Canadian Musician - September/October 2016 | Page 50

The Potato
Filter

With so many of today ’ s producers and engineers using the same digital tools on the same platforms , many fear the recording industry is undergoing an unwelcome homogenization . That means it ’ s as important as ever for musicians and studio professionals to break free of convention and take a creative , innovative , outside-the-box approach to their recordings and set themselves apart from the pack .

Veteran recording engineer Sylvia Massy ( Tool , System of a Down ) recently published her first book , Recording Unhinged – Creative and Unconventional Music Recording Techniques , and it ’ s proven to be a hot commodity . We decided to pick her brain about some of her innovative approaches to recording , and then invited a number of well-known Canadian producers and engineers to weigh in on the topic as well .
Here ’ s hoping we ’ ve helped to inspire your next one-of-a-kind sound …

Sylvia Massy

An accomplished engineer , producer , and mixer with over 25 years at the console , Sylvia Massy ’ s long list of credits includes Tool ’ s Undertow , System of a Down ’ s selftitled debut , and work with everyone from Prince to Johnny Cash to Red Hot Chili Peppers . In early 2016 , she published her book Recording Unhinged – Creative and Unconventional Music Recording Techniques , sharing advice and insight from a long and successful career founded on creativity and innovation .
CM : They say necessity is the mother of invention , and I ’ d imagine that many cool and innovative recording techniques have been born of engineers having a limited number of tools at their fingertips . How do you ensure you ’ re still pushing the envelope and coming up with new ideas despite often having a plethora of indemand gear at your fingertips ?
SM : It is extremely hard to do creative and unique productions when you have an all-digital recording set-up . It is like racing stock cars . Basically , everyone has the same equipment to do their recording and mixing work ; no one gets the advantage of having different and unique equipment . Unless you force yourself to work slower and plug in some of the old crusty compressors and processors , it may all sound a bit generic .
Think of how people eat at a sidewalk
[ 50 ] • CANADIAN MUSICIAN cafe in Paris . They will spend more time and enjoy the food so much more ; they will savor every morsel . Recording the slow , analog way takes longer , but it can be so much more satisfying .
CM : Can you think of an unhinged , outside-thebox approach to recording you ’ ve taken that resulted in a really cool result on a recording you ’ ve done since the book was released ?
SM : I try to build unusual recordings into every session . Since the book , I have recorded vocals in an island prison in Helsinki , recorded a horn section under water , recorded a guitar solo by running the sound through a drill , recorded a pipe organ in a cathedral in Sweden , recorded audio being run through various food items – potatoes , apples , bananas , and hot dogs – but the best is yet to come . I ’ ve got big plans for whoever out there is adventurous enough !
CM : The book features contributions from Bob Ezrin , Al Schmitt , Bruce Swedien , and many other music and recording luminaries . What stands out as one of the more unique and innovative approaches or pieces of advice shared by one of your peers ?
SM : One of the most revealing things in the book came from producer Matt Wallace , who showed me the mics he used to record the huge radio hits by Maroon 5 and OAR . Surprisingly enough , the vocals were recorded on very inexpensive mics , which only cost about $ 90 U . S . Another one of my favorite stories came from Bob Ezrin , who shared the story about taping Peter Gabriel to the wall while recording vocals . And another amazing story came from Ron Saint Germain , who told the tale of recording vocals for a Bad Brains record while the singer was in jail . He had to create an elaborate contraption to get the phone routed onto the recording , but that was only part of it . There was also the insane effort made to get the singer “ in the mood .” You gotta read about it in the book .
CM : Even before the book was published , you ’ ve always been willing to share your ideas and tips and techniques with developing engineers . Why do you feel it ’ s important to pass along that knowledge ?
SM : I realize that the landscape of recording is rapidly changing . I am a lucky one for having started with recording on tape . And it seemed I always had to work through problems , creating sounds on the fly . Maybe some of that MacGyver-style of recording has evaporated , so I want to help the new generation regain some of that inventive spirit . I want recording to remain fun – not like a computer programming job .

T R Y

T H I S

The Potato

Filter

Taken from Recording Unhinged – Creative and Unconventional Music Recording Techniques
1 . Take a solid-state guitar amp head-tospeaker set-up .
2 . Cut the speaker cable that runs between the head and the speaker in half and separate the positive and negative sides .
3 . Insert a potato on each side .
Now you have a potato filter ! This also works well with hot dogs and other food items . The first time I tried this was during Mix With The Masters in spring 2016 in France . I made a quick diagram in my notebook and we collectively set out to make it work . The effect of the potato filter is an attenuation with a slight sweet high-shelf EQ .
NOTE : THIS DOES NOT WORK WITH TUBE AMPLIFIERS .