Jan 19, 2021
Ocean Way, EH6
seen from Australia
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seen from Australia
Ocean Way, EH6
Hewwo its my son kohru uwu
Ocean Way, EH6
Darryl Thorp shared two pictures of the monitor mix for At the Mercy (a song from Paul McCartney's Chaos and Creation in the Backyard). Remember Nigel mixed Beck's Sea Change in the monitor section of the Dalcon so it's possible this is the same approach. Interesting to see the balances and how the multitrack breaks down by element. Darryl was the assistant engineer at Ocean Way in Studio B during the time Nigel produced Paul.
More Darrell Thorp quotes on Nigel
A few more quotes from Darrell on his time with Nigel. Nothing new really:
https://www.musictech.net/features/grammy-winner-darrell-thorp-on-engineering-becks-colors-and-recording-perfection/
Q: How was your experience of working with Nigel Godrich?
A: I’m so fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Nigel as long as I did. I learned so much from him, particularly from an engineering standpoint. I really wouldn’t be the engineer that I am without his influence. He’s an amazing producer, but he’s also a darn good engineer. He takes a lot of risks. He commits and makes a decision right then and there about how something is supposed to sound and just goes for it.
Earlier in my career, when I was assisting a lot, I noticed that a lot of engineers don’t really do that. They tend to record in a very safe way, where I think the mentality is that people can manipulate their quite flat-sounding recordings later in the mixing stage. Nigel was different. Nigel would just say: ‘I’m here, I’m ready, I’m going to record it and make it sound great and the mix is probably just going to be a rough mix because it’s basically done.’ So he’d do all the heavy lifting in that initial recording stage. All the decisions had been made sonically. I love that approach and try and work that way as much as I can.
Nigel Godrich Equipment List
Since we’ve covered a lot of disparate ground over a variety of posts, I thought I might re-cap the list of equipment we know Nigel has used/owned at various times. Since this is a recording studio-oriented blog, this will not cover any of the live Ultraista/Atoms for Peace rigs. (I will continuously update this list so bookmark it and check back every once in a while.)
Enjoy, gearheads:
SPEAKERS
Acoustic Energy AE1
Adam A7
Dynaudio M2
KRK RP5
Phantom Devialet
Yamaha NS10
CONSOLES
API 2488
Auditronics (24-channel)
Cadac G-Series console (at Radiohead’s studio and Five Star Studios)
Dalcon (from Ocean Way)
MTA 90
Neve 88R (while at Studio La Fabrique and possibly while mixing RHCP)
Soundcraft Spirit
TAPE MACHINES
3M M79
Ampex ATR-102 (while at Ocean Way)
Otari MTR 90 II
Studer A800 MKII
PREAMPS / CHANNEL STRIPS
API console
Auditronics console
Dalcon console
Focusrite ISA 215
Inward Connections Vac Rac TMP1 module
Neve 1081
Scully 280
COMPRESSORS / DYNAMICS PROCESSORS
API 525
Alan Smart C2
DBX 160X
DBX 165
Esoteric Audio Research 660
Eventide Omnipressor
Inward Connections Vac Rac TLM-1 module
Klark Teknik DN510
Lisson Grove R124
Neve 33609
Spectrasonics 610
Summit DCL-200
Summit TLA-100
Tube Tech CL1B
UREI 1176 (blackface)
UREI 1176 (silverface)
UREI LA-10
Universal Audio 175 or 176
EQUALIZERS
API 550
API 550A
API 550B
API 553
API 554
API 560
API 594
Auditronics 24-channel desk
Dalcon console EQ (similar in function to Spectra Sonics 502)
Focusrite ISA 215
GML 8200
Neve 1081
Pultec EQH-2
Pultec EQP-1A
Pultec EQP-1A3
EFFECTS
AMS 15-80S
AMS RMX-16
ART 01A
Bel BD-80
Binson P.E. 603T
Deltalab Effectron I
Korg SDD-2000
Korg SE-300 Stage Echo
Lexicon PCM
MXR Flanger Doubler
MXR Pitch Transposer
Mutronics Mutator
Palmer PDI-03 / PDI-09
Quad Eight CPR-16
Roland DC-20
Roland DC-30
Roland RE-201 Space Echo
Sansamp PSA 1.1
Watkins Copicat MK3
Nigel also takes advantage of interesting acoustic spaces and natural reverb
MICROPHONES
AKG C12
AKG C12A
AKG C28
AKG C414 EB
AKG D99 (binaural)
Brauner VM1
Coles 4038
Electro Voice RE-20
Neumann CMV 563
Neumann M49
Neumann U47
Neumann U47 FET
Neumann U67
Neumann U87
Neumann UM57
Oktava MK-012
Sennheiser MD421
Sony C37A
Soyuz SU-017
Shure SM57
Telefunken ELA 251
MISC.
Apple Logic, Ableton Live, Pro Tools
Antelope Orion converter/interface (used on Junuun)
Apogee converters (In Rainbows era)
Coleman Audio Monitor Controller
Omniphonics Footprint (power amp)
Yamaha P3500 (powers Acoustic Energy AE1s)
INSTRUMENTS
Moog Modular
Korg MS-20
PPG Wave
Roland CR-78
With enough money, now you can sound just like Nigel!
CONTINUOUSLY UPDATING
Kodaline - Ready (Live at Ocean Way)