Spitfire Audio founder and composer Christian Henson (Poirot, Alien: Isolation) has his own unique take on the Forever Studio, stealing specific pieces of equipment from recording facilities he's visited. Learn what he'd pilfer from the studio made by Mark Knopfler, and what he'd love to take from Air Studios. And hear the surprising story behind his non-gear-related item... Listen to learn more.
Will Betts:
Hi, I'm Will Betts.
Chris Barker:
And I'm Chris Barker, and welcome to the MusicTech My Forever Studio podcast.
Will Betts:
In this podcast we talk to artists, composers, producers and industry figure heads about their dream studio.
Chris Barker:
And it's a dream studio they will have to live with forever.
Will Betts:
But there are some rules. In the Forever Studio you can choose a computer, a DAW, and an audio interface, then you have six other pieces of studio kit plus one luxury item, non gear related.
Chris Barker:
Any other rules?
Will Betts:
No bundles.
Chris Barker:
No bundles.
Will Betts:
No bundles. On the podcast today we have Christian Henson. As well as co-founding Spitfire Audio, Christian is a renowned composer in his own right with credits across film and TV and video games, including Alien: Isolation and Assassin's Creed IV. Christian, welcome to the podcast.
Christian Henson:
Thanks so much for having me on. This is my first podcast. And I would say podcasts have been a live saver for me because I do a lot of travelling between London and Edinburgh and, yeah, it's the taxiing. Podcast they rescue that dead time.
Chris Barker:
This is what we're here for. This is what we're for.
Christian Henson:
Taxiing.
Chris Barker:
Now you can listen to yourself.
Will Betts:
We've got a very niche audience of people on runways.
Chris Barker:
The runway audience. Okay, so the first thing we like to talk about is the fantasy vibe of you studio. Where would you, if you could, where would you put that studio and what would it look like? There's all sorts of types of studios, from the spaceship looking ones to the wooden, organic type studio in the woods kind of thing, what's your dream location, if you could?
Christian Henson:
Well, something that I'm really fortunate about is I've spent time, a lot of time, in some of these dream locations. And I have quite a romantic story. When I was 25, and it's going to get dark immediately this, when I was 25 I had a massive brain haemorrhage and it had to be clipped in the Royal Free Hospital, so I had brain surgery. And my father looked out the ward window and pointed down to this church and said, “You see that church down there? That's George Martin's studio. You'll work there one day.” And I remember thinking I will never work there. And I have to say that that's the studio that I've spent the most time in, more time than, I would say, my own studio, and that's Air Studios.
Christian Henson:
And for me, studios, it's not just the equipment. I think the room is something that people don't talk about enough. But having worked at Abbey Road and having worked on the Newman Stage and having` worked at Air Studios, it's the people and there's something just very magical about the people at Air Studios, I think it's because it comes from George Martin originally, his spirit. And I think that's-
Chris Barker:
So if you were designing a space it would be that kind of vibe and you would lean on the experience from those studio to create. So where would you put it in the world, though, if you could build your own version of Air or Abbey Road? This is what we're trying to find out in the fantasy.
Christian Henson:
Sorry.
Chris Barker:
No, no.
Christian Henson:
Yeah.
Will Betts:
Or would you just buy Air?
Christian Henson:
Yeah, I mean, to be honest, we did try because it was on sale, but it was just a bit pricey. So I would, wherever it would be, I would take the team from Air, and I am in love with my new hometown, which is Edinburgh, and there is actually a church on Holyrood Road that looks a little bit like Air Studios, and I walk past it and imagine one day, if I won the lottery, maybe I could do an Air North.
Chris Barker:
Amazing. So that's the kind of vibe is you taking an old building and converting it as well, so it's like-
Christian Henson:
Absolutely. I think that that's what amazing about... I mean, I've built a few studios and, no matter how scientific it appears, from what I can gather, it always tends to be a happy accident. I mean, if you go into Abbey Road One, that shouldn't sound very good, but it just does. Abbey Road Two I think sounds awful, and I don't think The Beatles ever liked it either, apparently. But it has this kind of magic about it. But I think that George Martin went into that church and clapped his hands and went... There's something extraordinary about... The room is really small, but it's just got these immensely tall ceilings that create this... so it has this early reflection, which is the magnifier, coupled with this tail, which is extraordinary. But, as I say, for me, what we're doing is, certainly for me as a film and TV composer, I'm helping tell a story and for me it's all about capturing emotion, so it's all about how you feel in a place. And if people make you feel good you do good work. And I think that there's no better place in the world than the team at Air Studios.
Chris Barker:
So we're taking the team from Air, we're stealing them, we're putting them in the church on Holyrood Road-
Christian Henson:
Yep.
Chris Barker:
... and we're making it into the best studio-
Christian Henson:
Absolutely.
Chris Barker:
... in the UK. Nice. And so that's the first thing we like to discuss. Secondly, you get to choose Mac or PC, I guess you're going to be Mac?
Christian Henson:
It's going to be Mac, yeah.
Chris Barker:
And-
Will Betts:
Why a Mac over a PC?
Chris Barker:
I suppose that's changed a lot, even in the movie world, right? Surely, there must be more people running big Windows rigs than previously?
Christian Henson:
I mean, it's interesting because Hans and his team, they use PCs and they use Cubase. And I always say if you're going to use Cubase, use it on a PC, simply because Hans is one their case. I've always liked Mac because I was brought up as an aesthete, I really have an appreciation for design. My mom was really strange, she was really nosy and she used to get us up very late at night to walk around the block in our pyjamas so we could look into our neighbor's houses and could size their furniture. So, from that, I've got-
Will Betts:
Are we allowed to say who your mother is, as well?
Christian Henson:
Yeah. I mean, yeah, I come from a show business family and my mother, within the UK, is quite famous and she's had an amazing career. Her name's Una Stubbs, yeah.
Will Betts:
Amazing.
Chris Barker:
“Who's that outside again? It's Una again, she's outside.”
Christian Henson:
“She's outside. Una Stubbs.”
Chris Barker:
“Close the curtains.”
Christian Henson:
Yeah, absolutely.
Will Betts:
“She's judging our furniture.”
Christian Henson:
Yeah. Slowly one by one our neighbours got net curtains and my mum was disgusted by it. But she just taught us to look at stuff. So, for me, I really appreciate the design aesthetic of Apple.
Chris Barker:
And the next thing is the DAW. Now, you only get to choose one and I think we've discussed previous that-
Christian Henson:
Well, I was Cubase originally, but I switched to Logic because of the EXS24, the in house sampler. So it's really weird. All of my assistants who are now the in house composers at Spitfire, they all use my key commands and they're really weird and they don't realise they're actually using Cubase key commands in Logic. But I always say Logic is... it's like your parents suddenly decide, when you're 15, to have another kid, and you kind of love your new brother or sister, but you don't necessarily like them, and that's what I would say about Logic, really. I tolerate it.
Chris Barker:
So that's what, if you could only have one DAW for this dream studio, you would still choose Logic?
Christian Henson:
I would still choose Logic. It's like, for me, it's like an instrument, and it's like... and I just happened to pick the recorder. I tolerate it.
Chris Barker:
So the final free item, before we get into your six, is the audio interface.
Christian Henson:
I'd say an Apogee Symphony. I think that to have an interface where you don't need to worry about A/D and D/A conversion is great. They're solid, nicely designed things.
Will Betts:
And what about the integration with Logic as well? That must be a useful thing.
Christian Henson:
Yes. It just it's pretty seamless and, I mean, I've always been deeply concerned about A/D conversion and it's just great because it's like you forget about it. It's great. I have, in my studio, I have a dedicated A/D converter, but the minute I have more than two channels I know I'm safe, it's fine, yeah.
Will Betts:
Just to jump back quickly to the EXS24, was it that was the sampler and you were like, “Okay. This is it now.”
Christian Henson:
Yes it was just... I remember I was an E-mu guy and I thought I'd never come off because I could just be really quick.
Will Betts:
So you were sampling using the-
Christian Henson:
Yeah, the E-mu. The E... what's it? The EX4 Ultra or something like that I think it was called
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Christian Henson:
And I just remember the first time I decided to the EXS24, it was honestly, it was like, “Oh, that's interesting because I don't have to do this,” and I'm now just turning my chair to the sampler on the side. And it was just, honestly, it was just through laziness and it was just the ability to organise samples and files and all that. And I think that the EXS24 is the best music software. And I think that I'm, by saying Logic, I feel I'm semi-cheating because I bought all of the components that are now bundled together in Logic, so I bought the vocoder, EXS24, it was all available separately before it was bought by Apple.
Will Betts:
So time has really served you well in the Forever Studio because you've got around the bundle.
Christian Henson:
Yes. Yes.
Will Betts:
Okay. Bundle dodger. Henson.
Chris Barker:
We didn't have to scream no bundles.
Will Betts:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Which is always welcome.
Will Betts:
So on to our main six, then.
Christian Henson:
Okay.
Chris Barker:
Item number one.
Christian Henson:
Item number one. Well, again, what I think is it's not just about the kit in studios, it's about the people. So what I'm going to do, if you don't mind, see as you're kind of being santa, is I'm going to instruct you to actually steal kit, specific kit from specific studios.
Chris Barker:
We've had this. We've have the Sound City Neve as one of the items-
Christian Henson:
Excellent. So I'd start with the desk. I would like you... Is that counted as one, or do we just take a channel?
Chris Barker:
That's... No, one.
Will Betts:
That is one.
Christian Henson:
That is one. I'd like you to steal the Cadac desk from Air Edel Studios. And the reason for that is it's a queer sounding desk, and I've worked in that studio nearly as much as Air Studios. It's funny, because Air Edel was basically a jingles company, it was set up by George Martin, but it was totally separate from Air Studios, and one of the problems of working at Air Edel is whenever I book a band to play there, is you know at least one person will turn up at Air Studios, which is about 45 minutes away.
Christian Henson:
But it's been in the same location, King's Cross, since the 1980s. A woman called Maggie Rodford runs it. She helped build the studio. And they have this Cadac desk which is the last music Cadac desk that they built in the 1980s, and it has just been so lovingly maintained. One of the real disappointing things of going into studios with retro gear these days is you tend to have a thing where every other pot. It's not, “Oh no, that channel doesn't work.” You go, “I'm just going to pan it to the left.”
Chris Barker:
“If you're going to record that, make sure it- ”
Christian Henson:
Absolutely.
Chris Barker:
“... goes through this channel, because that's the one that sounds good for that somehow.”
Christian Henson:
Whereas this desk is absolutely meticulously maintained. I know this because I once worked with a director, I won't mention his name, he was quite cocky, and he came in to review some mixes, not knowing that this Cadac desk had flying faders, and he put this large venti latte on the console and then he hit play, the engineer went, “No,” and the faders flipped up and just deposited the entire contents of the latte.
Will Betts:
Oh my god.
Christian Henson:
And what I hate about when that happens is when it doesn't come out. It's not dripping the other end, it's like, it's in there. And it was back and up and running the next day. But it was absolutely amazing because the faders just went mental because of all the circuitry.
Chris Barker:
Like it was haunted.
Christian Henson:
Yeah, absolutely. But I just think something I always advice young people is to find your own voice. And I'd been working at Air Edel and it went through a phase of just being underfunded when Sanctuary owned it. And then, in a funny kind of way, because they didn't pull the old desk out, there was just suddenly this point where you went, “Do you know what? This place is quite cool.” And it was when Nick Cave and Warren Ellis recorded the score to The Proposition there, it really went, “You know, I've always felt there was a bit of vibe here.” And it's just different, the desk is different.
Chris Barker:
Okay. Item number two.
Christian Henson:
Monitoring.
Chris Barker:
Yes.
Christian Henson:
The 5.1 Monitoring System in British Grove Studios.
Chris Barker:
So are these all going to be stolen items?
Christian Henson:
They're all going to be stolen items.
Chris Barker:
You're going to decimate the UK recording industry.
Christian Henson:
And the last one, he's going to get really pissed off when you steal it.
Will Betts:
Okay. All right.
Christian Henson:
But, yeah, so I mean, British Grove is incredible. I was working with an engineer and he said, “Christian, you've got to go and work at British Grove because it is the best recording studio in the world.” And this was an engineer from Air, and I was like, “Yeah, I don't actually believe you.” And then I walked in and it's a studio can record about 60 players, it's based next to a massive motorway in Hammersmith, and it was built my Mark Knopfler. And you just walked in and the minute I walked I smiled and laughed and it was just like this, basically, has been built by someone who's been in all of the recording studios and has gone, “Wouldn't it be good if.. wouldn't it be good if- ”
Chris Barker:
Basically what you're doing right now.
Christian Henson:
Exactly.
Will Betts:
Yeah.
Christian Henson:
So little things like you walk to go and make coffee in the loo area at the back and you walk in and you go, “Where's the light switch?” And then the lights just come on, you go, “Yeah.” And then you look and the near... next to the coffee machine is the same near field monitoring as on the desk. So, basically, you're never going to be in that situation when the guitarist turns himself up and you miss it, even if you're making a cup of tea. So he's really dialled into the needs. And there's a vocal booth there which is built on exactly the same dimensions on his home, which is, I believe, where he recorded Sultans of Swing.
Christian Henson:
So it's an insane place. But the monitoring is just nuts. And they've got this 5.1 monitoring which you can switch from theatre mode, where the surrounds are to the right and left of you, to more of a home set up. So you can mix computer game surround in that configuration and then you can mix film surround in that configuration.
Chris Barker:
And what's the manufacturer of the monitoring?
Christian Henson:
ATC.
Chris Barker:
Oh, it's ATC.
Christian Henson:
And they're monsters. The only problem I have with it, but because it's going to my studio it's not a problem, the only problem is you cannot listen to anything you've recorded there anywhere else but there, because the monitoring is just so mind blowing. But because it's going to be my studio, I'll-
Chris Barker:
So you're forever studio-
Christian Henson:
... just only listen to podcasts there.
Will Betts:
In 5.1, yeah.
Christian Henson:
In 5.1.
Chris Barker:
We should mix this in 5.1. Just this one episode.
Christian Henson:
Absolutely. It's a curious thing 5.1, because I'm not asked to produce anything in 5.1 anymore. About 10 years everything was being done in 5.1, but the main TV companies in this country don't mix 5.1 anymore.
Will Betts:
Why not?
Christian Henson:
It's just... I just think it's more trouble than worth. I remember us doing... I used to do the music for Poirot and that used to be mixed in 5.1, but whenever we did the final dub review the producers would go, “I want it coming out of the telly.” And so we'd just... all these poor dubbing engineers, all of that work, and it would just literally come out of this-
Chris Barker:
Flat screen.
Christian Henson:
... Samsung telly that was just there. But, yes, it's just, it's... I had this conversation with Hans Zimmer a lot because he, notoriously, works in 5.1, in fact he whacks everything in surrounds, and I think there's just a slightly conservative approach to 5.1 in this country. And it's interesting to watch dubbing engineers work with it, and they're very scared of backdooring, they call it, people looking round because they think something's behind them-
Will Betts:
Right.
Christian Henson:
... and all of that kind of stuff. Whereas you listen to those insane mixes for the Chris Nolan films, you've got the entire orchestra is only in the surrounds, and they're a bit more adventurous with it. But it's just that's what I'm finding is people are not requesting surround.
Chris Barker:
Does it affect the way you compose if you know where it's going to end up, in terms of-
Christian Henson:
Yeah, I think that there's basically a lot of additional information that you can provide, and I think that trying to make that from a stereo mix is, well, it tends to be quite crudely done with delays and reverbs and stuff, and I think that, certainly, I'm a big fan of making my own samples, and I will create the surround version of the samples. And, certainly, I love writing in 5.1 because it's just so much more fun. So and that's, I guess, what I would enjoy about working on computer games, is they're very 5.1, and what's great about that is that you are pretty much guaranteed that the user is going to sitting in the plum spot so you don't have to make all of those considerations for people who are at the back left of the theatre, and that thing of worrying about having a kick drum in the rears and there being a time delay because the theater's that big, and all of that kind of stuff. It's more of a controlled environment. So certainly when I did Alien: Isolation, that was, I mean phenomenally 5.1 and it was great to write with those things in consideration.
Will Betts:
So you were working with The Flight?
Christian Henson:
That's right. My brother Joe and his partner Alexis, yes.
Will Betts:
That's a phenomenally... it's a horrifying game to play-
Christian Henson:
Yes.
Will Betts:
... I mean, partly because of the sound design and the music, but I mean that as a compliment.
Christian Henson:
Yes. It was really... that was their ambition was to make something genuinely scary. And it was to make, the concept of it, was to make the sequel to the original Alien. So what we agreed to do is to go back to late 1970s future. So we used all spring reverbs and all of that kind of stuff, but to make futuristic music but from the 1980s, and that was a lot of fun. And it was interesting in that score because Jerry Goldsmith notoriously wrote very little music and that's what makes the music so poignant. That flute thing only happens twice. So they wanted it to sound like a Jerry Goldsmith score, so The Flight they did more of the kind of electronics and stuff and I did more of the orchestral. So I found myself writing five hours of Jerry Goldsmith score, which was... it was a real pinch me moment when we recorded that at Air Studios, it was just insane.
Chris Barker:
Item number three. We've got the 5.1 system and we've got the desk.
Will Betts:
We've got the desk from Air Edel, yeah.
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Christian Henson:
I think next up has got to be the microphone, and I think there's only one place you can get your mics from, if you're going to steal, and that's Abbey Road, because they won't miss it. They've just got so many.
Chris Barker:
Lester will know.
Will Betts:
Lester will always know.
Christian Henson:
But, let's face it, it's because of the care and love that are given to those microphones. So it's going to be an AKG C12, vintage, don't buy a new C12, they're not as good. And I think microphones are a little it like instruments. They say that the personality of every player of a cello goes into it, and the reason why the Royal Academy has this collection of Stradivari that aren't in glasses boxes and are being used is because instruments die. And I think good microphones are like that. And I think there's a good chance, if you're nicking a C12 from Abbey Road, that someone like Ella Fitzgerald may have sung into it. So the personality and the vibe and all the feeling that has passed through it, I think that things do contain the echoes of-
Chris Barker:
And do you think they actually bed in, like-
Christian Henson:
Oh yes.
Chris Barker:
... they must bed in, like speakers still capture all that same similar technology, that an old mic will just bed in. It just-
Christian Henson:
There's town in Vietnam where there's a famous road where there's this street market selling street foods, and famously they keep these stocks on a low simmer and they never change, they just add to the stocks, and there are stocks there that have, allegedly, been on simmer for 30 years, and there's just no way that you could imitate the flavour of millions of different ingredients going in, and I think microphones are... bear the scars and bear witness to everyone who have record into them.
Chris Barker:
I worked in a restaurant when I was a kid and we had a french onion soup that did that and it was-
Will Betts:
A well simmered C12. What are you recording with this microphone?
Christian Henson:
Well, I think that C12 is my... I think that that can record anything. I think that it's great a metre and a half away from a violist, I think it's great for vocals, I have a tendency to record female vocals more than men's and I know that the C12 really suits the kind of singer I like working with, which the singers who do the close micing, very soft singing. And I think it's good enough as a mono mic, it can sit in front of a section or a group of players and I think that that... it's just very versatile and a beautiful mic. What I love about... because I'm not much of an engineer and I don't really know what I'm doing, but what I love about equipment is the equipment that means that you don't have to do anything. I remember the first time I bought a decent mic pre and going, “Oh, I just don't have to mix this as hard.” And they say that about instruments. It's easy to get a good sound out of it.
Will Betts:
I mean, also on the microphone front, sampling is, obviously, massive for you, so is there any significance with the C12 being such an all rounder?
Christian Henson:
Yeah. I mean, for me, the reason I set up Spitfire Audio with Paul is we just couldn't understand why people were recording samples differently from music. I remember playing, I'm going to be insulting about one of our brothers here, but I remember playing a guitar sample that was made by this company and being so impressed by it, but I said, “Who wants a guitar that sounds like that, other than maybe Mick Hucknall?” And it was just so pristine and perfect and it was like, “Well, where's all the vibe?” And so one day I bought a charango, inspired by the score for Motorcycle Diaries by Gustavo Santaolalla, and I can't play the guitar, my brother's a fantastic bass player, so I said, “Listen, can we sample this? I know that this goes against sample law, but can you ake sure every note sounds totally different?” Quickly whacked it into EXS24 and it's the most, and still to this day, the best sample instrument I've ever played.
Christian Henson:
I think I have a romantic view towards it because it set me on this road of going, “You have to capture spirit. You have to capture... ” We say it's not sampling, we're recording scores one note at a time. So that's what we do is we engineer an environment which is exactly the same as getting a really vibey recording. So everything we sample, I don't want to do an advert here, but everything that we sample, when we can, is recorded to two inch tape. And we just find that the more beveling that you can give each individual note, the better the sound. And I think that that's certainly the case for people making their own samples is try and capture the vibe, don't worry about making it dry, don't worry about making it isolated, because, if you capture the vibe, everything else with follow.
Christian Henson:
The problem with samples is the duplication. The minute you're holding one note down, you're holding 20 players, 20 microphones and one hall. Minute you're holding down two notes, it's 40 players, 40 microphones and two halls. So if there's anything that's a bit dodge in there, it just multiplies. So just make each note as good as it possibly can be.
Christian Henson:
We've been working Ólafur Arnalds and it was funny, he sat in and worked on a sample library and it's interesting watching a composer having to sit, it's tedious. And he said, “It's really interesting because I like to make musical tapestries and by creating samples I'm actually controlling the design of each and every thread.” And that's how I would recommend to people apply it. So you'd be doing well with Lester's C12 I think, as a starting point for your sample library.
Will Betts:
And have you ever had any samples where you've just... it's sounded bad, or intentionally bad, or you've not known what to do with it? I'm specifically thinking of the rusty gate sample.
Christian Henson:
Yeah, that was bad.
Will Betts:
Can you explain the story?
Christian Henson:
So, basically, I've got this experiment called Piano Book, and basically I just thought what I wanted to do was make a sample library in plain sight. And then I thought, “Well, I've got this YouTube channel and a lot of really lovely followers on that.” And I thought, “Wouldn't it be fun to make a sample library with some of the community?” And I thought, “Well, sampling's quite difficult. What's relatively easy to sample?” And pianos are actually both easy and difficult to sample, in the sense that because they are triggers it's easy to make an instrument. Sampling them well is difficult. So I created this thing called Piano Book, which is a community sample project where people make samples of their pianos and tell stories about their pianos and it's deeply romantic and very exciting. And I just thought I'd do a competition. And I recorded this gate that was squeaking in this Inner Hebridies island that I was on, and it was one of those things, I went, “That is going to be amazing. I'll turn that into a sample instrument.” And it wasn't. It was shit because it was a rusty gate. And so I thought, “You know what I'm going do is I'm, as a challenge, is challenge people to see if they can make this into a decent sounding sample library.” Not realising that two weeks later I was going to have to listen to 250 rusty gates.
Will Betts:
Rod meet back.
Chris Barker:
Oh yeah.
Christian Henson:
Yes, exactly. So, yeah, so there are things that you think are going to be great, and they're not. And this is what's so fun about sampling is you never really know how it's going to turn out. And when we do, like we've just done this thing with the BBC Symphony Orchestra which took us three years to do, and you're just going, “Oh, bloody hell. I hope this is going to sound all right.”
Christian Henson:
But I think my favourite story along those lines is I'm a big fan of sampling kitchenware and I went to Shaftesbury Avenue, close to where I used to live, there's a catering store there and I just went around tapping everything and they thought that literally, “Ph, he's just got out of the lunatic asylum, a man is just going tapping stuff.”
Will Betts:
It's the nice man.
Christian Henson:
And there was this really boring looking bowl that, when I tapped it, was really uninteresting, not as interesting as the others. And actually that turned out to be the best because it didn't have loads of overtones, it didn't have loads of harmonics, so when you sampled it, put it on your C4, for example, and stretched it up and down the keyboard, it actually worked really well as a sample instrument because you didn't hear this weird thing where you've got there's a fifth in that and you go up a semitone and there's the wrong fifth, and all of that kind of stuff. So it's just this really boring looking bowl, and I think to this day that's certainly my top five samples. Top five most used, that's for sure, mixing bowl
Chris Barker:
I love the breadth of BBC Symphony Orchestra to bowl from near Shaftesbury Avenue.
Christian Henson:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
It's amazing. It's amazing. That's a great obsession though.
Christian Henson:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
It's-
Christian Henson:
And it's funny, actually, because we sold that bowl as part of this range called kitchenware and it was really unsuccessful and Paul and I were like, “I just don't get because just listen to that. You know that you add a bit of delay, a bit of reverb.” And then I went, “Ah, shall we add some delay and reverbs to it?” And we turned it into this other library, kitchenware with delays and reverbs on and that's now a huge seller.
Speaker 4:
If you're into music production, you should also check out MusicTech magazine. In this months issue we round up the latest generation of exciting new gear that we're expecting this year. We talk to Coldcut and Ninja Tune founder Matt Black, electronic producer Space Dimension Controller, and Norwegian DJ Ørjan Nilsen. Plus we give you our verdict on Waldorf's Kyra synth, the Softube Console 1 fader, the AMS Neve RMX15-500 series reverb, and Novation's Launchpad X and Launchpad Mini MK3. On top of that we have a stack of tutorials for Cubase, Logic, Live, Studio One, Pro Tools, and FL Studio. You'll find all that and more in this months issue. Subscribe now at musictech.net.
Chris Barker:
So item number four.
Christian Henson:
I'd like you to go to Reykjavik and nick Ólafur Arnalds's EMT Plate please. I don't know which one it is. It's one of those small ones. I think they made like a household Plate.
Chris Barker:
Really? So not the 140, not the 250?
Christian Henson:
No, because Air Edel has two of those biggies. It's a small one. And it's just... I mean, that's what I really like about working with Ólafur.
Chris Barker:
420.
Christian Henson:
There you go, that's exactly it. He's got one of those. And he really does... I mean, I go into a lot of studios and you look and you go, “Yeah, how often do you use that Space Echo?” And he really does use that stuff. And everything he does in audio he does in Pro Tools. Imagine doing, he does the music for Broadchurch as well as his own music, and I said to him, “That just must be a nightmare when they recut stuff and you've got reprint playing.” And he doesn't MIDI convert any of his vintage synths or anything like that.
Will Betts:
Oh wow.
Christian Henson:
He's a real purist. And he goes, “Yeah, no, it's an absolute nightmare, but it's not a reason not to do it that way.” And I think that was really inspiring for me. So that's... I mean, it's very interesting. Something that's been so joyous about this journey, as one of the founders of Spitfire Audio, is meeting other composers. I would say that 90 percent of composers are curators of sound. I remember seeing an interview with Pharrell Williams and Daniel Lanois, and Pharrell said, “I just grab sounds from different locations and put them together.” And Daniel Lanois is one of the 10 percent of sound makers who like to craft his own sound and he calls them his little orphans and he puts them in these little orphanages and just goes like, “One day I'll find these sounds a home.” And I think that's very romantic. So when I go around the world meeting these composers, every once in a while, I'll sniff out a sound maker. We sniff each other out like dogs. Or drummers, drummers are very good at finding each other in rooms apparently.
Christian Henson:
And it's interesting that you go, “If I were to get you in the same room as Hans Zimmer, you wouldn't be able to shut the both of you up,” because they're so passionate about making sound. So I remember going doing a bit of a seminar to a bunch of composers in Iceland, and I remember walking into this room and going, “Ah, I've found another dog.”
Chris Barker:
Yeah. “Where is he?”
Christian Henson:
Hans said something lovely the other day, and he's so passionate about this, but he says, “You know, a lot of people don't understand that you can extract a lot of emotion from sound. Sound is the smell. It can send you back somewhere.” And that's what he's really interested in doing is find that. I think a great example was his Joker theme, which is not a theme, it's just a sound and it's unbearable and it creates an emotion in you, and I think that's something worth bearing in mind.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, when you can distil it into, like you say, a sound that's not a melody, it's not a... that's, yeah, intense.
Christian Henson:
And was it John Cage who said the definition of music is noise that's been organised?
Chris Barker:
Yeah, organised noise. Yep. I've seen a few engineers that have that as their Twitter handle and things. Organising noise.
Will Betts:
Since.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, since 1998.
Chris Barker:
We're onto item number five.
Will Betts:
Number five, yeah.
Chris Barker:
You're confidently racing through this. Are you prepared, did you prepare for today?
Christian Henson:
Yeah, I thought about it because I started the day really dull and I just went, “No, actually if I can have anything, might as well.” So we've done the desk, the monitoring, the mic, the reverb. Fairchild compressor, the one that's in the hall at Air Studios. It's a 606, so just mono, because we've only got the one mic. And, again-
Will Betts:
You wouldn't want to use it as an insert or anything? You wouldn't want to use the stereo?
Christian Henson:
Maybe a little tickle to tape, yeah.
Will Betts:
A little tickle.
Chris Barker:
So we're using the pres in the desk, then-
Christian Henson:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
... for the mic.
Christian Henson:
I just love smashing stuff. And if I was going to have my... What I would love to do with this set up is to record a drum kit with the C12 in mono. Just get that plum sweet spot, the Motown setting where you get the right amount of balance between the hi hat and the kick. And then, going into this, so I'd give it a bit of a tickle on the Cadac, and then, on the way out, I'd smash it through the Fairchild. The Fairchilds, I hope I'm not wrong in saying this, are notoriously unreliable-
Will Betts:
Yep.
Christian Henson:
... and, again, the reason I want to one from Air Studios is because it's been maintained so lovingly. And they... I mean, the service team in Air Studios is second to none.
Chris Barker:
Are Fairchilds the ones where you can't get the tubes anymore so-
Christian Henson:
Yes, that's right. Yes, you can't.
Chris Barker:
I remember being with some producer in a studio, he had one once, and I wanted to turn it on for a photo shoot and he was like, “I've sort of calculated that when it's on, obviously the tubes are instantly dying slowly, very slowly.”
Christian Henson:
It's finite, yeah.
Chris Barker:
So he was like, “It costs about three quid a minute to run the Fairchild.” Or something.
Christian Henson:
Yes. That is why I think there's something quite special about the Fairchilds with the original-
Chris Barker:
But they keep finding big... occasionally they'll find like an old warehouse in Russia just full of tubes, won't they-
Christian Henson:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
... and go, “Oh, we've got a load more in.” Keep it going for another 10 years, or whatever.
Will Betts:
Because there's the UnFairchild as well that's out there now, the-
Christian Henson:
Yes.
Will Betts:
... the Undertone Audio. I mean, other people are making these sorts of things.
Christian Henson:
Yes. And, again, I just don't know why. I mean, I think the stuff made by UAD is fantastic, but I own a Manley Massive Passive and I have A/B'd them and it doesn't sound the same, because my Massive Passive doesn't sound like any other Massive Passive. And I think there's something about something like the Fairchild, it will bear the scars of every drum kit that's been smashed through it. But it's been lovingly looked after and I think that is... It's interesting, I've been visiting a lot of studios in Scotland, where they're run on incredibly tight budgets and basically they can't afford to have service personnel, so they very much pick their equipment according to that. So there's a brand of SSL desks that's really reliable.
Chris Barker:
The Dualities.
Christian Henson:
Yeah.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, I think. Are the Dua-
Christian Henson:
And they're just everywhere now.
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Christian Henson:
So, as a consequence, when you do find something that's been lovingly cared for, like the 660 in Air Studios, that's the thing to nick.
Christian Henson:
Talking of obsolescence, I have a nice story about the... when they phased out the NS10s, I know a producer can only mix on them, he's quite a famous producer, and he bought 40 pairs of the tweeters. He worked out that will last him to rest... he monitors bloody loud on them, he blows them all the time. We worked out-
Will Betts:
Will you name names?
Christian Henson:
Yes, it was Pascal Gabriel, who's fantastic.
Chris Barker:
And does he, what, Bryston amp on them?
Christian Henson:
I don't know, actually. I imagine so.
Chris Barker:
Because that's always the killer for the NS10s.
Will Betts:
That's what they say. So they say.
Christian Henson:
He lives half of his life in France and half his life in London, so he always has two sets, and he blasts them out. I mean, I don't like NS10s because I just think, well, it's got to be fun. I mean, it might be accurate and a good kind of flat, but I just want to go home and cut myself.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, didn't get into-
Christian Henson:
Sorry, I hope I haven't triggered anyone there.
Chris Barker:
... didn't get into this industry for it not to be fun.
Christian Henson:
Yeah, absolutely.
Chris Barker:
Okay, so we're onto the final studio item, so the gear before we move onto your luxury non gear related item. So what's the final item?
Christian Henson:
The final item is, as I mentioned before, is the best recording studios are the ones with great people an a great room, first and foremost. And it's not just the sound of the room, it's how people feel in that room. And, I mean, certainly for working with strings, you give them a good room to play in and it's... I mean, for anyone who's produced vocals, I don't know if you've said the wrong thing to a vocalist and you've just... the mojo's gone and you can just hear it in their voice, it's exactly the same for strings, and they have a good room where they can hear themselves, where they've got those early reflections, then you're going to get the best performance out of them. And that's what we're in... we're about capturing spirit and emotion. So I was thinking what room could I nick.
Chris Barker:
The room is included. You can, for the location-
Christian Henson:
You see, I want all of the rooms.
Chris Barker:
Oh, so you're inventing a bit of software?
Christian Henson:
No. So John Powell's not going to like me for this, but John Powell has an electronic acoustic, virtual acoustic, environment in his studio, which is created by all sorts of speaker's-
Chris Barker:
Motors-
Christian Henson:
... phasings, doing phasing and stuff like that. So you can dial in whatever room you want in John Powell's studio, so that's what I want.
Chris Barker:
Wow. So it's just speaker phasing, or does it have motorised treatment, and things like that?
Christian Henson:
It's all sorts. There's this guy who I think used to work in Area 51, was his assistant and built this... it's just the only place in the world that has this virtual acoustic environment. And you'll see if... it's a great Instagram to be subscribed to, is John Powell's Instagram, and you'll see that's he's recording a lot in his home studio and that's how he will match the quality of Air Studios or Abbey Road-
Chris Barker:
Wow.
Christian Henson:
... is because he can generate that environment in his small room.
Will Betts:
Why isn't everybody using this?
Christian Henson:
Because it probably costs a millionty five pounds.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, and you need this scientist from Area 51.
Will Betts:
Yeah.
Christian Henson:
Exactly.
Chris Barker:
Basically.
Will Betts:
Wow.
Christian Henson:
But I'll nick that-
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Christian Henson:
... if he's not looking.
Chris Barker:
That's incredible. I've been in studios where they've got remote controls on the wall and ceilings lower and things like that.
Will Betts:
Well, Olympic used to be like that.
Chris Barker:
Yeah.
Christian Henson:
Absolutely.
Will Betts:
The whole ceiling coming down in sections.
Christian Henson:
And the ceiling comes down at Air. And also a lot of people don't realise that you can actually flip the panels within the ceiling to a hard surface, to Melatech. I have a funny story about that actually. I was doing a pretty terrible film called A Bunch of Amateurs, which was Burt Reynolds' last film. I mean, I say a terrible film, it was a good film, but he just didn't bring it at all. And so, yeah, terrible performance. So, anyway, I wanted it... it was basically about an amateur dramatic society, and I wanted the score to sound like it was played by amateurs, so I wanted a really dry, boxy studio. And the only room in London that was available was the hall at Air Studios, which you can't get in for love nor money. So we created a room within the room at Air Studios out of Melatech. So we literally took the roof down so it was about six feet off the ground and we put these baffles around it, so you were totally enclosed. And there was this point where I wanted the tuba player to really honk his horn, and he said, “I can't. The ceiling's so low that the air is coming out of the top of my horn, bouncing off the ceiling and going back in.” And so he could only play to mezzo forte. So that was a bit of an odd experience. So it was sacrilegious.
Christian Henson:
It was very funny also because the seating chart, you know when the musicians come in they go and see where they're... because you very rarely work with someone like the LSO, who are a band, they know where they sit, they sit in the same seat all the time. So they're always the fixed bands, they need to know where they sit, and it was just great because it's just these sheet as they walked to the door with A Bunch of Amateurs and then all of the musicians listed, they were going-
Chris Barker:
Nice.
Christian Henson:
... and-
Chris Barker:
And then they see this little cave that they've got to play inside. They're like, “Oh.”
Christian Henson:
Yes, in the middle of Air Studios. So that was interesting.
Chris Barker:
Now we move on to a luxury non gear related item. Is there something that you take for studio to studio always, or a keepsake, or a mascot, or is there something else that you would have as a luxury item? What do you need when you're recording that isn't gear?
Christian Henson:
Okay. So I was brought up, as I mentioned, as an aesthete, and also, because I was a crazy nerd when I was younger, I was just... I was a nerd without portfolio. So I'd be a postcard nerd for a bit. I wanted to become a farceur, which is someone who acts in farces. I don't know why I was beaten up so much at school, but I really was.
Will Betts:
Can't figure it out.
Christian Henson:
Not that I condone that.
Chris Barker:
Who's laughing now, though, Christian?
Christian Henson:
I became... Yeah. I became a calligraphy nerd. So I'm quite a good calligrapher, and so I have a passion for... I mean, if I had a bit of weird fetish it's stationary shops, not necessarily art shops, and they don't have to be cool stationary, a Ryman will get me going. And I just love a bit of stationary. But so there is only, when talking about a piece of stationary, there is only one piece of stationary, and so few people have heard of it, but it is, basically, it's the Porsche 911, no it's not the NS10, it's the Neumann U 67 of pens, and it's the Parker 51. And in fact the design looks like it's designed by the person who designed the Porsche Spider, it is so just phenomenally beautiful. But here's the wrinkle, the composite plastic that that nib sits in, is the same plastic as they use on the nosecone of Spitfires.
Chris Barker:
Oh. And that's the end of the show. Wow, that's amazing.
Christian Henson:
So I take my Parker 51 everywhere. I'm lying, I don't have it with me today. But, yeah, that's something that... Taking notes is a pain, it makes it a pleasure, and I think taking notes is something that I learnt, I think, about halfway into my career as a film and TV composer is stop looking at the fucking score, it's not your job, your job as a composer is to help tell the story. So you've got to look at the picture, don't look at the band when they're playing, just look at the picture and listen to the music. Is it doing its job? And there are so many balls I've caught by just looking at the picture and going, “It's just not hitting as hard as I thought. Put your mutes on. Yes. That makes... ” For me, the difference of working with live musicians than samples, is samples, if the composition's good, your hairs will stand up on the back of your neck, with live musicians it will make you cry. And that's what you need to do at times. So what I do is I get them to throw the bar counter up so I know which bar I'm in. “Okay, we need to look at bar 24 again.” Or I'll just note it down with my Parker 51.
Chris Barker:
So, just briefly on the Parker, is it a vintage pen that you bought secondhand, so does it have that same embodiment of other people?
Christian Henson:
Absolutely. And you do need to get them serviced. So there used to be a pen shop in Burlington Arcade, which is now for unfortunately. I think they're based near Broadcast House now. Oh no, they're based near the old Broadcast House in Aldwych. Anyway, that's probably far too much detail. But, yes, I think that they, again, that pens and... you have to run a pen in. It has to fit in with your style of... which is why I loathe to lend it to people. And when people lend me their fountain pen it just-
Will Betts:
Always feels weird, right?
Christian Henson:
Yeah, it feels like slipping on their warm underwear.
Will Betts:
But there's always a weird scratch, isn't there? Do you ever feel that?
Christian Henson:
Yes, yes. That's it.
Will Betts:
Because it's-
Christian Henson:
You've got to wear it in according to the way that you write. The other interesting thing about the Parker 51 is that all of the inks that were available at the time would corrode the Spitfire plastic, so they had to develop an ink that wouldn't clog but wouldn't corrode the pen, so they made Quink Ink for the Parker 51. And when you go to the Wikipedia page and look in Quink Ink, it's written by me. That's how much of a nerd without portfolio I am.
Chris Barker:
That's...
Will Betts:
I'm going to look this up right now.
Chris Barker:
How do you find time to be a nerd about everything? This is fanta... I mean, I'm overwhelmed at just being a studio and music production nerd, and you're-
Christian Henson:
Paul Thompson's probably going to divorce me when he finds out how much of a nerd he's partnered with.
Chris Barker:
Well, I mean, let's do a final run down.
Will Betts:
Yeah, we'll do the final run down.
Chris Barker:
Final run down. So let's listen back to this studio and imagine it.
Will Betts:
The location is Air Studios, but on the Holyrood Road in the church.
Christian Henson:
In the Air Studios I'm going to build in Holyrood Road.
Will Betts:
Air Studios North. Running a Mac with Logic Pro X. The interface is an Apogee Symphony. You have the desk, the Cadac desk, from Air Edel Studios-
Christian Henson:
Yeah, sorry Maggie.
Will Betts:
... sitting in the control room listening back on the ATC 5.1 system from Mark Knopfler's British Grove Studios.
Christian Henson:
Yes.
Will Betts:
Recording everything with an AKG C12 from Abbey Road's mic locker. You have, for outboard, Olafur Arnalds's EMT Plate, the 4-
Chris Barker:
20, was it?
Will Betts:
420. The miniature-
Christian Henson:
Miniature one.
Will Betts:
... Plate. Also for outboard you have the Fairchild 660 for Air Studios.
Christian Henson:
Yes.
Will Betts:
Lot of pilfering going on here. And John Powell's Area 51 virtual acoustic environment from his studio. And your luxury item is a Parker 51 pen.
Chris Barker:
There we go.
Christian Henson:
Now that's heaven.
Chris Barker:
It sounds amazing.
Will Betts:
Does sound incredible.
Chris Barker:
It's the first time that somebody's just stolen equipment from... and just decimated the UK studio industry.
Christian Henson:
Well, it's a way of driving trade north.
Chris Barker:
Yeah. The north-
Will Betts:
The northern powerhouse.
Chris Barker:
The northern powerhouse.
Christian Henson:
Yes, exactly.
Chris Barker:
Yeah, exactly. Well, Christian, it's been a real pleasure and education. Amazing.
Christian Henson:
I've really enjoyed it. It's been so much fun.
Chris Barker:
Well, thank you so much for coming on the podcast.
Christian Henson:
Cheers.
Will Betts:
Thank you.
Christian Henson:
Brilliant.
Will Betts:
If you're enjoying the podcast, make sure you subscribe using your favourite podcasting app, and also think about rating and reviewing MusicTech's My Forever Studio. Don't forget to check back every Thursday for new episodes. Thanks for listening.