On the Road: Megadeth
Dec 1, 2006 12:00 PM
Most Popular
advertisement
Polls
Free Live Webcast:
Recording Instruments:
Integrating Real Sounds
October 29th
Brought to you by Ex'pression College for Digital Arts and Remix
If you're a producer of hip-hop, electronic or other types of music and want tips on incorporating recorded acoustic instruments into mostly-electronic productions don't miss this webcast.
Read more and register here.
Check out our other webcasts here.
Nashville Stories
Nashville is no doubt one of the hottest recording markets in the country, but we want to know how it got to be that way. Send your favorite account of recording in Nashville to mixeditorial@mixonline.com, and we´ll post it on the Mix Nashville Web Portal.
Remix Hotel News
 |
Remix Hotel Atlanta 2008: Sept. 18-20 |
he Remix Hotel juggernaut is heading back to SAE Atlanta„with Partners Rane, Serato, Pioneer, Roland, iStandard and others„for another technology-filled weekend of classes, panels and guest appearances. And this year, All Access registration gets you FREE entrance to the Atlantis Music Conference and Festival! That means double the panels, performances and more. Register today!.
This Month in Mix
As the headliner on Gigantour 2006, Megadeth has been performing in North America, Japan and Australia, with sound companies Thunder Audio, Clair Bros. and Johnston Audio Services, respectively. Mix caught up with FOH engineer Nigel Paul (in red jacket) as the tour wrapped up.
What kind of board are you using?
On all legs of the tour, I was using a Midas XL4, each with a minimum of four stereo modules. There are 39 inputs at FOH from the band, plus effects returns, CD inputs, et cetera.
What is your mixing approach?
I'm ultimately responsible to the artists for the sound of their concerts. For that reason, I request the tools that I believe will best help me achieve the results we're both looking for. Sometimes a degree of compromise is called for.
While every artist is unique, and from a mixing standpoint presents different challenges, I approach mixing for Megadeth the same way I approach mixing any of the other artists I work with [Dream Theater, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Cheap Trick, Yellow-jackets], regardless of the musical genre. I always do my homework and come into the project well prepared, having listened to, lived with and thoroughly learned the material. This typically involves listening to the prospective tour material as it's represented on the artist's albums, and the live performance may vary in any number of weird, wonderful, inspired, unexpected and dangerous ways. Yet the basic building blocks are the same.
There will always be reactive elements, because no two performances are ever identical, and the technical and environmental variables are endless, but the more one can anticipate and pre-position oneself from a musical and mixing perspective, the more polished, mature and true the final product is likely to be. Then again, there's always the old piece of two-by-four!
Additional audio gear:
P.A. system: Meyer Sound MILO (North America), Clair Bros. i4 (Japan) and JBL V-DOSC (Australia). "Each of those companies provided us with first-class equipment, crews and support, and were a pleasure to work with," enthuses Paul. "I'd like to express my thanks to, and respect for, the excellent systems engineers I've had the privilege of working with on this tour, namely Keith Jex from Thunder Audio, Masae Nishimura from Clair Bros. Japan and Doug Pringle from Johnston Audio Services."
Outboard Gear:
Effects: TC Electronic D-Two or TC 2290; M2000 or Eventide Eclipse for pitch-shifting; 6000, Lexicon 960L or Lexicon 480L; M3000 or 4000, or Lexicon 300 (for a third reverb, if the other reverb unit has only two analog engines).
Compressors: Avalon Vt737sp linked to a BSS Audio 901 MkII (preamping and frequency-conscious compression of the lead vocal). two 4-channel Summit DCL-200s for guitars, Tube-Tech CL-1B or Empirical Labs EL-8 Distressor for bass DI, four 8-channel XTA C2 for background/back-up vocal channels, bass mic, snare group and overhead groups.
Gates: six 12-channel XTA G2 or Aphex 622.
Playback/Record: professional-quality CD player, TC Electronic Finalizer Express, professional-quality CD recorder.
Modern Recording and Mixing
This 2-DVD set will show you how the best in the music industry set up a studio to make world-class records. Regardless of what gear you are using, the information you'll find here will allow you to take advantage of decades of expert knowledge. Order now $39.95
Mastering Cubase 4
Electronic Musician magazine and Thomson Course Technology PTR have joined forces again to create the second volume in their Personal Studio Series, Mastering Steinberg's Cubase(tm). Edited and produced by the staff of Electronic Musician, this special issue is not only a must-read for users of Cubase(tm) software, but it also delivers essential information for anyone recording/producing music in a personal-studio. Order now $12.95
Delivered straight to your inbox every other week, MixLine takes you straight into the studio, with new product announcements, industry news, upcoming events, recent recording/post projects and much more. 