INTERVIEW Mr Disruption
From humble beginnings as a studio coffee boy to the face and name of one of pro audio’s most pioneering brands, Steven Slate tells Jory MacKay about his life in audio.
I’ve read a few things about how you got started in the industry – playing live and doing session work as well as interning in a studio – but what is the definitive Steven Slate origin story?
I began as a musician who started writing songs and simply needed to record them. My first studio was a cassette four track and an SM57. When I was closer to 15, I took the train into Manhattan and tracked down some studios and became a coffee boy. I later became an assistant engineer at various studios on the east coast before starting my own studio in a warehouse in Roxbury, Mass. I became pretty obsessed with recreating the drum sound from Nirvana’s Nevermind album so I studied drums quite extensively and began recording drum samples to a 2in MCI JH-24 Machine. When I moved to Los Angeles in the early 2000s, I handed out the drum samples to famous mixers and producers in the hope that the attention would lead to me getting a job as a protégé. Tis strategy failed, as they simply demanded that I make them more drum samples and none were interested in me assisting them.
So from there, where did the idea for Slate Pro Audio and Slate Digital come from?
Tey always start from me being in the studio and saying to myself ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if….’ So in the case of the [Slate Pro Audio] Raven it was: ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a way to increase the efficiency of using the DAW?’
With Slate Digital it was: ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if I could get the sound of a vintage console or tape machine in a plug-in?’ Ten once the idea is there, the end game is set, and thus starts the complex cycle of development.
Let’s talk about the Virtual Microphone System – is this product a direct response to the recording industry moving more into the home studio?
46 May 2014
now, in fact. We’ve done blind A/Bs of our plug-ins vs hardware in front of major engineers who have not been able to hear the difference. Tere is still some nostalgia and glamour connected to hardware but the appeal diminishes when you experience the modern workflow that can be had with virtual processors. In an industry that is seeing the increasing need for speed, cost, collaboration, and recall, it’s a no brainer.
It seems like you’re more than happy to disrupt the current market for studio gear.
“I like to disrupt, I’m very proud to disrupt but only if how I’m doing it makes people feel better about creating.”
Tere were a few things that defined the decision, one was simply having access to these microphones and being in the scenario where I can listen to all these great microphones and understand their character and their beauty, but also the lack of a product that can represent those mics now. Why shouldn’t everyone be allowed to have the sound of these amazing mics? Te other thing that really spurred the decision was I was doing a mic shoot out and I was singing through an [AKG] C12 and then through a [Neumann] U47. What I noticed was that even though I sang the same line through each microphone when I got on the C12 I sang it really smooth and silky and sexy but when I sang through the U47 that brought out all the midrange rasp in my voice – the guts and the balls – and I sung it much more aggressively. I listened and said ‘my god, there’s such a different influence from these two things’, but imagine all the people who don’t get to experience the differences between microphones and the different performances that come out?
The response to the launch seems to be quite two-sided with a lot of people critical that it can accurately model classic mics and pres. Are those valid concerns or just traditionalist prattle?
If you asked me what I thought of the Pyramids in Egypt, I couldn’t tell you. Te reason is simple. I’ve never been to Egypt and I’ve not seen the pyramids in person. And the same can be said for the VMS. You can’t judge whether it is an effective tool unless you try it.
Te pros that we have demo’d it for, including some of the top engineers at Abbey Road, have been extremely impressed. Te technology works and I am certain it will be a massive success that will help many engineers in their creation process.
You said in another interview that people still don’t totally trust plug-ins. Is this something you think will change some day?
Absolutely. We see it happening right
You know, disrupt is my favourite word because I want things to be the best for the consumer, for the customer, and if that means disrupting how things usually happen, that’s a good thing. You know, disrupting is what makes the world better. Everything is improved because of disruption. So yeah, I like to disrupt, I’m very proud to disrupt, but only if how I’m doing it makes people feel better about creating. Tat to me is my goal.
You’re really good at responding personally to people in online forums. How important is it to be the name and face of the company?
It’s essential. I am extremely fortunate that our industry thrives on communicating on online forums where I can interact with customers and potential customers. Most often I am learning from them. I find it very useful to be able to have that type of communication, and it has greatly aided in our development and growth.
Lastly, anything in the pipeline you can talk about?
We’ve got so many cool things in development that will help people create in new and innovative ways. Te goal is always to help people make art in the most fun and efficient way possible. So that’s a long winded way of saying… no I can’t talk about anything just yet!
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