54 l July 2014 industrytalk
The Studer A80 is Watkins’ all time-favourite tape recorder: “Everything is about character when you have pristine digital recording at your fi ngertips”
www.psneurope.com
in room one, we have a big pair of Dynaudio C3As, the usual NS10s and, of course, two Avantone MixCubes.
Everything is about character when you have pristine digital recording at your fi ngertips, and people are mostly choosing 2” tape as a capture medium simply for fl avour and saturation these days, so we went for my all-time favourite: the classic Studer A80. Hit it hard and print it in. Wonderful on rhythm sections –
Software I don’t care for much, and outboard – well, we had about a million pieces already. I fi nally managed to source an old Sony DRE 2000 after years of hunting, so that was nice. As I said, we already had everything years before the studio was even built! So it was more about augmenting the already ridiculous pile of music junk at a time when we were receiving 30 deliveries a day – casually sneaking in a few Thomann orders and that… [Laughs]
“Edinburgh is, in most ways, the perfect location. We even have free parking – and you’re never more than eight steps away from a whisky on the rocks. Beat that!” Stephen Watkins
an amazing way to ruin a drum sound, actually! I don’t even use my Dolby SR XP any more… scary, eh? Over-bias time!
Edinburgh calling
Dave Robinson talks Avid, analogue and ambassadors’ parties with Tape Studio’s irrepressible producer/mixing engineer Stephen Watkins
HOUSED WITHIN a former whisky warehouse or ‘bond’ (“Very Scottish,” says studio manager Gareth Anderson) and designed by Munro Acoustics, Edinburgh’s Tape Studio – the brainchild of Stephen A. Watkins and Fiona McNab – bills itself as a fi rst for Scotland.
“[Tape is] something both new and inspiring – completely armed to the teeth with the most desirable of equipment and acoustics, yet affordable and accessible to emerging talent and established acts alike,” explains Anderson. “[It’s] somewhere to focus on artistic development and the massive, over-the-top production style Stephen had been cultivating in the dark, [and] somewhere to feel at home and be inspired within for long projects. “Edinburgh – and Scotland in general – has always lacked such
a place, so why move when we can build and invest right here?”
Stephen, how did you choose your desks, monitors, DAW, tape machine, etc?
As far as DAWs are concerned, Cubase is and always has been at the top of the pile for me. I used to fi nd it laughable that Avid were touting Automatic Delay Compensation as a feature just a couple of years ago, when we had already been using Steinberg products to do just that for nearly a decade! The only tool that made me slightly envious was the old ‘tab to transient’ feature. Not any more, though! I am just not a fan of Avid stuff, to be honest. It is all a bit of an ‘Apple life’/ ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ mentality. Make records your own way. At this point all DAWs are incredible. End of.
What about monitoring? The monitors in room two – my mix room – are [Yamaha] NS10s with an Infi nity sub, KRK 9000Bs, Avantone MixCubes and custom-made Dynaudio MA 15Ps (which are very, very nice indeed). Oh, and a wee, shan Gear4 Bluetooth boombox bought in the HMV closing- down sale at [shopping centre] Ocean Terminal for the small sound. This simulates reality in 2014 – very good at forcing one to focus in on the 7/8kHz range that seems oh so important during these times of laptop fi delity and iPod docks… The Dynaudios were chosen to complement the NS10s for more top-end extension, and the rest I have used forever. Mix translation! I even like the wee mono speaker built into my Studer A810. Punchy! Downstairs
What about the console? The SSL Duality is simply the best of the best available right now. I was an E-Series kind of mixer before – obsessed with Bob Clearmountain’s ‘80s stuff – and this is just the next step. I love it. Absolutely the best pairing of human and technology ever. Apart from the T-1000. Hasta la vista… All the outboard I already had: 19 1176s, eight Vac Racs, eight Dynamites and about 500 other beautiful and rare pieces – EMT 140 plates, EMT 251, etc. The building was the fi nal piece of the puzzle.
What were the three bits of ‘other’ kit (mics, outboard, software) you felt you HAD to have? Well, my favourite vintage pieces include the Coles ball- and-biscuit mic for mono ambience duties (dynamic omni, bandwidth-limited, great attitude... loved it on the drums in the hallway) and the [Coles] 4038s, which no human being with a preamp should be without – just my all-time favourite go-to microphone. [I like the] Brauner VM1 for a modern brighter tone, and the Violet Flamingo Stereo mic – which is absolutely incredible, if you ask me: it looks like something from Ann Summers – is incredible on harp. We also bought all of the JZ range for some hissless, classic voicings without the hassle, and they all integrated well.
What’s the ‘fi ve-year plan’? To boldly go where no studio has gone before. (Couldn’t resist...) To make it to No1!
What are the challenges and advantages of being central to Edinburgh?
No challenges. Apart from the listed building status during the construction phase – and the original hunt for the studio itself being near impossible in a city that wants to turn every single unoccupied space into a block of new-build fl ats for the yuppie types – it is in most ways the perfect location. We even have free parking AND you are never more than eight steps away from a Lagavulin [whisky] on the rocks. Beat that!
What was the fi rst recording made in Tape?
I have produced, arranged and recorded two records here since we opened in February 2014. The fi rst is the debut LP by hotly tipped Scottish band BooHooHoo, which is an absolutely piping smash! If you have ever wondered what an SSL Duality sounds like when it is going absolutely off its nut, then stay tuned… We also just fi nished tracking the incredible Dead Boy Robotics album in room one, which in a few days is about to be mixed upstairs in – dun dun DUN – room two! See how it works? Tape is basically the ambassador’s party of recording! With this Ferrero Rocher, you are really spoiling us…
www.tapestudio.com
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