterno mixed Roger Joseph Manning Jr.’s recent CD Solid-State Warrior, most of his interaction with Manning was online. They corresponded by email and Paterno posted mixes on his iDisk for Manning to download and audition.

Roger had been recording this record from his home studio for two or three years. Upon a recommendation, we got together at his place to listen to what he was doing and to see if I could bring something to it. He put an incredible amount of time and effort into it. The tracks were dense at times, and the arrangements were really cool. It ran a wide gamut stylistically. Because of the distance between our places, it wasn't practical for him to come by every day, so I suggested using my iDisk to get mixes to him. We went through all the songs, made revisions, and took care of most of the comments via email. Just before the final mixes were printed, we spent two days together making final changes. I mastered the record as well using my iDisk to transmit the final version.

Describe the gear in your studio.

[Digidesign] Pro Tools is the centerpiece of my setup. I've got an HD3 rig with one Accel card and have yet to do a mix where I've run out of processing. I have two 192s [digital I/O units], and another one that stays with my cartage company. I had been using a trackball but recently picked up a [Digidesign] Command 8 control surface for some of its features. There are buttons you can get to that are easier to access than pull-down menus. I can grab a fader if I need to set up a quick mix. I'm using an Apple Power Mac G5 with a dual 2 GHz processor.

When did you first work with Pro Tools?

When I was engineering, a Pro Tools operator would be brought in to do whatever fixes were necessary. The producer would leave and I'd have to sit there and say, “Yes. No. Move it forward. Move it back.” I finally got my own setup so I could do it myself. At first, it was used to augment analog sessions, but as time went on, it became more of the recording medium. My first record where the whole thing stayed in Pro Tools was Badly Drawn Boy's Have You Fed the Fish? I worked with Tom Rothrock, who's also worked with Elliott Smith, James Blunt, and others. I called him to have lunch and was invited to record drums on the record.

We tracked at Cello Studios and did overdubs at Tom's. That's when the migration to Pro Tools began for me — around 2001, right before the HD stuff came out. I cut my next record on tape and transferred it to my new HD system. There have been a few tape things since, but the majority of projects have been done entirely in Pro Tools.

Any insights about getting the most out of Pro Tools?

Pro Tools is a tool, so it helps to understand what you can and cannot do with it. The same goes for plug-ins and outboard gear. It also helps to understand how Pro Tools interacts and interfaces with your other gear. Experimenting is the only way for me to figure out these kinds of things — to make it an extension of what I'm going after as opposed to a hurdle to get over. I mean that from a sonic perspective as well as from an editing or technical perspective. I know it sounds simplistic, but it is amazing how many people don't take the time — on their own time and not a client's — to sort these things out.

Do you use a lot of plug-ins?

Not a ton. I love the McDSP FilterBank plug-ins — the EQ and the filters. I'm getting into the Analog Channel as well. I like the Cranesong Phoenix for some things. I'm using Celemony Melodyne and quite a few of the Native Instruments synths and sample-based programs. I like [Audio Ease] Altiverb, too. I have standard stuff like Antares Auto-Tune. I tend to use plug-ins that help me deliver what I hear in my head.

What outboard gear do you have?

A lot of mic pres, EQs, compressors, and guitar pedals. I love the Chandler stuff, especially the TG Channel. I've got a Little Labs PCP, which converts line-level to instrument-level signals so I can reamp stuff. I can run things through guitar pedals, and then record them back in. The Little Labs IBP [analog phase-alignment tool] can be a lifesaver. Both have amazing-sounding DIs. I use an Empirical Labs Distressor; it's brilliant. I also use an Alan Smart CL2 stereo compressor on the stereo bus as part of my mix chain.

Are you a fan of vintage gear?

I've got a few things, like LA3As, Spectrasonic 610s [compressors], and an Altec 438A, but in general, I can't justify the expense. If I'm going to spend money on old gear, it's going to be on instruments, guitar amps, and things like that. I've yet to hear a preamp inspire a person, but put a great guitar or amp in a musician's hands, and that makes a difference.

Besides the obvious ones, what are some of the challenges of working in a small room?

Getting the monitors to make sense. I put up treatment to control some of the high-frequency flutter, but I got lucky with this tiny room! I use NHT M-00s with the S-00 sub for monitoring. They sound fantastic. I can hear a lot of detail without having to crank them up. Fortunately, room anomalies don't come into play for me as much as for someone who's turning it up all the time. The room just doesn't get “involved” when listening at lower volumes. I've got it dialed in to where it sounds good to me.

Interfacing is a problem, too. I have to climb around the racks to plug things in. I could get a patch bay made, but I like the signal path to be as short as possible. Also, there's a lot of gear I want to have access to, so things are pretty tight — for example, the 192s are underneath the table. I use a Mackie Big Knob for monitoring, which has all the functionality I need. It has four stereo inputs, three speaker outs, a mono button, a dim button, and two separate headphone sends. Some say it colors the sound, but I'm happy with the monitoring. And let's not forget the room, too — more than two people is remarkably cramped.

Any must-have gear?

NHT makes M-20s, which I take when I track and mix in other rooms. They have midrange detail but are full range as well. I use Sennheiser HD650 headphones that are audiophile-style and great for listening for breath noises, reverb decays, and things you might not notice sitting in front of speakers all day.

Have you brought any insights or techniques from the big studios into your personal studio?

There are a few, but the main one is to make decisions. There is something to be said for knowing when a performance is acceptable and when it is crap. Just because Pro Tools lets you save every scrap of audio you record doesn't mean you should. Additionally, session files should be easily understood. That means you have to label tracks; mute, disable, and hide unused items; and include any necessary information for the next person working on the session. Lastly, crossfade your audio regions. There is nothing more distracting than hearing a bunch of weird clicks as a track plays down because the regions were not crossfaded. And it's even more of a hassle when the regions in question have been consolidated into a continuous file. In short, turn over a session as you would want it handed to you.