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Talking Recording & Mixing with Donal Hodgson
While at DPA ’ s Microphone Masterclass event at McMaster University ’ s LIVELab in Hamilton , ON , which was hosted by Gerr- Audio Distribution , Professional Sound caught up with British sound engineer , mixer , and Pro Tools expert Donal Hodgson . Over the last 25-plus years , Hodgson has worked with a wide range of artists , from Tina Turner and Brian Wilson to Arctic Monkeys and Richard Ashcroft , as well as on film and TV productions ; however , he is best known for his work with Sting , having recorded his last six albums plus other projects .
PS : Obviously Sting is one of the world ’ s most famous bassists . How do you capture his bass sound in the studio ?
Donal Hodgson : We DI most of his bass work . Obviously he uses Ampeg [ amplifiers ] onstage live , but in the studio , he just likes clean sounds . I ’ ve used some amp simulators with him , but his whole vibe is about doing stuff quickly , so setting up amps , he ’ s not interested . So I usually end up using an instrument input into a Manley or a Neve and then just record it clean .
PS : When you ’ re recording drums , is there a standard microphone set-up you typically use ?
DH : I do sort of have a standard set-up . What I try to do is mic so that I ’ ve got three or four different sounds I can get out of that one set-up . Working with top-end drummers like Vinnie Colaiuta and Manu Katché , they just sit down and play and their kit sounds good already , so you ’ re not fighting to make the kit sound good , which I have done with other drummers in the past . So I tend to double-mic all the toms – that ’ s always a standard – double-mic the snare , and then room mics and overhead mics . I ’ ll back-mic the kit as well . I end up recording around 16 to 18 different mics and then when I know what the sound of the song is going to be – because with Sting , on the last album , they would jam all day and I didn ’ t know what the sound of the song was going to be because they were still writing it – so I recorded all the different mics and then after we started just deleting or muting tracks in Pro Tools and then the sound would evolve from that .
PS : Over the last 12 years working with Sting in the studio and live , what have you learned over that time that has found its way into your general workflow ?
DH : I think , off the top of the head , the one that instantly comes to mind is don ’ t fuck up the creative process . Don ’ t get in the way of it as a technical person trying to make that happen . Preparation is key – being organized , being ready , and trying to cover as many possibilities as possible that could arise so it ’ s just a few button presses or a quick patch just to make something happen . That ’ s always stood me in good stead , and it ’ s nice to look around and see some smiling faces because no one is waiting .
PS : What prep work are you doing before any musicians enter the studio ?
DH : The obvious one is templates in Pro Tools , so everything is there already and it ’ s all routed and happening . [ There are examples in the past where ] I ’ d be recording and then wish I could fire off into a delay or turn up a reverb and I hadn ’ t [ prepared ] it , so templates are key for mixing and for recording . Also , mic preparation , so input lists . I know that is from the live world , but I do that now for every session I do in the studio . I do an input list and have it all mapped out and know where everything is going , and I do leave room for creativity . I leave spare channels in case we want to experiment with something I haven ’ t thought of , but the basics are all covered and it ’ s
connected and I [ can look at a piece of paper and ] trace back in case there is a problem .
PS : You ’ ve also done a lot of broadcast work with Sting . How significantly does your broadcast mix differ from a studio mix ?
DH : I try to make my broadcast mixes more like a studio mix , which doesn ’ t go down well with certain radio people , but I think that is what people are more familiar with . For me , if you make a broadcast mix too live sounding without the visual to give you the understanding of the space that they ’ re in , it sounds wrong . So I always try to head towards a recorded mix . So a lot of dry mics , get the mix working in that sense , and then I ’ ll push in the room mics just to give a sense of the space that they ’ re in . I know a couple of radio channels which will mix it the other way around , so they ’ ll put in the ambient mics first and then put in a bit of the dry mics , and I don ’ t personally like that sound . That doesn ’ t make it wrong ; it ’ s just different .
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