Headliner Magazine Issue 27

ISSUE #27

SUP

TIVE CO

PORT

THE CR

MM

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MAGAZINE

TONY VISCONTI RECORDING TECHNIQUES

UNI T Y

AMY MACDONALD QUEEN OF SCOTS

ISSUE 27 | £3.95 UK/$6.95 USA/$7.95 CANADA

5 SECONDS OF SUMMER BACKSTAGE IN PARIS

clean bandit

w h a t i s l ove ?

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Contents #27 Cover Story

P30 / Clean Bandit

08

38

SONIC VISTA INSIGHTS

QUEEN CORA

Our friends from Ibiza chat to singer-songwriter, Ryan Koriya, about his unique approach to live shows.

An inspiring conversation with the drummer who caught the eye of both Prince, and Beyoncé.

10

42

This Scottish songstress has shifted 13 million records, and is still only 31! We chat about her journey so far.

We walk you through the epic audio infrastructure of one of London’s premier venues.

AMY MACDONALD

WESTFIELD LONDON

12

45

CALIBRATING THE ROOM

JAN MOREL

We call on Source Distribution to help calibrate our mix room using Genelec’s AutoCal software.

A fascinating insight from of the great studio designers of our time (so say most of the world’s top DJs).

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48

This inspiring composer talks us through his process, and reveals that he wears more than one musical hat.

Midtown Manhattan, a team of six audio experts, an epic multi-room facility, and a work ethic like no other.

ILAN ESHKERI

18

NEIL COMBER

We head to East London to chat to this top producer about his go-to analogue kit, and favourite plugins.

22

5 SECONDS OF SUMMER

We’re in Paris with this Aussie fourpiece, whose touring team are right on the money in every department.

26

TONY VISCONTI

A chat about rock and roll, real songwriting, music production, and hip hop, with one of the greatest.

SANDBLASTING

52

TOM CURLEY

This Oscar-winning sound recordist gives us the lowdown on his key kit, and a day in the life on a movie set.

54

BLAKE

Three classical number one albums, and live microphones that are 1,200 shows deep, and still going strong!

56

JONATHON HOLDER

This extremely colourful character blew people’s minds at a recent London show. We were there.

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58

Clean Bandit’s LD, Liam Griffiths, and show designer, Rob Sinclair, tell us how they illuminate the talent.

Once tea boy for The Manics, now highly successful producer, with an 2019 MPG Award nomination.

LIGHTING UP THE BAND

30

COVER STORY: CLEAN BANDIT

Grace Chatto, and Luke and Jack Patterson, talk to us exclusively at London’s Strongroom Studios, about the making of their new record, What Is Love?, and how a hip hop vibe with that unique Clean Bandit classical twist has led to very natural, organic songwriting.

34

KEVING GLENDINNING

We chat to one of the best monitor engineers in the business about artist relations, IEMs, and lucky breaks.

HEADLINER | ISSUE #27

DAVE ERINGA

62

LEILA ADU

A chat with songwiter, music lover, and NYU professor, no less, who’s teaching her students to listen first.

64

GRUMPY OLD ROADIE

Robert is wondering how Santa might look wrapped in blankets, waiting in his grotto for the three wise reindeer.

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#27 From the Editor

“People were surprised to see violins in the club, but it was an electric atmosphere, and part of it was the surprise of that mix...”

Grace Chatto Welcome to our Headliner Christmas Special! Our cover story is a UK Exclusive - we descend on Strongroom Studios in Shoreditch, to chat to the formidable trio of Grace Chatto, and Jack and Luke Patterson, who make up Grammy Award-winning trio, Clean Bandit. We talk about their inspiring musical story so far, and the making of their much anticipated second album, What Is Love?, which has more of a hip hop vibe than their previous work, “but there’s still plenty of hip shake,” Grace assures us!

Talking of hip hop, mega-producer, Tony Visconti, has just worked on his first project in that genre with St Louis-based act, iLLPHONiCS. Never before has he dialled in so much low end, he tells Headliner, but the results are something to behold. In the past two years, he has been busy making records with Damon Albarn, and Jane’s Addiction frontman, Perry Farrell. He discusses his production process with us over coffee in New York City.

While in Manhattan, we pay a visit to SandBlast Productions - an audio post house with a twist, but “you have to think outside the box,” the team tells us, “in order to have any chance of staying profitable in the music business today.” A sentiment which rings true with many of us, no doubt.

We head to Paris to meet the 5 Seconds of Summer crew. This team are second to none, as is the sound out front, in fact: loud, and very clear - but it has to be, if they’re to drown out the shrill screams of the band’s enormous teenage fanbase! Beatlemania, mark two, springs to mind!

In London, we catch up with talented Scottish songstress, Amy Macdonald, whose 13 million album sales isn’t too shabby, especially considering she is still only 31! What a songwriter this lady is - and entertaining with it, we might add.

All this, and much more inside, including an insight into artist relations with revered monitor engineer, Kevin Glendinning; and a conversation with Queen Cora, one of the finest drummers in the biz - just ask Beyoncé..!

A very merry christmas from all of us at Headliner. Here’s to a fantastic 2019!

Paul Watson Editor

SOCIALISE WITH US: headlinermagazine.net @Headlinerhub HeadlinerHub headlinermagazine

HEADLINER | ISSUE #27

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

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

Artwork Rae Clara Gray

Contributors Adam Protz, Rae Clara Gray, Henry Sarmiento, Jon Tessier, Yerosha, Rick Dickerson

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Sonic Vista Insights

Ryan Koriya

10 MINUTES WITH RYAN KORIYA Ryan Koriya is a producer, singer, and songwriter from Zimbabwe. He cut his gigging teeth in the UK, spending his first summer performing at the 2003 Edinburgh Fringe before going back to London where he had just moved to. Now, as an international artist, music industry consultant, and label owner, he mainly draws inspiration from his acoustic guitar but is not shy to layer his songs with ethereal synthesisers and heart-pumping beats.

Hey Ryan. Could you give us a quick overview of your musical vision?

Sure. For me, music is a universal language, and my vision is in similar tow. My goal is to become a globally successful recording and performing artist, whose voice and sound have a home across different genres and different cultures worldwide. Music is the borderless healing agent keeping the world alight.

What inspired you to make your first EP, Mirrors Don’t Work In The Dark?

I was living in an abandoned hospital building right in the heart of London, near Oxford Street, where I even recorded in a former surgery with the x-ray light as my night light. What a dark, yet magical time it was for me. I had left my day job in Richmond, West London in order to take my music career head-on. I started busking on the tube,

08 Headliner

and on the South Bank. After one summer’s evening of busking, I saw a well-dressed lady wandering alone amongst the crowd, bawling her eyes out. I approached her, and helped calm her down; I played her a song or two, got her lots of napkins from the nearby Pizza Express, and walked her to her train home.

The song Ballrooms In The Sky is the story of that night. So the EP is like a sonic hug, and lyrical cup of tea, to comfort people on those dark days, which I’ve lived through myself. It’s the quintessential commuter’s album.

What are your favourite bits of kit?

I use the Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 interface, which goes everywhere with me. I love the crimson colour, too. It’s very me! My mic is the versatile Rode NT2A condenser that my voice sounds great going through. I’ve had it for at least 11 years! I also use it to capture

all my organic sounds: acoustic guitars, and even djembe. It delivers every time. And since I’m always on the road, and record on the move, I have a sturdy pair of KRK KNS 8400 headphones that I do my mixing on before gaining access to open speakers. I’ve had them since 2015, and they work hard!

Any favourite plugins?

Absolutely! I use the incredible new Hans Zimmer Strings from Spitfire Audio, sampled at London’s Air Studios. A whopping 344 strings players living on my hard drive, bows ready at my command! As a soundtrack composer and strings player myself, I’ve been lusting for something as realistic as this for a while. It’s just brought my strings sound to another level. You can hear real-life artefacts, and the variety of playing techniques they have captured is going to make people think I

Sonic Vista Insights

Ryan Koriya

“Music is a universal language, and my vision is in similar tow.” recorded the session live. I also use Addictive Drums by XLN Audio, which packs a punch: organic drum kits that I can chop and change with impressive adaptability and control. This means I get to travel with a string orchestra, and multiple drum kits to record with!

I record using Cubase, like Hans Zimmer does. I remember busking until I lost my voice, then going straight to buy my first Cubase package in a music shop called Sound Control on Tottenham Court Road. I had four of the staff members counting out hundreds of pounds in coins… what a sight! [laughs] Take us throught your live setup... [smiles] When busking, I use my Street Cube amp by Roland. It has two channels with effects, and along with my Shure WH20XLR head mic, it sounds so good that people often ask if I’m lip syncing to a recording! Well done Roland and Shure! I’ve had the Cube since 2007, and it’s still going strong today, and has gone all around the world with me!

Performing live is my biggest focus, so I’ve put a lot of hours into developing a unique show. It works so well that I get hired to play band gigs on my own, and even do sixmonth-long residencies in the same venue in Denmark, where they’d usually rotate the artist for variety. Plus, I play five-hour shows

there. I’ve never actually divulged the secret sauce, but this is basically the magic combo: I play my guitar in the key of D all the time, to suit my voice. My guitar, a Yamaha FG800, has never been in E since the day I bought it in Nashville! I use the infamous kick drum stomp box (Little Monster, made

by Wild Dog Australia), along with a second snare stomp box (an appropriated hockey puck), also Australian made; and thirdly, I have a simple floor tambourine. This gives me a kick, snare, and hi-hat combo, all played live using my feet. They are small, and hardly noticeable, visually, so people often assume I have a drum machine going!

I enjoy doing this live vocal delay thing, by actually singing the echo, and using mic proximity, which fans certainly find quite novel to watch live. In the spirit of making the show about the audience, I also don’t have a set list; instead, I feel my way from song to song, depending on the room’s vibe.

Then finally, I pride myself in being very engaging with my audience, so much so that by the end of the show, I often end up knowing where nearly everyone in the room is from, or maybe what they do. People end up staying longer than they intended, and come back a second or third day in a row.

At live shows, people also want to connect,

and have a good time, as opposed to just being sung at.

Will we see these cool concepts incorporated into your second EP? 2019 will see me release more music than I have ever done before, as I’m now starting my own record label, and I will be releasing multiple projects across various genres. It’s going to be an exciting natural next phase in my development.

Does Ibiza inspire you to create?

It actually feels a lot like Zimbabwe, which is partly why I chose to base myself here for now. You can feel this place was once a part of Africa that broke off the continent. It’s a very spiritual island, and I’ll actually be doing some recording at Sonic Vista Studios, which has the perfect artist vibe for being creative.

Surprising to some, I also chose Ibiza as a Zen place for me to unplug from touring madness!

A big thanks to Ryan, and the Sonic Vista Studios team, for bringing us yet another great Q&A! www.sonicvistastudios.com www.ryankoriya.com

09 Headliner

Amy Macdonald

Queen of Scots

AMY MACDONALD: QUEEN OF SCOTS

Scottish chart-topper, Amy Macdonald, is on the eve of releasing a ‘best of’ album — is she winding things down? Only recently turned 31, this folk-rocker has achieved record sales of over 13 million, and appears to be going from strength to strength. I sit down with the songstress to find out if this is the end, or if compilation album, ‘Woman Of The World: The Best Of 2007-2018’, is simply the closing of a chapter.

Words Adam Protz “It does feel a bit weird,” Amy admits.

“When I think of ‘best of ’ albums, I usually think of people like Madonna and Abba!”

We’re sat in a room on the ninth floor of the Langham Hotel, the swankiest of historic hotels in Central London — just the fact she’s doing interviews in such opulent surroundings gives you an idea of how well her career has gone so far.

“Which is why I’m calling it a ‘collection’ album,” Amy explains. “I think sometimes it’s important to take a step back in this industry, and appreciate everything you’ve done. When I listen back to it all, I just feel so proud of myself.”

Deservedly so, and she can also be proud of

10 Headliner

the collective sigh of relief from her hundreds of thousands of fans, who will be delighted by the confirmation that this album isn’t her swansong.

When I press on her how amazing it is to be in a position to put out a compilation album, she replies, modestly: “I feel like a phoney! I’ve never seen myself as a ‘best of ’ artist. Sometimes people feel uncomfortable talking about what they’ve achieved, and I’m definitely one of them so this has made me confront that, for sure.”

Woman Of The World The song does contain two newer tracks, however, one of which being the title track,

Woman Of The World — I ask why Amy was keen to place emphasis on this particular song.

“I think being a woman in this industry does make everything more difficult,” she says.

“I always felt I was being judged a lot harsher than a male counterpart would be. When you’re a female, it’s about how you look, what you’re wearing, about your hair, and what you weigh. It’s a song that’s about getting rid of all that crap, and focusing on the music.”

Her desire for independence and autonomy in a male-driven music industry reminds me of the new Netflix film, Outlaw King, a historical epic which shows Robert the Bruce’s fight with the English to gain justice and independence for medieval Scotland.

Amy Macdonald

Queen of Scots

“Every time I release an album now, everything has changed, but I haven’t really changed my approach; I just write my songs, and go on tour...”

Of course, Scotland recently voted on whether to become independent of the United Kingdom, and that question mark has arisen again since Brexit will see Scotland leave the EU, despite a majority of Scottish voters wishing to remain part of the union.

Is a desire for independence a decidedly Scottish trait?

“I’ve always been very proud of where I come from,” Amy tells me. “Who knows if I’d be the same if I was from a different part of the world? I think it can also be harder for Scottish artists to break through. I don’t think we always have great support. Somtimes you have to battle that little bit harder.”

And at that mention of ‘battle’, I ask what she made of the film.

“I did like it, actually! A lot of my friends don’t know about history — so if it makes people want to go away and learn more, then that’s definitely positive.

“We sometimes moan about living in Scotland, but then you see all the scenery in the film, and realise just how beautiful

Scotland is. I was saying that the bit they filmed in the bogs and marshes was probably filmed near my house, and then I found out that it actually was! [laughs]” Musical Evolution As this is clearly a reflective point in Amy’s career, we talk about how her breakthrough came via her sending a demo to an address she found in an NME advert (back when NME was still a print magazine). The music industry really has changed a lot since 2007.

“It is mental,” Amy agrees. “What’s funny is that even then, everyone found it bizarre that I got a record deal from sending a demo, because this was when people were being discovered on MySpace — Lily Allen, Arctic Monkeys... artists were all doing it that way.”

I feel safe in saying that Amy Macdonald must have been one of the last artists to get a major record label deal from sending a demo.

“Every time I release an album now, everything has changed. It’s almost all

downloads - especially now, with all the Spotify artist playlists. It’s like having to re-learn the industry each time I put out an album! But I haven’t really changed my approach — I just write my songs, and go on tour. I think if I was to come out with one of these tropical house remixes, it would feel completely bizarre! And just not who I am, or who my fans think I am.”

And that resoluteness and strong spirit is what has maintained her career for well over a decade now. Amy is back out on tour next spring and is, as ever, writing new songs. It’s great to get confirmation that this album is just a compilation of one chapter of her career, not its entirety.

Here at Headliner, we’re very excited to find out what her next chapter will look like. But, for the meantime, let’s enjoy what this woman of the world has given us so far, with her latest record. www.amymacdonald.co.uk

11 Headliner

Studio

Mix Room Calibration

A LESSON IN MIX ROOM CALIBRATION

In 2017, Team Headliner opened its first mixing space, uniquely located above a 600-yearold inn in rural St. Albans. Since then, much fun has been had, products have been tested, artists have visited (and revisited), and music has been made. A few weeks ago, we upped the ante, and invited our friends at Source Distribution down to educate us in the art of room calibration. In a nutshell: how can we make our space even better? Here’s what they did...

Words Paul Watson Mixing music can be quite an art - and although there are no real rules when it comes to what kit you should use, how you should use it, and how it should sound at the end, the key to getting the best out of what you have is so often in the room you’re working in. We had that in mind when we built our first space last year - a small rectangular room, which we treated as well as we could using a series of GIK diffusers, bass traps, and various other acoustic panels.

It made a huge difference to the reflective place we once knew, and when we upgraded our monitoring system to a set of Genelec 8341s, we upped the ante further: much more accuracy, no fatigue at all after long sessions, and a very ‘mix as you go’ environment was suddenly created.

However, although the mixes were getting better and better, there were still a few issues to overcome at the mastering stage, and we couldn’t figure out why. What we hadn’t explored at this stage was room calibration,

but the fact we had treated our room to a good standard before venturing into this world we knew would only be a good thing.

Tuning The Room When Andy Bensley from Source Distribution arrives at our studio to do some audio tests, he informs us that he will be using Genelec’s AutoCal (Automated Calibration) system, which works with all of the manufacturer’s SAM (Smart Active Monitor) loudspeakers and subwoofers.

To make this happen, he pulls up the GLM (Genelec Loudspeaker Management) software on his laptop. Still with us? Good!

To minimise the tech talk here, as it can be a little bewildering, we ask Bensley to walk us through the process as we go.

“Essentially, you lay the speakers out onto the grid, as you would see them,” he explains.

“The software doesn’t know the dimensions of the room, but it gives the software the location of the serial numbers, so it can see

Fig 1 (below) and Fig 2 (bottom): the final calibration readings for r/h 8341 speaker and 7360 sub respectively.

12 Headliner

the speakers.”

SAM can network up to 30 speakers, so if we were measuring a big Dolby Atmos, or large surround system, it’s also an easy way to access the correct speakers.

“It’s very straightforward in terms of the way it all connects together, and guides you along, but it’s a very powerful tool,” Bensley says. “You put the serial number in to marry it up with the calibration file, so the inverse of the file marries up with the frequency response of the mic - so you have a flat mic.

Without a calibration mic, you’re shooting in the dark a little bit.”

Bensley asks if we work mainly with the door shut. We do, so he closes the door, and turns off the fan.

“I’m ideally aiming for 60 degrees – 30 and 30,” he says. “The great thing about this space is there is a direct line of sight... apart from that bottle of vino... between yourself and the speakers [laughs].”

I remove the wine, and we carry on..!

Studio

Mix Room Calibration

“It’s important to realise that sometimes flat isn’t musical; you need to be inspired when mixing music.”

“We’ll get desktop reflections, but on the whole, we’re in good shape,” Bensley says.

Two high pitched noises follow - almost a ‘boing’ sound - and the software starts to work its way through the optimisation process. It will, he says, give us three readings. “[looks at results] OK, so that is supertypical of lots of spaces, and a room of this size; one of things we talk about, which not many other manufacturers do, is this quarter wavelength cancellation,” he explains. We study the readings. “You have a dip between 80Hz and 120Hz, and that is pretty much the proximity of the speakers to the back wall and you see this all the time.”

Bensley wonders if we could either bring the wall forward, or push the speakers closer to the wall, so the cancellation is moved further and further up - the idea being, if they’re right against the wall, we’ll just get direct sound, and the more of that, the better.

“However, it is a hugely musical area,” he ponders. “Snare, drums, low-end of male vocals, cellos, that kind of thing really does live in there,” I tell Bensley that occasionally at mastering stage, I’m lacking a little body in my male vocals, despite the fact that there seems to be plenty of it in the room.

“It might be that if you’re not hearing it, you’re putting more of that energy in, so we

might have to pull it out,” he says. “If you’re saying some of your male vocals lack some body, this area here - 200-250Hz - that is generally the meat of a male vocal, and we see this all the time in post-production: you see this hump because of desktop reflections.

What people tend to do is EQ it out, but you end up with thin dialogue, so if that’s being put back in during mastering, it makes sense.”

Big Bottoms The low end response is really good, Bensley declares; apparently, in spaces such as ours, there is generally a 10-12dB boost. Ours is at 8dB, so we’re in better shape.

At this point, we have swept the system left to right, derived directly from the speaker, and we have three readings. Bensley is now tweaking to improve where he can.

“The red line is the room response, and due to amount of room treatment, it’s fairly controlled; now it’s the reflections from the desktop - around 250Hz. This moderate bump in the low end isn’t ridiculous, and because of what I’ve taken out here, I will introduce some of that back in, to try and mask some of that,” Bensley says. “This is going back to the old school way of calibration. The issue you can get, though, is a big lording in the low end or the lower mid range that masks a lot of information in terms of reverbs and

stereo imaging. So when you pull this energy out, suddenly you’re revealing what’s going on further up - all the additional harmonics.

“So when we solve one area, we may solve something else further up – it’s a gentle process. We may add something around the 250Hz mark, and then we’ll end up putting in a little high shelf - or a house curve, as the live guys would say - so you’re still experiencing some of the low end at a low level without having to crank the system.”

Bensley makes said tweaks, and we pull up Spotify to listen to his go-to reference music.

He pulls down the volume of the calibrated version a dB or two for a true reference between the two.

“It’s just so you get a bit more of an objective view of what the calibration is doing: less smoke and mirrors. Anything that feels louder, and has more bass, is going to be instantly more appealing. So it’s fine for A&R playback, but if you’re looking for reference in terms of accuracy, then this approach is slightly better,” he explains.

As we listen back, the calibrated version is way smoother in the lower end. I also notice the low end rumble at the back of the room that was always prevalent has virtually disappeared.

“Your audio memory is super short,” Bensley reminds me. “So although it’s difficult

13 Headliner

Studio

Mix Room Calibration

“By lowering the crossover to 90Hz, the 7360 brought back the impact and coherency in the lower mids.” to back this up, what I go for is ‘how firm is it?’ - that’s much more tangible than ‘sounds nice’. So when I hear a track in a control room, am I moved? Is it larger than life? Is the vocal solid? Does it feel real, distant, forward, substantial? Those cues are important.”

Now Bensley creates a third group of readings, which he names cal-mod (modified calibration) He notices that because we have taken some of that low end out, we are now really bright in the high end: “It’s important to realise that sometimes flat isn’t musical; in post, you might want to hear every pop, gasp, and nuance, but you need to be excited, enthused, and inspired by listening and mixing music, so we might split the difference with the bass: maybe pop a dB or two back in. You want some energy to live in there.”

He nudges a little in, and concludes that it sounds better right away. Just a suggestion of having it back in there - not to the extent we had before - does seem to really work.

“The other thing that is huge is the offset in terms of level between the speakers – it’ll have a huge effect on stereo imaging, how firm that phantom centre is – and currently, it’s down one dB on the right side,” he says. This makes immediate sense, as stereo imaging has caused us a few issues in some of our mixes. “We will listen back, and kind of drag it in, then we’ll see where the vocal sits.”

14 Headliner

The Results The changes Bensley has made have really transformed the space. However, he still feels it can be better, and that a subwoofer might be the cure. He returns with a Genelec 7360 sub - and here is what he concludes: “Overall, both speakers show a relatively flat frequency response after the AutoCal correction. The two main areas where correction was applied is at 45Hz and 317Hz on the left speaker, and 47Hz and 326Hz on the right. This is encouraging, as it shows that the room has a good level of symmetry.

AutoCal was easily able to attenuate these peaks.

“Unfortunately, due to quarter wavelength cancelation because of the distance behind the monitors, we are seeing a severe cancelation in the lower mids between 65Hz and 120Hz. This is having a detrimental effect on the impact and coherency on snare hits, and overall, the system feels slightly soft.

“One solution is to move the speakers and desk towards the back wall, however, due to the lack of space on the rear wall, this may not be possible without removing and repositioning some of the acoustic treatment.

“The easiest and most effective solution is to add a subwoofer to fill in the gaps in the frequency response, and provide a smooth transition from the lower mids down to the lows. In addition, the system will be full-

range, and will reproduce frequencies from 20Hz up to 20KHz. “I position the subwoofer under the desk slightly offset to the left hand side.With the subwoofer installed and calibrated, we can see from the 7360 screen shot (see Fig 2.) that a relatively large amount of correction was required to produce a flat frequency response.

The result was a remarkably consistent response without any significant cancellations.

“Initially, the crossover point was set to 100Hz, in order to replace the lack of lower mids in the left and right response. However, I felt that due to the relatively high crossover frequency, we were able to localise the position of the subwoofer. By lowering the crossover to 90Hz, the 7360 provided a much more supportive role, and brought back the impact and coherency in the lower mids that was lacking before.

“I’ve then brought the 7360 slightly closer to the centre, and really anchored the sub, kick, and bass elements to the centre of the stereo image. Fortunately, the response of the sub remains balanced, and overall, has improved an already impressive system.” www.genelec.com www.sourcedistribution.co.uk

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Staying Versatile

ILAN ESHKERI: STAYING VERSATILE

Ilan Eshkeri, surely one of the most versatile composers and musicians currently residing on Earth, is telling me that he doesn’t enjoy multitasking. Or at least, juggling more than one project at once. “I just want to be completely committed to one thing that I’m doing,” he says. Eshkeri is at his home in Camden, North London, on a bitterly cold November day.

Words Adam Protz It’s perhaps surprising to hear, considering he has worked on one of the biggest variety of projects in a career that I’ve seen personally — blockbuster films like 47 Ronin, indies such as Still Alice, scoring a Burberry fashion show, and then finding time to work with the likes of Annie Lennox, David Gilmour, and KT Tunstall.

“I’ve been finishing up on a film called The White Crow, directed by Ralph Fiennes,” Eshkeri says. “It’s a biopic of Rudolf Nureyev, the story of his defection to the West. And now I’m finishing off a bunch of songs, which I’ve co-written with various people. Then, I’m about to start a computer game - or a video game, as they say in America.”

Born in London, the composer became part of the classical music world by learning the violin as a child, but would later learn guitar, as his love of rock music increased. A love for contemporary classical composers such as Philip Glass and Stockhausen developed, and

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he worked his way up into the film industry.

“I was very much making people tea at one point,” Eshkeri tells me. However, working with the likes of fellow composer, Michael Kamen, certainly helped set him up for where we find him today.

Much more recently, Eshkeri worked on the BBC hit show, Informer, in which a young man’s world is turned on its head when he is coerced into becoming an informer for the police. He tells me about how, these days, he makes sure he only works on projects that are artistically exciting for him, and Informer certainly fell into his artistic bracket.

“It’s the same when I’m working with a band,” Eshkeri explains. “I let them know that I’m going to be bringing something new to the table. If you don’t want someone bringing crazy new ideas in, then don’t hire me!

“Within the context of what we’re creating together, I want to make something that’s creatively satisfying for me. I’m looking for

that kind of alignment. The White Crow is about the identity crisis Rudolf Nureyev goes through after he defects to the West, which certainly reflects things I’ve gone through recently. And in Informer, Raza is living a normal life, until he’s coerced into hiding things from his family, and being different things to different people. I think that’s why the programme spoke to me.”

Plenty of Projects The premise of the programme gave Eshkeri a strong, conceptual idea to create the score with.

“We discussed how we were going to approach the music,” he says. “Jonny [Campbell, the series’ director] talked about wanting a classical score, and classical instrumentation — how that would feel, set against this urban landscape: solo vocal, solo cello, and that sort of thing.

“This was my crazy idea: what if I was to

Ilan Eshkeri

Staying Versatile

“Spitfire Audio are the absolute cutting edge of sample technology; the way Hans Zimmer was 15 years ago...” start with one line of music - for example, just a voice - and then another instrument will join in; a cello, say, which would have another melody underneath it; and then another instrument joins with another melody. All these melodies will combine to create a huge symphony of sound.

“I wrote the piece, separated it all out, and gave them all individually to the cutting room, who put the individual melodies in different places, and then joined them together when different characters met. It was all a bit of a mess, but it was the birth of a great concept.

Which led us to the idea of having just one piece of music, broken down into lots of different parts, which are gradually revealed, and combined together.”

What sets Eshkeri apart from a lot of composers is that he applies this approach to all his projects, whether they’re more artistic at first glance, or more commercial-looking. He certainly didn’t approach the 2016 Burberry Autumn Show any differently, composing a choral suite for the renowned fashion label.

“That whole show and collection was based on the Virginia Woolf novel, Orlando, and

Virginia is one of my favourite writers of all time,” Eshkeri reveals. “That was something I felt I could really get stuck into. So I wrote this piece; the choral, operatic parts were all based on lines from the novel.”

Plenty of Projects As with many composers today, an important initial part of Eshkeri’s scoring process utilises Spitfire Audio orchestral libraries.

“I’ve known [founder] Christian from Spitfire for years and years,” he says, enthusiastically. “Those guys are a few hundred metres up the road from me.

They’re the absolute cutting edge of sample technology. The way Hans Zimmer was, around 15 years ago. Christian is so passionate about it, and I love hearing him talk about it.

“Ultimately, I’m going to replace the samples, but I do always use Spitfire at the very start of my process. They’re without doubt the best people you can go to for the demo-making process.

“I do everything else through Pro Tools.

I’m also loving the Arturia analogue synth models — I love using those a lot. What else

do I love… Serato’s Pitch ‘n Time, I love that plugin. As a creative tool, as well, for making records; transposing vocals, making a bass part out of a guitar line - the algorithms are amazing. It’s a great tool.”

Eshkeri’s constant quest for creative inspiration has now taken him towards writing songs with Andy Burrows (formerly of Razorlight, and, of course, the drummer in Foregone Conclusion ‘mark two’, David Brent’s very own rock and rollers!) for a children’s TV show, and also a new computer game that he isn’t at liberty to talk about, only that he’s ‘very, very excited’ about it.

Knowing that he treats each and every project as a chance to progress as a composer, Headliner has no doubt that his music will give an enormous lift to both the game, and the programme.

Be sure to plug the gap with episodes of Informer in the meantime, available on BBC iPlayer now. www.ilaneshkeri.com www.spitfireaudio.com

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Neil Comber

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London is an interesting part of the world, and doesn’t quite feel like London. The massive complex runs alongside green spaces, and the Old River Lea, and was built for the 2012 Olympics. It’s now a bustling urban hotspot housing The London Aquatics Centre, The ArcelorMittal Orbit, parklands, offices, studios, playgrounds, and cafes. Mixer and producer, Neil Comber, known for his work with M.I.A, Charlie XCX, and Lianne La Havas, amongst many others, has only been here a week, and tells me I’m his third visitor: “I’m a 10-minute cycle from here,” he says, “and it’s bigger [than the last space], with a nice kitchenette, and views over the park.”

Words Yerosha

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NEIL COMBER A

fter moving from Chelmsford in Essex to Reading, and finding a course in Sound Engineering, Neil Comber went on to do another course in London, which led to work experience as an assistant engineer, and then a job at The Strong Rooms. He played in some bands growing up, and really liked being involved in music, but hated being on stage, therefore strove to do something within the business that didn’t warrant performance, as such. As the music industry has changed so much since he started out, I ask Comber what changes have made the most difference to his day to day workflow.

“When I started at 18, it was the very end of there still being money in music, basically,” he says, with a smile.

“People still made records in the traditional way, which now feels totally alien! Artists would make records Monday to Friday, nobody would be in the studios over the weekend, and everyone would get given champagne!

“It was a lovely way of working, and there was enough money for everything to function. But that’s just continued to decrease. Studios couldn’t afford to stay open anymore, and the studio roles became much more merged. Now, being an engineer is a near non-existent job. When I produce, I often engineer myself, and mixing is just me - and that’s a big change.”

After working at The Strong Rooms, Comber got a job at the legendary Olympic Studios.

“It was an unbelievably cool studio in West London everyone recorded there: Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles. A friend of mine - someone I went to college with - was leaving his job as an assistant there, and on the way out, recommended me.”

It was there that Comber met MPG Award-winning producer and mix engineer, Cenzo Townshend (who we chatted to in Issue 1 of Headliner!).

“I started working for Cenzo full-time, and then, unfortunately, Olympic shut down,” Comber continues. I sense a pattern here! “So we moved to Metropolis Studios. I had a room there, and gradually, over time, I started working pretty much by myself.”

I ask Comber if he recalls any standout projects from that time?

“There have been some good ones,” he reflects. “But I guess you always feel like you should be doing better than

you are doing; so you are always trying to make things better and better. So really, most of my old mixes I would just pick holes in now! [laughs] “I guess the first M.I.A album, Matangi - that was a very proud moment. We spent about two-and-a-half-years on it, and went all over the world. She doesn’t really have a mixing process, so it was kind of recording and mixing; I was basically her engineer, so it was natural to mix as we went, and build lots of production; we were making the record together, essentially, with lots of different producers involved at various points.”’t

MIXING IT UP

When it comes to being a mix engineer, collaborating can be a big part of it, with either the artist being in the room, or the mix being done separately, and then sent off. I ask what Comber prefers.

“There are plusses and minuses with both,” he says. “It’s really great to make decisions very quickly, because people are there with you, and they come up with fresh ideas based on what you’ve done, so it can be very creative. But equally, it can be nice to have my own space.”

In terms of his day to day, and given that a lot of people now do a variety of roles, I ask Comber what his work mostly consists of.

“It’s mixing, probably about 75 percent of the time - I do a lot of finishing with people, which I guess is a new kind of concept given the ever-changing way things are made.

Often with self-producing artists, they’ve got everything to a point, and it’s all there, but they still want a bit more creative input, as well as mixing.”

Comber works from a hybrid mixing system - a nice combo of digital and analogue kit.

“My mix comes out digitally in stereo through my Grace Designs monitor controller, which is literally the best sounding thing I’ve ever used. It’s like the speakers and the convertors and everything don’t exist - you are just inside the music. That’s my core listening, with my KRK monitors and Yamaha NS10s, running off a Bryston 3ST amp, which is all very classic, old school mixer vibes. It’s what I grew up on, and it’s what Cenzo had for a long time.

“In terms of analogue, I use the Antelope Orion 32 HD converters to come out. I’ve got the Cartec EQs, and the Pultec clones - which are really good for bass. Then

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“The Sonnox Dynamic EQ will pick out a frequency, but only when it gets loud - so it doesn’t ruin my whole vocal sound. Lifesaver!” there’s my SSL compressor, and the Urei 1176 compressor, which I tend to use on drums for parallel compression. The SSL is very fast; it copes with the attack and the punch well, and it slams in, and makes it sound cool, so pretty much all the drums go through that, and it helps give the mix more depth.

“The 1176 is for a bit of extra compression on the kick and snare. I’ve got a couple of spring reverbs, and my Distressors move around quite a lot, actually - they’re often just gently tickling all of the vocals together, or I use it as parallel compression for a lot of the music, as it just gives it all a bit more chunk.”

BOX CLEVER

To complement these classic analogue boxes, Comber has some key go-to plugins: “I’ve got the Dynamic EQ by Sonnox, which is super-cool. Basically, what it is really great for is when you have a sound you don’t quite want in a vocal - perhaps when someone pushes a bit hard, or the mic is compressing a little too much. It will pick out that frequency, but only when it gets loud, so it doesn’t ruin my vocal sound overall. It just tucks it back when it gets nasty, which has been a total lifesaver.

“It’s kind of solved a problem that wasn’t easily solvable. I mean, ultimately, what you could do is go through a vocal, and take out the frequency every time it gets loud. The reality is that it takes so long to do that, what would probably happen is I would take it out a little for the whole thing, and just make a compromise. So it’s a crucial plugin for me.”

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“The Waves SSL G channel and CLA-76 are on my general plugin chain. I grew up on an SSL G series desk, and the Waves EQ works in a really similar way; it feels very natural to use. And again, the 1176 is the compression I’ve always loved, and just makes everything feel beefy, so to have it as plugins to use on whatever you like is just great.”

Comber does work completely in the box from time to time - it depends on the project.

“As an example, all the M.I.A music is mixed completely in the box,” Comber says. “You can’t travel and use analogue equipment, so it’s a natural thing to happen. And sometimes, analogue equipment doesn’t sound as good - for example, the Pultec might slow the bass down, and make it too boomy, so I wouldn’t use it it’s not like it has to go through it. I’m a big fan of the computer; I think it’s a very powerful way of working.”

Brian Eno once said: ‘the temptation of technology is to smooth everything out, running the risk of homogenising the whole song until every bar sounds the same, and there’s no evidence of human life at all in there.’

I ask Comber how he feels about that.

“There’s stuff I’ve heard that’s all over the place, but it’s just brilliant,” he insists. “It doesn’t matter that you can hear microphone stands falling down in the background, because the vibe is just so perfect. I’m much more about the music; it’s all about bringing that out, and I would much rather someone slated a terrible mix of a brilliant song that I’ve worked on than say, ‘that’s a really great mix, but there’s

something not right, the song’s not good.’”

MONEY ON THEIR MINDS

With Ed Sheeran at one stage holding 16 of the top 20 Singles Chart positions in 2017, what are Comber’s thoughts on the UK Charts, and the way music is being released in general?

“I was watching Top of The Pops from the ‘80s the other day with my dad, and Paul Hardcastle’s song 19 was at number one - it would be mental for this to be number one now!

The charts just feel so random, because the way it works doesn’t reflect what’s going on, as streams count as chart positions.

“There are now heritage bands releasing albums to tour with, getting higher chart positions than when they were massive bands! I do understand, as labels have to earn money, but because they used to earn so much from the acts that did well, they could afford to lose a fortune doing cool stuff, and no-one really minded.

Now, everything has a pressure to earn money, and the reality is, a really catchy beat or hook from someone who has a following will almost certainly make money, and this obscure indie artist might not.

“There’s a balance to be found. The amount of people I work with who are funded in a different way - be it that they write film music on the side, or use family money, or have a wellpaid job - is a surprisingly large amount. But it does feel like it is going in a more positive direction than it has been.”

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5SOS

Live in Paris

5 SECONDS OF SUMMER IN PARIS Australian pop rockers, 5 Seconds of Summer (5SOS) descended on The Zenith in Paris last month to perform a high octane set to an audience that was so loud, the sound engineers had to plan their show around them. This is a common theme at their shows, I should point out – in Chicago, for example, the audience alone was hitting 120dB(!), which might give you an idea of the Beatlemania-esque excitement that surrounds these four lads from Sydney. Let’s dive in...

Words Paul Watson 5SOS made their name as somewhat of a YouTube sensation, but rose to international stardom after touring with UK mega-boy band, One Direction, during their 2012 Take Me Home tour. 5SOS have since released three studio albums, headlining three world tours in the process; we’re with their touring team during the band’s current global jaunt, the Meet You There tour, which supports their 2017 hit record, Youngblood. And it’s quite the spectacle.

On arrival at The Zenith, which is located in one of Paris’s nice parkland areas, there were quite literally hundreds of excited teenagers eagerly waiting to get a glimpse of the band – some looked like they’d camped out. This was 2pm, six hours before showtime!

After negotiating a backstage barrier or three, and holding on for dear life to my working pass, I am greeted by system tech for the show, Sam Proctor, who works for Liverpool-based audio company, Adlib, who are looking after this show.

“You made it, then,” Proctor smiles, guiding

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me up to front of house position. The Zenith has an almost ‘in the round’ feel – it’s as wide as it is deep, and although reverberant, not quite as harsh as an empty arena, despite the drummer’s best efforts, who is relentlessly hammering at his kit throughout this period of ‘downtime’.

I ask Proctor about the setup, and the preparation for a show like this.

“Well, everything is up and plugged in by 12.30, which gives Phil [Gornell, front of house engineer] a chance to do a virtual soundcheck, have a listen to the RF mic, and make sure he is happy; then we have about two to three hours of downtime before we get round to doing a soundcheck.”

It all feels very calm, I mention to Proctor there’s a lot going on, but no-one seems to be getting in anyone’s way. This, I am assured, is very normal on this 5SOS tour.

“They’re all good guys to work with: the management, tour management, and production team are really friendly and efficient, so everything is pretty smooth,

really,” Proctor explains, as we grab a coffee. I ask him about his role as system tech on this tour – and about the evolution of the role in general, especially since PA systems have got smarter, and production levels continue to rise almost exponentially.

“A system tech is able to walk the room, and make sure it’s consistent throughout the venue; so I need to check for anything from standing waves, to reflections going on, whereas the front of house engineer can’t really leave the desk too much,” Proctor says.

“Also, the way they’re analysing is with a much more artistic edge; Phil is listening to where instruments fit in, and maybe adding effects on top of things, whereas I am looking for, dare I say it, more of the intelligibility.

My job is to make sure everything can be heard properly, without it sticking out too much, as well.

“My working relationship with Phil at front of house is fantastic here, though – we know this system, and our setup, totally inside out.”

The PA system is by Coda Audio: 5SOS

5SOS

Live in Paris

“This Coda PA system is so flexible to our needs; the same box being able to deliver the same kind of clarity and punch everywhere is pretty special...” are touring 14 AiRAY boxes per side, with four ViRAY for downfill per side, and two SC2 boxes per side, on top of the arrays. According to Proctor, this is the most flexible setup, because this tour incorporates different sized venues.

“Adding the Coda SC2s gives us that pattern control, and helps us to add some weight to it; and the ViRAY down set to 120 [degrees] gives us that nice horizontal dispersion,” Proctor explains. “So when you analyse, you can really pick things out; it’s quite a bizarre sensation, but it’s true!

“To be going into a small club venue where you might have a half-tonne weight limit, and know that actually, you can fit your whole touring PA in without any compromise, is pretty mindlowing. You can put the same box in, and still keep that same tonal balance and impact, so the consistency of the system is just unbelievable.”

This is a view most definitely shared by Phil Gornell at front of house.

“The Coda system is so flexible to our needs,” he says. “If you look at the rooms we’ve played in on this tour, they range massively: from Sheffield Academy, which is under 2,000 people, to this place today, which is a 9,000-

cap arena. The same box being able to deliver the same kind of clarity and punch everywhere is pretty special.”

It’s the Coda system’s transparency which has really surprised Gornell since working with it: “It’s so clear, and so responsive to literally everything you do, so if you’re mixing a show badly, everyone in the crowd will know! But if you do it right – man, if you can get it to sing, it’s beautiful; the low end response is second to none, as it’s a transient, not a wave - an actual transient that you hear and feel. For such a small box, it’s insane.”

As 5SOS’ drummer continues to bang away, I decide to ask Gornell about his setup – I can’t see any overheads, for a start...

“Yeah, we’re actually spot-miking the cymbals,” he reveals. That would explain it.

“The whole kit is miked up using a Shure package, and downstage, we are on Shure KSM8s with Axient handhelds.

“All the guitars are Kemper [profiling amps], so there are no cabinets on stage. The Shure package brings a great consistency and familiarity that the guys are used to for their in-ears, which is as important as it is for me out here, actually.”

A Shure Thing

The KSM8 mic is great for headroom, Gornell says – which I guess is pretty useful when your audience is peaking at 115-120dB! “[smiles] It’s the detail that the KSM8 gives us - and also, the guys are kind of everywhere with their mics on stage: they can be off axis, go really quiet, then really loud, and it’ll still pick them up perfectly, without picking up the whole stage,” Gornell continues. “We have a loud rock and roll drummer up there (really?!), and he isn’t blaring down our vocal mics, which was very important when it came to our mic choice on vocals.

“I then have a Waves MaxxBCL, which is a limiter that goes on the end of my mix buss chain, which brings everything to life nicely; I am also using SoundGrid for my FX, which makes it easier for me to travel with all my favourite Waves plugins.”

On the kit, there are Shure SM91s, SM98s, and a bunch of SM57s, with Beta57s for a couple of the snare drums.

“It’s a great all-round package, and it is very tight; because we have spot-miked his cymbals, everything has to be close and tight, and that allows us to get true definition everywhere on stage. The Kemper element

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5SOS

Live in Paris

“We upgraded to Roxannes for this tour, and I have to say, the difference in sound has been absolutely incredible...” definitely helps quieten the stage down.”

Which is more than can be said for front of house, right?

“Yeah, it’s actually 100dB at mix position, so it’s tough, as we have to keep a quiet stage, as we want to have the full control [of the Coda system], so we can control what comes out front. The audience is made up of a lot of 13-year-old girls who are at their first ever show, and are screaming at 115-116dB. “I can’t compete with them, so I have to get some kind of clarity so they can enjoy the show, and feel what they want to feel, and not ruin their hearing. The band play a game with every crowd, seeing how loud they can get them, so we always have our ear defenders at the ready!”

Mixing on the Coda PA has certainly made everything that little bit easier though, Gornell admits: “Every day we fire it up, Sam [Proctor] just shrugs and smiles; we are so used to it, and have tailored how he and I work together with it. There have been a few shows where we haven’t been able to take the Coda PA in, and ironically, when we don’t load in and fly our own PA, it’s actually harder working on those days than when we do throw ours up in the air!”

Monitor World

Next stop is monitor position, for the VIP soundcheck, where I am about to get a small dose of what the engineers have to deal with

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from a 5SOS crowd: 200 (approximately) excited teenagers will shortly descend on the arena for what is essentially a private pre-show. An up, close, and personal 30-minutes or so with their heroes.

Before they start piling in, I chat with monitor engineer, Pavan Grewell. He’s working from a DiGiCo SD7 console.

“I really love the mic pres on the SD7,” he says, adding that he is running an SD Rack and a Micro SD Rack to accommodate the additional inputs for this show. “They’re so transparent, and that’s what I really enjoy – and need - for working monitors, because I am trying to give the band the truth of it!

“No colouration, unless they ask for it.

The drummer might ask me to jazz up a mix, or something, which is cool, but with this console, I ultimately get more of what is actually plainly happening.”

Grewell use snapshots for everything, to make the process as simple as possible: “I also have a snapshot for anything that needs to be done every day; for example, there is a portion in the set where Michael [Clifford] and Callum [Hood] switch vocal mics, so that happens with my snapshots. And I take timecode to trigger that.

“I use the internal FX within the console, which are great – and I use some Waves plugins, because there are a few extra tools I like to have: the Waves PSE is a lifesaver for me; I find that it helps me keep their monitor mixes consistent from show to show, as I

use it on their vocals to eliminate the room sound when they’re not singing. Then I have the Waves L2 Ultramaximizer on my master fader, as well as the SSL buss, or the API2500 - depending on who it’s for. And I love the R-comp; I use it on vocals a lot.”

In-ear monitoring is another very important element on stage. Grewell is a big JH Audio advocate: “I really like JH Audio, because [founder] Jerry Harvey has been in the game as long as anyone else who has been doing it at that level, and I simply cannot say enough about the support they give me,” he declares. “I find that’s important with something as personal as an in-ear; the sonic quality, and their philosophy behind how that comes first for them is fantastic, and something that I share; we are kind of like-minded like that, I think.

“I have always worked with JH16s - which I have had for a long time – but we recently upgraded to Roxannes for this tour, and I have to say, the difference has been absolutely incredible; we have a much fuller, outstanding sound, and the band loves them. I like as often as possible to be on the same ears as the artist I am working with, so I made the switch. In fact, I am gradually building my JH collection up! [laughs]”

Lighting it Up

Another key element of the tour is the light show, which has been handled by experienced production designer, Steve Bewley. He has a

5SOS

Live in Paris

“It’s the detail that the KSM8 gives us - and also, the band are often off-axis, and it’ll still pick them up perfectly...” long relationship with GLP’s advanced LED lighting fixture portfolio, and has been working with 5SOS since getting a recommendation from their in-house production team.

Bewley has deployed 60 JDC1 hybrid strobes, and 56 of the GLP battens divided between X4 Bar 10s and Bar 20s from the UK depot of Christie Lites, where Andy Strachan has been a long time friend and supporter of the LD. “I have worked with Steve many times over the years, and he is one of the most talented LDs around, currently,” Strachan insists.

Within the set design, the JDC1s formed part of the original concept, and according to Bewley, were always destined to be a major part of the current show.

“We use them for a range of purposes from strobes, blinders, side lights, ego riser lights - and as a big block of colour wash,” he reveals.

The X4 Bar 10s are placed inside flown custom mirror pods, and shone through the two-way mirror, not only to project beams, but to create effects on the surface of the mirror

itself. The X4 Bar 20s are used as backlight, and to radiate blades of colour from the floor.

Bewley is a big fan of the Bars: “They are great for the blades of light they throw out, and also the effects that are created with the pixels,” he explains. “The colour of the LEDs is always top notch, as is the reliability of the fixtures. On top of that, these fixtures are available in most territories around the world, which is a big advantage for consistency.

“As for the JDC1s, we have incorporated 60 in the rig, and they are great; we have had zero issues in the 40 or so shows so far.”

Efficiency

Having worked with the hybrid strobes for a while, Bewley knows how to use them to optimum effect: “We use both the strobe and the plate as big blinding lights for key moments in the set - but also, more subtle crowd light during talking moments. We also use both elements as multiple different strobing effects and tempos, as well as the pixel effects.

“The plates themselves are used as a colour

block to represent certain drum sequences and instrument parts. They also double as colour backlight and audience lights in certain parts.

Summing up the tour so far, Bewley praises the role of the GLP fixtures.

“They have really contributed to the creation of a big and bold show - both with subtle moments, and huge arena-like states.”

And while both GLP and Christie Lites were on hand to lend support should it have been needed, he said ‘this had not been required, as the fixtures were almost bulletproof.’

“The light output, colours, reliability, size, power consumption, and weight are all big factors for a designer, and GLP have addressed the needs and restrictions of LDs very well, which is why I use the products time and time again.” www.codaaudio.com www.digico.biz www.shure.com www.waves.com www.jhaudio.com www.glp.de

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Tony Visconti

A Lesson in Production

TONY VISCONTI: A LESSON IN PRODUCTION Tony Visconti is one of the world’s most revered record producers. Most famous, of course, for his extraordinary work with David Bowie and Marc Bolan. He and Bolan used to experiment with sounds together in their early days, when working with Malcolm Toft; both were equally fascinated in pushing musical boundaries, and working out how to manipulate sounds. It clearly worked. Any T. Rex record sounds as current today as it did back then. Remarkable.

Words Paul Watson Today, Tony Visconti is as busy as ever: he’s been making records with Damon Albarn and The Damned, to name a few; and he even delved into the world of hip hop with St Louis-based act, iLLPHONiCS, who he met when they opened for Kristeen Young, another super-talented artist who he’s been championing for some time. But how much has life in the studio changed since his time working with legends like Bowie and Bolan?

“It’s exactly the same,” he smiles. “When I worked with The Damned recently on their last album, I went to London to meet them, and talk about what they wanted to achieve from the record; and then we went to a studio in Brooklyn, and I had all my notes with me from our original chat in London. I tend to remind artists in the middle of the project what their goals were, because they often forget – I forget too, of course! [smiles]” Visconti is a big believer in preparing for sessions, and thinks that everyone should do so, rather than dive in head first, so to speak.

“People beginning to make records should always consider how important it is to do

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pre-production; what artists like about me is that I can coach them, and I can teach them how to sing better,” he says. “Young producers now tend to think, ‘well I’ll get 30 takes out of them, I’ll make a playlist, i’ll hack it up, frankenstein the vocal, and make it sound perfect by putting it through Auto-Tune.’

“But you can hear that records are too perfect today, and they’re not interesting by virtue of being too perfect. You only look at a diamond once! [laughs] But it’s the flawed ones that are the more interesting ones. Bowie and I together always kept those so called ‘mistakes’, because that’s the gold.”

Conversation turns digital, as we discuss modern day production techniques.

“I use Pro Tools 90% of the time, and I always upgrade, even though they sometimes crash, but Ultimate is the most stable Pro Tools ever, and I love it,” Visconti explains.

“The thing about the digital world, though, is that it’s outdated every two years, and that is just a sin against nature; in analogue, if you have a Fairchild, it still works! Anyway, I try to keep up to date on plugins, but try not to rely

too heavily on them, as there is always another way of doing it. I’ll just remember what I like about it. It is disheartening, though, if I open up a Bowie track from 2003 that I mixed, and half of the plugins are now redundant.”

MAKING WAVES

Visconti has had a solid relationship with Waves since 1990, and although he hasn’t yet made any Visconti product with the manufacturer, it’s something he would love to do sometime, when he has the time.

“I would love to design something with Waves, and it’s definitely something we will get around to some day; I’ve just been so crazy busy for the last two years, and these things take time and dedication, of course,” Visconti says. “I love the Waves L3 Ultramaximizer for drum busses; if I really want to squash drums, but want it to have a little bounce, it’s perfect.

It’s something you carry over from the old days: we used to buss the whole drum kit to other faders, and throw a compressor on them; and Waves does it very well with that.

“I also love the JJP plugins – I’ll often start

Tony Visconti

A Lesson in Production

“Hip hop now is what rock and roll was in the ‘70s: experimental, daring, bold, and controversial....” with one of his presets, and go from there, as Jack [ Joseph Puig] is a very good engineer.

“Then there is the The H-Compressor, which is wonderful; it’s one of the best compressors on the market, and it actually sounds like the analogue world. It gives you options, too; that stuff isn’t just eye candy, it really does do the job.”

AN ARTISTIC APPROACH

We start to chat a little about some of the talent Visconti has worked with recently.

“Over the last two years, I’ve worked with Damon Albarn on The Good, The Bad, & The Queen project; it’ll be out before Christmas. He is a brilliant, and lovely man – a very sweet personality. We worked for a year on that album,” he reveals. Bit of a creative genius, Albarn, isn’t he? “I am used to creative geniuses... They can’t throw me! [laughs] I know kung fu as well, you know... I also worked with [ Jane’s Addiction frontman] Perry Farrell on his record, which took about a year, too – I was doing them simultaneously.

“And then there’s the lovely Kristeen Young: she is wonderful, and I demoted myself to co-producer on her last two albums because she absolutely is the co-producer. She then went off and wrote a whole album without me being involved, so I have been demoted further – and happily, I should add – to being her engineer. And this is her best work yet; it’s

a re-birth for her. We’re making that now.

“I just came back from St Louis, and I recorded my first hip hop group; and these guys are the real deal. I met them, as Kristeen comes from St Louis as well, and she is a hip hop fan, and they opened for her at a show, too; they are called iLLPHONiCS, and I have known them for about three years. We kept flirting with the idea, but I am not a hip hop producer. But I love them that much, I decided to get involved, and it’s fantastic.

“I am now a Kendrink Lamar fan – To Pimp a Butterfly, what an album. Bowie and I used to listen to that before we started working for the day, because we just respected him so much. What hip hop is today, is what rock and roll used to be in the ‘70s: experimental, daring, bold, and controversial.” iLLPHONiCS are Bowie fans, too, so Visconti figures they can’t be far apart in terms of sensibility. I picture him at the desk, nodding along to slamming hip hop tracks... “[smiles] I loved it! It’s more low end than I have used on any other tracks, but that’s the beauty of it: there are no more than four instruments at once; it’s kick and bass, and ‘tickety’ stuff in the high end; a snare, claps, and vocals, with the answer vocal.

“It’s all their work, and I am co-producer of this. I brought stuff into this from the rock world. It’s mainly hip hop, but it’s a bit of a hybrid, as there’s a bit of me in there. I think

it’s going to be really great.”

Before I let Visconti go, I ask him if he has three pieces of advice for any budding producer trying to make their way in the world today. He reels these off, instantly: “First, you couldn’t have been born at a better time with regard to gear. You couldn’t build a recording studio unless you threw £300,000 at it, whereas nowadays, you are very fortunate to have plugins like Waves, and DAWs like Pro Tools or Logic or Ableton Live. So take advantage of that.

“Second, you make music to make a difference, by being creative, and by composing. You record music with this stuff, that’s what you do with it; so don’t mix the two up, as gear isn’t the be all and end all.

“Thirdly – and this is a big one - I know you get inspired by listening to what’s on the radio, and stuff, but your job, if you want to succeed, is to always support the most unlikely person. Find someone so far out, which I did with Bolan and Bowie, who is going to be tomorrow’s big star. If you’re gonna discover another Taylor Swift, what’s the point in that?

We already have one! So always look for the unusual, if you want to have a big hit; it’s more of a risk, but it’s not that much of a risk, really.

And you’re doing the culture we live in a great service by supporting the most unlikely artist.” www.waves.com

27 Headliner

Lighting

Clean Bandit

ILLUMINATING CLEAN BANDIT

Liam Griffiths & Rob Sinclair We chat to lighting designer, Liam Griffiths, and show designer, Rob Sinclair, to find out what kind of work goes in to lighting up Clean Bandit on tour.

“I’ve been with Clean Bandit for a while now; I love working with them, as the music evolves track by track, which means the show also changes to suit,” opens Griffiths. “Regarding the light show, I feel they trust my judgement on things, so they kind of leave it in my hands. Saying that, I’m sure if they weren’t lit correctly, they would be on my case! [smiles]” Show designer, Rob Sinclair, got involved with Clean Bandit a couple of years back. He designs the basic stage for the shows, and is much more involved when it comes to promo and TV appearances.

“This year, we went through a few variations before settling on the stage layout we have; I don’t think it would be wise for anyone to just let me get on with anything,” Sinclair explains. “My job is entirely to help the artists figure out what they want; it’s not me making any sort of statement in a vacuum.”

The process is always slightly loose, Sinclair says: “I make a silly suggestion, the band react, we speak, then I suggest something else; and we slowly circle the drain. Liam and Jack James from RCM (who makes the content) very much run things on the ground. They both do a fantastic job.”

In terms of pre-production, I ask Griffiths if it’s a case of following Sinclair’s vision, and developing the show as it evolves.

“Rob chats with the band regarding the show direction and design, and then we chat, and I come up with the best way to show off his idea,” Griffiths says. “I think any show you work on evolves when the tour progresses – I am always writing notes, and making changes to improve the show.”

Entec supplied the UK tour, and the core lighting kit included eight GLP X Bar 20s, 12 Martin Mac Vipers, 12 Solaris Flares, and 24 Magic Blades. Griffiths works from a Grand MA2 console. I ask him how the tour has gone, and how the new album launch was in Japan, which the band were particularly excited about when Headliner spoke with them.

“The UK tour was all O2 venues, so was pretty straightforward in terms of getting our production into these venues; I used the GLP X Bar 20s as side wash, as not only are the units sleek looking, but as always, the colour tones are great for lighting the band,” Griffiths explains. “As for the album launch we did in Japan, that was great – my standout moment with the band. It was a lot of hard work, but we were all very happy with how it turned out. It’s not often you get asked to do a gig in front of a historic temple, and I was so honoured to be a part of it!”

28 Headliner

“The album launch in Japan was my standout moment with the band.

It’s not often you get asked to do a gig in front of a historic temple!”

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UK Exclusive

The very likeable trio of Grace Chatto, and Jack and Luke Patterson formed pop electronic powerhouse, Clean Bandit, back in 2008.

Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve shifted 13 million singles and 1.6 million albums since; and hit superstar status in 2014 with their first number one single, Rather Be, in collaboration with Jess Glynne. The following year, they landed themselves a Grammy; and in 2016, they were UK Christmas number one with Rockabye, featuring Sean Paul and Anne-Marie. In 2017, they topped the charts once more with Symphony, featuring Zara Larsson. Last month, they released their second studio album, What Is Love? - which has a great hip hop underbelly, and no less than 22 guest artists: Charli XCX, Rita Ora, and Craig David, to name just a few. I sit down with them at Londonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Strongroom Studios, the day before the album drops.

Interview Rae Clara Gray Photographs Alex Cribbs 01 Headliner

clean bandit what is love?

W

e put on this really cool production that involved levitation and flying; that was maybe a pivotal moment,” reflects Grace Chatto, with a smile. We’re discussing moments in Clean Bandit’s career so far that they feel have made the most impact. “Luke’s drum kit, my grand piano, and Grace - we’re flying in hot air balloons, and our instruments are suspended from these hot air balloons, basically,” adds Jack Patterson.

“Careful, you’ll give away the trick,” warns Grace.

“I won’t tell them how it’s done,” Jack reassures her.

They’re clearly a charming bunch, so I dive in, and begin asking questions about the new album, What Is Love?

How does it differ from their previous work?

“There is a sound running through the album, whereas [2014 release] New Eyes was all over the place in that respect,” explains Luke Patterson. “Drum and bass, trap...

This is more refined, I think.”

“And slower, isn’t it? It’s all slower,” smiles Grace.

“Even though hip hop is slow, you wouldn’t think it’s slow; it’s more of a head nod than a hip shake,” suggests Jack. Luke Concurs.

“Yeah, there is still hip movement, for sure,” Grace laughs.

The record came about organically, Clean Bandit tell me: there was no plan, as such, about the lyrical content; the only thing they did have a plan about was to try and approach the writing differently, as the first album was all produced as it was written.

“It was done at a computer, while making sounds straight away,” Grace explains. “But with this one, Jack wanted to write at the piano, with piano and voice; and it was clear that the songs worked in that kind of stripped back form. With the first album, some just wouldn’t work like that: like Mozart’s House, for example.”

“It’s already proving a successful way of working,” adds Luke, with a smile.

“And that’s because we are promoting it with stripped

back sessions,” Jack explains. “And Solo is the only song I was worried about, but it’s actually fine – the production element was already happening while we were writing it, but we realised we could play the big bass line in the style of Nirvana, so it worked well!”

“Yeah, and you can sing the vocal chops – it sounds good,” says Luke.

OXYMORONIC

What Is Love? features a diverse repertoire of artists. I ask the band when they first realised that oxymoronic styles worked together. After a brief silence, I decide to elaborate: I explain that I do lots of ballet, and love doing it to hip hop. It strikes a chord with Grace.

“Ooh,” she smiles, seemingly in approval of my oxymoronic passtime. Phew. “I would say we realised this around the time we did Mozart’s House,” says Luke. “It was the first video we made, we put it up on YouTube, and it got loads of views - and we thought that was very cool. It’s catchy, but very unique, in the way it has classical strings mixed with weird synth lines - and there is a rap on it. “ Did it surprise them that people took to it that well?

“We thought people would like it, I think; it was only after we started doing it that we started thinking about it,” admits Grace. “Really, the first thing we did after the songs were made was perform them live in a nightclub; and people were surprised to see violins and stuff in the club, but it was an electric atmosphere, and part of it was the surprise of that mix.

“We played Frank’s Cafe in 2010 – that was when we first played in London – and it was to 2,000 people on a roof in Peckham, and no-one knew us; they were all hearing the songs for the first time, and everyone was dancing.”

“That was a pivotal moment, definitely,” Luke says.

“We immediately started playing live, and could see that people were liking it; there was no period of time spending ages in the studio worrying how people would react; we just took it out to the stage, straight off,” Grace

Headliner 31 Headliner 02

“It was clear that these songs worked in that stripped back form...” says. It clearly paid off.

Clean Bandit has such a great history of collaborations; I ask them what these guest artists bring to the table.

“Love Ssega is on the new album, and when we started, he was lead singer for three years; people don’t know that, but we were just a live band - we weren’t recording,” explains Grace.

“He was doing a PhD, and we opened Clean Bandit into a bigger collective. So Love Ssega doing a song on this record is very special – Beautiful is the song, and that’s on the deluxe version of the album.”

“I guess they are all stars of their own genre,” suggests Jack. “Stefflon Don is in a different musical world to someone like Zara Larsson; and it lets us lean into those sound worlds with some credibility. It’s very exciting for us to get into those different genres of music, and to be inspired by those artists.”

“And Rockabye was never intended for Sean Paul to be on it,” Grace adds. “But we played it to him, and he came up with that rap quite immediately, and it transformed the whole song from what it was intended to be, originally – so it isn’t always intentional!”

COLLABORATION

What Is Love? has 16 tracks, and 22 featured artists. Was there a standout moment?

“Well, the funniest was Sean Paul! After we finished he showed us all these ‘fail’ videos – he was obsessed with fail videos at the time,” says Jack. “Watching them on his phone was such a weird situation, but very funny!”

“Yasmin Green is funny, too; she is just a comedian,” laughs Grace. “She does funny Instagram videos, but she is one of the two lead singers of our live band, so we’re touring with her the whole time. She is singing on the 32 Headliner

song 24 Hours – which is about falling in love with someone at first sight, and that moment completely changing your life. It’s one of our favourites.”

I ask if they believe in love at first sight.

“No... No... [pauses] No,” says Grace, as they all laugh. That’s a no, then. “But, I do believe one very small event can totally change the rest of your life.”

“I do believe in it, actually,” adds Jack.

And you, Luke?

“Yeah, why not!’ he grins.

Clean Bandit have worked with Tove Sterke and Zara Larsson on this latest album; I ask them what it is about Swedish artists that interests them.

“Swedish people are just dominating music in a big way; there are so many great Swedish artists,” Jack insists. “A huge priority is given to creative people in Sweden, especially if they’re songwriters. You can get amazing support, and it’s taken very seriously.”

“But that’s not why we like Zara Larsson,” Grace laughs. “The first Hit Factories were in Sweden in the early ‘90s, which pioneered the premise of modern pop music - it’s groups of geeks writing great songs, and then they’re on the radio – people don’t know the hidden geniuses doing this.”

“But Motown did this, of course,” Jack points out.

“Yeah, though this is a new type of thing,” says Luke.

“The producers are different: it started with Ace of Bass, which was crazy, because it was four Swedish people who no-one knew at all; and Denniz Pop produced [Ace of Base hit] The Sign, and suddenly it was number one in the US for six weeks! And since then, that group, with Max Martin and Dr. Luke, have

really dominated writing for everyone.”

I ask Clean Bandit if they’re more at home on the stage or in the studio.

“Both have ups and downs; there’s no way you can get the same response in the studio than you can live, but then it’s just really nice being in the studio,” reflects Luke.

“It’s nice and warm in the studio, isn’t it?” says Grace, snuggling slightly. “But then it got very warm during the festivals – it got intense, sometimes it got so hot, I didn’t think I would be able to continue... Especially in those outfits!”

“Mine melted,” adds Jack, to Grace’s surprise. How?! “Well, our outfit had our logo on the back, and I realised it had literally melted during a show.”

That must have been pretty hot, then? [momentary silence] “Yeah, it was hot,” says Jack, as the room fills with laughter (again).

PRODUCTION VALUES

As the shows get bigger and bigger, the production values rise, too; I ask them how hands-on they are with their lighting and video show.

“When we first started, we made a logo out of geometric shapes ; the biggest one was probably the size of Grace - so not very big,” laughs Jack. “We had a rear projector, projecting video that we were somehow operating while trying to play our synths!”

“Jack trying to program like a maniac as he played! But it was revolutionary in our live show,” Luke says.

“Now we have an amazing team doing the production – huge amounts of lights, lasers, and smoke; our lighting designer is Liam Griffiths, and he has free reign; we don’t get

“It’s exciting to be inspired by all the artists we work with...” involved too much,” Grace says.

“He gets there the night before, and does it through the night,” adds Jack. “We don’t really understand why, but that’s what he does!

“If we are doing TV, we can approach it differently - we did the Royal Variety Show recently - but the normal live show is a lot of lasers!”

“Because we are a dance group, we are on lineups with massive DJs, with huge strobes and massive production, and we have to match up to that, so video and lighting is very important,” Luke says.

“Luke flies the drone, too - he is a certified drone master,” smiles Grace. “In our live show, having videos that have been shot from the drones is really cool, too.”

Conversation turns to Clean Film, the band’s video arm: they make their own videos, so the cycle, as Grace puts it, is kind of live, studio, then filming.

“The combination of all three is really important to us, as they’re all so different; if we were on tour the whole time, it wouldn’t be good, and the same if we were in the studio the whole time – so this makes it a nice balance,” Grace explains.

“They’re all different paces of life: the studio is super intense, and live is a different head space, as when we go on tour, we just play the same stuff every night, and get shepherded here and there, so it’s like you become a kid again!”

“The tour manager says ‘wake up’, basically,” laughs Luke.

“Bang the drums... now!” says Jack.

“And we’re all in this bus with bunk beds, driving round, playing cards,” whispers Grace.

BEHIND THE MUSIC

The new album is about different stages of love... Right? “[pauses] Yeah, different types, and different stages: different stages of romantic love are discussed, but then there’s family love in Rockabye; motherly love, and the sacrifice that goes into parenting, which is an unusual theme in pop music; and one called We Were Just Kids, which is about being brothers - Jack and Luke are obviously brothers – that’s featuring Craig David and Kirsten Joy.” “Craig was absolutely amazing to work with,” says Jack. “Every vocal he did was so perfect, to the extent that we assumed we had been playing the same one back each time!”

Conversation turns to the Clean Bandit album launch, which took place in Japan at a Buddhist Temple: why Japan, exactly?

“Because they love us, and we love them,” says Grace, sincerely. “In the very early days, we went there with Jack and Luke’s mum and dad – a family holiday to Kyoto, Tokyo, and Osaka - and fell in love with everything there, so when we were thinking of ideas for the Rather Be video, we found an excuse to go back there.

“We filmed it in a fish market in Tokyo, and made friends there, and we never knew at that point that the song would be such a big hit, but when it did get big, we went back to Japan and saw the people who we made it with. It’s a big place for us; we’ve been seven or eight times, now.”

“We are more emotionally attached to Japan than any other place in the world, actually,” reflects Jack.

“We do a collaboration with a Japanese

band, End of the World, and the guitarist is playing on Baby, our new single; we have done a lot of stuff with them, we toured with them across America,” Grace reveals.

I ask the band if they can share any standout Clean Bandit moment from their career so far?

“Hmm,” ponders Grace. “It’s hard to say, but we really enjoyed recreating our first album with a symphony orchestra; and we performed it live on Radio One with the Royal Philharmonic, and a small choir. That takes some beating.”

It does, indeed. Thanks to Clean Bandit and Atlantic Records for their time, and to our friends at Strongroom Studios for their formidable hospitality, as ever.

@cleanbandit www.cleanbandit.co.uk

33 Headliner

Kevin Glendinning

Kevin Glendinning wears two very high-profile audio hats: on the one hand, he is an acclaimed and respected monitor engineer, whose artist roster includes Alicia Keys, Justin Timberlake, Maroon 5, and Paul Simon; and when he’s not flying faders for these superstars, he’s heading up artist relations for industryleading in-ear monitor manufacturer, JH Audio. I sit down with him in New York City, where he’s currently working a theatre run for Idina Menzel, to find out more about the man behind the console.

Words Paul Watson

01 Headliner

ALWAYS LISTENING K

evin Glendinning was a drummer in a punk band in the mid-90s, growing up around the Chicagoland area. Seeing as he was the only one in his band with a job, and was looking after the limited budget, he threw the cash they made back into the audio gear. Tech-minded from the start, then?

“Yeah, but I had zero clue what I was doing once I stepped off the drum kit, so to say there was a learning curve is putting it mildly,” Glendinning smiles. “The band splayed away, and folks went off to college, and I inherited the stacks and racks, as well as the monitor system. I was a big fan of Metallica at the time, and wore out a VHS copy of a tour doc they had. In the credit, it listed ‘tour sound provided by db Sound, Des Plaines, IL.’ “Their shop was about four blocks from where my father worked, and he drove by to have a gander. I’d heard about db, as they were local, and had massive high-profile accounts like The Rolling Stones, Smashing Pumpkins, AC/DC, and Metallica - basically, my mix tape roster at that time!”

Glendinning got himself a Hotmail account, and emailed the company president, Harry Witz. That door got opened, and he’s never looked back since. Within a few months, in fact, he found himself out with Metallica flying PA, and helping with the stage rigs. This was Summer 2000.

“Talk about luck, huh?” he laughs. “Both Harry [Witz] and db are now under the Clair Global family in Lititz, PA. I ended up bouncing literally off of one tour bus to another: Metallica, to AC/DC, to The Rolling Stones. I had a good run being a company man, and got to stand behind some solid A-level monitor guys, who showed me a lot along the way. I left db, moved to Maui, and became an independent monitor man. I then got lucky once again with some gracious folks in Southern California, including Dave Rat and Dave Shadoan, and started to make a name for myself with management shops, as well as North American and UK audio vendors.”

I ask Glendinning if he would recommend this ballsy approach, in terms of reaching personal goals, to others.

“Sure. Hard work, lots of missed family time sacrifices, and having the ability to sleep anywhere at any time, and he or she may have a shot at ‘getting there’,” he says. “Oh, and

learn your frequencies – 20Hz to 20KHz; that is paramount.

That should happen before anyone steps up to a console.”

As we chat, we realise we met almost five years to the day, when Glendinning was working monitors for Maroon 5 at London’s O2 Arena. He’s had quite the fairytale relationship with those guys; they went from playing college gymnasiums, to filling stadiums, and flying by private jet.

“It’s fun to see that growth and success happen like that,” he reflects. Are all artist relationships as gratifying? “Well, over the years, I have had it quite close and personal, and other times, gone weeks without he or she even knowing my name, or who I was on the crew.

“Every account, every tour, every band - they all have their own unique ways of touring. It’s about adapting, and not taking it too personally if it takes someone six months to learn your name. For me, the pre-show interaction is not nearly as important as post-show. I always like to get in the dressing room, wrap up IEMs, and just catch some notes from the artists - good or bad - take them both, and have honest answers. It’s the music business; these people have heard enough nonsense BS, and you’ll be better respected for a direct answer, whether that is good or bad.

“Dave Shadoan told me once when I was struggling a bit with my crew on No Doubt in 2006: ‘Everything that happens up there is on you. You’re the captain of the ship, you take charge, and make sure you’re aware of everything that is happening.’ I always remembered that.”

ROAD DOG

I ask Glendinning what his stand-out moments have been from the last 20 years on the road.

“The Rolling Stones, where I was assistant monitor engineer, was pretty mind-boggling; being that young, and that integral a part on that massive show with so much going on with regard to stage audio. And [ Justin] Timberlake was by far the most ‘fun’, and the easiest on the mixing side of things. I had him on his own console - left and right ears, and that was it - like mixing PA on the stereo buss. But I’d say the best tour would be Alicia Keys.

She just has this way about her; it’s hard to describe, but it’s all please and thank you, start to finish. We had a full plate as far as mix duties, but everything always seemed calm and

Headliner 02 35 Headliner

“People know they’re getting the straight deal with JH Audio...” professional with Alicia. She doesn’t tour much these last few years, but I still hop a flight and do some one-off shows around the globe here and there. What a voice.”

Glendinning is a big advocate of DiGiCo consoles. He was introduced to the brand some years back when he got offered the Lenny Kravitz gig, after wrapping the Justin Timberlake tour.

“My old friend, Jim Douglas, offered me the Lenny show, so I specced the same desk that I’d used on the Justin tour, but Jim said, ‘Nope!

You’re using a DiGiCo D5!’ I told him I didn’t even know how to turn one on. But if it isn’t analogue, it has to be a DiGiCo with Lenny.

“So I went down to Jim’s shop in Escondido, and the Sound Image guys gave me a whipping three-hour tutorial on the desk, and we went right into rehearsals with it. Lenny and the band were pleased, and I was damn certain not to try another brand of console! Laurie Quigley (Kravitz’ front of house engineer) and I got the first pair of DiGiCo SD7s hot off the shelf, and shortly transferred right over to them.

“From then on, I can count on one hand how many times I have not used a DiGiCo desk.

They provide great road support too; crucial when it’s a show stopper. Thanks to Titus, Matt, and Chip at DiGiCo!”

SMART AT THE CONSOLE

I ask Glendinning if he’s hands-on with his mixing; it totally depends on the stage configuration, and show needs, it seems: “We all know not using snapshots saves a lot of head strain: less thought, more feel. I sometimes get so deep into a desk’s automation that I feel like an LD, or something! On Paul Simon, I had 17 humans on one console frame, and everyone grabbed a different instrument, 36 Headliner

and moved all around – downstage, upstage, from wedges to ears, fills on and off stage and I have no idea how my predecessors did that pre-recall! If I had mentioned to Paul something about snapshots, he’d have given me a look similar to if I’d asked him to lose the floor monitors, and wear IEMs! [laughs] “But on another tour, band guys would literally ask me to ‘global paste’ moves, or come over, pre-soundcheck, and request we pull up a song, and do edits. I am still amazed at some musicians, and their knowledge of how monitor systems function... [pauses] Only some.

“A number one attribute is the sound of an SD7; the bells and whistles are great, but it really has a tonal colour of its own. It’s warm where it needs to be, and even with excessive HF moves - which I tend to do a lot for IEMs it still sounds musical, and natural.

“I have never gotten vocal intelligibility from a singer like I have from an SD7. They keep furthering their onboard features, and I like that; I don’t really have the time, scope, or visual affordability to have racks of outboard units to toy with. One complaint you never want to get is that someone looked over, and your head was in a rack of compressors. The flexibility is nice on the SD7; anything can go anywhere, layoutwise; and the matrix routing is useful, too: you can put anything into your cue buss at anytime.

“This allows you to maintain monitoring on your console, but have crucial shout comms and talkback inputs supercede your listen buss when things are needed quickly, or if a crew member under the stage detects an issue. These days, comm talk is utilised in a huge way with stage managers, assistants, and security staff. We are way past the day of simple stage monitoring in the concert industry.

“We had a bomb threat on Bruno Mars

in Hawaii in 2011; my production manager came running right to me, grabbed my shout, stopped the show, got everyone off deck, and all personnel in a secure position. Crazy scary, but it was done quickly and calmly that way.”

JERRY HARVEY

Conversation turns to Glendinning’s close relationship with Jerry Harvey, which began in 2002 on a Rolling Stones tour. JH Audio had yet to be founded, but Ultimate Ears, Harvey’s first major venture, was the leading IEM brand of the time.

“Back then, Mick Jagger, all the BVs, and [Stones’ bassist] Darryl Jones were all on Ultimate Ears - UE5s and UE7s. As the IEM guy on staff, I had a hand in designing the rig.

We finally met after many phone calls and emails, and have been close acquaintances ever since that day; literally my favourite person, and best friend in our live audio community,” Glendinning explains. “I’m lucky enough that when he got back into the IEM game after parting ways with UE, and created JH Audio, he wanted some real world, well experienced live sound mixers on staff. We built JH from a small out of business hair salon in a parking lot to what it is today: global leader in the IEM business. So proud to have had a hand in that.”

Although he never thought he would have an ‘office’ position in the industry, of course... “[laughs] Yeah, but it’s a good mix - I field a lot of calls from musicians, mixers, and management staff, on questions pertaining to our product, and its role in the real world. We have an amazing staff, both with support, and production at JH HQ in Orlando, Florida.

“My main role is to generate sales, and advance revenue, but I think one thing that does really put us above the other guys is that we

“The SD7 is warm where it needs to be, musical, and natural...” have staff - myself, and a few others - who are still spinning knobs, wiring up artists, tuning RF, dealing with 1/8-inch jacks into different packs - all that matters in the big picture.

“I have been a customer of all the top IEM brands, but one thing I liked about going with JH before I was even hired was that I trusted that Jerry was going to design and develop a product that worked in any and every application. I still get to work alongside my colleagues and pals that are still on the tour path; and that part I also love: Keeping the connections there from all the miles I’ve done over the years is pretty special.”

AN ECLECTIC MIX

Glendinning’s most recent live sound jaunt was a slight curveball – away from rock and roll, and into the world of theatre, with the quite brilliant Idina Menzel.

“Idina was great; she had done some things with Alicia [Keys], so my name got put forth from that, when her regular monitor engineer wasn’t available,” Glendinning reveals. “You’re never surprised how and where your name gets put across someone’s desk for work; it’s a crazy small business we work in!

“Idina’s background is mostly Broadway theatre, so a bit different to what I am used to.

But we were doing an opening slot in arenas in the US on a promoter stage, so that all felt the same, really: local catering, bus life, standing on cover ice rinks; it was just the musical genre that was different, but I certainly enjoyed it, and what a pro she is. Very impressive vocals made for an easy show to mix, and we got on great.”

Glendinning also worked monitors for the huge Paul Simon tour this year - Headliner was fortunate to see the London leg - his last ever UK headliner.

“That was a very cool thing to be a part of - not just the monster London show, but the whole thing, start to finish, was really an honour. Paul is so unassuming and chilled, and his was some of the first music I ever heard, from my father’s old vinyl decks,” Glendinning reflects. “It’s funny, I always said chatting with Paul reminded me of dad; for some reason, the chatter always ended up about baseball! [smiles] “It was great to see James Taylor and Paul do that UK show in Hyde Park; they have basically shared the same crews, back and forth, so a great deal of old friends meeting up in person; the best part of festivals is seeing old road pals, for sure. James was on a JH single ear piece. It was unique in that we made his single piece to deliver a stereo mix. I know - it’s odd to think of a left and right mix into a single IEM, but hey, it’s what Mr Taylor was requesting, and he seemed over the moon happy with it.”

We talk a little about how much time (or not) artists put into looking after their ears in general - we hear shocking stories of tinnitus, and so many rock and rollers have lost elements of their hearing through crazy loud shows.

“Some artists take it seriously, and some look past the vulnerabilities of the human ear, when there is an IEM delivering audio millimetres from their tympanic membrane,” Glendinning says. “I see an audiologist regularly, as this is something I take very seriously. When we lose hearing, we don’t get it back. Ever had dinner with a bunch of sound guys in a noisy restaurant? You’ll know what I mean!

“I’ve done audiograms of myself at the same time as the artist, just to see what he or she has endured over time, as well as any dip or valleys in my own hearing response. Knowledge is power in that regard. We had a client who had been way too close to the crash cymbals for far

too many years, so I’ve had to add drastic EQ at times. This compensating for severe loss, it seemed to balance out or ‘flatten’ the perceived sound from the IEM. What may be harsh and brittle to some, may be just right for someone who has been on stage longer than you, with blaring wedges and sidefills in close proximity.”

I ask Glendinning if he has any tips for any budding monitor engineers out there. He does...

“Even before audio, get to know the lay of the land: what the vibe is with the crew, and, of course, the individual who’s signing your check,” he smiles. “But audio-wise, I always like to duplicate a great deal of things on the inputs.

Whether I use them or not is one thing, but I had a singer with a flu on an outdoor summer run, and he couldn’t hear well, or hardly sing; I duplicated his vocal channel into three identical channels, but added extreme HF cut to one of the channels, and a fair amount of dB make up gain for added level to another. I called it ‘the ‘gas channel’: extra fuel for when his voice was south on me!”

Before I let Glendinning go, I ask him if he ever sees himself pulling down his faders for good, or is that road dog element simply part of who he is.

“Man, you never know what lies ahead... I always said I’d never use a touch screen to mix sound, yet nowadays I don’t leave home without a DiGiCo! and I’m now a 90-show per year man rather than 300. People evolve, and plans change, just as our industry does.

“I love being at the JH shop, and we get a lot of calls ‘from the road’; they know they’re getting the straight deal, not a sales pitch; and nothing can replace real world R&D. So it’s kind of a best of both worlds role, I guess.” www.jhaudio.com 37 Headliner

Queen Cora

Queen Cora is an inspiration. An incredible career has allowed her to perform drums at two Super Bowls, and toured with the likes of P!nk, Prince, and BeyoncĂŠ. As the house drummer for Beverly Bondâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual Black Girls Rock Awards TV show on BET, she has performed with everyone from Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, India Arie, and H.E.R., to Mary J. Blige, Fantasia, and Yolanda Adams. She also owns a shipping container construction business, is an author, and has recently launched an international exchange program to empower young people in the arts and education.

Words Yerosha

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QUEEN CORA

G

rowing up in Houston, Texas, in a family that appreciated music, Queen Cora didn’t actually start playing drums until 9th grade.

“I did try and get in the band earlier on,” she recalls. “But there was some racial tension, so I didn’t really get the support I needed at that time. One of the councillors thought that I wasn’t going to keep up so if I would have joined the band in 8th grade, the director was going to put me in the 6th grade ensemble.

That’s just not cool! [laughs] “I ended up doing some theatre work, and learning about productions, which became an opportunity; so I didn’t just sit in the corner and feel like, ‘oh I’m never going to be anything’. My grandparents and my parents didn’t teach us that way.”

As soon as she was given the opportunity, Queen Cora very quickly learned her craft.

“My band director in high school, William Portis, was very passionate about empowerment; and I learned very quickly from just naturally being competitive in other activities I was involved in, such as basketball, competitive diving, tennis, and chess. So by the time I got to playing the drums, keeping up with the kids that were more advanced just became another competitive challenge for me.”

Queen Cora was also top of her class, and was valedictorian upon graduation,which gave her a lot of options for where to study; in the end, she chose Howard University in Washington, DC. She was deep into her competitive diving, but the music department was so inspiring that she soon made that her main focus.

“I was a part of the diving team in my freshman year, and I was looking at studying something that lent itself more towards technology; but, after I joined the marching band, I ended up completely changing my focus to music... It was awesome! An incredible, intense family experience.”

She also joined the concert band, the jazz band, the percussion ensemble, and in her sophomore year, became the drumming section leader - the first female ever to do so.

“One thing I always say to young people - and to people in general – is that life is filled with upbeats and downbeats.

It’s music. So, I did also have some downbeats in my life.

“My mother passed away a month before high school graduation, so it paved a different journey for me that I probably wouldn’t have anticipated, otherwise.”

STARTING OUT

And how did Queen Cora get into the industry itself?

“I had a few experiences,” she says. “I was definitely gigging by junior year; I was able to support myself fully, and live off campus, which was really good. It made my dad proud!”

It was in her senior year, whilst working at the Carter Baron Amphitheatre, that she met Sekou Bunch, the bass player who has recorded and performed with the likes of George Benson, Quincy Jones, and Michael Jackson. He and Rayford Griffen were performing with Patrice Rushen that evening, and Sekou came early for soundcheck.

“He just felt like there was something about me that was different, so he said, ‘I’ll give you my number, and whenever you come to LA, just call me, and let me know - I want to connect you with some people.’”

And call him she did. When she was next in LA, he put her in contact with numerous seasoned industry players.

“You know, when I would see my heroes in the drumming magazines, I would say, ‘one day I want to be like that!’ To actually connect with them was just excellent! I just felt like I was on the right path.”

I was fascinated to find out what it was like to work with Prince and Beyoncé - both musical icons, and both known for championing women in the business.

“For me, particularly with Prince, he was an advocate for excellence - and that’s what I took away. Being the fullness of yourself, but taking the time to know what that is, and to then develop that, is a really big part of it. So, in some ways it’s about eligibility and equality, because you still have to have a work ethic. It’s nice to be female, but you still need to get the job done!

“If the door opens for you, as it did with Prince and Beyoncé, where they expressed interest in me working with them, then I had to be able to maintain their standard, especially considering those who came before me. I got there because I could handle the chair on which I sat; you have to be excellent. Beyoncé is a leader: she’s a boss, a business owner, and she’s a philanthropist; but in her craft, if you take all of that away, she’s excellent as a vocalist, she’s excellent as a performer, excellent as a dancer. She’s at the top of all of her creative expressions without apology, and that’s what I pulled from those experiences.

“Prince was very knowledgeable about engineering; he knew the sound that he wanted, he knew the lights he

Headliner 02 39 Headliner

“Music allows us to process the world around us; it’s a lifeline.” wanted, the choreography, the production, and then on the other side is what has been another inspiration from both of them: they know their business. When you understand the business of you, then it also keeps you from the place where you are having to do something rather than choosing to do something.”

JAMMING WITH PRINCE

Meeting and working with Prince happened in the most wonderful way for Queen Cora: “He heard about me, and came to hear me play with a pianist/singer-songwriter, Frank McComb. I had already established myself in the industry by that point - Guitar Centre in the States used to host an annual national drum competition, and I won it in 2002! I won a car, and a bunch of drums, as well as the notoriety!

“So that inevitably increased my visibility nationally and, of course, I still kept playing.

Prince came to a show I was doing in LA in a club called Level One on Wilshire Blvd and Crescent Heights. He and a friend of his, the amazing jazz vocalist, Rachelle Ferrell, came to hear me play. Raymond McKinley was the bassist then, and told me quietly while we were playing. It was so surreal! After the first set, his bodyguard came up to me, because Prince wanted to meet me. Chris Hart was there in the audience that night; everyone was blown away.

“So, on the break, I went to meet him, and we just talked about music, quality of content, and lyrics, and its importance - I remember he talked about Jill Scott being a great example of that. After the show, he had to leave, but his assistant, Ruth Arzate, came up and said he wanted to get all of my information, and to send me the drum set of my dreams. It was incredible!”

I ask Queen Cora what kit she chose. Cue 40 Headliner

drum roll... (sorry): “I was already endorsed with DW, so I asked for this seven-piece kit. It was spider pine red, and you could see the beautiful wood grains with a regal gold trim; it was just gorgeous,” she smiles. “At that time, it really was the best kit I’d ever had; and the fact that he gifted it to me was even more historical. Once I got the drums, I called him to let him know, and thanked him. He said I should come over and jam at the house, and to bring the drum set. So I did, and it was awesome just jamming in his living room!”

Queen Cora worked with Prince for the next five years thereafter.

“We live our lives for so many different reasons,” she reflects. “Beyoncé and Prince both had the most solid understanding of their vision for themselves, and their brand, that I have ever experienced. I have the same drive and desire to be excellent, and deliver each time.

It’s like when I used to dive: the goal is to have an incredible performance, or dive and hit the water with as much finesse and as little splash as possible. It takes a lot of muscle memory, focus, and repetition; and I saw that same consistency and ethic in their expression. So, to those who don’t live life with that much intention, then it does seem hard, or unrealistic. The reality is, that’s what it takes to be on that level.”

We chat a little about the differences between a great live show, and a perfect studio session.

“The cool thing about live music is that you get immediate inspiration: you get reaction from the audience in the moment,” she says.

“But I love television and studio recording because I am a part of archived history. Each comes with its own personality, and reward; and they explore different sides of my playing, from the spontaneity of live performance, to the

discipline and simplicity of studio recording.

“My recent kit design is called the 360 Degrees Cosmic Electro Acoustic. It’s comprised of DW acoustic, Yamaha electronics, Sabian, Remo, and Audio-Technica. The reason why I like this kit so much is because it represents all of the tones: very high rototoms, short rack and gong drums, plus electronics.

And it’s like a spaceship! [laughs] It feels like artwork, and an adventure. DW has always been very supportive throughout my entire career.

“Sabian, Remo, and Yamaha are also a fixed part of my sound.What I love about them is that they offer versatility, regardless of whether I’m playing blues, funk, jazz, hip hop, or rock.

The tone quality of the instruments allows me to have the versatility and quality that I want.

Each environment, each element of the kit, and the results you want from the listener, begin at the drummer’s throne - and my companies greatly assist me in achieving that.”

Queen Cora suggests that music is an organised resonance of life, and of existence; it’s a poignant way to finish our conversation: “Everything is frequency, everything is vibration, that at a particular speed, becomes tone, or light, or colour. So everything is music, and music is everything. It is really only based on how fast or slow the frequencies are moving, to determine how we identify it. It’s all a rhythm. Music is important, and allows us to process the world and universe around us. It allows us to express our feelings through that journey of life in different ways, that are sometimes stronger and more articulate than we can communicate verbally. Music is a lifeline.” www.dwdrums.com www.sabian.com www.uk.yamaha.com

Venue Focus

Westfield London

WESTFIELD LONDON’S MEGA-EXPANSION Westfield London has become not only the largest shopping mall in Europe, following its new £600m extension this spring, but it also hosts more than 300 events a year. In addition to its manic retail activity, this includes high-end concerts for as many as 4,000 people, with relays to their giant retail screens and multiplex cinema. Headliner investigates...

Take this in for a second: you’re tasked with building a network infrastructure to carry the communication signals and IP addresses over fibre across 2.6 million feet of real estate (that’s 1km, end-to-end). Amazingly, this has been an organic process for Westfield London since owners, Unibail-RodamcoWestfield (URW), in conjunction with audio consultants, HD Pro Audio, employed Optocore’s BroaMan routing matrix system to do the whole job seamlessly.

The Westfield events team became aware of Optocore products back in 2011, during the planning of sister operation, Westfield Stratford City, but it was not until 2015 that it was decided the BroaMan system would be the perfect solution for mammoth video/ audio distribution. The systems designed and specified in 2015 have now been extended exponentially by current senior technical manager, Ben Davies.

A split inventory of seven remote BroaMan racks can easily plug into facility panels in any public or back of house spaces, in order to link events together. The new outdoor event space,

42 Headliner

Westfield Square, was specified with a grid of 37 floor traps, each with fibre connections, enabling visitors to enjoy the Royal Wedding earlier this summer from deck chairs on London’s largest external full motion video screen above the Square. Pretty cool.

“The idea was always for an easy plugand-play solution, to quickly link one area to another,” says Davies.

Initially, the event production team had looked to hire companies to provide temporary solutions for ad-hoc event signal distribution. Huge networks of temporary copper cables were therefore run across event spaces and service yards to facilitate this.

As the event infrastructure grew, and with IP connectivity becoming far more prevalent, HD Pro Audio’s Andy Huffer quickly made the case for Optocore and BroaMan, knowing it would cut down the cumbersome business of patching, and at the same time, provide a less expensive option than copper, particularly with add-ons, such as the construction of a video gallery.

“They needed long distance audio feeds

with a routing matrix because the pointto-point feeds were time consuming, and fraught with problems,” Huffer reveals. “They were initially interested in Optocore, but I informed them that BroaMan took the platform a lot further.”

The Kit

A BroaMan Route66 40 x 40 with hotswappable, bi-directional SFPs, accompanied by an external WDM frame, was initially proposed for Westfield London — and this was copied for Westfield Stratford City.

Both the Shepherds Bush and Stratford racks are identically configured, with a Route66 Optocore AutoRouter, Route66 40 x 40 Video Router, and WDM Frame; three Mux22-IVT/IVT 8 SDI-In/8 SDI Out, and three X6R-TP 8MI/8LO. Each system has the Route66 central matrix with a single Mux22 and X6R in the control room, with the remaining Mux22 and X6R combinations in remote racks.

The systems were installed in-house by the URW Events technical team, with specialist

Venue Focus

Westfield London

“Lady Gaga took to the roof in a specially designed snow globe to perform an intimate gig to 100 prize-winners...” wiring completed by David Tyler of Tower Communications, It was commissioned onsite

by BroaMan’s Maciek Janiszewski.

Phase Two

As for the second phase at Westfield London, which increases the indoor space by a third, and adds the outdoor pedestrianised Westfield Square, HD Pro Audio have provided a further Route66 Optocore AutoRouter and Route66 40 x 40 Video Router with WDM Frame, as well as five MUX22 8 SDI-In/8 SDI-Out, and five X6R-TP 8MI/8LO. Before committing to the system, URW had rigorously evaluated the platform against another proprietary media distribution network.

“However, we felt that BroaMan was more of an installation product, with greater immediate feedback on the front panels— and that the BroaMan product was generally a better solution for our needs,” reasons Ben Davies. “Maciek [ Janiszewski] would tell us, with total confidence, that if their system didn’t provide features we wanted, they would simply add them for us.”

Janiszewski himself recalls the original concept discussion, which took place at the BVE Show in London many years earlier:

“Over the years, we met frequently at trade shows, and built a strong personal relationship with them. Finally we came up with the solution that met their exact requirements.”

As a result, URW became the first adopters of the Route66 40 x 40 layout.

“Once we delivered the system, it just worked smoothly, straight out of the box.

Even though it was quite a large project, with a completely new core hardware router, we were completely confident. It was reassuring that URW trusted us sufficiently to become the first to use the new product.”

The first Broaman/Optocore deployment could scarcely have been higher profile, when Lady Gaga took to the roof in December 2016, where a ‘snow globe’ had been specifically created to enable her to perform an intimate gig for a 100 prize-winners, with the action relayed to the multiplex cinema at the top of the building.

Typically, says Davies, for major events, a BroaMan rack would be situated in the front of house control position, another at back of house, one in the press pen, and a final rack at an external location, where broadcast trucks park up with line of sight to satellite uplinks.

These are all linked together by the Route 66 matrix in the control room, routing the

correct signals to the correct places.

The BroaMan system offers the ability to tunnel through two additional IP streams by fibre. These connections are used for Gigabit connections from a network of Luminex Gigacore switches to stations within each mobile rack. Port aggregation on the Luminex switches allows a maximum 2 Gb bandwidth to each remote switch; this addition to the BroaMan racks takes care of all IP traffic.

In terms of signal flow, for the Lady Gaga show, video/audio signals from the event on the roof were sent (by single-mode fibre) from the remote rack Mux 22 unit to the control room Route 66 downstairs; the signals were then routed to the video gallery (where it was vision mixed), and then output to broadcast trucks on the other end of the complex, and the cinema screens upstairs.

“Innovation is so important to us here,” concludes Ben Davies. “We are very proud to have the opportunity to work with so many A-list stadium acts, demonstrating the value of the ‘Westfield’ brand.” www.broaman.com www.optocore.com

43 Headliner

The Clarett sound – now on USB Clarett USB lays down the challenge to interfaces twice the price. The ultra-low noise and distortion and wide dynamic range of Clarett can now be experienced with any Mac® or PC supporting USB 2.0 and above. The Clarett USB series features three interfaces: Clarett 2Pre USB (10-in, 4-out), Clarett 4Pre USB (18-in, 8-out) and Clarett 8Pre USB (18-in, 20-out). The included standard USB and USB Type-C™ cables connect to Mac® or PC, and you can record with super-low latency through amp simulators and effects plug-ins.

Includes:

focusrite.com/clarett-usb

Included standard USB and USB Type-C™ cables connect to Mac® or PC

Jan Morel

Creative Mindset

JAN MOREL: CREATIVE MINDSET We catch up with revered studio designer, Jan Morel, to find out more about his intricate work, and his partnership with Artnovion, one of the most forward-thinking acoustics companies in the industry today.

Words Paul Watson Jan Morel and I were both in attendance at the first Acoustic Summit in Porto a couple of months back, which was put on by Artnovion - so our conversation starts there.

“It certainly brought Artnovion into the picture, and gave it more exposure – because this is a relatively young company, but it is one with a serious focus about it,” Morel says.

“Its in [Artnovion CEO] Jorge Castro’s head: he wants to organise those type of things; he thinks and lives only for acoustics.

“I thought the Summit was a very good event, and it will only get better; I’d like to see more students, and end users, because people need to understand acoustics, and these guys are the people to deliver that message. It will grow, and this was a good place to start.”

Castro was once a partner in Vicoustic, and when he left, he formed Artnovion.

Morel got right behind him: “Jorge had the right vision and belief; I liked that, so wanted to get involved. Now we are working together, and it’s working out great. I need people that understand what’s going on in my brain – a shrink, maybe?

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[laughs] But I wrote to Jorge, and he invited me to go and see him; we started talking, and it was clear from the beginning that he had real passion, and got what I was about.

“He knew what he was talking about – and I started designing panels for him, and he loves it. He basically uses me as a designer, and he does the maths involved in it. They are a very forward-thinking company.”

Making it Happen I ask Morel to break down the process from concept to creation – it’s quite the art form.

“First things first, I do sketches on this,” he says, pulling out a giant iPad. It’s the new iPad Pro, apparently – but I can’t believe how big it is. “When you have a big head, you need a big iPad! [laughs] So I make my sketches on here.”

Morel flicks through some of his recent sketches, all of which are incredible. Then I see what I assume is one of the finished studios, boasting his Antares desk from his Artovion line.

“Oh, that’s just a render,” Morel laughs.

What?! “Yeah, that’s something else that Artnovion do - these amazing renders – they’re totally mind-blowing. And this helps me a great deal to visualise what the finished studios will look like. As I said, these guys are right on the cutting edge. They do everything that little bit better than the rest, in my opinion.

“The Artnovion package is very special.

They are everything I want from a company, and it’s a great partnership, to be honest. A no-brainer. It’s great having my own line [of acoustic furniture] with them, and I will be more involved with them in the future. It’s a relationship I want to evolve, and I want to help the company grow.”

Morel shows me some of his designs – the stands of the desk legs double up as speaker stands, he tells me, and the Antares desk has an abosrber on the bottom, too. There is also bass trapping in the legs of the Vector desk.

“So if you put the Vector desk in your room, it improves it straight away,” Morel explains.

“And we have bass trapping in the speaker stands, too; it’s the combination of the look,

Jan Morel

Creative Mindset

“The Artnovion package is special; they are everything I want from a company, and it’s a great partnership...” and the quality of product, that we go for.”

Morel describes himself as a creator: “It all comes from somewhere, but I don’t know, where,” he smiles. “I start analysing a room with my eyes, not only my ears; calculations are largely done in my head, and it just works.

“Jorge is also a creator, and an acoustic designer: he creates the community. He has the vision of how to do it, and he is an engineer, but he gives me space, and wants me to make designs. I send him the new pattern – this one, for instance [pulls up a sketch on the iPad], then he’ll have some ideas, and we go from there. Panels used to be made of foam, and were not very sexy – this way, we can make them look incredible.”

I put it to Morel that he is actually a creator of environments: he makes places for people to be creative, and get inspired in.

I ask what his most challenging build has been in recent times.

“Definitely James Deberadine’s studio, Club NOTO, which I took on three years ago - it’s in Philadelphia. He is a fan of Hardwell (who Morel is currently designing a new studio for

in the Carribean), and the other revered DJs. We met up, he had some drawings with him, and he invested in a pair of Genelec 1236As – so it’s a very serious setup!

“He’s only 24, but he has an incredible place to create in, and a club! He invites all the important DJs in the world to play there.

It was totally open plan before, but it took a year to transform it. It’s all breeze blocks, and then we put in a wooden frame, which we shaped to make it perfect, acoustically. These Genelec speakers are 400lbs each, with two 18-inch speakers in each; it’s the only studio monitor where you don’t need a subwoofer!

“We made three ‘wings’: small, medium, and large; and they are floating, so you break the standing waves, while also absorbing frequencies.”

Always Working Projects are bubbling all the time with Morel.

In addition to the new Hardwell studio, he has taken on a huge project in Rotterdam for a DJ/producer, which will include ‘the vampire room’ – all in red, of course. Colour is a big part of Morel’s creative process, and he

believes it helps inspire artists.

“They all want amazing colours, and many of the rooms I design and build have amazing lighting, which helps the artist or producer or DJ to get in the zone,” he says. “And switching it up can alter the whole mood and atmosphere within the space. The approach is a little different for the singer-songwriter than it is for a DJ: In Brussels, we have a huge control room two studio rooms to build.

“It’s also always more difficult to make a larger room sound better, and some different acoustic treatment is required for musicians playing in a space; you want to keep some of the reflections, and the live vibe. You need to hear the finger snap in the room!

“In the control room, you will have a lower reverberation time, and the norm is 0.2 seconds at 250Hz; and you can achieve this most of the time. In the recording space, you can have reverberation times up to 0.5 seconds at 250Hz, so a little bit of ambience is fine. As long as you kill the standing waves, of course, or it’ll colour your sound.” www.artnovion.com

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NYC

SandBlast Productions

SOUND MATTERS AT SANDBLAST We take a stroll up Broadway to visit the guys at SandBlast Productions, based right in the heart of midtown Manhattan. It’s a stunning post production facility, but with a truly creative twist. We speak at length with Loren Toolajian and the rest of his hard-working team to find out just how much work and ‘out of the box’ thinking is required to keep a place like this firing on all cylinders, if it’s to thrive in today’s ever-changing music business.

Words Paul Watson “Mike [Ungar] and I always wanted to make a creative environment where creatives could... create!” smiles Loren Toolajian, co-founder at SandBlast Productions. “Ralph [Kelsey] was the same: let’s bring people together to collaborate in creative ways, and see how we can make that collaboration interesting, provocative, and hopefully meaningful. It’s always what we have tried to do.”

Toolajian, along with his co-founders, Mike Ungar, and Ralph Kelsey, run the show at SandBlast; Ben Soifer (assistant engineer), Melanie Reed (operations director), and Sean Canada (chief tech officer and senior mixer), make up the super six, as it were. And they all have extremely key roles.

At the time of writing, for example, SandBlast is in the midst of scoring a 26episode animation series coming out of China; producing and recording up and coming NJ-based songstress, Stephanie Schulte; and working on a nine-episode podcast series with a couple of renowned

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playwrights. An eclectic one stop shop, right? “[smiles] Well, one of the key things is that we listen – not only as audio guys, and as musicians - but we listen to you,” Toolajian enthuses. “Our business is about creative problem solving; we are there to interact at that level.”

Interesting concept, and smart, certainly.

At this point, Mike Ungar makes a point that resonates with me.

“Sound matters, and not just to us, but as an emotional component to all the outsets of sound: the music, the overwhelming effects when you watch a movie like Star Wars,” he says. “Imagine watching any movie without sound: be it things blowing up, heartfelt moments, or a car chase scene; there’d be more than a little missing without the audio!

“And molecularly, too: the vibration of sound touches people on a physical, emotional, and spiritual level. It’s a very, very creative business that we have made for ourselves, and I think the point is that it has to be that to be successful, and for us to

continue to be profitable. We all have to be engaged with the creative process in a lot of different ways.”

Each of the three partners are quite exceptional musicians, too: Toolajian is an accomplished pianist; Ungar plays trumpet, and the planetary gongs (worth a Google!); and Kelsey is an established percussionist. All bases covered there, then!

Experience Prevails

The fact that not only each partner in the business - but each person involved - brings something unique to the musical table, has set SandBlast in good stead over the years.

“Because of Loren’s experience in the theatre and radio, my experience in producing music, and Ralph having started his career off at Regent Sound - he was one of the first guys to get into audio post as a specific place for television - the depth and breadth of our experience really adds to all of the projects that we work on, as well as bringing a unique perspective to them,” Ungar explains.

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SandBlast Productions

“We always wanted to make a creative environment where we could bring people together to collaborate...”

“Everyone in our stable of engineers and support are all musicians, too; and [director of operations] Melanie Reed, who started out in our tape room some 12 years ago, now knows every aspect of production, and what each client’s needs are. She knows every question to ask, and who to refer them to; we’re in constant communication to accomplish that.”

Toolajian’s theatre background deserves a mention, too: during the ‘90s and early 2000s, he was composer and resident for New York’s Signature Theatre Company, and collaborated with a whole host of playwrights, including the great Arthur Miller. He also wrote a piece of music with the late Sam Shepard - one of the greatest playwrights of recent times - and it remains one of his proudest moments.

“At one point, it was decided that we needed to record [the piece], so we went to a studio downtown,” Toolajian recalls. “Mike and I produced it, and Mike engineered and mixed it. It’s basically a 20-minute operata, and I listened back to it today, and to me, it is still one of the most perfect examples of true collaboration. Mike would have ideas, raise this, add a harmonium – which was killer, I should add - and I can tell you right now, I

wouldn’t change a single note of it, even now.”

Also vital to the company’s success is its roster of top-flight audio post engineers who rotate through the in-house production facilities at two premium cable networks in New York City, for whom SandBlast provides audio post mixing, scheduling, and maintenance. It’s a seriously solid crew.

Technically Speaking

Unsurprisingly, the guys are particularly well versed on their audio. I ask them to take me through some of the key SandBlast kit. Sean Canada gladly obliges: “The main facility uses all Avid hardware: the HD I/O, MADI I/O, and Sync HD. The converters are very clean, and the units themselves are so easy to use; the multi-pin connectors make gear swaps quick and easy, and we’ve generally been able to use off-theshelf breakout cables, which saves time and money, to create most of our connections, but the DB-25 form factor has made it easy to design the few custom cables we needed.

“We have seen a quick decline in printing masters to physical tapes in the last few years, but it does still happen occasionally, so we need a system that can handle any job that

may come in. So, by using add-on digital I/O cards, we were able to expand our inputs to allow for loading source material from HDcamSR, then quickly switch back to our analogue inputs for recording voice, external sound design modules, and instruments; and then back to AES to print to the master, all without needing to stock extra I/O devices.”

Most of the SandBlast gear is in the box these days, so there isn’t any need for nearly as many hardware I/P as the facility used to use think three interfaces with analogue expansion cards, back in the day. How times change..!

“We generally only need the stock eight analogue ins and outs; when we have a big music date, we switch to the MADI I/O for up to 64 channels at once. We are wired to the stage of the club downstairs, too, so we can record a rock band, an entire string ensemble, or even a gospel choir. Pretty cool.”

Indeed. Mic-wise, a Neumann U87 is a goto for voiceover, vocals, and even a lot of Foley. but SandBlast also stocks various shotgun mics, ribbons, small-diaphragm condensers, SM57s, 421s, even a vintage Soundelux U95.

Because SandBlast’s business model demands flexibility of work time and environment, they are often shuffling projects between studios

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NYC

SandBlast Productions

“It’s a very creative business we’ve built here, and the point is, it has to be, to continue to be profitable...” in the main facility, and their respective home studios.

“Even a little laptop editing on the bus,” Canada laughs.

Smart Thinking

To ensure seamless transfers, SandBlast needs to maintain identical systems everywhere; as any plugin will require eight or nine licenses, a lot of thought goes into which plugins are needed, and what their value is.

“For sound design and general music creation, we lean pretty heavily on the Komplete Ultimate bundle,” Canada reveals.

“They have such a variety of sounds, from traditional orchestral and ethnic instruments, to dark and twisted ambient beds, so we can create almost anything we want.

“Inside Pro Tools, Waves is a critical part of what we do. The L2 and the WLM are basically what keeps the lights on; we couldn’t deliver to broadcast specs without them.

The whole Renaissance suite also gives us great-sounding audio tools for all kinds of applications; and the Q-series EQs are like digital surgery; when used with the X-tools, we can fix almost any audio problem.

“The special-FX plugins are perfect for creative sound design, like the SoundShifter Graphic, and the Supertap delays, not to mention all the great modulators; and mastering plugins like C4 and Vitamin also help us quickly and easily dial in the huge sound we look for on so many projects.

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“I love the suite of Waves Renaissance plugins: they’re versatile, and easy to use,” adds Toolajian. “The GTR3 Stomps are a favourite, as are the H-Comp delay and compressor. I also refer to the PAZ Analyzer often, to make sure what I think I’m hearing looks right, too!”

Toolajian’s studio rig is pretty simple, but very effective. I ask him to take me through it.

“I am a big fan of the Focusrite Scarlett; I like it because it’s simple, and dependable,” he says. “It’s perfect for me, because I only occasionally need to use a mic, or plug in a guitar; most of the time I’m in the box, either working on music for a boxing promo, sketching out horn parts for a Sesame Street project, or making harmonic changes on the piano for a song we’re producing for an artist.

So the Scarlett is ideal; it allows me to quickly get up and playing. I never worry about it.”

A huge part of Toolajian’s composition stems from his many Spitfire Audio libraries.

“They’ve been my go-to for a while. I have a bunch: Albion, Albion ONE, Tundra, Iceni, Loegria, Uist, British Drama Toolkit, Labs, BT Phobos, LCO Strings, Orchestral Swarm, Sacconi String Quartet, Symphonic Strings Evolutions, BML Mural Evolutions, Evo Grid Strings, Evo Grid 3 Strings Motion, and Evo Grid 4 Woodwind,” he says. Is that all?! I ask for a cool example of a big Spitfire project, and he rolls out a belter: “In 2016, I scored the feature film The Lennon Report, about the day John Lennon died, and what really happened at the hospital.

I relied heavily on the Spitfire libraries to create layers of textures that supported the emotions on screen.

“That is, ultimately, what good movie music does - support authentic storytelling - and that’s always what I get from Spitfire. For me, libraries are voices that I sometimes blend together, sometimes let stand on their own, and often, at times, surprise me, so there’s a quality of improvisation present.

“It needs to sound alive, and that’s one of the qualities I enjoy most about the Evo libraries, and the Toolkit: sounds are changing, morphing, breathing, so there’s a ‘now-ness’ that sometimes changes a beat later, and sometimes lasts a bit longer. In the score, I also used real violin, cello, and viola to complement the virtual instruments.

“One of the stars of that movie, David Zayas, is directing a feature in 2019, from his original script, and I’ll be working with him on the score for that film. I am so looking forward to that!”

Post House With A Twist

With so many facilities and audio post shops shutting their doors, there is an ethos and intricate level of planning that goes on at Sandblast that gives it such an inspiring edge. I ask the guys to try to summarise it, aware that I may as well be asking ‘how long is a piece of string?’ Here’s what the team had to say: “First and foremost, it’s about attending to our main and most loyal audio post clients;

NYC

SandBlast Productions

“We equipped each of our home studios with the same setup as SandBlast; it’s been a total game-changer...” those who have been with us for many years, and who continue to count on us for our sound expertise. Our most loyal client is one of the primary premium cable entertainment networks; for them, we consulted when they decided to build an in-house facility over 10 years ago, and we offered to help them transition by staffing their three audio post rooms, as well as scheduling and maintaining them. This collaboration continues to this day, and we couldn’t be more grateful for it.

“We’ve also provided the same kind of service for another NY-based cable network, using a dedicated staff of freelance engineers to rotate between their two audio post rooms, five days a week, to mix everything and anything, ranging from interstitial promos to feature segments.

The second thing SandBlast wanted to do was understand the ongoing trend towards unsupervised mixing: “Most of our clients are busy people, with multiple responsibilities, so the ideal for them is to send us the assets, tell us what they need, trust us to do it, and then move on to the next item on their check list. When we built our facility six years ago, we accounted for this trend by building a boutique studio with two-and-a-half mixing rooms, and a VO/ music booth, to accommodate our clients when they do want to sit in on a mix, but most importantly, we equipped each of our home studios with the same setup as the studio so that, functionally, we’re a six- or seven-room facility with the capacity to

operate 24/7. Mike and Ralph have been mixing segments for the ESPY Awards on ESPN for close to 20 years now, and the flexibility to work from either home or the studio has been a total game-changer for them, and for us as a whole.

“Everything we do is built around listening well, and taking care of our clients.

With this model, we can do both of those things consistently.”

Diversification

On the fourth floor of their building, SandBlast not only built its own studio, but took space on either side, as well as further down the hall, so that they could, I quote: ‘create a creative environment for creative people to create!’ [cue lots of laughter] “We always wanted to have a place that existed as a hub for collective collaboration, so next to us now is Public Square Media, who have been producing content for, and with, legendary journalist, Bill Moyers, for years. Also attached to that space is David Robinson, a principal in Moonshine Media USA - a company that works in all aspects of digital design and production.

“Dave created the concept of Stage2Stream, a platform for capturing, mixing, and streaming live music from the famed Iridium Club in New York City. As a result, over the past four years, SandBlast and Moonshine have collaborated with artists like Dua Lipa, Rob Thomas, Dawes, Cheap Trick, Shawn

Mendes, Joe Jackson, Muna, Jennifer Nettles, and Steve Vai. “Down the hall is another of our collaborators, 3 Beep, a company that offers its foreign clients and partners original scripts and screenplays, creative ‘punch-ups’ of existing scripts, voiceover casting, singing, direction, recording, music and song composition, sound mixing, and deliverables.

SandBlast provides many of its audio and mixing needs, plus access to our VO booth.”

So it’s fair to say, then, that to be a successful post audio house in 2018 and beyond - in central Manhattan, at least - you have to not only constantly think outside of the box (yet, ironically, work in it for the most part), but it pays its dues (and some) to build a team that knows each other inside out?

“For sure! You know, it’s all about staying active, curious, and engaged on many fronts simultaneously to make it work,” concludes Toolajian. “At times, that can feel most challenging, but usually it’s fulfilling, and often totally exhilarating.”

What a pleasure it’s been - a huge thanks, and best of luck in 2019 to our friends at SandBlast - arguably the hardest working, and most creative post house on the planet. www.sandblastproductions.com www.spitfireaudio.com www.waves.com

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Tom Curley

Sound Choices

TOM CURLEY: SOUND CHOICES Sound recordist, Tom Curley, started out as a production assistant on the 2002 movie, Time Machine, and 13 years later, landed himself an Oscar for Best Sound Mixing for the 2015 hit movie, Whiplash. We ask him about his musical story, those magic moments, and go-to kit.

Words Paul Watson Conversation gets underway, and I ask Curley how he got into the industry, specifically sound recording.

“I remember having loved movies as far back as my memory takes me; I never thought it was something anyone could be involved in until I found a filmmaking club in my high school,” Curley recalls. “After having a blast in this club, I decided to go to film school, graduating from the University of Buffalo, where I learned film history, theory, screenwriting, production, made my own films, and also worked as a set PA on a few professional films.”

After graduating, he continued to look for a career in filmmaking, something that he could passionately dedicate decades of his life to and in 2001, he got his first big break.

“I was working on Dreamworks’ The Time Machine, where I met sound mixer, David MacMillan, and boom operator, Duke Marsh.

They mentored me on that set, and I felt like I had found a craft that fitted all of my skills and goals,” Curley reveals. “I then began learning more about production sound mixing, and saving to move to LA. One year

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later, I would be mixing my first feature, Roger Corman’s Demon Slayer.”

In a nutshell, Curley records dialogue and other sounds on the sets of motion pictures and TV shows; he’ll bringing portable, top quality audio kit to film sets, and manage a small crew of technicians to get the best sound he can out of each shoot. At the end of the day, these get handed in, and the editors and post-production techs fine-tune everything into a finished product.

“At the moment, I am recovering from four months of filming season two of the Paramount Network series, Yellowstone,” Curley smiles. “It has been a very impressive and demanding job for all involved, but it has proven to be a hit, and deservedly so. The scope and size of the show makes for great entertainment, but the crew are working in the rugged outdoors of Utah and Montana, day and night, often in rain, snow, and wind, which can get exhausting. Since the end of the year is usually quiet for production work, I have taken December off, and will begin pursuing new projects in January.

“As a freelance operator, the saying goes:

feast or famine. You never quite know which one is headed your way! Sometimes I get multiple calls a day, sometimes I can’t buy a job. The great thing about the Los Angeles sound mixer community, however, is that we all tend to help each other out. When I have too many jobs coming my way, I have trusted colleagues I can refer to the client. When I am looking for work, I can call on some of them who are flush at that moment.”

Wireless For Success

I ask Curley what his go-to audio kit is when on location.

“While there is plenty of debate in the sound community about wireless use, we all use it, and often have no choice but to rely on it to get the sound we need,” he says. “I understood this coming up, and knew that you get what you pay for. I have had experiences with poor quality wireless, and it can turn an otherwise straightforward job into a nightmare, quickly. Even the best wireless gear isn’t infallible, so it’s worth it to get the best you can afford. It is here that Lectrosonics comes into view.”

Tom Curley

Sound Choices

“I used a PDR on the film A.X.L on a dirt bike rider being followed by a drone; it performed beautifully...”

Curley first started using Lectrosonics kit as a master control engineer and news mixer at a small NBC affiliate.

“They were frequently seen on the film sets I did PA work on, and that generally meant the kit was pro level,” he recalls. “When it came time to spend my own money on kit, I had a few options, but Lectrosonics not only has an incredible track record, but also helped project the professional image I wanted clients to have of me as a mixer.

“As my career has progressed, I have tried different brands here and there, and at the top of the line, they are all good, but I didn’t want to have a scattered bunch of kit, as it’s easier to integrate everything in a logical, neat way.”

Curley started out with two Lectrosonics 211 systems, growing to four, which lived in a rack mount antenna combiner on his cart, or loose in a bag with whip antennae.

“These worked well for the gigs I was getting, and while I rented 411 systems, when they came out, I didn’t buy any, as my analogues were working well, and were reliable. When the SM series came out, I began adding them to my kit, along with the dual slot receivers, allowing me to work in a mobile rig, or on a cart, with more channels in less space. At the height of this, I had four dual slot receivers in the Lectrosonics

Octopack, giving me eight channels working off of two antennae.”

Stepping Up

More of Curley’s jobs were at this point asking for more and more tracks, and with the advent of 12-track field recorders, he then moved to using two Venue receiver units, with a total of 12 SM transmitters.

“I really like the advancements they have made with these, especially the remote control features,” he says. “I have kept my dual slot receivers to use for bag work, and more remote or light duty shoots. The Lectrosonics PDR has been a great solution for times where a body mic or plant is needed in a situation where the wireless just cannot deliver.

“For instance, on the film A.X.L., released last Summer, I used a PDR on a dirt bike rider who was travelling up and down a mountain course, being followed by a drone.

There was no way to get a sound cart or antenna anywhere near them, so the PDR came in, and performed beautifully! It uses the same timecode as my recorder, so I just take the files off the micro SD card.”

I ask Curley what the biggest challenges are when capturing audio on these huge productions, and how he overcomes them.

“As the size of the crew and set increases,

the ability to make quick changes becomes more difficult,” he admits. “If we need to move all of the equipment trucks half a mile away from the set, we will need to predict the future a bit for some things. Will we need to bring rugs, or pop up tents? Will we be riding on a 4x4 gator into the mountains? Will we be on a riverbank, or in a boat?

“The options the show has at its disposal means that we need to communicate more, and also do a bit of mind reading, to make sure we have everything we need. The best assets I have in this regard are my crew. They are often the eyes and ears! One thing I have done is built two carts: one small and nimble, with less tracks and less weight; the other with more tracks, that can handle bigger scenes, but it’s larger and heavier.”

I ask Curley what he thinks is the most satisfying part of the job?

“I think knowing how much of an impact sound can have on the emotional impact of a story, and that I can contribute to so many people enjoying their entertainment like I have,” Curley reflects. “The other satisfying part for me is the unique access to people, and little random spots in the world, that most people don’t get.”

www.lectrosonics.com

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Blake

A Classical Evolution

BLAKE: A CLASSICAL EVOLUTION Recently, front of house engineer, Rick Dickerson, was called upon after almost a decade away, to work some shows with his old pals, Blake - a super-talented British three-piece, who have topped the classical charts several times. He takes us through this reunion, and grabs a chat with the band about their musical story, and some recent live shows.

Words Rick Dickerson It’s 2009. I’m on a UK tour with a vocal group called Blake who’d had some success with their first two albums, both of which had reached number one in the classical chart.

As part of the PA spec, the company was providing them with four radio microphones from in-house stock. However, the band had spent the previous year on tour supporting Katherine Jenkins, and prior to the tour, her engineer, Dick Rabel, had acquired them a radio system from Audio-Technica. I’ve known Dick Rabel 30-odd years, and he’s a guy who has always picked and supported products on their individual merit, not on a brand name, so I knew I had to try them out.

At the time, I was a little sceptical, although when the guys presented the rack unit to me, and I had a look in their microphone case, I was pleasantly surprised to find the radio mics fitted with Audio-Technica’s superb AE5400 condenser capsule. I had long been a fan of the AT4054, which I believe the AE5400 was the upgrade to, adding a high pass filter tailored specifically for vocals.

I had two wired 4054s, and an AE5400

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in my mic stock at the time, so I was curious to see how they compared to each other, and what difference the radio system would make when added into the equation.

During the tour, Blake’s radio mics were flawless; and at no time did I have any drop-outs or interference. The mics were colour-coded, and placed on the same mic stands every night, and the guys often changed places, sharing each other’s kit. At no time did I feel the need to punch in, or set up alternative EQs for their respective voices.

All in all, a very impressive microphone and package - and, may I add, a significant saving in terms of investment against some comparable systems. At the time, I think I might have remarked, ‘well, they’re great now, but I wonder what they’ll sound like after a couple of hundred shows?’

Fast forward to July 2018. I got an email from Alex, Blake’s manager, asking if I could cover a number of Blake gigs in September.

Having worked for them before, I was more than happy to oblige. Imagine my surprise when Ollie turned up still carrying the same

rack case I’d seen some nine years earlier. I was surprised for two reasons: firstly, there has been a change of frequency allocation for PSME devices since these mics were first purchased; and second, these guys work and work, with over 100 shows a year.

To my reckoning, if these were indeed the original microphones, they’d done well over 1,000 gigs. When I asked the guys if it was the same equipment, they said ‘yes, of course’. The guys sounded as wonderful as I’d remembered, and so did their microphones.

After a thoroughly enjoyable gig, I took the opportunity to ask the lads some questions.

MEET THE BAND

“We are a vocal group of three guys who are all vocalists, so no lead singer: we use our voices to create harmony, and that allows us to do a very wide range of music and genres,” opens Humphrey. “We started off on Universal Records, and that led us to touring around the world, and we now have our own label, Blake Records. We just released our seventh album, which went to number one in

Blake

A Classical Evolution

“Everything has changed; the industry is upside down, so it’s all about putting on a great live show...” the classical charts.”

Impressive! I ask the boys how the industry has changed since they first started out, and how it’s affected their careers.

“Very simply, when we started out as a group, the principle aim for our record label was to sell as many CDs as possible,” says Stephen. “In the interim years, everything has changed; the industry is upside down, so it’s all about putting on a great live show, as that’s where 95% of our work is. So we’ve had to concentrate more and more on increasing the number of people coming to our live shows, making the live shows better, and that has a huge amount to do with the quality of sound, and the production we put together.”

The classical scene: how has that evolved in recent years, and what are the coolest bits of that part of the business?

“People think this is a classical group, but actually, we are separate from the core classical,” says Humphrey.

“I think thats absolutely right,” Ollie concurs. “We’ve gone from a situation where there was a slightly snobby attitude to what we do, whereas now, there’s much more acceptance, and we’re able to work professionally with people who are considered core classical musicians.

“That’s down to a changing of mood, and the way that people look at classical crossover, and realise that actually, what we’re doing is

commercial. We’re delivering something to a thirsty audience who want to hear great songs performed our way, and just singing Bach cantatas isn’t going to work for everybody.

“They realise that you’re serious about it, and you’ve done it for a long time, and you deliver a high quality arrangement to a high standard, so there’s a lot more respect now. I used to feel I had to back my corner before, and now I feel much more accepted in this line of work in the crossover industry.

“And the coolness of it is still singing with musicality from a classical background, bringing a style of music that some people wouldn’t necessarily have gone to see, but they see us and realise, actually it’s something that they love,” adds Humphrey. “I hope sometimes that’s not just the repertoire that we sing, but the way that we perform.”

I ask the guys if there is a bit of kit that they simply couldn’t be without?

“The only equipment that remains consistent on every show, every night, are our A-T AE5400 microphones,” Ollie insists. “It is the fundamental device that allows you to amplify your vocals, and is the core - and I would say the most important - device.

“Now, people might argue with that, and say it’s down to monitors, speakers, and mixing desks - and also the person that’s in control of your sound – however, the chain has to start somewhere!”

My worst gig for you guys was yesterday, when a gentleman walked up to me and said: ‘that was dreadful; amplifying the sound like that is rubbish; you should do it acoustically; it’s disgusting, distorted, and horrible!’

I felt somewhat demoralised, and started to apologise profusely. It was only then that I noticed what looked like tiny antennae sticking out of his ears! “[laughs] I think sometimes the fact that we can sing, and that we come from a classical background, our audiences expect, and want, an acoustic set; but they don’t understand the limitations of that in a modern theatre,” explains Humphrey.

Finally, gents: what is the best thing about being in this industry?

“The opportunity to travel,” says Humphrey.

“That’s true,” Stephen agrees.

“And the opportunity to earn a living from live performance is a very rare thing, so we’re very appreciative of that,” Humphrey continues. “We’ve met some amazing people, and we’ve performed in some of the greatest venues in the world, and we’re very grateful.”

Big thanks to Rick, and to Blake, for an incitive, and amusing interview! www.blakeofficial.com www.audio-technica.com

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Live Show

Jonathon Holder & The Good Thinking

JONATHON HOLDER & THE GOOD THINKING Booking a nine-piece band to play at a diminuitive vintage shop/live music venue; an act of madness, surely? Something of a triumph, actually. As the band name suggests, Jonathon Holder & The Good Thinking centres around Mr Holder, and tonight’s venue seriously struggles to contain his ambitions. Paper Dress Vintage is a shop which combines vintage clothing, yoga, and live music, opposite the Hackney Overground in East London. And as all the band members and backing vocalists walk up the stairs in formation, this place doesn’t know what is about to hit it.

“Undoubtedly one of the most excitingly unique acts in the UK right now; now is the time to see them, while they are still performing at these intimate venues.”

Jonathon Holder & The Good Thinking was born from the collaboration of Jonathan Holder, and 2017 MPG Breakthrough Producer of the Year, Andrew Hunt, and their mutual passion for everything musical: modern pop, ‘70s soul, ‘90s hip hop, and gospel music are somehow juiced together for this project.

Holder was selected by O2 to support the likes of Rita Ora, Rudimental, Mystery Jets, Chipmunk, and Tinchy Stryder across a series of UK venues. But tonight, we are treated to an intimate headline set.

There are support acts, but these indie bands are mercilessly blown out of the water by the final set of the evening. Backing

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vocalists are crammed together on the left of the stage, band on the right, and Holder dead centre, with his myriad of keyboards.

They launch into tracks like Harder Than Life, a retro, organ-led foot stomper, with a singalong falsetto chorus.

Then there’s the brass synth anthem, We Will See, where the band’s gospel influences shine very brightly indeed. And there’s a very exciting taste of things to come, as the audience are treated to the latest single, Count Your Blessings — this undeniable tune utilises the four female backing vocalists to devastating affect, and then Holder and Hunt join in harmony for the verse. Check out the music video, too - well worth a watch.

The assembled guests demand an encore with shouts of ‘more!’ Holder, keeping the set short and sweet, replies: “There’ll be more at Notting Hill Arts Club on the 24th!”

‘The future’s bright’ may have been the slogan of another phone network besides O2, but it’s most certainly one you can apply to Jonathon Holder & The Good Thinking.

Undoubtedly one of the most excitingly unique acts in the UK right now, now is the time to see them while they are still performing at these intimate venues. @JonathonHolder

20th 18

ANNIVERSARY

20 1998 -

The first of our 2018 Celebration products . . .

THE CULTURE VULTURE 20th Anniversary Limited Edition

FEATURING Line Balanced in and out on gold plated TRS jacks All Mullard / Philips factory valves Indented gain pots for easy recall Much lower noise than the original Culture Vulture +10dB position on Drive switch, also -10dB switch on output level control

Get your order in Now for one of these superb units!

and now the second of our 2018 Celebration products . . .

THE PURPLE BUSTARD 16 input all valve Summing Mixer

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Dave Eringa

It’s been a very good year for Dave Eringa. His musical journey began as tea boy for The Manic Street Preachers, which, after finding a D chord on a Hammond for them, resulted in a 28-year working relationship with the loveable punks from the valleys, and opened plenty more doors as a result; he’s been Idlewild’s go-to studio guy for six albums (look out for their latest release in the New Year), and has recently made epic records with Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey. We chat about his extraordinary path so far; the importance of gain structure, and a vibey space; and the recent MPG Award nomination he received for Producer of the Year.

Words Paul Watson

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I

DAVE ERINGA

t has been a good year, I must admit,” opens Dave Eringa. “You never know in this game, though; it can all come crashing round your ears, as you know!”

Eringa’s journey began at 21 - he was a tea boy, and met a young band called The Manic Street Preachers, who were recording their first indie single.

“It was a very old school way of hitting it off,” he laughs.

“They needed someone who knew where a D chord was on a Hammond, and that was me! [laughs] So when I say I played keyboards on it, that’s probably a slight extension to what actually happened. In retrospect, the Manics were enormous outsiders: make-up splattered punk from the valleys at a time of Manchester, really; and I was a sort of long-haired, clueless metal kid from Essex, working in a cool studio, and not realising it was probably inapprorpriate coming in with Kiss and Guns N’ Roses t-shirts. Maybe they liked the outsider element!”

Eringa recalls the time that The Manics wanted to record their second record; they wanted it to sound very polished.

“They were after a half Guns N’ Roses, half Public Enemy sound, but Nirvana’s Nevermind had kind of hit, and everything in the rock aesthetic had changed,” he reveals.

“That had been bad luck for them, and they were quite happy with how [the album] Generation Terrorists sounded.

I think they wanted someone they felt was a peer, and could be a team member. I had continuously lied to them about how much engineering I was doing, so they asked me to do a track, which went well, and that led to demos. It seems weird in today’s environment, but Sony then asked me to produce the record!”

Eringa is a producer who sees himself as an extension to the band, rather than the ‘60s ‘elder statesman’ type.

“That’s very much my school of production: I am trying to realise the vision of the artist, and immersing myself in becoming the fifth or sixth member of the band,” he says.

“The idea of an album being a snapshot of a band in a moment in time... It’s quite a romantic old notion, now, but if you can capture that moment of excitement, of recording, then you can really connect.”

I ask Eringa if there was a moment during that journey which particularly stands out to him.

“The watershed was when James [Dean Bradfield,

Manics’ frontman] played me the monitor mix of A Design For Life, which I hadn’t produced, of course; I remember thinking, ‘holy shit, this is another level!’

“And then when we did If You Tolerate This, we all loved it, but none of us thought of it as a single; it’s about the Spanish Civil War, it’s jerky and weird, with no electric guitar until two-and-a-half minutes in! We made it as a b-side, actually; and then Rob Stringer - their A&R guy at the time, and now President of Sony – came down to Rockfield [Studios] in Wales, we played it to him, and he said ‘that’s the single!’ I remember thinking ‘you’re mad!’; I always loved it – but it’s still an odd single choice!”

A personal favourite of mine, I mention to Eringa - and quiz him on what was used for that amazing opening chord.

“A Wurlitzer, which we put through a Korg MS20, through a filter, and sweeping,” he says. “James said he wanted it to sound like a comet going through the sky, so that’s what [keys player] Nick Naysmith and I went with.”

STUDIO SESSIONS

Most of the work that Eringa has undertaken since 1993 has been done at Rockfield – he sees it as his home, and the people there are like family to him.

“I think it’s the best studio in the world; I love it,” he admits. “The Manics are family to me, too; I’ve been with them 28 years, which is crazy!

Eringa’s phone rang quite a few times after the success of The Manics, and he enjoyed a couple of ‘lovely cul-desacs’, as he puts it: sessions with Tom Jones, and Kylie were enjoyable, but would never be long-term. Idlewild, on the other hand, was a different story: a band whose work ethic and groundedness has always inspired Eringa. He’s just finished their sixth record, so the feeling must be mutual!

“It’s probably the bit I am most proud of, that people continue to come back,” Eringa reflects. “I have done multiple records with a bunch of artists, which is really nice.

Their new album is out early in the New Year.”

Was the recording process different to the first, or is this something that has remained the same throughout?

“Yes, I suppose – you have to keep it fresh, as well, but it’ll always be song-dependent; I love it when we record all live, playing together in the room, but that’s not a rule,

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“There is a want to make music when you get to Rockfield Studios...” as it depends on the aesthetic that the song demands. Sometimes that’ll be a no click, live performance; other times, it’s gridded, and electronic, and mechanical.”

WILKO & ROGER

This year started out with Eringa making Wilko Johnson’s acclaimed Blow Your Mind record, and Roger Daltrey’s As Long As I Have You. “No-one thought [Daltrey and Johnson’s 2014 record, Going Back Home, produced by Eringa] would be a hit, but they made a very vital sounding, in your face, rock and roll record, and that led to me doing a solo record with Roger, which I absolutely adore; his vocals are off the hook, seriously,” Eringa reveals. “I assumed it would be as quick as the one with Wilko, but it actually took four years, on and off! But it led to recording a single with The Who, and two records with The Proclaimers, who I adore, and had a brilliant time with.

“It also led to a weird situation when I was working on The Manics’ 13th record; I sat up, and realised, ‘oh god, these are my youngest band!’ [laughs] I had been working with these classic artists, which was a huge privilege, and a great experience, but I wanted to get back amongst it - into the fray, with freshly signed bands, too, you know?”

Eringa is currently in multiple meetings regarding new artists - one he can talk about is singer-songwriter, Dan Alexander.

‘He’s an angry young man, which is refreshing! When we met up, rather than talk about music, we talked about politics for two hours, and I haven’t had that for some time,” Eringa recalls. “You would think everyone would be super pissed off with today’s climate, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. This guy has a bit of that about him; not in an ‘in your face’ 60 Headliner

way, but there is a melancholy and an anger to what he does that I connected with.

“We went to Rockfield, did one track, and it went great. It’s looking rosy, but when you’ve been doing it this long, it goes in waves, so I don’t want to curse it! [smiles]”

GAME-CHANGER

We start to chat about the kit that Eringa likes to use at Rockfield, and how he has adapted from working on two-inch tape to Pro Tools over the years. He offers a fascinating insight: “When we are recording, the Pro Tools functions as the tape machine, so there is no difference to the process, other than things are a little bit easier,” he says. “I use a bit of kit that Roger Meyer – who was Jimi Hendrix’ tech – created. He made this tape box that basically does what tape did to the signal before we hit Pro Tools.”

I ask Eringa to break it down for our Headliner readers, and he glady obliges.

“About five years ago, Roger Meyer was listening to modern records, and wondering, in his own words, ‘why do they all sound so shit?’ [laughs] And because he is a problem solver, he decided to look into digital recording, and find out what is ‘wrong’.

“After a couple of years of serious research, he came up with something on the antialiasing filters (the filters used in an analoge to digital converter), whether you have really expensive converters or not; just the fact that we’re breaking things up into 48,000 or 96,000 chunks, that it can lead to a potential 70-degree phase smear in the top-end.”

Erm... “[laughs] I don’t know what 70-degree phase is either, so don’t worry! But he showed me on an oscilloscope, and that is why we have a

certain perception of what digital sounds like.

“He found out that when we put something on tape, by complete fluke, it prepares the sound for the converters in a way that that is no longer a problem; for example, when they did the test on the CDs on the very first load of converters in the early ‘80s, when they put Bob Marley’s 1/4-inch onto CD, it sounded brilliant; and it did, because it had been on tape first.

“So his theory is that when we went to DDD (digital recording, digital mixing, digital transfer), that was the problem. So, instead of making a box that had noise and wow and flutter - all the things we didn’t want from tape - he just made a box that did a thing that tape did, which was essentially limiting in the high end, and a bit of a bump in the bottom.”

This box of, well, one trick, I suppose, is called the 456 (Googling it as I type), and Eringa has been recording pretty much exclusively with it into Pro Tools, and it has completely solved the digital problem for him. Extraordinary. I ask him if he misses tape as a medium.

“The thing with tape is, it forces you to work a certain way, and that is often a good thing: limited tracks means you have to think about what you put down; you just have to get it right.

Also, tape smells great! It feels like a vocation when you’re working with it, rather than being an IT expert. But sonically, the 456 reclaimed that territory for me.”

We chat a little about Eringa’s holy grail: Rockfield. Both its both rooms have amazing desks, respectively: one side boasts an MCI, one has an old Neve, with amazing mic collections, and great sounding rooms. It’s all of those things, but really, it’s the place, he says: “You just feel creative there; there is a want to make music when you get there. The equipment is as good as you’d expect it to be, but it doesn’t

“In terms of EQ, nothing comes close to the Thermionic Culture Swift.” look like Star Trek, so you can put your coffee cup down, and not worry too much!”

IN THE MIX

In terms of creators of audio products, Eringa has two ‘gear gurus’, one of which is Roger Meyer, who we’ve just spoken about; the other is Vic Keary at Thermionic Culture.

“I love all of Vic’s stuff,” Eringa enthuses. “I have the Culture Vulture, the Fat Bustard, and the Swift. When I am mixing, I use the Fat Bustard exclusively for my drums. I sum all of my drums using that, and it’s just fantastic.

“And in terms of EQ, the Swift, for me, is the best stereo EQ out there. Nothing comes close, literally. When Vic gave me the Swift to try out, I played with it for about five minutes, and said, ‘I’m very sorry, but that unit can’t go back!’ So I got the prototype! [laughs] I tried the new unit - the Kite - as well. Vic lent that to me. I think that is great, too. There is just a quality to all of his stuff - it’s just fantastic kit, basically.”

When Eringa mixes, it’s somewhat of a hybrid system: “I’m a big believer in analogue summing, and the UAD kit has enabled me to do it this way, so I also use a lot of plugins. For example, their Fairchild is that good - it feels like I am using a real one. Though I haven’t been able to find a mix chain that replaces plugins in the way I like to mix. I like to feel the analogue pushing back at me in a certain way.”

I ask Eringa to take us through the chain: “OK, so my mix chain is: a Dramastic Audio Obsidian compressor, then into the Swift EQ, then the Culture Vulture, just tickling it a little flattening it ever so slightly to get a little volume - and then into Roger Meyer’s 456 tape box.”

What a chain that is! Eringa points out

that the 456 also functions completely at tape levels, which can puzzle some engineers and producers that are perhaps not so adept with gain structure..!

“A lot of people try hitting it up at zero, which is 20dB above zero VU, and they’re plugging it into that which effectively functions as a half-inch or two-inch tape machine,” Eringa smiles. “So they’re hitting it with +20dB and they’re all, ‘oh, it’s distorted!’ But it forces you to think about gain structure; it takes you back to principles. When you do it right, everything opens out; when you force yourself to go back to your engineering principles, it’s suddenly very easy to balance, it’s punchy, it’s got a big bottom end, and it’s loud - but not digitally loud, it’s analogue loud.”

THE MPG AWARDS

Before I let Eringa go, so I can start making my Christmas ‘mix buss wish list’, we chat a little about the Music Producers Guild, and the upcoming MPG Awards, which is happening at Grosvenor House Hotel on February 28th.

Eringa, of course, is up for an award. He is yet to win any award, despite his extraordinary story, and client roster, but perhaps that’s about to change. I ask him what it means to be nominated by his peers for Producer of the Year - arguably the most revered award of the night.

“Well, the fact it’s peer-voted is amazing; and from what I have seen about the process, now having been nominated, you get a final three in each category, and it’s a closed, secret ballot, so no-one knows who’s won,” he says. “I have a lot of respect for the MPG; credits are such a difficult thing, these days, as most music is streamed, not even downloaded, and I know

the MPG is trying to improve that, among other things. No-one knows who does what anymore on a record; I know they’ve added that to Spotify, but honestly, who’s looking?

“I remember seeing ‘recorded at Rockfield Studios’ on the sleeve of a vinyl, and thinking ‘wow, if I could work there one day!’, but that doesn’t really exist anymore, which is a shame.”

Eringa says it’s just lovely just to get the nod from the MPG, and anything else will come as a bonus.

“We all live in our little bubbles these days; when do you interact with other producers?

Especially me, as I’m into Rockfield, then back here to at my place, mixing, and that is it,” he reflects, making a fair point. “I interact far less with the indusry than I used to, so it’s nice to know some people heard those records, and thought that they sounded alright!

“We work with music, and we’re very lucky to do so. Often, creators are people that go to their day jobs - which they often hate - they crank up Logic when they get home for eight hours, to have some fun. This is what we do for a living!

“So sometimes, when it’s 3am, and I’m comping vocals, falling asleep at the screen, I have to keep that sense of perspective: it’s not that bad really, is it? [smiles]” We wish Dave Eringa and the rest of the MPG Award-nominated creatives the very best of luck on the night.

@DaveEringa www.mpg.org.uk www.thermionicculture.com

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Leila Adu

Composed & Inspired

LEILA ADU: COMPOSED & INSPIRED Calling from a boat in Paris, I’m delighted to have been able to have a chat with Leila Adu after her soundcheck. “I’m at Petit Bain, and I’m playing at the festival called ‘Le Grand Salon Volant.’ Tonight is a night of different voices,” she explains. “There’s a woman from Palestine, a man from Georgia, a couple of bands from France.” Currently residing in New York, and working as a Professor at NYU, teaching Advanced Computer Music Composition, Adu has toured the globe as an artist, performing in The US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the Far East, with London’s Time Out describing her as, ‘Avant-garde pop that recalls Nina Simone and Tim Buckley.’

Words Yerosha Leila Adu completed her PhD in Composition at Princeton University, and has composed for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the Brentano String Quartet, and So Percussion; and in 2014, was Wellington Orchestra’s Emerging-Composer-InResidence. Five albums to date, Adu is uncompromising in her belief to create from pure intention, blending genres ranging electronica, jazz, indigenous sounds from Ghana, and using her music as a vehicle for poignant social commentary.

I ask Adu what was it that inspired her to get into music.

“At school, I realised it was the one thing I would do all of the time,” she laughs. “Even if I had to do something else, I would still do music, so I thought I should try and do the thing I was going to definitely do. Music!”

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Growing up in New Zealand, she took up many instruments: recorder, bassoon, clarinet, to name a few, eventually settling into playing piano. because of its versatility.

“I used to really like Bartók, some metal, grunge... actually, tonight I’m going to play a pretty weirdly arranged version of Heart-Shaped Box by Nirvana!”

As you do! Her natural ability to play, create, and experiment caught her high school teacher’s attention, who suggested she should study composition at university.

“I wasn’t really listening to classical music at the time, but was coming up with weird signatures and chords. I didn’t know you could study composition, so I just went and did it!

I found it a little stifling, as I was really into Indonesian Gamelan, and industrial music, so I got a bit sick of classical and contemporary

classical. So I went to Ghana, where my father’s from. I returned to university, because I did still want to learn how to write for orchestra. I also did electronic music throughout. With electronic music, you don’t have the same pressure, harmonically, to do anything traditional, really.”

Composition

Given she’s from a composing background, I ask Adu how she views songs, their lyrical content, and her relationship with vocals.

“I’ve always sung and written. Sometimes, as a composer, I will write a piece for a string quartet - or maybe something electronic - but usually, singing is part of the music for me. I usually come with a feeling - it could be personal, it could be political. And I’d say that’s how my music’s changed the most over

Leila Adu

Composed & Inspired

“I told my class when I first started that music technology can save the world, and I do think that’s true; music has a special power to bring people together; it creates community...” the years - I have always tried to write about the human condition.

“There are different ways to make music; I like to think of it as there being the troubadour or working for the king, and I think it has, and always will be, this way: if you’re a Troubadour, you’re a touring musician.

You can always make a little money, but it’s always been kinda tough. Or, you work for an institution, a big label, the government, or you get grants; when you are getting paid by someone, you may be having to compromise what you are going to do. When you are a troubadour, you may not be paid much, but there is a freedom.

“There is a third way, what I call the ‘Charles Ives’ way (he was an American modernist composer, born in 1874). He had a traditional beginning of being a composer, and then he just went, ‘OK, I could go into a conservatory or university and teach, but instead, I’m going to continue being an insurance salesman.’

“He just lived a life, and wrote all this music, and put it away, and then got re-discovered later in life. But he didn’t have to compromise; and there’s no shame in having a normal job, and being an artist.

“Now, everyone gets to create, and there’s no middle man, which before, you couldn’t do.

Historically, it’s not that weird that we all have similar access to creating art; it’s more like a traditional society. It’s just bloody annoying if you decided to make music as a living right now! [laughs]”

Collaboration & Inspiration

Adu enjoys working with multiple creatives; some of these include Alex Morris, Steve Albini, and kiwi beatmaker, Riki Gooch.

“I always look for nice people who are cool,” she muses. “I really love having producers in the room; that’s really important, and it’s great having that second ear, that second opinion.”

Adu was inspired to study for a PhD after attending a life changing course: ‘Sound, Art, and African American Literature’, by Professor Daphne Brooks.

“I could see myself being a part of it, somehow; I wanted to focus on music from Africa, and the African Diaspora; indigenous, and female musicians. Looking

back at my younger self, it would have been really helpful to talk about this; in defence of New Zealand, we do talk about Māori people, and their music [at university], but in The States, no-one has ever mentioned Native American music to me.

“So, I really researched, and there’s so much cool stuff there: sound art mixed with visual art, and it’s really inspiring. Just think, you can go through a music program, and not know about the music of your origin; you’re a native person, and your schooling doesn’t even mention you.

“The European school system is incredibly colonial in how it teaches people all over the world. I studied music in New Zealand, and then at university in America, and it’s all the same! That’s very disturbing, considering how far away they are from the old country; so I think as teachers, our job is to think about each country individually. Otherwise, it perpetuates ignorance - and it’s not OK.” With this in mind, I ask Adu how she approaches teaching?

“I’m teaching composing on any platform.

We talk about timbre, rhythm, and effects; it’s basically how to make a good piece of music.

I get them to sit and breathe, and really get them in the room, listening to music, and then encouraging them to critique everyone’s music and get curious. A lot of it is about listening.

“We also do the theory, but rather than just talking about western tonal theory, we’re talking about harmonic series and sine tones. I really love talking to the students, and hearing what they say; I find them very inspiring.”

Taking all of this in, I ask Adu what she feels music can bring to today’s world.

“I told my class when I started that music technology can save the world, and I do think that’s true,” she smiles. “I think that music has a special power to bring people together; it creates community, and although it’s a really difficult and divided time right now, I do think music can at least allow people to be moved. I’m lucky that my program at NYU Steinhardt Music Technology department is supportive of this explorative research, as well as the music itself.” www.leilaadu.com

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%!*@

GRUMPY OLD ROADIE

‘Tis the Season...

No, nothing about Brexit today, folks. I’ve just finished my last tour, and have no work ‘til February, so whilst I’m tempted to air my Brexit views (again), I’ll stick to the seasonal theme.

So the missus dragged me to the local Christmas tree lighting up celebratory thingy in the village last night. What she didn’t tell me was that this would involve a short religious service in the church. Being an avid atheist, she knew that any mention of this would put a kibosh on my attendance, so she kept quiet. We rocked up, and went inside. The skies didn’t cloud over (it was dark), and I must say that the church was really quite… churchy. I even had a pull of the bell - there’s only one bell in the local church, I discovered, which makes the tune choice a bit Little Mix. We sang a few hymns, with which I joined in, but most of the lyrics were complete bollocks. Nevertheless, I sang along with everyone else, but I had my fingers crossed. Does that count, or am I just a hypocrite?

The devil gets a big mention, too, in most of these songs. He’s like a very, very bad god, which always makes me wonder how, in a monotheist religion, where everything was supposed to be created by the one good god, believers conveniently accept dualism, which helps them address the problem of evil. Strange.

Indeed, such oppositions became the cornerstones of Christian and Muslim thought: heaven, the realm of the good god in his white coat and smiley face; and hell, the home of the evil god, looking scary, and covered in fire, and surrounded by burning naughty people.

I’ve always said that religion is like football: created by man for man, but that’s okay. People will work it out for themselves one day. In the meantime, my little church service was being addressed by the nice lady vicar who didn’t have much to say, really, other than there would be a collection, and donations would prevent evil. A little box was passed around. Salvation is clearly measured by the size of donation. I am doomed, being the mean non-believer that I am.

But then it was encore time: Hark the Herald Angels Sing. Everyone got up and left the church whilst singing, and walked the 100 metres to the village green and sports pavillion. The way had been lit by those little candle things in metal trays, and I’ve gotta say that it was a better production than any Take That tour (sorry Kim, I’m joking). We all got to the hut, and Santa was waiting for the kids in his ‘grotto’ (a pop up tent with tinsel). This was for the kids, not the adults. We were drinking mulled wined and eating mince pies as the Christmas tree lights were turned on. We all clapped, and it was great fun. But it made me think.

We’d effectively walked from the religious fairy tale to the Santa Claus fairy tale, and both stories seem happy to sit side by side - what would the reaction have been, had Santa been wrapped in swaddling clothes in his grotto, awaiting a visit from the three wise reindeer? Either way, children eventually grow out of Santa Claus.

Sorry, last word on Brexit - toss a bloody coin. It’ll almost perfectly represent the national split that we’re currently facing. Heads you win, tails I lose… Merry Christmas, readers, and remember that all the lovely TV adverts wishing you a festive noel have nothing at all to do with trying to sell you their goods and services.

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“What would the reaction have been, had Santa been wrapped in swaddling clothes in his grotto, awaiting a visit from the three wise reindeer?”

SPITFIRE AUDIO