Headliner Issue 26

ISSUE #26

SUP

TIVE CO

PORT

THE CR

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EA

MAGAZINE

DAVE GROHL DARRELL THORP ON RECORDING ‘PLAY’

UNI T Y

PRASH MISTRY JORJA SMITH & THE PRODIGY

ISSUE 26 | £3.95 UK/$6.95 USA/$7.95 CANADA

RAEL JONES HOW TO SCORE A HIT TV SHOW

JESS GLYNNE ALWAYS IN BETWEEN

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Contents #26 Cover Story

P30 / Jess Glynne

08

SONIC VISTA INSIGHTS

Our friends from Ibiza chat to German producer and songwriter, Julian Collett, about his process.

10

COUNTING CROWS

We talk to iconic frontman, Adam Duritz, about 25 years of the band, and some amusing industry gossip!

12

DAVE GROHL: PLAY

We meet Grammy-winner, Darrell Thorp, to find out how Dave Grohl’s amazing ‘Play’ project was recorded.

14

PRASH MISTRY

This inspiring mixer and mastering engineer is audio gold: his credits include Jorja Smith and The Prodigy.

18

SOUNDS OF SHOREDITCH

We go into Strongroom Studio One, armed with two crates of beer, two drummers, and engineer, Drew Bang.

22

LOL EAVES

A chat with one of the most switched on monitor guys on the circuit, who’s currently out on tour with Kurt Vile.

26

STEREOPHONICS

Eight million records sold, six number one albums. We talk to the band’s amazing touring team.

30

COVER STORY: JESS GLYNNE

More UK number one singles than any other British female in history and only one album... until now. We catch up with this powerhouse of an artist to discuss the making of, and inspiration behind, her excellent new record, Always In Between.

34

RAEL JONES

The ultimate multi-instrumentalist?

Maybe so! We catch up in the studio with this top TV and film composer.

HEADLINER | ISSUE #26

37

VC PINES

Recently signed to Fierce Panda, and playlisted on BBC 6 Music, we find out more about this artist’s vocal prep.

38

NEW YORK SOUNDSCAPE We walk the streets of Manhattan, recording our every move, to create a soundscape of this unique city.

40

NATURE ONE FESTIVAL

We check out one of Europe’s largest EDM events, where the lighting show is just as astonishing as the line-up.

42

JAMES EDWARD BARKER

We head into the studio with one of the most exciting film composers emerging out of the UK.

44

HAZEL IRIS

We’re off to St Bartholomewthe-Great to catch one of the most intimate shows of the year.

48

THE MIDNIGHT BEAST

Meet the most self-deprecating trio of musical comedians in the UK - or perhaps the planet, for that matter?

50

MCGOOZER

This talented artist just toured Europe with Tony Hadley, and made the top 10 in the iTunes Songwriter Chart.

52

LIDO

They say it takes a magnetic personality to succeed in music.

This guy is testament to that.

54

GRUMPY OLD ROADIE

Robert is reflecting on old age, and how although we’re living longer, we’re now battling musical dementia.

There is nothing else on the market that comes anywhere close Hugh Robjohns – Sound On Sound

genelec.com/theones

#26 From the Editor

“I realised that it isn't about sounding like someone, it's about sounding unique...”

Jess Glynne Welcome to Issue 26 of Headliner, where we are proud to have multi-awardwinning and record-breaking UK songstress, Jess Glynne, on our cover. Since we last spoke with Jess back in 2015, she has gone from strength to strength, securing no fewer than seven number one singles, more than any other female British artist. We chat to her about her new record, Always In Between, and find out how a fresh songwriting process and positive outlook have been key.

We head into the English countryside to hang out in the studio with TV and film composer, Rael Jones, who recently completed the score for successful TV series, Harlots, to find out about his recording, mixing, and production process.

We also catch up with Counting Crows frontman, Adam Duritz - the man behind the mega-single, Mr. Jones, taken from the hit record, August and Everything After. Incredibly, it’s been 25 years since that was released, but the band are still going strong, and have been touring it out on the road. Duritz has some entertaining things to say about the recording industry - don’t miss this one!

In the studio, we bring you an exclusive with Prash Mistry, revered mixer, mastering engineer, and all-round audiophile. Two of his recent projects are mixing Jorja Smith’s Lost & Found record, and mastering The Prodigy’s first album in three years, No Tourists. Two very different, but equally mammoth projects, which are explained in such detail: anyone who wants to learn a precious thing or two about studio dedication and modern day workflow, definitely have a read of this.

All this and more inside, including a behind the scenes chat with the touring team out with Stereophonics, and an insight into recording Dave Grohl’s 22-minute epic, ‘Play’, with multiple Grammy-winner, Darrell Thorp.

Thank you for choosing Headliner. We hope you enjoy the issue!

Paul Watson Editor

SOCIALISE WITH US: headlinermagazine.net @Headlinerhub HeadlinerHub headlinermagazine

HEADLINER | ISSUE #26

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

Yerosha Windrich yeroshasound@gmail.com +44(0)7804-583457

Artwork Eli Stapleton Eimear O’Connor

Contributors Adam Protz, Rhona Lavis, Henry Sarmiento, Jon Tessier, Adam Gwilt, Yerosha

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Sonic Vista Insights

Julian Collett

10 MINUTES WITH JULIAN COLLETT Julian Collet is a German music producer and songwriter. He works closely with Doni member of pop band, Lions Head - and is an active member of the production team, Chrome Chainz, who recently remixed Leony’s ear catching single, ‘Boots’. Recently, he’s been very active creating music for his personal electronic project, a musical endeavour he holds dear to his heart. An inspiring human being, and a close friend to Sonic Vista Studios, we thought it would be a great idea to share some of his light with our readers.

Hey Julian. What concepts inspired you to make your first EP, ‘Part I’?

I had produced a lot of music in genres that have clear structures you gotta follow to be successful. I was tired of orientating my productions on the rules of others. With Part I, I just followed my creative flow, and ended up in a kind of melodic-techno, kind of deep house direction! The important thing for me was to be the only one making the musical decisions. No A&R, no manager wanting me to change things. That’s why Part I is 100% genuine me.

What and who inspires your music?

I’m always inspired by people breaking boundaries. Originally, my instrument is the guitar, with a jazzy or funky background. So people like Herbie Hancock or Jon Lord are huge sources of inspiration, just trying out

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new weird combinations of sounds back in the days. Nowadays a lot of music is created just to make as much money as fast as possible.

So people like Satori or also Steve Angello inspire me a lot. Being true to yourself and your musical roots, no matter if it keeps you from making double the money, is a highly respectable thing. In the end, it’s about the music as an art, and the love and messages you share with the world.

What are your top three synths?

I can’t really chose between any Moog (yes, I’m a fanboy), or a Roland Juno 6/60. Let’s just honour another Moog with the bronze medal, ‘cause honestly, can you ever have enough Moogs!

And favourite piece of live gear?

My whole live set is arranged around the

Moog Subsequent 37. It’s the best feeling to finally have a real instrument back on stage since I’m not playing the guitar live anymore.

Your live setup is pretty interesting...

Yeah, you won’t find the usual DJ tools in my live set. The foundation is Ableton Live. Everything else is arranged on stage, on top. The years of DJing taught me the importance and potential of reading a crowd and adjusting your set to the audience. With this, you usually don’t have control over the different elements of the song you’re playing.

A band-type live performance has these perks, but is sacrificing the ability to structure your set from scratch. My live set takes the best out of both worlds. I have a certain repertoire of music that I can play with all the single elements and components of the songs. This way I can restructure my performance on the

Sonic Vista Insights

Julian Collett

“The thing about my songs is following where creativity takes me; most of them don’t have a DJ intro or outro, or the usual 16-bar structures...” fly but still remain the power to rearrange the music live. Every set is unique and you will always discover elements the original record doesn’t have.

Will we see these concepts incorporated in your second EP? 100%. The thing about my songs is following where the creativity takes me. So most of them don’t even have a DJ intro and outro, or the usual 16-bar structures. This makes it harder to put them in a DJ set, but even more fun to perform live.

What is your opinion of dance music today?

The dance scene is growing faster and faster.

It, of course, attracts people that are in it for the money, not for the music. This, however, leads to parts of the scene getting very sceptical about everything they’re not used to. A lot of negative energy comes out that.

Like people bitching about the mainstream, not realising their own scene became just that.

People not accepting anything but things that are already popular. Because everything else would mean to actively think music with their

brains instead of just passively consuming.

In the end, music and art is about emotions and expressions. So can we just go back to celebrating being different, instead of hopping on every bandwagon that is filled with cash?

How is Ibiza inspiring to you?

The music that I make and love has its roots in a society of people outside the society. Ibiza is the cradle for this music and art in Europe and has a very special energy to it. I love to come here, especially to Sonic Vista Studios, to disconnect from all the things consuming my energy that are not music. The moment I enter the gate, it’s all about creation with the amazing people here. We keep pushing to be the best version of ourselves while retaining a 100% positive and respectful vibe, which does wonders if you want to be creative. Amazing projects like our production team, Chrome Chainz, saw the light of day that way. Imagine Ibiza being a source of light, and Sonic Vista the lens that concentrates it to a bright beam.

You write for Universal in Germany...

My good friend and production colleague, Doni, introduced me to an edition of

Universal Music Publishing based in Munich, where I live, called SEPP Music. We had some great sessions, and it went from there.

Do you prefer writing for other people, or your own personal projects?

I have several musical hearts beating in my chest. I need the diversity to work in different directions, sometimes to get the focus back on what I do. Creativity is not a one track road for me. So writing and producing for other artists is as vital to my musical output as the creations for my own projects.

We heard you and Doni have a new project together?

I can’t really tell much at this point but it’s going to be funky, and pretty much all analogue! I’m really excited that we can finally see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. We spent a lot of time with that stuff already, but there’s still a little more to come.

A big thanks to Sonic Vista Studios for bringing us yet another great Q&A. www.sonicvistastudios.com

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Adam Duritz

Counting Crows

25 YEARS OF COUNTING CROWS

Iconic Californian band, Counting Crows, released their smash hit debut album, ‘August and Everything After’, back in 1993, with lead single, ‘Mr Jones’, storming the charts. Twenty-five years later, they are still going strong, and have announced a world tour which starts in North America in 2019. We catch up with frontman, Adam Duritz, to get the lowdown.

Words Yerosha “We just did Underwater Sunshine Fest,” opens Duritz. “It’s the one me and my friends put on, and it’s a bunch of free shows. At the night shows, we had 18 bands play on two different stages, and during the day, we filmed acoustic sessions with all the bands at my house. We shot 40 different bands doing sessions over four days - I’m wrecked now, but it was so great!”

I ask Duritz what he remembers of the days leading up to the release of the band’s debut record, back in 1993.

“I remember pretty clearly. I thought the record was really good, and everyone that heard it seemed to really respond to it. But there are so many other factors, so you never know. I mean, some of the greatest albums ever made, no-one has ever heard.”

I ask Duritz what kind of shape he thinks the music biz is in today in comparison.

“There’s good and bad,” he says. “No-one is paying for music anymore, and that’s not good. It makes it very difficult to be a musician if no-one pays for music. Streaming would be good if musicians were actually being paid for it. That money went to record

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companies, but it didn’t go out to musicians.

I imagine there is going to be a huge class action lawsuit in the next few years. There’s also publishing, and that’s not being paid at all. So that’s a problem.

“But on the other side, it used to be prohibitively expensive to make a record, and nearly impossible for an independent band to do so. You had to have a record label, which sucks. But an even bigger problem than that was distributing it - the actual act of pressing physical copies of a CD, and then, even worse, getting them by truck or plane to the record stores. That was a terrible, impossible system for a band.

“Now, you can make a record in your bedroom, and you can upload to bandcamp, so it doesn’t cost you anything. Now that is a great improvement, because that makes it possible for so many people to make music.”

Making Great Records

Given his experience of showcasing talent at his own festivals, I ask if Duritz has seen quality artists potentially hampered due to the various changes within the industry.

“Record companies fail 99% of the bands they sign, anyway,” he says. A fair point. “Most music wasn’t heard back then, most music isn’t heard now, but the difference is, the bands aren’t in such a bad situation, like they used to be. It doesn’t cost you a fortune to make a record, and get it out there; and now you sell a few copies to maybe do OK. “Huge success with music - that’s not something anybody can ever predict - and it doesn’t have anything to do with the market; it just has to do with the zeitgeist of the moment, when everybody wants to listen to you. It’s just a stroke of luck.

“Some of my favourite records no-one has ever heard, and there are terrible records that are huge successes, so it would be crazy to ascribe success to just being good, because it doesn’t happen that way. Success just happens.

Making great records? That has to do with being good.”

Band dynamics have so often played a part in a band’s longevity and, given they’ve been going 25 years, I ask what Duritz puts Counting Crows’ success down to?

“I suppose we all just wanted to stay

Adam Duritz

Counting Crows

“We traded all the record company money for a higher royalty, and complete creative control before the first album...” together this whole time. Truthfully, most of us were there at the start of the first album.

We’ve always thought of ourselves as a band.

No-one wanted to play solo stuff, I don’t think, and I certainly didn’t. So we always made decisions with the long-term in mind.”

Another factor is the relationship a band has with the industry, more to the point, their label - how did Counting Crows fare?

“We’ve always had such independence from the record company,” Duritz explains. “We had a huge bidding war for the band, and there were millions of dollars on the table, but we took home $3,000 each, because we traded all the money away to get a higher royalty, and complete creative control before the first album. That meant that we could do whatever we wanted.

“When you sell god knows how many millions of copies on your first record with T-Bone Burnett, they don’t want you to go find Gil Norton and make the second record.

But we wanted to work with the guy who did The Pixies record, so we did that. And when that’s a number one record, they don’t want you to go find the guys that made the Sparklehorse record (David Lowery and Dennis Herring) to make your next album but we did - so we did that.

“All along, we’ve followed our own artistic whim wherever it went. We didn’t try to repeat successes; we just tried to find new things that interested us; and because of that, we made

music that interested everybody else.”

Sounds very savvy.

“Well, if you’ve spent any time around anybody that works for a record company you don’t want them telling you what to do!

The truth is, they have other aims. They want to make money right now before they get fired. And they need to do whatever they need to do to make money this year.

“They are not thinking about your band lasting 25 years. They are thinking about their career lasting this year - and that’s understandable. They are running a business, and they’re trying to keep their job, but that’s not our problem. I didn’t want them in charge of us because they don’t have our best interests at heart, and I wanted to protect us from that.”

New Music?

Counting Crows have released seven albums to date, and have consistently charted in the top ten in the US, and around the globe, reaching multi-platinum status. Their last album, Somewhere Under Wonderland, was in 2014, so I’m sure fans are eagerly awaiting the eighth instalment. Anything on the horizon?

“I don’t know,” Duritz muses. “I’ve got a tonne of material for it, which is not usual for me. Usually, as soon as I start coming up with an idea, I turn it into a song, and then we’re done. I have a lot of song ideas, pieces of ideas, and stuff that could be songs, but I haven’t really wanted to sit down and make them into

songs yet, because I know as soon as I do that, I’ll want to make the record. And I haven’t felt ready, so I’ve been keeping it under wraps. I’m thinking of doing that in Spring, maybe…”

I ask about the band’s songwriting process.

“In the past, I would mostly write them, maybe then take it to the guys, and then finish them. The last record, though, I started with a bunch of ideas and me, Immy, Dan, and Millard just got together for a week every month for a few months and wrote and finished them together. We’ve done it so many different ways.

“I never start with lyrics first. I have started a few things with a beat in the past because I knew that I wanted a song to have a certain kind of rhythm. It might have been Dislocation and Elvis Went To Hollywood on the last record - I called Jim up and I said, ‘I need a beat that goes like this - will you just record it and email it to me.’” God bless the Internet.

Counting Crows performed at the O2 as part of BluesFest alongside Alison Krauss and The White Buffalo on October 28th, and are staying in town to record the song August and Everything After, which has never appeared anywhere - with a 72-piece orchestra!

“There was me on the piano when we were working on the record, but I don’t even know if I finished it,” Duritz laughs, “Consider it the best hidden track in history!” Indeed, we will! @CountingCrows

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Darrell Thorp

Play

TAKING DAVE GROHL TO PLAY

Grammy-winner, Darrell Thorp’s discography as a record producer could almost be mistaken for a ‘best albums of the year’ list: he’s worked with Radiohead, Beck, Paul McCartney, P!nk, Jay-Z, and Elton John. However, having already worked with Foo Fighters, he recently faced one of his biggest challenges when he worked with Dave Grohl on the artist’s ‘Play’ project.

Words Adam Protz

The reason this project was such a big challenge for Darrell Thorp was because Dave Grohl, Foo Fighters frontman, had set himself an enormous challenge: to record a 22-minute instrumental rock piece, live, and recording all of the guitars, drums, and keyboards himself.

If you watch the documentary on Foo Fighters’ YouTube channel, you will see Grohl truly does do it all live, even getting to the 20th minute of a guitar part, playing one bum note, and having to start again from scratch.

Extraordinary dedication!

The film sees Grohl collaborate once again with Therapy Studios, with whom he co-directed the music doc/live video.

There was also a big challenge for the cinematographers and editors: the live performance of ‘Play’ sees a supergroup of Grohls playing simultaneously — fair play to the team for making it all look incredibly real.

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“Dave kept sending me mp3s of what he’d written,” Thorp explains. “And then eventually he sent me this 22-minute mp3 of the whole thing. He then let me know he’d be doing three guitars, three drum kits, bass guitar, maybe some keys, and all the percussion.

“It took me hours to write out my setup!

We’d decided we would carry out this work in Studio 1 at EastWest, and I had 60-something channels on the console.

“On the setup day, things kept getting added. Then I found out it was being filmed!

There was a lot to think about. We did a few run-throughs, and then after lunch, Dave says: ‘okay, let’s try a few takes!’”

Putting it Together If you watch the video or listen to the track, you will see that this session was one hell of an undertaking — Grohl had written a long and complex composition, with lots of sudden

transitions to contrasting sections.

“I can’t imagine playing 22 minutes of music from top to bottom, from memory,” Thorp admits. “And if you noticed when Dave did the drums, he’s not wearing any headphones — he’s playing it free-willed! There’s no click.

He did it completely by memory, which is insane. But I had no fear that he wouldn’t get it, I knew sooner or later it would click.”

Using Pro Tools, Universal Audio’s plugins played a very significant role in the ‘Play’ project.

“I’m always a big fan of doing parallel compression, especially on drums,” Thorp says. “I used the Universal Audio Distressor for that. I also used a couple of the Universal Audio SSL E Series [channels] here and there, just for some more attack on the drums.

I then had Ozone 7 on the mix bus, for compression and limiting.

“There was Universal Audio SSL EQ and

Darrell Thorp

Play

“If you notice, when Dave [Grohl] did the drums, he’s not wearing any headphones - he’s playing it free-willed..!” compression on the kicks, adding a little bit more top and bottom, basically to get it to poke, and a little bit of compression to tighten it all up. I was doing the same thing on the snares.

“The UA stuff is so detail orientated. It always has a great tonality for me. I am a UA artist, and I’m very good friends with a lot of the people who work there. I like to pick their brains about the plugins!”

While the ‘Play’ stuff is all easily exciting enough to cover the whole interview, I can’t resist asking Thorp what have been his other most positive experiences as a producer and engineer, having worked with such super A-list clients.

“You know, with Radiohead, I was very much the American in an English boys club situation,” Thorp laughs. Radiohead religiously work with producer, Nigel Godrich, who asked Thorp along to work on some of the Oxford band’s albums. “I first worked with Nigel in 2000 on a Travis record. And then he came back again and did Beck’s Sea Change, and the whole time he was saying to me: ‘Darrell, we gotta get Radiohead out here [to

Los Angeles].’

“They weren’t that keen on coming out here for [2003 album] Hail to the Thief, but Nigel won them over in the end. And they did end up loving the experience. They’re super nice guys, and of course, they’re stupid talented. Thom [Yorke, frontman] and Jonny [Greenwood, Radiohead’s lead guitarist] are so captivating when they play together. But Beck is up there, too. Personally, Beck is my favourite songwriter. Not that Thom and Dave Grohl aren’t insanely talented, but there’s something about Beck’s lyrical choices and chord formats that never ceases to amaze me. I sometimes think it’s the last time he’s going to impress me, and then: ‘nope, he did it again!’”

What an incredibly inspiring chap Darrell Thorp is. It’s not difficult to see why he’s won seven Grammy Awards for his work, especially after his latest project with Mr. Grohl was just taken in his stride. He’s had a career many can only dream of; young, budding producers need to take note. play.roswellfilms.com

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Exclusive

Prash Mistry’s basement studio in North London is like a mystical magical grotto, with Hindu ornaments and imagery adorning most surfaces complete with a Ganesh statue. A self-taught son of refugees from Uganda, Mistry grew up in Reading, and has had a vibrant career so far: classical pianist, promoter on the drum and bass scene, producer, mixer, and mastering engineer, including his work as inhouse mix and mastering engineer for BRITs Critics’ Choice winner, Jorja Smith’s Mercury-nominated debut, Lost & Found, and mastering engineer for The Prodigy’s latest album, No Tourists.

Words Yerosha Photographs The Fashtons

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P

PRASH MISTRY

rash Mistry began playing live drum and bass with sequencers and samples as part of a double act at just 14. Three years later, he and a group of friends had secured a monthly drum and bass night at Reading’s newlyopened superclub, Bassheads.

“We sold 1,600 tickets on the first night,” Mistry remembers. “We’d broadcast live on Radio 1; Fabio and Grooverider had a show from there, the same with Drum and Bass Arena when they first started their webcasts.”

Sadly, after a successful three and a half years, there was a shooting at the venue on a garage night, which caused it to shut its doors. Not one to sit back and wait for opportunities, Mistry then opened a music studio, which he ran for eight years: recording, producing, touring and mixing for a wide array of artists from the reggae, garage, R&B, and Indian underground scenes. “I’d left electronic music behind because I was so pissed off with drum and bass; the scene was really cannibalistic, with a lot of gatekeepers. That’s one way I think music has definitely changed for the better!

When drum and bass started to become more commercial, there was definitely a point where the larger DJs and promoters in the scene tried to control it - it used to be all about dubplate culture, but then evolved into something quite negative for a time. But either way, the music always had a very special place in my heart.”

Mistry was inspired to start his own artist project, Engine-Earz, after taking part in a program run by Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement recipient, Nitin Sawhney.

“He put together two groups of eleven musicians from all different disciplines, and basically gave us the most intense training course for a week,” he explains.

ENGINE-EARZ

Engine-Earz quickly took flight after sending the first single, Kaliyuga, to the Bobby Friction and Nihal show on Radio 1, and led to Sawhney and Mistry working together again on some tracks, which were all self-released; and after being asked by DJ Nihal at BBC Radio 1 to do a Maida Vale session, they started touring with bands such as The Streets, Tricky, Dreadzone, DJ Shadow, and Enter Shikari.

“Endtroducing was one of my foundation records: DJ Shadow’s approach to sampling really blew my mind. The intricacy was on a whole different level to anything I had heard before. I guess this tied into my own fascination of composing electronic music,” Mistry reveals. “Artists like Photek manage to uniquely distil forms of energy through music, and through emotion and groove. To be honest, to this day, I still find the whole digital recording process pretty awe-inspiring.”

Another huge part of the Engine-Earz Experiment was to show how ancient cultures used sound in spiritual rituals and ceremonies. Mistry’s 2017 album, Symbol, infused Indian and electronic music, something that is rather poignant for him.

“What you hear on the opening track, Samsara, is a Gujarati Hindu ceremony, which is what I’d hear at home all the time, and I was constantly trying to run away from! [smiles] There are footsteps, a door slamming, and then I start freestyling on the piano. It was pretty frowned upon to be a professional musician in an Indian family back then, especially after what my parents had been through to get us here, but it’s the only thing I truly connected with, or ever wanted to do.”

The album features some special collaborations from Dead Can Dance, Lisa Gerrard, Aloe Blacc, Flux Pavilion, and Ane Brun; and alongside its vinyl and digital release on Circus Records, was accompanied by a 9.1 Auro 3D Pure Audio Surround Blu-Ray edition, which is well worth a listen.

The rise and fall of the dubstep genre was really quite staggering, and Engine-Earz, being a live dubstep outfit, got caught in its demise despite their success at radio and live.

“We were touring all the time, and being pressured to write more jump up/hype records, and it was really bad for my mental health. After the Skrillex phenomenon, dubstep literally dropped off in this country. So… I guess I went to India,” Mistry laughs.

Akala, the rapper, author, and political activist (who also features on the album), was invited to do a show for MTV India where composers collaborated - and he invited Mistry to join him: “While I was there, Viacom India started a festival in

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“Jorja Smith is the A&R; she really directs her entire project...”

Goa with local electronic music champion, Nikhil Chinapa, called Supersonic, and via my friend, Ali Sachedina, they approached me to help put together a Bass Stage. This was a success, and we continued running events for the three and a bit years under the banner of Arms House, and booked artists like Skrillex, Major Lazer, Disclosure, Goldie, Mala, Maya Jane Coles, and about 70 others!”

JORJA ON MY MIND

After returning to the UK, all the travelling, touring, and studio work had begun to have some negative effects on his mental health. It was time to move to London.

“I bailed with just my computer, a channel strip, and a pair of small monitors, and gave the keys to my studio in Reading to my band,” Mistry recalls. “It was the best thing I ever did, but so much love for the band, too; true brothers for helping me get through.”

Meanwhile, Mistry’s friend, Zubin, had been developing a new artist, one Jorja Smith; he asked Mistry to mix the first single, Blue Lights.

“The tune came out, and it went stratospheric.

It was completely organic, no big label or backing - it was just sent to Pigeons & Planes’ blog, and that was it,” Mistry says. “After the first single, we worked on the next, and the next, and I co-ordinated with [her MD] Amané to develop the live stems. My role evolved into the team’s in-house mixing and mastering guy.

“It’s been such a pleasure working with Jorja, because as she’s developed her sound, it’s allowed me to develop the new studio around her music; she’s taught me a lot! Unlike most vocalists, Jorja doesn’t want to hear any compression - she doesn’t want to hear any processing.” Not even reverb? The vocalist in me has to ask. “Well, everyone loves reverb! [smiles]

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But there can’t be any tuning or any audible EQ or compression, so I built a setup that would allow for that to happen, whilst still ensuring she has the presence on a record that her voice deserves.

“Jorja is one of the most humble, astute artists I’ve worked with, and really knows how she wants her music to sound. One of the challenges on this album was that her voice has changed a lot over time; there are some songs that she didn’t want to re-track because the takes had captured a real magic. Nuance of expression can be lost now in modern pop music; so much of our chart is getting tuned over and over again not that I’ve got anything against listening to it - but it’s not the same as a genuine true honest performance. That’s the reason that Jorja’s vocal has cut through the industry, because there is so much genuine nuance to her delivery.”

Her rise to prominence is an inspiration, and another shining example of an artist able to be successful without the backing of a label; having already collaborated with Drake and Kendrick Lamar, she is the first independent artist to win the BRITs Critics’ Choice.

“Jorja is the A&R,” Mistry smiles. “She really directs her entire project. All of us advise: her manager, the producers; but really, we all absolutely respect her decision on how things should sound, what the singles are, and how she wants to be presented. I think that’s why she was brave enough to release a garage single completely out of the blue! I’ve got videos at Coachella in the States where you’ve got tens of thousands of people singing, On My Mind, entirely a cappella. It’s nuts, but that’s what can happen when an artist trusts their instincts.”

IN THE MIX

When it came to building his studio, Mistry

had a very clear vision of where he wanted to be.

“Basically, this all started from a conversation in the kitchen with my very good friend, Lavar.

We always dreamed of having a mixer with custom components for every type of sound: a bass channel, kick drum channel, and so on and that would be your fixed tone or sound.

“When I mix, I start with the vocal. I work the entire a cappella first, before I touch anything; I literally want to be dancing to the vocal! I’ll then move on to the drums, because that’s the groove, then drums and vocal together, then bass, or sometimes bass and drums together. Of course, I always have to keep an ear on the demo, though; my entire raison d’etre is to magnify the artist’s vision, after all.”

Mistry has an incredible selection of gear, and he talks me through some of his go-tos.

“The vocal buss is Shadow Hills, going into the Hammer EQ, which has a really nice, open high end. The lead vocal chain is a Tube-Tech into the Harrison EQ. I chose the Tube-Tech because I can get as much transparent compression without affecting the apparent dynamic range. If you listen to Jorja’s Let Me Down with Stormzy, the vocal has a huge dynamic range from the chorus to the verses. Jorja has a very complex tone, and we want to convey as much of that as possible to the record. The Harrison has beautiful filters for this, and the ability to tone shape without things ever sounding bad.

“All the BVs go in to the Höf dynamic master – it’s a German unit which is basically a mastering compressor, but you can get that really nice stereo spread BV sheen. The kick drum goes into a mono channel into my Studer 901 - which has the best desk EQ I’ve ever heard. “The drum buss is a pair of API preamps into a modified SSL bus compressor, into a pair

“Liam Howlett wanted to see how far we could push sound...” of Studer EQs. I use API preamps, because you can drive them really nicely, and they maintain the punch. But also, a UBK Fatso. I love the Empirical Labs stuff; the Distressor gets a lot of use around here!

Mistry essentially uses fixed chains as hardware inserts that are customised to each program element: “The Studer 901 is modified to have direct ins and outs, and those EQs are used on most channels before going into the summing mixer, which is my Chandler Mini Rack Mixer. The difference is, it has transformers on every channel, whereas other summing mixers are just summing networks with stereo transformers on the output. It means I can push into the transformer sound on every channel before it gets to the master buss.

“I can also choose to only push it 10% and not get loads of tone compared with other brands that always have a very valve-y tone, always on the edge of valve saturation, which is great for taking the edges off things. But when I’m mixing, I might actually want to maintain those edges, so I need something that gives me that versatility. The Studer has a very clean, glossy tone, whereas the Chandler has a very nice warm rounded tone - so it’s about having that combination.”

MASTERMIND

We start to chat mastering, a quite different art, which requires a different approach. ”My Sontec Clone is the first mastering EQ in line,” Mistry says. “It then often goes into the Vari Mu, which is a custom mastering compressor by QES Labs, and it’s been built to be the ultimate mastering compressor. It’s phase coherent from as low as 7Hz all the way up to

80kHz, so it maintains full stereo imaging and punch all the way across the spectrum.”

Ultimately, it’s all about finding the sound that he wants, Mistry explains: “I don’t look at these as separate pieces – it’s all part of one system. With the Crane Song compressors, for example, I can zoom in on a master, and go up to 12dB of transparent compression without you even hearing it which is unheard of on a buss compressor.

“That’s why I like a lot of custom gear. Take the mastering compressor by Vari Mu: there isn’t anything on the market that does what that does, that has that frequency or phase response.

Some come close but you can’t really mod them, you can’t pick the components or talk with the manufacturer about what you want. So with the custom stuff, it allows me to do that. Same with the ‘Big Red’ Mastering EQ I had built for Jorja’s Project 11 EP, or the Oakfield Parallel Disc Equaliser. They are special units!”

He’s not completely analogue, of course: “There are some things in the plugin world that you just can’t achieve in analogue: for example, the Oxford Dynamic EQ by Sonnox is my go-to for mastering. It’s amazing for tweaking and zooming in on a challenging frequency without creating artefacts in the stereo image.”

The Fat Of The Land was one of my favourite albums growing up, so I was interested to hear what The Prodigy are like to work with.

“Obviously, it’s very surreal working with Liam [Howlett], as he’s been my hero since I was a kid. For this album, he needed a pair of ears as a sounding board as well as a kind of ‘interactive’ mastering engineer, as he was mixing it himself,” Mistry explains. “I was quite nervously giving feedback at first, as I didn’t

want to presume to know better than him because, to be honest, he shaped my sound, anyway. It was incredible working on this; we got to do a bunch of cool buss masters.”

Mistry describes these masters as some of the most aggressive he’s ever had the pleasure of working on – to put them in context, Jorja Smith’s Lost & Found record is 4dB quieter..!

“Liam wanted No Tourists to be an experiment in how far we could push sound; it definitely reflects the times we’re living in, while still maintaining those trademark, heavy Liam Howlett beats,” Mistry reveals. “I turned it up in a way where we maintained all the dynamics and all the punch, and that’s why the setup is built how it is - it allows me to use gain, compression, and EQ incrementally.”

Smack My Bitch Up was one of the references that Howlett sent to Mistry.

“Ok, that was scary; it’s only one of the best sounding records of all time,” he laughs. “It had actually gone to other mastering engineers, which I didn’t know at the time, thank god. And the only way I managed to get through that first master was to pretend it wasn’t The Prodigy, I kept telling myself it was a new artist!

Mistry has never been happier, musically: “I really like empowering artists, and working as part of a team. When you are putting your own music together, it’s all about ego, but when you are helping with someone else’s artistry, it’s really nothing to do with that: the most successful engineers I know are completely empathetic. My focus is making sure that the next piece of music to leave my studio sounds better than the last - that’s my competition I’m not watching other engineers.”

@EngineEarz 17 Headliner

Drew Bang

Sounds of Shoreditch

SOUNDS OF SHOREDITCH It’s been a rollercoaster of a musical journey so far for Drew Bang. In his late 20s, he fell on hard times, and found himself sleeping rough on the streets of London; today, he is an acclaimed audio engineer with credits including U2 and Royal Blood to name a few, the latter earning him an MPG Award for Single of the Year. Not a bad turnaround in under a decade. We invited Mr. Bang to join us at one of his favourite recording facilities, Strongroom, to embark on a day of fun and frolics, with a little work thrown in: recording drums, his way. Let’s dive in...

Words Paul Watson & Drew Bang Belief, talent, and a hell of a work ethic has got Drew Bang to where he is today in this industry - and we think that’s inspiring - it was part of the reason we invited him to take part in this experiment, the other being his phenomenal talent for miking drums (and sinking beers - did we mention the Signature Brew guys from East London jumped onboard for this adventure, too?)

Anyhow, recording drums is one of Bang’s fortes (and why wouldn’t it be, with a surname like his), so we called on The Bay Rays’ drummer, Max Oakley, and Steve Rodford, who slaps the skins for legendary rock and rollers, The Zombies, and asked him to show us some of his recording tricks and tips.

First, a little about Strongroom: located off Curtain Road, in the heart of London’s Hackney Borough, this epic recording facility is home to several world class studios, and has played host to an array of incredible artists

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over the last 30 years and more; perhaps most notably, it is the place where The Prodigy chose to record most of their most recognised material. Pretty cool.

Recently, however, Strongroom’s future has been called into question, as developers’ plans are threatening to shut its doors. The domino effect, should that happen, would be phenomenal: one of the beautiful things about Shoreditch is its independent coffee houses, restaurants, bars, and shops - it’s a vibey area of London that has boomed in the last decade, and it would be a travesty to see one of the capital’s finest musical hubs suffer as a result, having experienced the changes from the beginning.

So, part of today’s fun is also to help raise awareness, and to show our support for the #SaveStrongroom movement.

The Proposal

Without a hint of a brief, as such, we

put these two talented drummers into Strongroom Studio One, and let Bang and his assistant, Alexis Muffat-Meridol, get to work on miking the kit, as we filmed the action for Headliner’s new video platform, The HUB (check the video out on our YouTube channel to get the full picture).

We teamed up with some cool audio brands to help us deliver the best sound possible, the aim being to create a series of ‘loops’ that we could then offer our readers (and viewers) as freebie downloads, as part of a competition giveaway, which we’re working on as we type.

Using a plethora of cool kit, Bang delivered - and some, so we thought it fitting to let him tell you all in his own words how he did it, and perhaps make the whole specialist art of drum miking that little bit less daunting.

Bang on the Money

“I’ve been working out of Strongroom Studio One for a number of years now, and have

Drew Bang

Sounds of Shoreditch

“I always use Shure SM57s on the snare - top and bottom and a Shure Beta 52A on the kick; these formulate the backbone of my drum sound...” worked out the sweet spot, really,” opens Bang.

“I’ve found a nice little space in the corner of the room where you can get nice reflections from the drum kit; I then get some rugs down, go to my preset one of microphones, which is mainly Shure dynamic mics and Coles overheads, then I have a lot of compression that I use on stereo pairs. I put spot mics on everything, a couple of mono mics for absolutely obliterating with effects.

“I actually used my MPG Award as the trash mic! [laughs] It’s a Super 55 gold mic which is basically the break mic - I positioned it just above the kick drum, and in between that and the snare, and it sounded great.”

Working on the Sounds of Shoreditch feature was great fun, Bang says - mainly because there was no pressure, and very little idea of what might actually happen..!

“All we had to do was check out some amazing gear and record some epic drum loops with friends,” Bang declares, with a broad smile. “Some lovely audio partners helped with our recordings immensely, by allowing me to test drive their products for our film.”

Mapex Drums, Paiste Cymbals, and Vic Firth Sticks sent over a lovely custom set for

us to use on the day - and this was a case of two drummers and one kit, so we needed something solid but versatile, that could translate various playing styles.

“The drums worked out great, a modern sounding, tight kit which came with plenty of dampening to play with, and a rigid, squeak-free construction that leant itself really well to studio recording,” Bang continues. “If the brief is loose, as it was here, I find it’s safer to opt for a sound in the room that can be coloured and processed later on; if we’d gone for a more directional or vintage sound, the versatility of our drum loops might have been far narrower.”

Smart Setup

Bang says he always like to track a variety of tones through his drums: “The kick and snare are generally smashed pretty hard through the amp stage, controlled with compression, and hyped a little on the EQ until they sound super punchy,” he reveals.

“I always use Shure SM57s on Snare - top and bottom - and a Shure Beta 52A on the kick; these formulate the backbone of my drum sound. You can pretty much throw anything at these dynamic mics; the SPL is

through the rough, they hold up amazingly, and are EQd at the capsule to work really well on those instruments, too, so if you’re in doubt at all, chuck those mics on your drum kit, and you’re already half way there.

“Focusrite have been a long time friend of Strongroom, and when they heard what we were planning to do, they got in touch about sending us some gear to use. Turns out I already had an ISA 828 on my tracking list, so that worked out well.

“After I’ve dialled in my kick and snare, I’m on to my rack wear: toms, hi-hats, and ride: this stuff I want to come through super clean, low noise floor, high fidelity capture of the source material.”

Tuning of toms for Bang is very important: “I like to go tonal, and the choice of cymbals makes a big difference; if you’ve got a dull and lifeless set of hi-hats, there’s no point trying to bring out the top end with a fizzy mic or an impedance hyped preamp, just swap out the cymbals and use clear mics and pres.

I want them to pop out in the mix, and that’s what I get using the Focusrite ISA channels.”

Bang also used Genelec’s new monitors, the 8351s, and a brand new plugin from Waves Audio, the Torque drum tone shifter.

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Drew Bang

Sounds of Shoreditch

“The Waves Torque plugin is a great little surgical tool for tuning drums after you’ve recorded them...”

“The Genelecs are super punchy, which is amazing for gauging attack - they’re not over-hyped, so I was able to get a nice snappy snare; they’re great little speakers,” Bang explains. “The Waves Torque was a very interesting bit of kit; it hones in to a certain frequency, and then allows you to tune up or tune down that specific frequency that’s represented in that part.

“So if you’ve got a snare drum with overtones and you’ve got this ‘bonk’ happening every time the snare goes, you can hone in on that bonk, and tune it up - it’s a great little surgical tool for tuning drums after you’ve recorded them.”

Finally, Bang always pairs a Solomon LoFrEQ with his Beta 52A to create what he feels is the perfect kick drum combo.

“It’s a great, purpose built sub which is mic impedence matched to the Beta 52A, and that in conjunction with the Solomon creates a really nice round, full kick drum.”

A big thanks to Drew Bang and the lovely Strongroom Studios team. Check out Sounds of Shoreditch on our YouTube page! @drewtothebang www.shure.com www.waves.com www.genelec.com

20 Headliner

Strongroom Studios: EMMA TOWNSEND

S

trongroom Studios’ manager, Emma Townsend, and her team are currently battling with local authorities to ensure that this epic studio complex stays strong, despite the threat of closure, should developers get their way. #SaveStrongroom is an initiative which is being supported by the music industry as a whole, and Emma is particularly passionate about the place, and is hopeful that justice will prevail, and developers won’t get their way, and embark on an 18-month long building project that could cause havoc to the studio and its surrounding areas.

“We like to think of this as a little haven in the middle of Shoreditch; it’s just a nice place to be,” Emma smiles. And she’s right - Strongroom boasts a glorious green courtyard, just as studio owner, Richard Boote, always wanted it to be when he embarked on the build back in 1984. These vines, we are told, were planted by Boote himself. That feels very ‘Strongroom’ to us. “It’s one thing having soundproofing

throughout, but drilling into the ground is a whole other thing - and with the vibrations alone that would come, should any building actually go ahead, we don’t know if our vintage desks could take it.

We’ll continue to fight our corner, and stay positive that we come out on top.”

Emma has been at Strongroom for six and a half years, starting out as receptionist, then studio booker, and now she is studio manager. But there is more to Strongroom than its four commercial studios: “A big part of it is community,” Emma insists. “We like people to be comfortable when they come here, and we love that it’s such a vibey place to be. Our runners are very friendly, and that’s so important, too - we can’t have them begrudgingly making a cup of tea, they have to be part of our vibe - and it’s all part of the Strongroom experience.”

Most of the clientele at Strongroom today comes in the way of bands on big indie labels early on in their careers: “And that feels about right,” Emma says.

“It suits us, because that’s who we are.”

And we tend to agree. This is one very cool musical hub situated in one of London’s coolest spots. #SaveStrongroom.

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Live Sound

Laurence ‘Lol’ Eaves has a reputation for being one of the nicest guys in the business - and after chatting to him about his career in audio, from his early days of mixing local bands in a small studio in Norwich, UK, to touring the world with international artists including Kurt Vile and The War on Drugs, it’s easy to see why. This is a guy who is humble as he is successful, with a true passion for sound. On the eve of his latest stint with Kurt Vile, we chat to him about his route into the industry, his audio ethos, and his tips on mixing monitors.

Words Paul Watson

01 Headliner

MONITORING THE TREND L

ol Eaves got into the music business young, and has always been a fan of audio. Initially, this took him down the studio route... Until he got cabin fever, that is.

“I left high school with terrible A Level results, went to Anglia Polytechnic in Cambridge (now Anglia Ruskin University), studied audio music technology there, then it was back home to Norwich, where I started working in a little studio called Plug Studios,” Eaves reflects. “I then upgraded to Purple Studios – a larger facility – and was there for a few years. I was working with bands who eventually started touring around, and that’s when I got into live sound: it’d be, ‘Hey Lol, you did our record, can you come and do our live sound at these three gigs?’ Then it became: ‘You drive, too, right?’, and, ‘Can you set up for us, too? Oh, and can you pick us up some food for us?’ [laughs] You get the idea!”

It all started out in a van, Eaves explains. He did sound for a band called Kato - who are now defunct, but former lead singer, Nicky, is fronting Factory Floor, who he went on to do sound for at that time. Then, he did a record on Wichita Recordings for a band called Lovvers, and embarked on what he describes ‘an amazing punk tour’ across Europe, and then the US: “It was gruelling, but great fun, going from mixing the record, to getting out and mixing the songs live,” he smiles.

“From doing Kato, the tour manager was one of the go-tos for 4AD Records, and Beirut were on 4AD, so he dragged me in to do that band, too. And up until [doing live sound for] The War on Drugs, I had done every Beirut show from 2010 to 2014, so my home is definitely with Beirut. I’m actually back out with them in February, too,.”

LIFE ON THE ROAD

It sounds like a very busy touring life that Eaves leads.

“Yeah, I try to keep myself busy touring, and I’ve been fortunate to work with bands who I really like – I hear horror stories, but I haven’t come across any... Yet!” Eaves explains. “I’m lucky that I get to do the 8-10 month per year stints, put my feet up for a month or two, then get cabin fever, and want to mix shows again.”

At the time of writing, Eaves is about to embark on the

latest Kurt Vile tour. He is also the go-to monitor man for The War on Drugs. When I ask him what kind of kit he’s working with at the moment, he lights up, explaining that it’s ‘literally his perfect setup’.

“I really do have the best of both worlds, especially when I work with The War on Drugs; the band are gear-heads, and audio nerds, so when you speak with Adam [Granduciel, frontman], mention a microphone, or two-inch tape machine, and he is on you,” he laughs.

Let’s start with Eaves’ in-ear setup: “I have a phenomenal relationship with JH Audio; it became a real thing when I worked with Local Natives - an LA-based indie pop band, back in 2013; ever since, every band I have worked with, I have recommended they use JH. They have always been very kind to me, and have always produced the best sounding in-ears I’ve ever heard,” Eaves reveals. “They suit the way I mix, and all the bands I’ve worked with since then I have been using JH13s with; they’re a very flat, straight down the line set of in-ears that I can really craft a mix with. They ultimately give me a blank canvas to do my thing with.”

Eaves also managed to convert wedge-heavy band, The War on Drugs, to JH Audio – it was a challenge in itself, he says, but the proof, as they say, was in the pudding.

“During 2014 and 2015, when they were pre in-ears, it was a very loud stage; Adam [Granduciel] has six guitar amps, to give you an idea! And at one show in Austin, Texas I put a dB meter out in keyboard world, and it was hitting 112dB! The drums were the quietest thing on stage, and that was a grown man hitting things – totally crazy! [laughs] So I talked them into at least giving in-ears a try, and Adam was always, ‘But I need to hear and feel my amps’.

“However, as soon as he put them in, he said ‘that was best thing ever!’ He loved that he could play musically, and the JH13s enabled the whole band to play with each other, and feed off each other better than they had ever done before. Because of that nuclear arms race of sheer volume we were trying to deal with, it just became a battle every single show. Not anymore!”

And as domino effect, the front of house role became more of a straightforward job, too.

“At the time, it was [Detroit-based engineer] Chris

Headliner 23 Headliner 02

“I can really craft a mix with my JH13s - they’re very flat, and provide me with a blank canvas to work with...”

Colter at front of house, and he literally said, ‘Oh my god, I can actually mix a show now, not just hit everybody in the horseshoe at the front of the stage!’ So yeah, he was happy, too!

Bob, our current front of house [for The War on Drugs] uses Roxannes, and he adores them.

“I always try and make sure what I am wearing is what the artist is using – so always JH13s; during a soundcheck, I’ll try and spend as much time on stage as I possibly can, as standing over on the wing, 30-feet to the right, I don’t know what his part of the stage sounds like. You’ve got in-ears in, but you’re missing part of the experience when you’re not standing on stage with the guys, so I just try to familiarise myself with the sound of the stage as much as I can at that point, to prepare myself for the show. I am using sidefills and wedges, and a couple of subs, so I need to be able to control that, which I can only do if I know what it sounds like in the first place.

“But it’s more than the product: the JH team are lovely people; and to know Jerry [Harvey, founder] was in at the ground level of doing this thing, it’s definitely the right stable to be part of!”

THE WAR ON DRUGS

The War on Drugs job has been Eaves’ since 2014 – they have the same management as Beirut (one of his long-term bands), and it was after a bad gig experience that he got the call.

“They had just done Primavera [Festival], and it did not go well,” Eaves recalls. “So they wanted me to come and do sound: I got the call, and have been in ever since, which is definitely a privilege. It’s such a pleasure to mix them every day, as the show just gets better and better.

24 Headliner

When on the road with The War on Drugs, Eaves is using his other piece of ‘life-changing kit’: his SSL L500 mixing console.

“The L500 is just an astonishing thing; being able to work on a console like that, and to have beautiful sounding JH IEMs, is basically like mixing a live record every single day; it’s wonderful,” he says. “I can do things I always wanted to do live - and was able to do in the studio - but the technology just hasn’t been there until now. I haven’t been able to do the parallel compression that I like to do until now, and the convolution stuff – it just wasn’t possible. But with the SSL, it’s easy, and everything sounds better than everything else.

The SSL has a width and a clarity, guts and a kind of ‘bigness’ that nothing else I have ever used can give me. And not just on a stage, too: mixing a record with it would be great, too.”

Like taking a studio console out on the road?

“That’s exactly what it is,” Eaves concurs.

“It’s a very, very powerful machine; I think I saw Underworld have one on stage with them, which I always think is very cool! [smiles]” The EQ on the L500 is something that almost baffles Eaves with its accuracy.

“It has its own SSL flavour, which I am a huge fan of,” he says. “The EQ on that thing is actually astonishing: we’ve probably all mixed on consoles before, thinking. ‘is this actually doing anything?’, but with the L500, the precision of everything is incredible; and it does often come down to tiny moves: you can be so precise with everything on that console.

“And again, with the L500, you can use the amazing [SSL] TaCo App, so you have your iPad, and you’re cruising around and mixing the show, just leaning over the band’s shoulders -

you know, knocking their knees out so they fall over, and things like that... Always fun!”

Eaves is now on the road with Kurt Vile until November 15th, and flies out to Mexico the following day for a one-off show with The War on Drugs. Then it’s the December run.

“We’ll be doing dome big shows: The Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, and The O2 Arena [in London] is the big big one; that’ll be the biggest headline show I have ever done,” Eaves says, with more than a hint of excitement. “I know Bob [Strakele, The War on Drugs’ front of house engineer] is at home in big rooms like that, and is very much looking forward to bringing in the biggest PA he can find!”

Before I let Eaves get ready for the Kurt Vile show, I ask him if there is one thing he would change in the audio industry, and if there are any new trends we should be looking out for?

“What I’d like to see is shedding that old theory that sound guys and girls are miserable and angry about life – as far as I am aware, most are pretty cool,” he laughs. “It used to be the frustrated musician thing, where engineers worked with bands on the road as their own efforts didn’t come to fruition, but these days, sound people get into the biz because they want to do sound rather than having to do it. So let’s change that!

“Trend-wise, I think some of the new releases, such as the SSL L100 - the 12-fader console SSL has released – are very interesting.

How incredible to have something like that for smaller gigs, with supreme quality of audio that I think is unmatched at this point in time?” www.jhaudio.com www.solidstatelogic.com

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STEREOPHONICS: SCREAM ABOVE THE SOUNDS Stereophonics released their 10th album last year, Scream Above the Sounds, which comes almost 20 years after the Welsh rockers first stormed the BRITs back in 1998, and won the award for British Breakthrough Act. The band’s longevity speaks for itself, as do their songs. We caught up with the touring team, whose dedication to delivering perfect sonics on and off the stage have led to vastly improved production levels.

26 Headliner

I

T’S MAD TO THINK THAT IT’S BEEN TWO DECADES since Stereophonics first hit the charts, but the journey has been a fascinating one – and a very successful one, too: eight million albums sold in the UK alone, six number one records, a BRIT Award, three Kerrang! Awards, a pair of Q Awards, and 40 singles to their name. Not bad for three lads from Cwmaman, a little village in the Cynon Valley. On the road, it’s never been better, from an audio perspective – and if the show reviews are anything to go by, the band are right on the money, too. In short, if you caught the latest ‘Phonics tour, you’ll likely have seen them at their very best.

Let’s start with the two guys in front of the consoles; first, monitor engineer, Harm Schopman, who is looking after frontman, Kelly Jones, and co. on stage. Although in charge of monitors for this tour, Schopman has been responsible for various roles on various touring productions.

“On Stereophonics, I originally looked after [FOH engineer] Dave Roden as the systems tech, mostly on the arena tours; it’s only in the last few years that I have taken on the role as monitor engineer for them,” Schopman explains. “More generally, I’ve mixed FOH on tours for Ocean Colour Scene, Taj Mahal, and Toumani Diabate, but also one of The Prince’s Trust Gala events at the Royal Albert Hall.

“For now, though, it’s monitors as usual for Schopman – a role he knows well, and has also worked for artists such as The Killers, Beverly Knight, and Lulu.

A DiGiCo user since the days of the D5, a console Schopman used on shows for The Strokes and Katie Melua, the SD10 is the board of choice for Stereophonics, which he is running at 48kHz, as the SD Racks are being shared between FOH and monitors.

“I love the clarity I can achieve for the IEM mixes using the DiGiCo SD10,” Schopman says. “Everything seems to be easily separated, which means the mixes are very detailed, yet clean. As I’ve used these consoles quite a bit over the years, the interface works very quickly for me, and speed of operation is always a priority when working monitors.”

Schopman also uses the snapshot functionality within the SD10.

“I have set it up so that most channels are ‘recall safe’,” he reveals. “I am using snapshots for some mute automation on some channels, and aux send automation on keyboards, acoustic guitars, and the few channels of FX and supplementary playback that we use, which is strings parts and FX, mostly. I also use some early reflections spatial effect from the SD10 on some of the guitars to give them a little extra width in the mix.”

Stereophonics Scream Above the Sounds

“I love the clarity I can achieve for the IEM mixes using the DiGiCo SD10; the interface works very quickly for me...”

One of the key elements of the overall live setup for Stereophonics is keeping low end minimised on stage, which is achieved through engineering teamwork.

“Our touring systems/playback/stage tech, Sam Cunningham, plays a large part in achieving this, together with the PA system tech when we have our own system,” states Schopman. “We also make sure that there are no bass notes that pop out, and Dave [Roden], Sam and I communicate a lot to make the end result as optimal as possible for both the audience and the band. On this one gig I had, the sound guy got sick, and I said, ‘I’ll do it!’ After that night, they said I was now in charge of sound! There weren’t schools back then for training, and when they did come, I was already well into it. You learn like everyone else; by trial and error, trying and failing.”

Front of House

Dave Roden met Stereophonics in 1996, and began touring with them the following year.

“It’s always been front of house for me,” Roden admits. “In my naivety, when I left the [recording] studio, I barely knew that any other position even existed in the live world. In all the concerts I’d ever been to, I’d only ever noticed the guy mixing inside the barrier, and that’s who and where I wanted to be.”

His relationship with the band is very strong, but the job doesn’t come without its challenges.

“And that’s only because the musical programme material is so large and varied,” Roden insists. “10 albums and 40 odd singles means a lot of back catalogue to draw upon, which can range from the softest of acoustic

songs to out and out rock belters. Having known Kelly and Richard almost half my lifetime does help, though; there are some unspoken understandings which keep things on an even keel. As far as key elements go, it’s always Kelly’s vocal and the guitars first. Everything else second.”

This is the first time Roden has been out with a DiGiCo board for six years, so the decision was an important one.

“I toured very happily with a D5 for five or six years, but was diverted down the Digidesign road mainly for logistical reasons,” he recalls.

“Going back to DiGiCo was a really considered decision, not just for logistics – a big part of this being that Mark Saunders, who is one of the best guys in the business, had joined from Sennheiser – but also the cost versus other brands. Also, the benefits it would bring for the rest of the audio department: reducing stage footprint by rack-sharing, futureproofing and expansion capabilities of the Optocore network, and, of course, the flexibility this would give the band when thinking of arena show B-stages, and so on. Also, my familiarity with the DiGiCo surface and software has reduced transfer time to a minimum – that has been very important.”

Roden is a fan of the DiGiCo snapshot functionality, also: “I only use them on inputs, for muting unused channels, level changes on faders, and FX and Aux sends, as well as some very selective EQ and dynamics changes, and reverb and delay FX presets,” he says. “I also have macros programmed to do other semi-automated tasks, such as switching inputs.”

Sam Cunningham is in charge of all things systems for this tour, and says it’s been another hugely successful album campaign; Scream Above

the Sounds is the band’s 10th record in 20 years.

That really is extraordinary longevity.

“It is – and in the three and a half years [and two album campaigns] I have been with the band, I have constantly pushed for the modernisation of the audio systems we use for our live shows,” Cunningham explains. “So much has changed since my first ever show with the band back in 2015 at T in the Park. We had an antiquated split system with a massive amount of Digidesign Stage racks, as we were over 48 channels with a Profile surface at front of house and monitors.

“The stage package was bulky and inflexible, and we also had countless analogue and AES lines running to and from front of house and stage. Solutions to patching problems were usually resolved with copper, and a spaghetti of analogue cabling: simple things like talk mics and shout box outputs necessitated a myriad of link cables from surface to rack - to panel - to splitter - to multicore, which usually then ran under 100 metres of muddy field. Things were slow and difficult, and often left me dealing with problems one simply doesn’t need when trying to get a band onstage for a headline slot.”

Initially, the monitor engineer at the time made the move to a DiGiCo console after coming to realise the flexibility and workflow advantages, Cunningham says, which was an improvement in his eyes, and laid out the first step in what would become a complete overhaul of their systems.

“But with Dave Roden still firmly set on using an Avid Profile for front of house at the time, it provided little in the way of streamlining of the stage infrastructure, or ease of integration between each end of the

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“Since Stereophonics became an Optocore-based act, the shows have been absolutely flawless...” multicore,” Cunningham reveals. “It was at the beginning of rehearsals for the current album campaign that I really began to push for Dave to get onboard with the possibility of a fully integrated audio console system that would allow me to employ a fully redundant Optocore based I/O audio system, that would allow us to do so much more, so much faster, and safer.

He was receptive to the advice, and we settled on a DiGiCo SD5 surface for him at front of house. An immediate transformation occurred, which saw us halve the size of our stage package footprint, and add so much flexibility to the rig.

“We started out with a pair of 56-channel SD Racks running on an Optocore loop which passed through both consoles. We used gain share scenario for all channels, as well as some specifically assigned inputs which allowed front of house its own head amp gain control within the same rack unit. We also assigned various output cards to either console, doing away with the need for some of our FOH return lines.

“It may seem like a simple thing, but one of the best things to come out of this was the fact that we could utilise the ‘CON SEND/RECEIVE’ function, which allows signal paths to be patched from any console on the loop to another. This meant we could patch our shout speakers and talk mics directly into a local surface input on one of the consoles, and then send this signal to an input channel or local surface output on another console. We no longer had any analogue patch lines up to the consoles from the racks, but simply a pair of fibres into each console that carried all the signal paths we required. Gone were the days of dodgy festival analogue return lines!”

Smart Thinking

Then, as rehearsals continued, and the plans for the tour matured, it became obvious Cunningham and co. were going to have to add some elements to the system to achieve what was being asked of them: Optocore, along with DiGiCo gear, made this easy.

“Firstly, Dave Roden sighted the need for several outboard FX and processing units in his front of house rig. This would have used to have meant a rack of outboard and a set of XLR tails, or bulky analogue multipin cable running to the local inputs from his FX rack; but instead, I built him an FX rack with a super compact SD Mini Rack hidden in the rear,

which sat on the Optocore loop, and simply appeared on both consoles,” Cunningham explains. “He was then able to connect his FX rack wherever we were in the world with just one additional lightweight optical link, as opposed to a lengthy patching process of many lines, using up the precious local I/O of the console. We travelled this FX rack to five continents, and it was just like being at home each time. No fuss.”

“Secondly, when planning the arena/festival headline tour, the band and production decided on a B stage scenario, which saw the band constantly switching between a second stage and the main stage throughout the concert; as well as more than 32 additional inputs on the second stage, there were also monitoring outputs and shout busses required for the musicians and techs in that area.

“I simply slotted a third SD Rack into the loop, which was housed under the stage, over 30 metres away from the existing stage racks.

Once again, this appeared on both consoles, and allowed us to add minimal infrastructure and cost to our setup, while appearing familiar and simple to the engineers.”

It’s no surprise, then, that after so much effort from all parties within the Sterephonics audio team, Cunningham feels they are now in a place where infrastructure challenges are a thing of the past: “Optocore has allowed us a creative freedom, especially when considering the technical challenges behind an artist request,” he concludes. “We wrapped up the campaign with a headline Saturday night slot at RIZE Festival, including our full B stage setup; it was a flawless show, as per usual, since Stereophonics became an Optocore-based act.

The Stereophonics team would like to extend a special thanks to Martin Connolley at Capital Sound hire, and Mark Saunders at DiGiCo for their continued support through this game-changing audio transition. www.digico.biz www.optocore.com

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Cover Story

It’s been an extraordinary few years for Jess Glynne. She recently became the first British female artist to secure seven number one singles, yet she’s only released one album... until now, that is. Her much-awaited second offering, Always In Between, dropped on October 12th, and is an evolution in terms of songwriting, production, and musicianship. The core of it was put together on location: a week locked away in a house with close friends, producers, and writers; and the results speak for themselves. We chat to the uber-successful Londoner at Abbey Road Studios about her musical journey so far, and how working for a music management company eventually paved the way to penning hit songs.

Words Yerosha

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JESS GLYNNE S

even number ones - that’s a hell of an achievement... But has it really sunk in?

“It doesn’t feel real, to be honest, but it is very overwhelming,” Jess admits, with a smile.

“I’ve had so much success with those songs, yet I’ve only had one album out. It’s mental!”

I ask Jess to tell me about the ins and outs of her new record, Always In Between.

“It’s the best representation of my life over the past three or four years; since the last album, and all I have been through,” Jess reveals. “The title comes from my lifestyle, and living two lives: getting used to being Jess Glynne, and just Jess. You are constantly pressured in this role to be perfect; have a yes or no, be right or wrong, put yourself in a box; so part of the theme is self-acceptance, and that I don’t always need to have an answer. It takes a while to be at one with that, but it’s got to a point now where I am content with who I am, and don’t need to justify it.”

Conversation turns to songwriting - co-writing, in particular - and how it can be a strange process. I ask how that panned out for her when putting album two together.

“With this album, it was a bit like that at the beginning: we were writing in the USA for two months, as the label wanted me to write with other people. I compromised, and was open to their suggestions, as they were with great songwriters and producers,” Jess says. “I took [my best friend] Jin Jin with me, who I write a lot of my stuff with; it was good, but intense, as getting in and out of sessions with different people constantly was a real challenge.

“When I got back, I felt I had a lot of amazing songs, but they were quite all over the place, so it didn’t feel like an album. It felt like everything got lost, and I didn’t know where I was going with the music. The label wanted something I didn’t understand, and there was a clash – I took a step back, if I’m honest, I didn’t know if this was what I wanted to do.”

It got to the point where Jess sat down with the label, told them she didn’t feel good, and wanted to take a break.

“They understood, as it was a weird process; and we all knew something wasn’t connecting. I also had my own shit to deal with at the time,” Jess recalls. “And at the end of 2017, I was ready. I wanted to go into a house with the people I wanted to work with, plus a few extras. So we went away for a week to Sussex: it was free, real, organic, and

honest; and we made music as music should be made.

“I did it in a week in a natural way, with people that I love, and who know me; and then the people that I didn’t really know before actually felt like family by the end. I think it’s the way you approach it; this album has taken two and a half years, and I have approached it three of four times separately, but it only worked the last time I approached it; that is when it connected.”

GETTING INSPIRED

When it comes to songwriting, Jess says there is no set path, as such - it’s more about the vibe.

“I do something different every time. I think it depends on your mood, who you’re in with, if I have a melody in my head, or if there’s a certain genre I want to approach.

Sometimes it’s melody first, sometimes music, sometimes it’s the lyric.”

Is there ever a time during the songwriting process that a lyric is too personal or vulnerable to make the cut?

“It’s weird... With this album, a few times I questioned what I had written,” Jess reflects. “Music for me is like a therapy; it’s my way of a release. And the majority I have written are with Jin Jin. She brings out a lot of me, and makes me feel I can be or say anything. It’s amazing to have that partnership.

“So yes, there have been times I have felt that, but then I have been convinced otherwise [smiles]. So this is more conceptual than the first record; more honest, and more vulnerable. It’s a bit scary, and I am a bit nervous, but I have done it now, and I can’t go back! [laughs]” When starting out, Jess says she always knew she could sing, but it was only after gaining experience within the music business early on that she realised she was an artist.

“I guess you dream, don’t you? When I left school, all I could think about was music, so I wanted to give it a go.

“I never liked studying, so there was no point going to uni or college, as I didn’t have the attention span. I knew what I was like! [laughs] So I went travelling, and when I got back, I got a job in a music management company. I worked there for about 12 months alongside an artist very closely, and got to understood a lot about how it all worked.

“It was a big eye opener, and weirdly, it taught me how not to do it as an artist. This artist [I was working with] was young and sporadic in life, and didn’t take opportunities that

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“Music for me is like a therapy; it’s my way of a release...” were there; he was more focused on the fame and the girls. It was quite painful to see. We eventually parted ways, and the company knew I wanted to do my thing; so then I focused on music.”

BEHIND THE MUSIC

We start to talk more about the new album, and the songs within it. Firstly, the single, All I Am. I tell Jess I feel it has a wonderful message, as it’s so easy to forget about the people involved in the making of a record, and the support system and network behind it. But it sounds like she had a moment where she really appreciated it.

“That is literally it - you summed it up,” she says. Phew. “From the outsider’s perspective, there is so much that goes on in music that you never see. There are so many songs you write that never see the light of day; so much graft not just on making a song, but so much around it. Even after writing the album, it might take another eight months to finish it, if not more.

“So much goes in: so much emotion, so many bodies; and they all want you to win.

I am so lucky to have worked with such inspiring people, who are so loving, caring, and supporting. It’s so important to appreciate them.

“All I Am happened in that week [in the house], and got started when I wasn’t in the room; it was amazing to come in to that energy.

A really happy moment. So yeah, it makes you reflect on the people in your life that make you you.”

And on the flip side, what would Jess say helped her the most to get to where she is now?

“I think I learnt early on when I worked at the management company. I also did a weird artist development course thing, which really 32 Headliner

opened my mind. It was a year long, but a day a week, and I had two jobs at the time; but I thought ‘why not?’ It was cheap, but I had no money, so it wasn’t cheap! [smiles] “My parents had funded a lot already, so I didn’t want to tell them about it. I started in the September, and it got to January, and I still hadn’t paid! My mum sat me down, said she had seen a letter – I said that I just thought I would wing it – and she said, ‘you’re an idiot, I’ll pay it’, which was amazing. So I did the course, and it made me create my own opportunity.”

“That and the management company showed me it isn’t just about having a voice. When people say you sound like Adele or Rihanna, it’s such a compliment when you’re younger, but it isn’t about sounding like someone else, it’s about sounding unique, and you having a reason to do what you do. As an artist, you need to say something, and that is the difference between singing and being an artist.”

And what a sound she does have. I ask Jess if finding that sound was as tricky as I suspect.

“Oh, the hardest thing,” she says. “Also, finding the voice in what you’re saying. I wrote hundreds of songs, and there are so many dips; I knew what was a great song, and what wasn’t; you know when you hear it, it’s a feeling you get. I remember being with Jin Jin in the studio writing Home – it was my first session with her – and then Bad Blood. But with Home, I knew, ‘OK, I’m here, everything changes now’. It was the way it felt, and everything came together in this one session. And I felt it writing that song. So that happened, and within months, my whole life had changed. It was amazing, because I can now reflect on it, and see that path – it was very exciting, but amazing to see the

connection, and how it all unravelled.”

Big question: on stage, or in the studio?

“I love live. Bringing songs to life, being on stage with a band. And I love the energy in live music. But I am not a born performer!

I am social, and can entertain, but I find it a very nerve-wracking thing; it isn’t something that comes naturally to me,” Jess says. “But it is something I have learned to love. I used to feel very alone on stage; I didn’t feel comfortable, so it was so important to have a band that were like a family.

“On stage, everyone has each other’s back, and it’s a very close and nice vibe. That is what I needed to be able to do a live show. Everyone has ideas; you put this amazing thing together, so now I am so excited to get on stage. It is embedded; I don’t think it will ever feel natural, so the whole build up is very, very nervewracking for me.”

Finally, I ask Jess which tracks from the new record stand out the most to her.

“Hate Love is a very vulnerable song, but very important for the album, and something I am very proud of. 1,2,3 is favourite on the album; the way it was created, and the feel of the song makes me feel good, so that sums up the album for me. And Thursday I am very proud of; lyrically, I think it’s important for people to hear. It sums up the whole journey of self-acceptance, I think.”

Jess Glynne’s Always In Between is out now on Atlantic Records, and comes highly recommended. A special thanks, too, to Abbey Road Studios for the marvellous hospitality.

@JessGlynne www.jessglynne.com

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01 Headliner

RAEL JONES: WEIRD & WONDERFUL We drop in on Rael Jones’ extraordinary home studio to talk music composition techniques, and how he took a simple but effective approach to production when it came to scoring season two of hit TV series, Harlots – the bold, brash, British show which offers ‘a whore’s eye view’ over Georgian London. Let’s dive in...

Words Paul Watson

I

last spoke to Rael Jones when he’d finished scoring season one of Harlots. If you haven’t seen this popular show, you really should: think an all-girl Peaky Blinders-esque vibe, with plenty of dynamic characters and plots, but with a modern musical twist, courtesy, of course, of Jones’ multi-instrumentalism and creative thinking.

“With season one, it was a case of, ‘get it done... yesterday!’,” opens Jones, with a smile, as we take a seat in his compact yet very effective studio space. “With season two, the main difference was I had a lot more time. I did the first episode [of season one] in two weeks, all from scratch, then I did [Hollywood movie] My Cousin Rachel, and they were biting their nails, because the post schedule for Harlots was getting compressed. So after I did the film, I did episode two of Harlots. Then it got crazy again: I remember I was working on episode four, and they had already shown episode one on TV, so from that point, it was ridiculously fast, and I had to churn out one a week! No room for error, faults, nothing!”

So the pressure was on... Again! Jones said it was definitely an advantage having all the material from season one available – some of which was tweaked and fused into the second season, providing continuity, and also saving time – but at the same time, season two had to have its own identity. Sounds a tough ask!

“The work was definitely front-loaded, and a big chunk of the job is being really good at arranging, really – really knowing how to use the material, and making it work for the show,” Jones explains.

“For season two, I wrote quite a bit when they were still filming, which meant they could edit quite a bit of my music; and, we had season one, too, but we did make season two a cohesive, new thing.

“With Harlots, I am the music department! No-one else is working on the music at all, which is very helpful if I’m writing a few cues, then maybe I’ll do a film, or a comedy for Channel 4, or whatever, and then I’ll come back to Harlots – it means you get that fresh perspective, which is really helpful. Normally you’d get a mastering guy or a mix guy to be your second pair of ears, but when I had a little time off the show, I was able to be my own fresh pair of ears, realising that a mix was way too bassy, for example, and being able to change it easily.”

Jones runs Pro Tools and Logic on two different computers; he writes his cues individually in Logic, and admits to running Pro Tools on a ‘hackintosh’ for now, which is where all the cues end up.

He shows me an entire eight episodes’ worth of Harlots season two video files, which amounts to a staggering eight hours of music.

“It’s a really useful setup, as, for example, if I am working on episode two, and suddenly realise I did something similar in episode one, I can do a quick edit, open it up in Logic, and tweak it some more; these two systems totally chase each other,” Jones explains.

LISTEN UP

Jones references on a pair of Genelec 8030s – it’s a brand he is remarkably familiar with, and entirely confident in.

“I got these [Genelecs] about 10 years ago, and I have just not ever changed them,” he says, reaching to the back of the monitor to check the model number. “I spend a bit of time on headphones, too, as everything is in one small space here, and I am doing everything.

But I did the Tonmeister course [in Guildford, UK] some 15 years ago, and noticed that most people had Genelecs; then whenever I’ve been in any cutting room, most people have Genelecs, too! And really, I just know what these sound like. I am extremely happy with them, they’ll always be my go-to.”

In terms of audio interfaces, Jones is an RME guy: he has two Fireface UFX+ units, and two smaller UFC+ units. His setup is evolving, too, he explains: “I have one UFX+ sitting on top of this other one, and I am still using my UCX, too - I have another of those in the other room,” Jones reveals. “So the top UFX+ is connected to my Logic rig, and the one below is for my Pro Tools rig – the idea being, I can have MADI running between them.

“It’s what I have always wanted, and will allow me 60 mono tracks. But with Harlots, it’s just one stereo pair going between the two computers with an optical cable. When I did [TV series] Sherlock, I had 5.1 between two computers, optically.

“I love the idea of MADI, though. I may never use it, but I have to be prepared for it. So I can potentially have 30 stereo stems going from Logic to Pro Tools - do it the old fashioned way: print between the two! And get more inputs in the process. So at the moment, I am using eight from the UFX+, and taking an extra four out the front, too.”

Being such a multi-instrumentalist, Harlots is a great fit for Jones: he is all about colour, and creating sounds within sounds, making as few instruments as possible as big as possible.

Headliner 35 Headliner 02

“It’s about getting the sounds really full and colourful; the arrangements are just bass, drums, chords, and a tune: four or five parts, and that’s it.”

“That is definitely a Harlots thing; one of the first cues I wrote ended up being used a lot [plays me the cue] – see, just drums, with an 808 kick added, and that’s the whole cue!”

Jones’ drum kit, although incredible sounding both in the room and on the tracks, is also recorded minimally; he uses four mics at most: kick, snare, and stereo overheads.

“I crush the drums a lot, mainly with plugins - not on the way in, but in the box. But they’re also quite distorted on the way in, which means I get a lot of harmonics in there. I am a big fan of the Waves R-Comp on the kick, with a tiny bit of presence boost; I’m tickling it, and EQing a little. It really brightens it up, and takes the main resonance out - that boxiness.

“I am also a fan of the Waves H-Comp, which I use a lot on overheads – they’re compressed quite a lot, and I’m then multibanding down some of the high frequencies, just to stop it all being too aggressive. “Then there is the Devil-Loc SoundToys plugin: if I mute and unmute it, it totally changes the character. Without it, it sounds pleasant and safe, and with it, it opens it all up. So the whole drum kit is going through it to create a crushed, distorted sound. There are not many components: it’s about playing well, using a concise mic setup, and using nice compressor plugins. I never mic toms or hats.”

BASS TRAP

There is always a mic on the bass and guitar amp in Rael’s studio: an Electro-Voice RE20 on the bass cab, but also a stereo pair of AKG 36 Headliner

C414s, picking up room noise. Really? “[laughs] Yeah, but I’ll show you why,” Jones says, with a smile, pulling up a cue. “I normally have this stereo pair somewhere in the room, and often with the snare on, so it rattles away.

It gives it a bit of extra colour, and I fade it into the main cab sound a little bit.”

Jones plays me the close mic signal, then the room mics, and shows how it sounds when mixed together. OK, sold!

“So it’s a better sound, much more like a real person is playing it,” he says. “It can be very clinical if you DI a bass – it can all feel a bit plastic to me. So the process is getting all the sounds really full and colourful: the arrangements are just bass, drums, chords, and a tune; four or five parts, and that’s it.”

Not forgetting those Spitfire Audio VIs. “Oh, absolutely,” Jones concurs. “I am a big fan of the whole Spitfire range, and you can’t really talk to somebody in music who doesn’t use at least one bit of Spitfire kit now. I use the Soft Piano on Harlots, as well as the Celeste, and the Harpsichord. If you listen to the main lead part on the lead track [in Harlots], it sounds so serene... [plays it solo in Logic]...

But in the context of the track [plays the whole track], it’s amazingly different. I just love the Spitfire libraries.”

It’s fascinating to get such a personal insight into Jones’ very unique workflow. This is a man entirely dedicated to good sound - but let’s not forget the weird and wonderful in his musical locker: Nyckelharpa and hurdy-gurdy!

“This one is from Sweden,” Jones says,

pulling out a violin bow and beginning to play the Nyckelharpa. “This one rattles, and needs servicing, but I like that it’s a bit ugly, and slightly broken – again, it’s perfect for Harlots, as it’s dirty, and it suits the show. There is a lot of mechanical noise, so it’s definitely not as pretty as a violin!

“It’s strung reverb, I suppose! It has 12 strings, so every string rings on – I tune to C,G,C,G, so it is very resonant – and an unusual tuning. What I love from my point of view is that it’s like playing a viola. And again, a lot of the textures in the series are coming from this. A lot of the ugly stuff!”

Before Jones and I part ways for now, I am intrigued as to how he finalises his mixes.

“Everything is done here, because I am the music department,” he smiles. Impressive!

“But it works well, as when I come back from another project, I can listen to a Harlots cue and think, ‘oh I mixed that way too bassy’, but you have that fresh perspective, which is really helpful. Normally you would employ a mix or master engineer as a fresh pair of ears, but this workflow has allowed me to be my own fresh pair of ears, which is wonderful.”

What an inspiring fella Rael Jones is – be sure to look out for his work on Harlots season three, coming soon..!

@RaelJones www.waves.com www.spitfireaudio.com www.genelec.com

VC PINES CHOOSING A VOCAL MIC

“I managed to pick up a signing with Fierce Panda, and I have no doubt that the Shure KSM8 had a hand in it...”

I‘d had my old microphone for about three years, and had practically sung through it, so it was definitely time for a new one - I just didn’t know where to start.

I’d looked at a few, but had gotten used to the handle of a Sennheiser 935, and couldn’t really go back to a standard shape; and that’s when I was introduced to the Shure KSM8.

I know it sounds ridiculous, judging a mic by its shape and handle, but for me, that’s a good starting point, given that you need to be comfortable holding it every night, and able to jump around without throwing it at the audience!

Next is clarity and headroom. As a singer, making the transition to using in-ears rather than small venue floor monitors is essential if you want to keep your voice for longer than five years. However, the clarity of your mic, and how it sits in the mix, is just as important. There’s no point in having in ears if you still can’t hear yourself.

Every time I’ve used the KSM8 I don’t have to think or worry about anything, as I know I’m going to be able to hear myself. Its cuts through my in-ear mix without cutting into my ear drums, this doesn’t affect my tone, in fact, it complements it nicely and the audience can hear me regardless of how small or hard the room is.

The mic itself has become a safety net that I know will work, especially after playing a show where the mixing desk was behind the stage (I won’t name names, but you might know which venue I’m talking about!), and regardless of this strange setup, I managed to pick up a signing with Fierce Panda, so hey, the sound can’t have been that bad! And I have no doubt the new microphone was a factor in that.

All in all, there are three things I look for in a microphone: its handle and physical durability; its clarity in cutting through mixes of any venue; and how it can help your biological instrument last whole tours. And the Shure KSM8 has helped me with all of this so far!

@VCPines www.shure.com

37 Headliner

Heartbeat

A New York Soundscape

HEARTBEAT: A NEW YORK SOUNDSCAPE

New York City is a lot of things: hustle and bustle, high-rise, hard-hitting, noisy, jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring... the list is long. When we descended on the city for the recent AES show, we took some time out to walk the streets of Manhattan, armed with a Lumix G80 camera, a custom set of JH Audio Layla IEMs, and a Lectrosonics SPDR digital recorder with a pair of M152 mics, to capture the sights and sounds of this unique metropolis. Here’s how we did it.

Words Paul Watson It’s difficult to know where to start when trying to capture the vibe of a place as vast and eclectic as New York City. I’ve also never created a soundscape, as such, so have had to put a bit of thought into how to go about that as a process, too: from capture, to mixdown.

In a nutshell, I am only going to use sounds of the city: the people, the traffic, the subway, the wildlife - nothing will go into this piece of work that isn’t authentic NYC sonics. Once that’s done, the plan is to get it all back to the studio in the UK, and manipulate these sounds into a track using my go-to plugins.

So, what to use? Well, whether I’m referencing audio on the go (on a plane, train or automobile), or just listening to my favourite Spotify playlist, I always do so using my custom IEMs: a set of JH Audio Laylas, which have a great low frequency extension, as well as totally sparkling highs. These in-ears are so transparent, they can literally be used to mix a song, so for this soundscape, they are the first thing on the list.

Now for the capture. I’ve used many digital recorders over the years, from iPhone Apps and basic Olympus dictaphones, to pretty decent bits of kit with built in X/Y mic setups;

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but when I reviewed the Lectrosonics PDR recorder last year, I remember being pretty blown away by how good it was. So, with the release of the Lectrosonics SPDR - the stereo version of this amazing box, which, as you would imagine, has two linkable mic inputs I was keen to give that a try.

So, what about microphones? Well, I’ve never tried the Lectrosonics M152s: they’re small, omnidirectional lavalier mics, with a nice wide frequency response (and a little windshield, too, which will come in handy for this application).They’re also remarkably affordable - and I figured that if the recorders are anything to go by, these mics must be pretty good, too. And they are. More on that shortly, though. The camera, incidentally, is a Lumix G80, which I’ve got on a monopod for easy capture - I’ll also be shooting in 4K. The Plan To create this soundscape, I will be filming and recording simultaneously, my Laylas in my ears, with one M152 mic propped on top of each ear, to try and create some kind of binaural experience. In other words, hopefully, when you watch the final product back with

headphones on, you should feel like you’re walking the streets with me: when I look left, your ears should follow... if that makes sense?!

What’s particularly great about all this kit is, it’s point and shoot (or ‘press and record’, in the case of the SPDR, I guess). Because the SPDR is so remarkably easy to use, and the fact it has such a super-small footprint, it fills you with confidence from the get go: straight out of the box, I had it working in under two minutes, without even needing to go to the useful ‘quick start’ one-pager.

Like all Lectrosonics kit, the SPDR is solid; if I dropped this thing (god forbid), I’m sure it’d survive. These high-end units are primarily pitched at the experienced sound recordists and moviemakers within the biz, of course, so they’re built to last.

New York State of Mind I plug in my JH Audio Laylas, and step out onto Eighth Avenue. Ears firmly in, I turn on the SPDR, and the whole of New York fills my ears.

The M152 mics are giving me a fantastic stereo image before I’ve even started, so I know this audio chain is going to work great.

Heartbeat

A New York Soundscape

“I spend six hours capturing the sounds of Manhattan, from Chelsea, to Midtown, and into Central Park...”

So, I make a right past the new Penn Station at 34th Street and 8th Avenue, making my way down, eventually, to the bustling Chelsea Market. Here, I capture a waterfall, some creepy noises (it is Halloween week, after all!), and lots of conversation.

As people pass me by, I hear about a new Broadway show, where to eat Japanese food, and even a ‘what the f**k is that guy doing?’, presumably about yours truly.

Exiting the market, I’m out on Ninth Avenue, capturing sounds as I make my way up to a café section between 17th and 20th Street: a quick coffee stop, and it’s up to midtown, and into Times Square for some panoramic shooting. A subway train passes under my feet; the low-end rumble I get through my Laylas almost scares the life out of me! Plenty of other sounds picked up here too, of course: horns, cars, buses, bells, and more expletives(!).

Half an hour later, I find myself in Central Park, capturing horses pulling carriages, kids screaming, cyclists cycling (and occasionally shouting for me to ‘get the f**k out of the road’), and scooters, erm... scooting? And that’s before I brave the Subway.

I make my way to Columbus Circle at the corner of 59th Street, and head down the escalator: inquisitive (and aggressive) looks from various locals and tourists alike - have

they never seen a man with a microphone attached to each of his temples filming them at close quarters before?! In total, I spend six hours capturing the sounds of Manhattan, spanning 14th Street and Ninth Avenue, to 62nd Street and Central Park West.

The Results I get back to my hotel, plug my Lumix G80 into my MacBook, and am really pleased with the crisp footage - it’s a great bit of kit, and shoots a beautiful picture, even when I’m operating it, apparently!

The audio files - exported very easily from the SPDR via SD Card - sound phenomenal.

I am very impressed with the performance of the M152s - amazing value for money - and I find myself glued to my computer screen for three hours, Laylas in my ears, editing the .wav files as I begin creating my soundscape.

Even in a very busy midtown hotel lobby, these JH IEMs allow me to block out the world, quite literally. I realise when I next look at my watch, it’s 5pm, and my taxi will soon arrive to take me to Kennedy Airport.

When I get back to the UK studio, and bring up the project, it already sounds great.

I mix down on my Genelec 8341s with 7360 sub, dialling in a bunch of Waves plugins to help me craft this soundscape, which, I have decided, is to be a percussive piece,

incorporating most of the aforementioned NYC sonic elements.

One plugin combo I am loving is Waves SoundShifter and R-Bass, which has helped turn the slamming of a cab door into a kick drum, and footsteps over subway grills into an industrial sounding snare! A little touch of TrueVerb on the latter, and CLA-76 on both elements, and I’ve got myself a great sounding loop. Another percussive loop I create using the sound of teaspoons on cups from the coffee pit stop, with sugar sachets as a shaker; H-Delay, R-Verb, and the SSL E Channel allow me to do this; and I use the NS1 noise suppressor to isolate a couple of vocal parts.

I add more percussive elements: a bicycle bell, train, and car horn, and play a simple bass line as the glue, along with a piano line, reversed, using Spitfire Audio’s Soft Piano from its LABS range. For a free virtual instrument, it’s stunning; I hope it also provides that emotive element, cutting through the hard-hitting ‘noise’.

Check out the results on our YouTube page: ‘New York City: Creating a Soundscape of the City’. Let us know what you think! www.lectrosonics.com www.jhaudio.com www.waves.com www.spitfireaudio.com

39 Headliner

Lighting

Nature One Festival

50,000 DESCEND ON NATURE ONE FESTIVAL Under the catch-line ‘All you need to be’, Nature One called its dance-loving audience to the Pydna former rocket base in Hunsrück between August 3-5. As in previous years, more than 50,000 people turned up for four days and three nights of pure EDM, with 350 acts performing across a total of 23 floors.

Nature One is one of the largest dance music festivals in Germany, and has been going strong for nearly 25 years.

This year, for its largest floor (the Open Air Floor), lighting designer, Thomas Gerdon [of Gerdon Design] produced the entire visual concept. Gerdon has been working on various floors of Nature One since 2003, but this year, he faced a fundamental change: for the first time, a conventional stage was used on the Open Air Floor. As a result, Gerdon had a lightbulb moment of his own: to deploy GLP’s new modular KNV LED system.

The only catch was that the system hadn’t been put out to market at the time of the festival, however, GLP was able to meet the designer’s request with a sufficient quantity of field test unit, so Nature One became the first German event in which this modular strobe/

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blinder/pixel fixture had been used in such large numbers.

“The presence of a large stage was definitely the most striking visual innovation on the Open Air Floor,” reflects Thomas Gerdon.

“We absolutely did not want a proscenium ‘peep-show’ style stage, which is why we worked a lot with broken up LED surfaces, to create vitality and variability.”

Nearly 100 GLP KNV elements were deployed for stage and centrepiece effects over the dancefloor - the most important and striking design element was the KNV Cube, which comprised 32 fixtures, placed in blocks of two on top of each other. These were installed on the stage, and according to Gerdon, their flexibility in terms of control provided the biggest tick in the box.

“We controlled the entire system via

Art-Net, so that we could access all the fixtures via both the lighting console, and the media server,” he explains. “The KNV Cube’s RGB LEDs were integrated into the pixel mapping, and could be displayed with the video content of the adjacent LED surfaces.

Thanks to their pixel pitch, and the way in which the KNVs are addressed, this again made a nice visual transformation of the content possibilities.

“In turn, we were able to use the RGB LEDs as floodlights, and the white light LEDs in the centre of the power pixels as strobes/blinders via the lighting console.

“At the planning stage, of course, this is more time consuming in terms of merging these technologies, but in the end, it offers completely new possibilities that create an enormous amount of scope for design. In fact,

Lighting

Nature One Festival

“At Nature One, everything is live, and in this very spontaneous way of working, the GLP KNV has been great, as the LEDs respond in realtime...” it’s completely flexible — everything goes with everything else, and it’s great fun.”

In every nightclub, there is lighting suspended over the dance floor, and this year’s Open Air Floor once again had a pyramidshaped truss construction built around a new centre effect. This consisted of eight uniformly hanging, downwardly-tapered traversing circles, to each of which eight KNV Arc and eight moving lights were attached.

“The centre effect, with 64 KNV Arc, was the real highlight, and supporting design element,” adds Thomas Gerdon.

A Very Bright Future

Apart from the extremely diverse design options, one feature of the KNV in particular caused quite a stir: its enormous brightness: “The brightness of the KNV modules really stands out. We often test new products that are advertised with very high light output, but then ultimately they do not look so impressive with the professional look. With the KNV,

though, this is really different: you turn it on, and these hyper-bright power white LEDs are just evil, and at first, scare even a veteran like me!” laughs Gerdon.

Consequently, the KNV found much favour with the lighting crew, and the guest lighting designers: “The reaction from all local technicians was consistently positive. At Nature One, everything is live, and in this very spontaneous way of working, the KNV has been great, as the LEDs respond in real time.”

Gerdon says he and his team really enjoyed trialling the KNV under live conditions.

“You cannot properly judge a device under test conditions in a hall,” he points out. “After a real field test, like we did with GLP at Nature One, there are no more questions to be asked. You know what the device can do, and how to handle it.

“We worked very constructively with GLP, and were able to provide important feedback in the run-up to the production of the series.

It was a real win-win situation, and there were no failures.

“We installed the modules, turned them on, and had fun! Although we didn’t have any production models available, there was no stress, thanks to its water resistance; not even in heavy rain.”

When asked in which situations he could imagine the KNV being used, he laughs, and says: “Ask me where I can not imagine it! I could certainly envisage the KNV as a backdrop on a TV show stage; and I basically want them at every festival, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a big techno event or a rock and roll show.

“I can also imagine it at an automotive show, with the KNV Arc set up as a ring, at two metres over a car; that would be very chic.

I can use it to build shapes, numbers, letters. I just like the KNV very much. The device really does fit everywhere! “ www.glp.de

41 Headliner

James Edward Barker

Knowing the Score

JAMES EDWARD BARKER: KNOWING THE SCORE Being able to express yourself artistically can be a tricky thing, no less when you’re a composer who works in film. But James Edward Barker, one of the most exciting film composers currently emerging from the UK, feels he has struck gold since working on indie-hit, Lean on Pete, one of the first projects that has allowed his minimalist and experimental tendencies to run the score-show.

Words Adam Protz Maidstone-born composer, James Edward Barker, is proof that in our digital age, you can have a strong career in film, without upping sticks and moving to Los Angeles — he’s now back living in his native Kent. But despite opting for a more rural life, Barker’s life is just as exciting as any city-based one.

“I’ve recently been to Memphis to do the world’s highest commercial skydive that you can do,” he says. “It has been a mixed few weeks — the day Gwen came out at the Toronto Film Festival, was the same day Mara came out in the US, and also when Final Score came out in the UK. So for a split second, I had a film out in three different countries!”

The Dave Bautista-starring action flick, Final Score, sees West Ham United FC’s former ground, the Boleyn Ground, occupied by terrorists, and Bautista must stop them

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during the ongoing football match. I explain to Barker that I haven’t brought myself to watch it yet, as seeing my team’s former home actually being blown up (no CGI) could be too upsetting.

“It’s a very tongue in cheek film,” James says, to my relief. “It’s not particularly serious at any point, so hopefully you’ll be alright! [laughs]” I ask what that was like for Barker — going from the deeply poignant, and dramatically more serious Lean on Pete, to a pure-popcorn thriller.

“I’ve known Scott [Mann, Final Score’s director] for more than 10 years,” Barker explains. “Same with Andrew [Haigh, the former’s director] — I feel like I’m embedded in their psyche. For Final Score, I worked on that with a guy called Tim Despic, who I’ve also collaborated with for years. If at any point

I started to go too minimalist or melancholic, Tim would call me out and remind me we were doing an action score.”

“I see your point, though,” Barker adds, regarding the huge variety of his recent scores, which also includes supernatural horror, Mara.

“It can be challenging, but it’s what keeps you on your toes in this business, and is what’s fun. I’m still in my relatively early days of film composing. I still find those challenges exciting! Overall, would I like to be doing more films like Lean on Pete? Sure — but that doesn’t mean I don’t want a Final Score thrown into the mix either.”

Pigeonholing is Just Fine Barker then says something you won’t hear from any artist’s mouth too often, when I point out he appears to be doing a pretty good job of not being pigeonholed as a composer.

James Edward Barker

Knowing the Score

“I always use Spitfire Audio orchestral libraries for strings and brass, as I find them to have the most flexibility; and they just sound great, too...”

“I think it helps to be pigeonholed at some stage in your career, as a film composer,” he says. “And to then rinse that pigeonhole dry, as it were. I think every artist strives to avoid that…” He’s referring to the fact that a certain element of ‘pigeonholing’ would actually be beneficial for him being commissioned more films like Lean on Pete, which he enjoys working on the most from an artistic standpoint.

When it comes to film composers, you will often find they each have their own unique approach to scoring a film. This is also true of Barker, who has a request of each director that they might not always be prepared for.

“I always ask to see the film with no music or temp track added whatsoever,” he says. “I suppose that’s my only quirk, really!” The role of the temp track can often be a controversial one, as many composers have complained that they’re basically just being asked to regurgitate the ‘temp music’ which is temporarily added to the film, so that the director can better explain what he wants. Which explains why Barker is keen to hear his films completely devoid of any music, initially.

It’s time to find out what gear he uses to

make it all happen. When it comes to plugins, his go-tos are Soundtoys, when he isn’t using his extensive collection of guitar pedals.

“I love the EchoBoy and the Crystallizer,” he says. “I still love the SansAmp and Reverb One — the classics! I like the Oxford EQs, plus the standard EQIII 7-Band, and then I’ll normally couple that with the L3-LL Multimaximizer. But I’ll only be using the latter as an additional EQ, really.”

Best of British And as is the norm for most composers now, Barker uses Spitfire Audio’s orchestral libraries when ‘temping’ his scores, before he records the instruments themselves.

“I’ll always use the Spitfire libraries for strings and brass, as I find them to have the most flexibility,” he explains. “And they just sound great, too. So I’ll use the Albion and Mural libraries, and then, if I need some big temp orchestral drums, I’ll go to the Spitfire Hans Zimmer 01 collection, or even Action Strikes! I love the Evo Grid for helping to create some quick discordances and nasties.

Just brilliant.”

Barker is most enthusiastic when he lets me

in on how he creates his plethora of sounds that he uses in his scores: “I tend to collect a lot of old gear and instruments, things people have chucked away, and then I rebuild them and make something out of them. I’ve used everything from scraping matchboxes, to tapping broken bits of china, to screaming into old crackling broken microphones. So my studio is a bit of a mess most of the time. But at least it’s my mess!”

It’s that experimental streak that has made him so in-demand, and such a bright spark among the community of film composers, a world that can be notoriously generic.

Certainly, a name to follow and look out for in the credits.

He also has some collaborative music projects in the pipeline that will see him working outside of film, that will demand your attention. A rare composer to not be bound by any genres or expectations — here’s to James Edward Barker’s continued success. www.spitfireaudio.com

43 Headliner

If you have never watched a live performance in a church before, we urge you to do so. Hazel Irisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; album release party took place in Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s oldest parish church, The Priory Church of Saint Bartholomew-the-Great, and it was a musical night to remember.

Words Yerosha & Paul Watson

01 Headliner

HAZEL IRIS: LIVE @ ST. BART’S CHURCH T

he space inside a church is perfect for creating an atmosphere, ambience, and sense of occasion that’s hard to replicate in other small- to medium-sized venues. This album release party was for Hazel Iris, and was set in The Priory Church of Saint Bartholomew-the-Great in London, the city’s oldest parish church, founded back in in 1123.

Hazel Iris arrived in the UK via Germany from the central California Coast where she was born and raised. She studied Opera Performance, and that, combined with her love of the musical genre Art Song, led Iris to create a unique and diverse genre-fluid style of her own.

This is no ordinary venue, of course, therefore when it came to speccing a sound system for the show, capable of delivering pristine audio, yet at the same time not interfering whatsoever with the subtle and delicate set (and setting, of course), it had to be something that would quite literally not get in the way.

To make this happen, Iris called in the help of Coda Audio, who deployed an unobtrusive full-range CoRAY system.

What is particularly impressive about this unique production was how Coda Audio’s Steve Norman (babysitter for the CoRAY rig on the night) was able to get the speakers at such close proximity to the microphones without so much as a hint of feedback. Also, the aesthetic of the two speakers was perfect for the venue: CoRAY is a slim cuboid that seamlessly blends into its surroundings - a far cry from a typical touring box, which would have looked pretty out of place in a venue this stunning. The CoRAY system didn’t impair anyone’s line of vision, while at the same time, complemented the music in their subtlety of deployment.

“It is such a special setting for a gig - so beautiful,” Norman says. “What’s particularly nice about using CoRAY for this show is that no fills are needed whatsoever; CoRAY provides 120-degree coverage, but because it’s 120-degrees all the way up the frequency range, it reaches everybody, which is perfect. And, of course, the footprint is so small.”

The whole system - 2 x CoRAY4s and one G18 sub per side - is all running off a single LINUS14D amplifier, as well, which brings the audio footprint down even further. A Soundcraft Vi1 console is at front of house, feeding the Coda system via AES.

PRODUCTION VALUES

Hazel Iris’ last release was Misfortunate Tales, ‘a short collection of songs depicting woeful experiences of five singular characters.’

Tonight, her 10-song set is taken from her newly released album, Nine Sisters, and seamlessly glides from folk, lieder, and celtic, to bossa nova, tango, and I’d even say a touch of French vaudeville, particularly on her song, Folk, with nods to Édith Piaf and Kate Bush in places.

The band is made up of harp, cello, violin, double bass, xylophone, trumpet, keys, drums, electric guitar, accordion, and two backing vocalists. Pretty extraordinary! It’s so rare to see such variety in live instrumentation, and it was due to a few of the musicians taking up other instruments: for example, the keys player switched to the accordion; and the double bass player switched to the xylophone.

The set design is such that there is a long walkway down the length of the church where, for the intro and outro, Iris has a green fairy and three halloween-esque almost life-sized puppets dancing with their handlers down the middle. The lighting is soft and low, and the church is exquisite - all in all creating a magical and bewitching atmosphere.

SHOWTIME

After the opening number, warmly appreciated by the super engaged audience, there is a short spoken word piece about the power of spirituality, which sets the tone of the show nicely.

It’s also worth noting Iris’ beautifully thought out musical arrangements throughout: they are remarkably delicate, and very subtle, often letting her vocals, and one or two other instruments, open each song before the other instruments join in.

Her opera training is also very apparent, and she controls her voice beautifully, lightly dancing between falsetto, mostly lush legato melodies, and leaning only occasionally on heavy vibrato, to create that wonderfully dramatic effect.

Iris is eclectic, and alternates between having beautiful, tight three-part harmonies with her backing singers to using FX pedals to manipulate the sounds from stage: delay, reverb, chorus, and harmoniser complement her distinctive lead vocal.

It’s a hell of a way to launch a record, and post-show, Iris told me a bit about the thinking behind it.

“I wanted to do something special to launch Nine Sisters - to celebrate instruments and genres that are close to my heart, with some of my favourite artists,” she says, passionately. “I felt very lucky indeed to have soprano, Katrina Sheppeard, and concert pianist, Jayson Gillham, open with Strauss Lieder, and to have punk baroque artist, Kate Arnold, perform the second act with medieval songs! Getting to perform at St. Bartholomew-the-Great was an Headliner 45 Headliner 02

“The Coda Audio CoRAY system was so elegantly minimal, and sounded phenomenal - and the Shure KSM8 mic felt like an extension of myself...” honour. It’s one of my favourite places. Built in 1123, it is a gorgeous church which is bursting with a rich history, and offers an incredibly friendly and welcoming atmosphere, as well.

“By simply stepping inside, you feel as though you have immediately entered another dimension! The City Music Society also hold free lunchtime concerts here, too, and they are always fabulous. Always completely acoustic.”

This unique approach to a launch show was inspired by the way Iris set about recording Nine Sisters: everything had to be organic.

“While writing and recording the album, I used a good mixture of traditional orchestral instruments, as well as modern ones,” she explains. “This meant that in order to perform the album live in a Norman church, a serious sound system would need to be organised. It was a bit of a challenge, to say the least!

“But the Coda system was simply miraculous: I could hear everything perfectly, which when you consider how much was going on, and how eclectic the musicianship was, it’s pretty amazing! It sounded phenomenal, and was so elegantly minimal that it was almost hidden from plain sight! Perfect for this show in every way possible.”y,

CAPTURING THE VIBEb In addition to the PA system, Iris also had to ensure the microphones used on the night were of the highest order, and could cope with the vast array of different instruments and applications. She chose to bring in the help of Shure, and the kit provided did not disappoint.

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The full Shure microphone breakdown was vast: a Beta 91A (in) and 52A (out) on the kick; a combo of an SM57 (top) and Beta 98AMP/C (bottom) for the snare; a Beta 98AMP/C on the floor tom; Beta 181/Cs for the overheads; an SM81 in a Shure A53M shock mount for the bass; an SM137 on the violin; a Beta 98H/C clip-on mic for the trumpet; a Beta 27 on the glockenspiel; a KSM141 on the harp; SM58s for the BVs; and a KSM8 for Hazel’s lead vocal.

“We deployed specific microphones to suit every single instrument,” Iris enthuses. No kidding! “I also got the option of using the nickel-finished [Shure] KSM8 microphone, and I wasn’t going to say no to that! I now realise it sounds just as good as it looks! [smiles] It’s such a transparent mic, and I could hear myself perfectly throughout the show; plenty of headroom, and it allowed my vocal to rise above everything else without me having to oversing.

“That’s a great thing for a vocalist, not having to stretch yourself, or come out of your comfort zone in a gig situation. Singing into it was ultimately like an extension of myself, if that makes sense? It felt so true and undiluted, and left me free to perform - as opposed to being distracted by how close I should stand. There were no pops or hisses whatsoever. I would definitely love to perform with one of these mics at every show!” www.shure.com www.codaaudio.com @HazelIris

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EXCLUSIVE

The Midnight Beast

THE INTERVIEW NOBODY ASKED FOR

No, that article title isn’t a deliberate dig at our beloved [The Midnight] Beasts. It’s because these are possibly the three most self-deprecating musician-comedians you’ll ever meet; having named their recent September UK tour: The Tour That Nobody Asked For. And of course, their new album is called The Album That Nobody Asked For. It’s out now, after a period of releasing some of their funniest material to date: ‘Send Nudes’, Clickbait’, ‘Butt Dial’, and ‘Badass’, the latter released with a music video, the UK’s answer to Home Alone.

Words Adam Protz And, it turns out, this whole concept all required a weekly meetup to bring to fruition.

“We made it fun again, by having a day of the week as ‘Beast day’,” Stefan Abingdon tells me. I’m sat with the three magnicifent Beasts in Stefan’s living room in Putney, South-West London.

“It’s definitely healthier,” Ashley Horne (known to most as Ash) says. “It’s more inspiring, as opposed to doing it every single day, and trying to force it.”

“And the reason I think that works for us, is because the reason we started this was because it was casual and fun,” Abingdon says. “When you treat it like a job, it just adds pressure, which is why this has been so much healthier.”

This third album of theirs is an interesting one, because the previous two were each attached to a season of their Channel 4 series, The Midnight Beast. The Album Nobody Asked For will be the first Midnight Beast album

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made just for an album’s sake, despite the tongue in cheek assertion that nobody wants it. I ask them if this had been an exciting prospect for them.

“There’s been pros and cons,” Abingdon says. “Obviously having the vehicle of the TV show, and the money that’s spent on promoting it was a big help. So this album has really been off our own backs. Making sure any money we’ve earned from T-shirts has gone straight back into recording.

“But that’s been fun in itself, the creative control we’ve had, and not having to answer to anyone.”

“There’s still no label behind it,” Andrew ‘Dru’ Wakely adds. “It is just us having fun.

But the show did give us a platform to shout about it, too.”

“I think an album is a good way to show where you’re at,” says Abingdon. “Last year, we were writing and pitching a lot of comedy,

and this year, we just thought, ‘let’s be in a band again!’”

Indeed, a big milestone for TMB last year was having their own musical at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, with the musical comedy horror, All Killer.

“It has been four years since the last record,” Horne adds.

This third album is certainly timely, as next year marks 10 years of The Midnight Beast.

Or specifically, a decade since they uploaded that fateful Ke$ha Tik Tok parody, a budget, yet greatly-loved, skit, which now sits at 16 million views on YouTube.

Plenty of Projects There is a good reason why TMB is only happening on a weekly basis — each of the guys has plenty of other things going on.

Abingdon recently put out the excellent The Boring EP under his solo project, St£fan,

EXCLUSIVE

The Midnight Beast

“The Ollie Waton drums from Spitfire Audio’s LABS range have often been the foundation of our drum patterns...” and is continuing to work with other artists.

Wakely is working on an animated series which he has written. Horne recently got married, and has been involved in his wife’s comedy company, making trailers and music for some of the acts.

While none of the new album’s songs are parodies of any songs in particular, it is a fantastic parody of current pop music in general. Particularly Butt Dial and Send Nudes, which are spot on pop/trap/hip hop songs, with absolutely ludicrous lyrics. I was excited to find out about the recording and production of the new LP, particularly as Abingdon’s studio is next to the living room.

In the Studio The first thing you notice is an entire line of Teenage Engineering’s Pocket Operators — 10, to be exact! And he’s also added their Op-1 to his setup recently.

“Splice has been a game-changer for me recently,” he says. “There are so many sounds of kick drums, synths, and just random things like people walking in the woods on there. It’s amazing to drag and drop all these sounds, to

play around with.”

I ask about the stunning set of white Genelec speakers on display.

“They’re the Genelec 8020C studio monitors,” Abingdon confirms. “One thing I loved right off the bat, is that they power save when you don’t use them for half an hour.”

Last time I was here, he had a pair of Focal speakers, which are now in storage.

“My Focals were just too big for the space.

The Genelecs are just so good for producing.

It’s just amazing that we’re getting the same kind of results from way smaller speakers.

“We used a lot of Kontakt 5 on this album.

There’s an amazing plugin called 808 Warfare, brilliant for the sub stuff. Exhale by Output was amazing for some of the later tunes, too — it’s great for getting that modern, pitched vocal sound that is starting to be used in indie-pop a lot.”

“We use Drumlab from Native Instruments quite a lot, which we thickened out with some other samples,” adds Wakely.

Spitfire Audio also played an important percussive part in the production.

“The Ollie Waton Drums from Spitfire

have been the foundation of our drum patterns several times,” Abingdon says. “These particular drum samples are actually free, on the Spitfire LABS website, which is amazing.

Then we have Waves plugins are on almost every vocal channel strip; I’ve got the SSL E Channel - it’s absolutely brilliant.

“A lot of the time, when we self-master, we’ll use the L2 from Waves, which is really, really good. Shout-outs also to the CLA Vocals plugin, the SoundShifter, and the Pitch Shifter - they really are all I need. I’m a fan of using what I know, and they’ve always been perfect for me.”

The Midnight Beast are very much back, as slick and slapstick as ever. After their stint at the Edinburgh Fringe, and a focus on writing, let’s be grateful that this comedy vehicle is back in the music biz.

Go listen to The Album That Nobody Asked For, and be sure to prove them wrong about that album title. www.waves.com www.spitfireaudio.com www.genelec.com

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One to Watch

McGoozer

MCGOOZER GOES INTERNATIONAL

We last spoke to McGoozer when he dropped his very decent ‘Songs From the Mirror’ in 2017. Since then, the Glasgow-born artist, who’s been signed to Right Track Records for two years now, has been climbing the musical ladder. We catch up with him to talk new music, solo tours, and supporting former Spandau Ballet frontman, Tony Hadley, across Europe.

Words Paul Watson “On the very first night I met Tony [Hadley], we were doing a promo in Holland, and because it was a promo, there wasn’t the whole entourage in tow, so it ended up just me, Tony, and the tour manager, in a kebab shop in Holland,” opens McGoozer, with a smile. “He’s a lovely guy, sound as a pound – and very supportive. I knew there and then that we’d get on well!”

They did, indeed. So well, in fact, that McGoozer was able to secure the support slot for the rest of Hadley’s European dates, rather than just the Dutch leg.

“We did five shows in total, and it was a fantastic experience,” he reflects. “It’s been huge for me, gaining the experience of playing solo – just me and an acoustic guitar – to packed out 1,500-seater venues, all of which were completely sold-out. I recorded one of the gigs, actually, which I am working on now for some kind of release – I’ve got behind the scenes stuff in there, too, which is cool.”

One of the tracks McGoozer was getting

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some great audience feedback from was Don’t Go, which happens to be his latest single.

Since it dropped on October 19th, he’s made a video for it, and it’s got some nice traction across his socials; it also made it to number 10 on the iTunes songwriter charts. Impressive.

“Yeah, it’s been great so far – and because the Tony [Hadley] tour went so well, I have been back over to Holland to do my own headline gigs, as I picked up fans while I was out there,” McGoo explains. “And Dutch fans are now coming over to see some of my London gigs. That’s a very humbling thing.

So there isn’t a new record yet, as such, but Songs From the Mirror is now available as a ‘Deluxe Edition’, now including Don’t Go, and a couple of bonus tracks, right?

“Yeah, as opposed to waiting for the second album, we needed to get this [single] out now,” McGoo insists. “So I did that, and added some bonus material from my latest recording sessions in Nashville, so yes, this is a deluxe version of that album.”

The Gigging Game McGoo is starting his 2019 US tour in Nashville in February, but he’s also coming to the end of his solo headline UK tour, which has been a real success.

“I have come from nothing, to getting some tasty gigs in the UK and overseas, so [my label] Right Track Records have done me proud in a relatively short period of time,” he declares. “I have a couple of festival slots sorted for next year, and the shows in the UK have been great: the single launch was really good fun, that was at the Century Club in Soho; then it was me and my guitar in a number of cities including Glasgow, Oxford, Leeds, Liverpool, and Chichester. I’ll then likely record a few tracks in November and December, and see what happens there.”

These solo shows have mainly been 150200 capacity, but it’s about building from that - spreading that vibe, as he puts it. Another growth area has definitely been social media.

“I did a cover of Take On Me by A-ha,

One to Watch

McGoozer

“I like to think that McGoozer is original in the purest form; if I stay true to myself, it’s a good place to be...” which firstly, shows off my range, and secondly, appeals to the Tony Hadley type audience. So I made a video, and put it on YouTube; it’s me doing it acoustic with a cello and violin, and the numbers on that went through the roof. It’s about finding those kind of opportunities when I can, really.”

Merch – believe it or not – is still a big winner, McGoo reveals.

“I still sell CDs at shows, because it pays for something, you know?” he says. Absolutely.

“It might be somewhere to stay that night, or whatever; but I tell you what’s been brilliant... badges! I give them away for free, it’s got my logo on it, and website details, and so many people post pics and respond to it on social media: ‘thanks for the badge!’ That’s really helped, which is funny, as it wasn’t deliberate; we just wanted something we could give to people, and before you know it, they’re not only sharing photos, but they’re often buying a CD because they got something for free!

“I sold more CDs on the Tony [Hadley] gig than I could ever have dreamed of, and it started to snowball from there, really. We’re definitely not selling them in droves now,

but every one helps – and it’s also nice as a memento for someone from a gig. We sell T-shirts, too, so merch is definitely key.”

How refreshing that people still want something tangible! So what happens next?

“Well, each little step adds up to a huge step when I look back over the year. A million things don’t come off, some almost happen – but that’s this industry,” McGoo admits.

“But just recently, things are looking a bit more rosy; and in the grand scheme of it, we have come a long way in a year: I signed my management deal two years ago, but we only started releasing stuff last February, and we have now made some decent leaps. So if we continue doing that, keep paying the bills, then who knows?

“I like to think that McGoozer is original in the purest form: I could hang my hat on any one of my songs, and tell you all about them, and where they came from; and if I stay true to myself, it’s a pretty good place to be.”

Indeed, it is. We wish our Glaswegian pal the very best of luck along the way. www.mcgoozer.com

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Lido

Magnetic Tendencies

LIDO: MAGNETIC TENDENCIES

They say that it takes a magnetic personality to succeed in music. Well, Norweigian-born producer, singer, and songwriter, Lido, seems to be a literal magnet; he grew up in a remote village in the mountains of Norway, and is now one of LA’s hottest producers, counting among his friends Jaden Smith and Hollywood actor, Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out, Black Panther). We were desperate to know how he achieved this feat, and about his studio setup that helps him maintain his mad magnetism.

Words Adam Protz “When I was a kid, my dad ran a gospel choir,” Lido says, in an accent that’s now more Californian than Norwegian. We’re at a studio he and his team are renting in Shoreditch, the creative hub of London. He’s looking remarkably chill in his hoody and torn jeans.

“I grew up in the mountains in the middle of Norway, and that was my main influence. It doesn’t really add up.

“The isolation of where I grew up contributed a lot to the type of music that I make. I started playing drums, and always thought I was going to be a jazz drummer.

After a few years of that, I realised I wanted to write songs.”

So we now know how Lido got into music.

That certainly doesn’t explain how he became the producer that rappers, artists, and actors all appear to want to befriend.

“It’s very, very random,” Lido says. “I played a show at Lollapalooza a few weeks ago,

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and I realised that there were a lot of people backstage, that a lot of people really care about. They’re all organic friendships, and I know that I could call any of them to ask to sleep on their couch. It really was organic — they contacted me, and said, ‘we should make music together.’ That’s pretty much how all my collaborators started out. And I think that’s how to make the best music. Mutual interest and respect.”

It’s an answer that perhaps leaves it even more open, but it’s a great sentiment, nonetheless. One that has clearly worked in the favour of this man, who has the world at his feet. Not to mention surreal.

“Yeah, surreal, for sure,” Lido nods. “I would say moving to LA, it’s the opposite of everything, where I grew up: the food, the traffic, the weather... the air! It was a culture shock when I first moved there.

Even romantic relationships, that shit is the

complete opposite of how it is in Norway, too! [laughs]” The purpose of his trip is to be at his own pop-up store in London, promoting both his music, and his new merch line. He’s also rounding the week off with a show at St Pancras Old Church, a tiny but enchanting music venue, just around the corner from the European travel hub that is St Pancras International Station.

Songwriting

Lido’s songs are within the multi-millions of streams on music platform-giant, Spotify, including the particularly excellent 3 Million, bolstered also by recent single, Corner Love, which hit three million streams itself within a week of release. It’s another celebrity story; the track features backing vocals by Daniel Kaluuya, one of the biggest rising stars in Hollywood, following star roles in Get Out

Lido

Magnetic Tendencies

“LA is the opposite of everything, where I grew up: the food, the traffic, the weather... the air!” and Black Panther.

Asking how on Earth he pulled that one off, the answer is: “Random! He’s been listening to my music for a few years. I didn’t know until Coachella this year — he came up to me and said: ‘I just wanted to let you know that I’m a huge fan.’

So I said: ‘are you fucking kidding me? I’m a huge fan of yours!’

“We just started hanging out after that. We listened to music, and talked about life. I was working on Corner Love, and I really wanted someone with a British accent to be on the last part of the song. He just said: ‘yeah, sure!’

He’s incredible. So smart, such a fun guy.”

In terms of structure, it’s a fairly experimental song, ranging from laid-back pop, to hip hop, and then the huge synthladen bridge section in which Mr. Kaluuya provides an impassioned spoken word part.

It ends with a heart-wrenching piano ending. This rule-avoiding approach to his

music is how Lido explains his friendship with Jaden Smith: “Both of our attitudes to making music are just: ‘fuck it!’”

Creative Vibes

With his studio setup surrounding us, we get right into the technical side of things. Not that Lido sees any of it as ‘technical’.

“I see myself as a producer who forgot to be a producer,” he says. We start of with his interface, that goes wherever he goes. “I always bring my [Universal Audio] Apollo. It’s my comfort zone! As long as I’ve got that, I know what’s going on.

“Everything in this studio and in LA is Universal Audio, but when travelling, it’s the Apollo. It sounds clean, and is everything I need when on the road — size wise and input wise. I like it a lot.

“I’m also a big Cubase guy. I like a lot of their standard plugins. I love Kontakt, use

that a tonne; and I love Omnisphere. Since they brought Keyscape in, that’s been a game changer, honestly. Such a huge tool. I love all the Universal Audio stuff, and I use a lot of the Soundtoys stuff; I feel like all of those are the most important to me, the ones I can’t make music without.

“The Soundtoys Crystallizer is one I use a lot, and their stereo enhancing plugins are so useful, too.”

As we part ways, Lido shoots me a very warm and genuine: “I appreciate you.”

They say that everything you appreciate, appreciates, and few people are as solid evidence of that as this firebrand musician.

Lido is one to watch, if you’re not watching already — because who knows where he’ll be, and who he’ll be making music with in a few years’ time, at this astonishing rate. www.lidolights.com

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%!*@

GRUMPY OLD ROADIE

As Time Goes By...

Where have you all been? I’ve been waiting for you. I’ve got something really important to say in this issue. Well, I thought I had, but had to read through all of my old ‘contributions’ (20+) to make sure that I’m not repeating myself. I can’t remember what I say one day to the next, so I’m not going to remember the verbal diarrhoea spewed out over the last couple of years.

Is this impending dementia or just an acceptable ‘old bloke getting forgetful’ syndrome? My mate’s dad died this morning. This is true. He was 80-ish, and had been in a care home for the last five years with progressive dementia. He went in being quite forgetful and showing all the symptoms, but as the years progressed, this formally very proud man ended up in nappies, a mere shadow of his former self. His standard of life had effectively ceased a couple of years ago, and he was kept alive to basically tick the boxes. It’s very sad, my mate’s understandably very upset. ‘Hollow’ is the word he used a couple of hours ago.

I believe in assisted suicide, and see it as only a matter of time before this country embraces this option. Like abortion, it’s a choice thing, but I for one don’t want to go down the dribble route. It might be more acceptable to the public to take early termination by Tull. This will avoid the inconvenience of having to go to Switzerland on the train when you’re half way doolally already, and probably ending up in Swaziland.

All you’d need to do is superglue your Beats headphones on, and play Jethro Tull ‘classics’ back to back on full volume for a full day. This is a sure way to death by boredom.

We’ve all got to die of something, and whilst the ailments of 30 years ago that would have well and truly killed us are cured, we’re now living much longer, awaiting being taken by dementia. I read only the other day that the first person to live to 200 has already been born! WTF? We’ll get to 100 and still have 100 to go. How the fuck will hospitals cope with the zimmer frames? It’s nonsense, 200 is way too old to still be alive. I can’t be climbing a fucking rope ladder at 100, or mixing sound at 150…

Mind you, the [Rolling] Stones will still be going at close to 200. Will Jagger still be able to skip over the stage? I bet he will!

I expect Rod will still look the same - just like Macca - with their perfect full heads of coloured hair, and only their ever-thinning vocals giving the game away. “If you want my body and you think I’m sixty…” will take on a new meaning.

I’ve long thought that as the population’s age increases, whoever the government is at the time will have to come up with some radical thinking to cap the age growth. I wouldn’t be surprised if they offer parents a financial reward at the birth of their child where a chip of doom is inserted into the baby which will be set to take the life at a set day. Maybe an extra million or so to the parents if they set the timer five years early? Anything to escape dementia.

So there we have it. Or did I say this in my issue six column? I really can’t remember.

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“We’ve all got to die of something, and whilst the ailments of 30 years ago are cured, we’re now living much longer, awaiting to be taken by dementia...”

SPITFIRE AUDIO