Joining Will and Chris on this episode is freelance studio engineer, Drew Bang. Drew has worked in major studios all over the world, lending his engineering skills for huge acts like U2, Royal Blood and Haim. But will this studio gluttony make whittling down his six-item Forever Studio an impossible task?
Chris Barker: Hi, I'm Chris Barker.
Will Betts: And I'm Will Betts and this is the Music Tech, My Forever Studio Podcast.
Chris Barker: In this podcast, we'll talk to producers, studio engineers, artists, and fellow gear heads about their dream studio.
Will Betts: They'll choose their dream location. Describe the ideal studio vibe and crucially the six pieces of gear they will have in that studio forever.
Chris Barker: Yep, that's right. We have rules. Each guest gets a computer, a DAW and an audio interface of their choice. But then they will choose six other pieces of studio gear and one non gear related luxury item.
Will Betts: In this episode we're talking to engineer Drew Bang.
Chris Barker: Drew's passion is recording artists and he's worked with some of the biggest in the business, including U2, Royal Blood, Lianne La Havas and Haim.
Will Betts: But Drew's route into the studio isn't exactly a normal tale and he came to production relatively late at the age of 30. But hopefully we'll get to know a little bit more about that over the course of the show.
Chris Barker: Let's kick this off. This is Music Tech magazines, My Forever Studio with Drew Bang. Welcome.
Drew Bang: Hi.
Will Betts: Fantastic.
Chris Barker: So you heard the rules there.
Drew Bang: Rules.
Chris Barker: Pretty strict rules.
Drew Bang: Some would argue we need them.
Chris Barker: Let's start off about a bit of your background as we mentioned, because you had a sort of an unusual entry or later enter into this world.
Drew Bang: Yeah. Unconventional maybe. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I started in studios like working in large format studios as it were. Kind of trying to make my path into professional recording when I was 30 years old. Which is pretty old if you're talking about being a runner, which I did. I kind of started out from scratch again. I mean I moved to London 10 years previous to kind of try and get into the industry and grafted and nothing happened and I kind of forgot about it and moved away to Melbourne and decided like, "I'm just going to live the other side of the world, who needs music anyway."
Drew Bang: And found myself living there thinking like, "What the hell am I doing? I need to go back to London and make it in the music business." So I came back and like everything had changed. Like DAW is a completely different, workflow is different. So I went back to school and kind of schooled up and all the people I went to school with were like 18, 19 and I was 30. And I'm thinking, "Sure I can do this. Like what's the big deal?" Schooled a bit. And then yeah I spent a couple of years searching for jobs and then finally started to get some traction, got some running work at Strongroom studios in Shoreditch. And then just worked my way up from there. Just humbly taking any work I could get. Just trying to ignore all the mitigating factors. Just working towards getting some sessions and engineering.
Chris Barker: So was that passion initially for studios or was that passion initially for like being in bands or being a musician? Because not everybody starts off like I want to do studio stuff, a lot of people sort of end up there.
Drew Bang: For sure. Yeah. I mean, when I moved to London, I was originally kind of a singer in bands and I just wanted to play music. So I moved to London. What's the worst that could happen? And it just didn't happen. And I think this was like 2001 or something like that. Home recording wasn't really great and we had no money. So we bought like a little eight track digital Roland thing and just our recordings were terrible. And we were trying to put out releases like mix tapes and stuff and recording our own band.
Drew Bang: Like I was in bands still at that point, but our recordings were terrible. And I guess through doing it ourselves and wondering why the hell they sounded so terrible, I started to get into the minutia of recording., And I guess that just kind of took over my interest as opposed to needing feeling the need to sort of be adored for my inimitable musicianship. I just thought, "Yeah, this is far more interesting." Gear, who doesn't love gear? My inner geek came out.
Will Betts: And speaking of your inner geek then, we should probably kick it off your Forever Studio. Where, the first question is, where would you have it Drew?
Drew Bang: Indeed. I mean, these are tough questions. I've got to say. It's back against the wall style sort of base. It's Tom Hanks, it's Robinson Crusoe sort of. I don't know. I mean, in my mind, location is difficult. I mean, if you've got a studio with no windows, you could be anywhere. If you're mixing and you can have files sent from anywhere. Like people live in the countryside, they don't need to be around clients, it's all good. I mean, I'm a recording engineer and I produce, so I want to be where people can get to. That's a factor. I'd like to say, I love London. I live in Hackney, I love Hackney. I'd like to say somewhere like that. But really.
Chris Barker: If it's a dream.
Will Betts: It is a dream.
Drew Bang: It's by the sea, isn't it? it's got to be by the sea. Okay. I'm getting older. Starting to think, where would it be nice to sort of live.
Will Betts: Somewhere with a promenade, hopefully.
Drew Bang: Indeed. I mean, like city, in a city like New York, London sounds great. Somewhere by the sea would be nice.
Chris Barker: So you think in the UK still?
Drew Bang: Well, I mean, when I was working with U2, we did some time at Rick Rubin's studio in Shangri-La in Malibu. And that's like two blocks away from like the Pacific coast highway in Malibu. You can see the ocean from the studio. It's amazing. It's just a little converted house turned into a studio, but you can go outside and it's. It's got to be somewhere like that. Like a coastal beach house that you can turn into a studio. It doesn't feel like a studio, but it's got all the gear in.
Chris Barker: That sounds pretty nice.
Will Betts: Yeah, I'm into that.
Chris Barker: That's good.
Drew Bang: Let's go to Malibu guys.
Chris Barker: So we're in Malibu and you've got a computer. Mac or PC is the first question.
Drew Bang: Hackintosh.
Chris Barker: Hackintosh, you're in hackintosh?
Drew Bang: I run a hackintosh, so I'm quite comfortable with them. As long as you can sort of get past the splash screen not being exactly as it is when you boot up on a Mac, it's fine.
Chris Barker: But you would still go to that even in the dream sheet, you want to go for some Mac?
Drew Bang: They're solid man. Like they're solid and I can jail boot. I can boot into my Windows, partition, play some video games, boot back into a Mac on the other side. Like I'm a fan.
Will Betts: So you don't want to go for like a straight up the most specked out Mac you could get?
Chris Barker: It's kind of a hack though because then he gets to play computer games and he's still got the luxury items.
Will Betts: You can do that in bootcamp, right? You can still do that.
Drew Bang: Yeah. I mean, I'm taking the left field here. I can build the computer myself. I can upgrade it as and when. Like I like the idea of it. Final answer.
Will Betts: Hackintosh, okay.
Chris Barker: Okay. We've got hackintosh and then we're going to need, these are your free items, so we're going to need which choice of DAW and your audio interface of choice.
Drew Bang: I mean, Pro Tools. It's Pro Tools. And if we're going Pro Tools, I've got no problem with an HD I/O. Don't judge. It's HD I/O. Like straight up just Pro Tools rig, solid. Give me Pro Tools 12 perpetual.
Chris Barker: You're not to go?
Drew Bang: No. The thing is right is I'm not interested in having everything to be the new fangled. I just want a base level of operation and if it works, I'm happy with it. I don't have to have the oldest, most vintage gear, don't have the newest, most Bluetooth connectivity vibe.
Chris Barker: Even in the dream studio, even in the Forever Studio where there's no limits, you're going to stick with this?
Drew Bang: Yeah.
Chris Barker: I suppose if you have to have it forever, you want what you know.
Drew Bang: I just want a solid rig, no frills. Gives me what I want. I don't want people to be like, I'm thinking about workflow. I don't want people to be sort of distracted with features. Just want to record. The digital medium is a means to a previously solved solution in the modern age. I don't need it to be singing and dancing. I just want you to put audio down onto a hard drive as opposed to tape.
Will Betts: Entirely reasonable thing to say.
Drew Bang: I worked for little. Okay.
Chris Barker: So we crushing straight into the six items.
Will Betts: We're going straight into the six. Yeah.
Chris Barker: Is this where it's going to get swanky?
Drew Bang: Yeah. I mean six. Six items, no bundles. No bundles, that's the doozy right there.
Chris Barker: Try not to let people gain the system, hacking those.
Drew Bang: Yeah. I mean, I'm going to say now as a precursor that has grossly affected my choices. Bundles are life. Surely.
Will Betts: Get down that on a tee shirt.
Chris Barker: Well, bundles are life.
Drew Bang: Thank you. Thank you very much.
Chris Barker: Okay, well we can say what you would have had, but this isn't going in so.
Drew Bang: Doesn't matter.
Will Betts: You don't even want to sort of tantalise us with what could have gone in the studio?
Chris Barker: What you could have won.
Will Betts: If we had allowed bundles, what [crosstalk 00:00:09:22]?
Drew Bang: If you start talking about hypotheticals, then I'm thinking, "Am I waking up in a room with nothing on and I'm having to like build my character. Or can I bring things I've already got??
Will Betts: No.
Drew Bang: No.
Will Betts: You don't have to wake up with the room naked.
Drew Bang: It's the mind's eye.
Chris Barker: Why is he making that well.
Will Betts: Just the cap.
Chris Barker: No, but seriously you get things like furniture and cables. We're going to give you all of that. But serious gear items, I mean.
Drew Bang: My clients are happy. I'm miserable. I've got six items in a room and lots of expectations. It's a lot of pressure here guys. It is.
Chris Barker: I guess the first thing you're going to need is you're going to need some monitors or some headphones. You're going to need to hear-
Drew Bang: Yes, this is right. This is right.
Chris Barker: You can start there, comfortably.
Drew Bang: Monitoring isn't very important as I'm sure, we all know. I've gone for ATC SCM45s. The ones.
Chris Barker: And when did you first discover these beautiful speakers?
Drew Bang: They have some at ICP studios in Brussels. And they hadn't, the first time I went to work there, they didn't have them. I mean that that studio is amazing, they've got everything. Just rows and rows of monitors.
Chris Barker: Who were you working with there?
Drew Bang: The first time I went there it was, I don't remember. But that's where we recorded the second Royal Blood album. Jody and Thomas producing that.
Will Betts: Which sounded great by the way. Sound fantastic, their record.
Drew Bang: Sounds great, sounds good.
Chris Barker: Sort of you went there, they didn't have them, and then when you went back and go, "God, these have changed the room completely."
Drew Bang: No. Well, those guys are always making like investments in the studio. They always ask people for feedback. And so you'd be there sort of working. And we were there for three months, so it's not an insignificant amount of time. And in that time, and it was over Christmas. So it was like one year into a next, that sort of thing. And at some point they materialised and we were asked if we wanted to audition them and we did. And they're just amazing. Like if I've got a choice, I'll always ask for ATCs. I mean the 25s are nice as well. They're super near field. So 45 is a kind of a nice compromise. If I'm only getting one set of monitors, I want something powerful forever.
Chris Barker: You could have six sets if you want and Pro Tools and that would be it.
Drew Bang: Yes. Well, yeah. There probably quite a few people that that would be ideal for. I'm not a monitor fetishist.
Chris Barker: You do get people that have four or five sets, don't you? And I'm not just talking about all returns and stuff. Real.
Will Betts: I've got the a set of mine. The 45 [crosstalk 00:12:09].
Drew Bang: I know a guy.
Chris Barker: Name and shame. Well, it's not even a shame just name.
Will Betts: Name names.
Chris Barker: We've all got our studio kinks.
Will Betts: That we have.
Drew Bang: Richard Wilkinson, you know who you are.
Will Betts: He's shuddering now.
Drew Bang: Yeah. Rich used to work at Metropolis studios and he's one of the few people that's got the old focus right desks. He's got that in his studio. He's built a studio in London recently and he's got that in there, but he's just monitors is his thing. Honestly.
Chris Barker: A guy I know who has them, has that thing. It's because he'll get demoed some and he'll go, "They're good." But instead of replacing, he just adds. He goes, "Get those as well." And that's the thing. It's like-
Will Betts: Wall of monitors.
Chris Barker: So he keeps being impressed by the next.
Drew Bang: Well it's the N plus one factor isn't it? Do you need another whatever, X, how many have you got? Yes. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter how many have you got, yeah, you need another. Yeah. And that's fine. But it's a slippery slope.
Chris Barker: So we've gone to the ATCs.
Drew Bang: Yes please.
Chris Barker: So it's still looking pretty good. I think you'd be happy there already, surely. Because of the location, seeing the scene Malibu. So what's the vibe like inside. Let's just go a little bit back to that before we go onto our next choice. Because you get studios of all different designs from the strong room style, kind of a bit more quirky, a bit more creative and open and modern and that kind of style. And then you've got the kind of more slick kind of plastic.
Drew Bang: Not that.
Chris Barker: Not that.
Drew Bang: Not that. I would go for the kind of come over to my place. Let's record some tunes aesthetic.
Will Betts: Sort of invitational.
Drew Bang: Yeah.
Chris Barker: What were the Malibu studios like? Because in my head it looks all white and like.
Drew Bang: Yeah, I mean to be fair, it's kind of, they are, I mean it's a house. It's a house. So you never going to get past that in terms of the room sizes, they're not bespoke really-
Will Betts: But they're high ceiling?
Drew Bang: It's a bungalow. So it's kind of higher. I'm talking.
Chris Barker: Surely they call it a bungalow in Malibu. That must be a Villa. I'm going to call it that but [crosstalk 00:14:29].
Drew Bang: Stairs are a factor. I don't know, but they're beigey. But you've got the beach. So I think you can kind of get away with that a little bit. Sort of you've got those beach tones. But I wouldn't go for that. I'm talking drapes, rugs, lamps.
Will Betts: Lava or otherwise.
Chris Barker: It's got a post to a lava I can see it.
Drew Bang: They're a long term commitment in themselves, aren't they? I mean, if you're talking about lava lamps, do I only get one a bulb?
Chris Barker: No, this is gear choice.
Will Betts: No, this is not. You don't have to. You can have as many bulbs as you want. You can have a whole wardrobe full of bulbs in your.
Drew Bang: Yeah. I mean, lava lamps are fine.
Will Betts: Lava lamps are fine, Drew Bang. I stand by that. High praise indeed.
Chris Barker: Okay, so I think I've got picture of the vibe then. It's kind of a homely, craved, messy-
Drew Bang: Messy, dishevelled.
Will Betts: Are you going to go for the bookcase diffuser at the back of the room?
Drew Bang: I don't know. I mean, I like the Blackbird style. Those crazy.
Will Betts: The infinitely diffuse room. Like Studio C.
Drew Bang: Yeah. I quite like that. I've always thought maybe it'd be cool to, in theory to make one with lots of. That's a lot of.
Will Betts: Do it. It's the Forever Studio.
Chris Barker: Yeah, you've got forever to make one.
Will Betts: You got time.
Drew Bang: I'm a big fan of rainbows, rainbow themes. So a lot of rainbow colours everywhere. Bright colours, eye candy.
Will Betts: So that makes sense you being in the strong room then.
Drew Bang: I think it's, maybe it's just seeped into my psyche over time because that place is vivid.
Chris Barker: Yeah. But these cool. There's something about being in those rooms there that makes you like.
Drew Bang: Well, I think there's only a few of them left. Especially kind of old longstanding studios. We got that one and like Electric Lady London in New York, that's kind of a similar vibe. It's got that sort of like living roomy kind of thing. I don't know yet. There's a few. So many of them that are being taken over or however they're being run, you know what the deal is, it's kind of homogenised to appeal to everyone and to not offend anyone. But, beige is beige.
Will Betts: If you're into music production, you should also check out Music Tech magazine. In this month's issue, we share 100 tips from the pros on songwriting production, mixing, recording and loads more. We also give you our verdicts on the Moog Matriarch. Two mics from newcomers Austrian Audio. And we also try out the Behringer VC340 Vocoder. In our interviews, we talk to up and coming house producer Cody Curry about process and ping pong. We find out about London producer [inaudible 00:17:24] sampling approach. And we have a stack of tutorials for Logic, Cubase, Live, Reason and Studio One. You'll find all that and more in this month's issue. Subscribe now at musictech.net. So let's move on then. Your choice number two, gear pick.
Drew Bang: I'm going to go desk. I want to have a desk.
Will Betts: Why?
Drew Bang: Because it's, I guess it's what I know. A desk, it's all encompassing. It facilitates. If I'm talking about tracking, which I am, it facilitates recording and playback. I've got full channel strip in each channel. I don't have to be worrying about lunchboxes and modules. I just I want inline workflow. I want to come in and I want to come back on the same channel. I want to have full processing, I want to have dynamics. I want to have it all there. But I also want it to work with my computer. This might be controversial one, I'm going to go for Genesys Black, need for Genesys Black.
Chris Barker: Yeah. That over like the duality.
Drew Bang: Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't personally like ideally track through SSL for the rest of my life. I'm a coloration guy. I like to saturate. Big fan of the SSL sound. Not saying anything against them, but it's a sound and I think.
Chris Barker: It preferences that need.
Drew Bang: Yeah. As I say, again, working through Studio One in strong room for so long, they've got a VR in there. So it's kind of used to that tone really. And you can push them. If we're talking about a desk forever, those desks are amazing. They got Neve pres. You get them specked out, they've got full processing. And it's all digitally controlled through the door. It's like, that is for me where I want to sit in terms of analogue meets digital.
Chris Barker: As an engineer, when you're working with other people, say for instance Royal Blood or do you have that pre conversation about like when they tell you when you're getting employed and you go, "We should do it here." Or do you just get told we're doing it here. And when you arrive you go, "It'd been so much better if we'd have had a Neve or an SSL depending on the project."
Drew Bang: I mean that's a sort of a conversation that doesn't often happen with me. If I'm brought in to engineer for a producer for example, I mean I'm kind of, I'm a problem solver. I'm there to make it happen. But the conversation might not be, it'll be the producers vibe. They get to decide. Or in the band and where they feel comfortable. But I don't know, like those sorts of projects, they're never going to go somewhere where the gear is unusable. There's always some sort of. And if they pick a studio with an SSL, and I think maybe they've got a sidecar, I don't know. Like everyone's got a rack of APIs, that's fine.
Will Betts: Do you?
Drew Bang: No.
Will Betts: The rack of API doesn't come along. You're just, for your pres, you're just doing-
Chris Barker: The Neve desk.
Will Betts: The Neve desk.
Drew Bang: Yeah. So obviously we're talking about six items. I'm thinking how can I get bang for my buck?
Will Betts: That's a sensible approach.
Chris Barker: Yeah, true. We have had a similar thing where somebody was talking about lunchboxes or individual racks on the podcast thing. It was Danny Bird and then he actually changed his mind at last second when actually I'll just have that 96 channel SSL that Dr. Dre.
Will Betts: Done. Job done, one item.
Drew Bang: It's good enough to Dre. Add a W on there, we're happy.
Chris Barker: Yeah, exactly. Okay, so we've got the Neve and we got the ATCs. What's next?
Drew Bang: Indeed.
Chris Barker: Are we going to have any instruments in the student?
Drew Bang: We are. We are. I'll go there. I'll go there. I want a great drum kit and I want it to be just set up constantly in the room. It's not moving.
Chris Barker: By Motown nailed to the floor?
Drew Bang: Yeah, just house kit, that sounds great.
Chris Barker: What does it sound like? Name some records or some bands or some drummers or anything that you've worked with?
Drew Bang: I would have a Rogers kit, 70s Rogers kit, 22 inch bass drum. I want a hybrid kind of rock sound. I don't want it to be too rocky, but I want it sort of like a rocky, jazzy kind of, maybe like a 402 snare. I don't know. Like it's going to be punchy, but I want it to be versatile.
Chris Barker: I'm immediately panicking at the amount of items you've got left and making up a drum kit, but.
Will Betts: That's his problem to solve.
Chris Barker: Yeah. We'll get there. We'll get there.
Drew Bang: Hey, my techniques are all about using your ears and finding a space in the room, surely.
Chris Barker: I've got to say, if you've got a good drum room, which you will have, because it's your forever studio, then you should.
Drew Bang: This is it, thought about it a lot. If there are people in the future, they're definitely helping me build a drum room.
Chris Barker: Yeah, forever. Good.
Drew Bang: No, they only have to be there for a short amount of time. The room has to last forever.
Chris Barker: Okay. Moving on. So that's two items down, right?
Will Betts: That's three items down.
Chris Barker: Three items?
Drew Bang: I've got my desk, I've got my speakers and I've got a drum kit.
Chris Barker: Drum kit, yeah, the Roger's. Number four.
Drew Bang: All right. This one's going to be interesting. I did think long and hard about this one. We need mics. We need at least on mic.
Will Betts: Yup. Unless you just use one of the speakers and do the NS10 trick in front of everything.
Drew Bang: ATCs.
Will Betts: Yeah. It's going to be quite.
Drew Bang: You can work in mono. I don't think I'm going to go there.
Will Betts: Okay, that's two microphone then, is it?
Drew Bang: Yeah, I mean, yeah. There's no point in having recording medium. See now, I'm asking people to bring mics around on. Don't I, basically. I'm assuming in the same instance that you expect musicians to bring instruments round. I guess in this reality, I'm kind of assuming.
Chris Barker: I think the vocalist. Vocalist, it could be their instrument. I would give that, but yeah.
Will Betts: Really? Okay, okay, okay.
Drew Bang: I'm thinking about maybe a band comes around and their tour manager brings in the tour kit. They set it up. They have their mat down with all the placements on, for their live set up. They're in the middle of tour. They set up as usual. It's already got the live mics attached to the drum sets. This has happened before.
Will Betts: Bands there, and their touring engineer. And then you just walk out the door and let them do it.
Drew Bang: And it all comes, it's set up for me. I do a little bit of a tweak, stroke my beard and make it look like I'm doing something. And it all sounds great. It's happened before. It'll happen again.
Chris Barker: It's gaming the system, it's gaming the system.
Will Betts: Yeah, I do feel like that's gaming it, pretty hard.
Chris Barker: If that happens. But I think.
Drew Bang: Anyway.
Chris Barker: Yeah. Come on. You're going to have to choose some microphones.
Drew Bang: So initially I thought SM57. I'll have an SM57, you can do anything with it. It's amazing. And then I thought, "No, that's folly." So what I've gone for is-
Chris Barker: SM57 is fully?
Drew Bang: Well, no, I mean they-
Chris Barker: It's a Forever Studio, it's a dream. It's a fancy studio.
Drew Bang: This is an interesting one. I'm sticking with it, the Townsend Sphere.
Chris Barker: Wow!
Will Betts: Choice.
Drew Bang: Thank you.
Will Betts: Nice. That's gaming within the rules well.
Chris Barker: I was expecting to hear the words Neumann not Townsend Sphere.
Drew Bang: No, no.
Chris Barker: Excellent. So tell us about that choice.
Drew Bang: So I mean, it's amazing. I've used one recently on a few couple of sessions and they are actually amazing. Like it's two diaphragms, independently polarised. So it takes two channels. Because I've got my desk, I've got two channels at least. This is why I didn't go for a single pre. Thought about it a lot. The emulations are amazing. I can make it sound like any classic mic I want it to. It also does a 57. [crosstalk 00:26:16].
Chris Barker: It's kind of like a mic bundle.
Will Betts: It kind of is. We will allow it though. We will allow it.
Drew Bang: But no, they are truly amazing and I think they sound great. In my opinion, they're the best of those that ilk.
Will Betts: They're the modelling mic.
Drew Bang: Yeah, I would say so. And you can get two mics out of one, basically. I can record in stereo.
Chris Barker: Happy getting a drum kit with that as well because.
Drew Bang: This is what I'm talking about and I'm. Going stereo straight over the top. I'm taking slightly more time over my positioning than I would normally and I'm getting that sweet sound in that sweet spot for a great classic mono drum tine.
Chris Barker: Well, you get stereo out of the mic though, surely.
Drew Bang: Yeah, what I'm saying is, is that I can-
Chris Barker: Positioning wise.
Drew Bang: Yeah, I can just get one mic and I can choose later. I can have any, any time I want.
Will Betts: That's one of the joys of it, isn't it? You can change all of it after the fact. To change what microphone.
Drew Bang: I don't want to do my job. I don't want to think about it on session, it's later.
Will Betts: Even though you've got forever to set it up in front of the drum kit that's nailed to the floor.
Drew Bang: This is the point. You've extended that theory of forever and now I just, I feel no pressure.
Will Betts: We've taken the gas off, haven't we?
Drew Bang: This is it. This is it. So, I'm happy there. I've got my drum kit, I've got my desk, I've got my speakers and I've got my post-fact microphone that I can make my decisions later about.
Will Betts: Post-fact era microphone. Okay, number five then on the list.
Drew Bang: I've got my stereo mic, what do I need? I need something juicy. I need something for that room. I'm going 1178 silver face. 1178, amazing.
Will Betts: So for people who don't know the 1178 explain it to us.
Drew Bang: It's kind of like the rev, what the rev a whatever, the UREI silver face, pre UA 1176 super pokey, really aggressive. But it's stereo, a stereo model. So obviously the 1176. Everyone knows the 1176. It's ubiquitous now you can get them everywhere. Everyone does a clone-
Chris Barker: Clone or a software version.
Drew Bang: Indeed. And they have a, for people that don't know, they have a link mode on the back. You can buy this extra module which enables you to link up to 1176 is for theoretical sweet, sweet stereo processing. And like nobody has that. They are really hard to find these stereo couplers. I guess all the new ones have stereo link mods or capability fine, but 1178 is still amazing. You don't see them very often, but it's just the same. It's same what? Like two or 3U, whatever. It's the same footprint as an 1176 but it's got one set of controls and a, I believe, and a stereo link and two VU metres and it looks exactly the same.
Will Betts: Yeah, I'm just looking at the picture of it.
Chris Barker: Two sets of controls but-
Drew Bang: With two sets of controls. Yeah, that's right.
Chris Barker: But yeah, I think a link mode-
Drew Bang: They're smaller pots, are they not?
Chris Barker: Yes.
Drew Bang: Yeah, that's right.
Chris Barker: It looks nice. It looks kind of like 80s Hi-Fi. I like it.
Drew Bang: Yeah. Doesn't it?
Chris Barker: Yeah.
Drew Bang: They're great.
Chris Barker: I don't think I've seen one of those in a studio.
Will Betts: I've never seen one those in a studio either.
Drew Bang: You don't see them very often.
Will Betts: Where have you used one?
Drew Bang: They've got one at Strongroom.
Chris Barker: Of course they've got one there.
Drew Bang: I'm sure they've got one at ICP. I don't know, a few studios. I've seen them and used them in. But they're amazing. But yeah, they don't.
Will Betts: So what's the sounds that you're trying to get there?
Drew Bang: I want that sucky pulley, pushy sort of drum sound. I want to be able to maybe, if I'm taking a stereo single feed, maybe I'm getting my sweet spot and then I'm parallel processing with my 1178 and I'm getting that smashy drum sound and it's blending it in a little bit and that's my time. That's my signature time forever.
Drew Bang: If I have to have one, because I mean, like most of the work I do nowadays in big studios is drum recording. It's the only thing seemingly that people are recording in big studios for anymore because they've got their Townsend Sphere and they're happily recording at home and thinking about it later. As I will be doing in the future in Malibu, but with a drum kit and an 1178 and that's the difference. That's the difference.
Chris Barker: Well that's a great choice. And a new choice for the podcast as well. What is it, final item time?
Will Betts: It's final item time.
Chris Barker: Well, final gear item time. Final studio.
Drew Bang: I think for this one, I've got to go in the box.
Will Betts: Plugins.
Drew Bang: We haven't gone there, have we really? And I've stayed-
Chris Barker: You're all stock peripherals. You're going to have to do some mixing, aren't yet? At some point.
Drew Bang: It's Melodyne.
Will Betts: Fair.
Drew Bang: I mean everything else you can sort of get away with. I've got dynamics. I've got dynamics on my board, I've got EQ on my board, I've got pres. That's all good. I've got my signature drum sound. People are queuing down the PCH wanting to work with me.
Chris Barker: For that drum sound.
Will Betts: The PCH.
Drew Bang: PCH. Those that know, know.
Will Betts: Those that don't, don't.
Chris Barker: I don't. I'm lost.
Will Betts: They're Pacific Coastal Highway.
Drew Bang: Beautiful, beautiful place.
Chris Barker: PCH.
Will Betts: It sounds like an NCP.
Chris Barker: It does, yeah.
Will Betts: It sounds like you could just, we're not going to go there.
Chris Barker: There's a multi-story car park next to the Malibu home. Okay.
Drew Bang: Retirement homes. Yeah.
Chris Barker: I mean the stock, you do get a stock amount of plugins in Pro Tools.
Drew Bang: Yeah, this is what I'm saying. I did think about if I'm getting a DAW for the rest of my life, like do I go with Logic? Do I go for something that has more in the ways of a writing tool.
Will Betts: Visual instruments, et cetera.
Drew Bang: Yeah, all of that stuff. Like Logic obviously is, it's amazing for that. You get so much as soon as you load it up, it's great. You can arguably never instal a plugin and just be able to just produce, it's great. And like Studio One, that's great too. Also amazing. But, I don't know those as well as I know Pro Tools. I'm going for familiarity here and I'm making do with what I've got.
Chris Barker: Which is pretty nice stuff.
Drew Bang: They're all right. That Avid stuff is good. D-Verb. Can't go wrong.
Will Betts: D-Verb, don't knock it. It's all good.
Drew Bang: But I'm tuning those vocals.
Will Betts: And are you tuning them within an inch of their lives or are you trying to keep it as natural as possible?
Drew Bang: No, I'm trying to keep them natural. If we're going for Melodyne, I've got the spanking all bells and whistles version editor.
Will Betts: Editor?
Drew Bang: Yeah. I can get in there. I can go-
Chris Barker: Is that the one that's polyphonic as well?
Drew Bang: DNA, I think they call it. Direct Note Access. You can get in there. You can tweak that cord.
Will Betts: That's not a backronym. That's definitely not.
Drew Bang: A backronym?
Will Betts: That's where you have an acronym to start with. It sounds cool. And then you figure out what it actually stands for after the fact.
Chris Barker: Not the Pacific Coastal Highway. That's not how.
Will Betts: No, no. That's definitely not one of those.
Drew Bang: Yeah, that's wholly contrived.
Chris Barker: Yeah. The local Senator didn't say, "I shall call this the PCH." What does that mean?
Will Betts: Swings it.
Drew Bang: So yeah, I've got Melodyne.
Chris Barker: Do you do much Melodyne on actual instruments as well?
Drew Bang: Well, I mean bass. It's really handy on bass. Just locking down that monotone on bass is really good. Just stick it through that. Select all, double click, have a little listen through. It's amazing. Just for where you were toning. I do use it for that. Yeah, I do use it. Not so much for kind of like multi treble stuff, it's great. It's Great. It's probably the best one. But, you don't want to be recording thinking it's okay, it's fine. You would just record the whole chord play.
Chris Barker: Play in G we'll see what code we want it to be later.
Drew Bang: No, that's not. I'm not talking about that. I'm not working to the premise of wanting to record awful sounding music, but.
Chris Barker: But it's one tool I guess you just can't-
Drew Bang: It goes on everything.
Chris Barker: There's no way around that really.
Drew Bang: Well, I mean, I think it's just testament to the modern workflow. Like people do, unfortunately, work to the premise that they're going to be tuned or they're going to be, it's going to be conformed. Like that's how people work now. I guess I'm just admitting that Melodyne goes on every session pretty much.
Will Betts: What's the non-gear related item you must have in your studio?
Drew Bang: This is a good one.
Will Betts: What could you not live without?
Drew Bang: I have a little thing that I, yeah, I have a nuance. It's not what you think. I always have to take a little mascot with me. I always take a little mascot with me. Good vibes, good energy. I've got always to have a maneki-neko, the lucky beckoning cat. I have a lucky beckoning maneki-neko, it's called lucky Dave and I take him everywhere with me and sit him on the meta bridge.
Chris Barker: And he just does the little.
Drew Bang: No, this is the thing you see because he's not got his battery in because you've got that, I've not found one yet that doesn't have an audible movement. Let's say.
Chris Barker: Well, this is my forever studio. So you could have a custom built one with.
Will Betts: With the silent movement.
Drew Bang: Silent movement. Swiss. Swiss made [crosstalk 00:37:11]. I'm going with that.
Chris Barker: Yeah, that's good. Yes.
Drew Bang: No, lucky Dave always goes with me to every studio.
Chris Barker: Have you ever done a session without lucky Dave and being like, "God, where's Dave?"
Drew Bang: Yeah, it's traumatic. It's very traumatic for me because I like to set the scene. I'm a big fan of hugs. If you're doing residential for example, and you've got to set the either coming to your house.
Chris Barker: Sort of break down those awkward barriers so you can tell people as well.
Drew Bang: So as your means go on. Some nice hugs, a bit of hugs and rugs.
Chris Barker: We didn't get a hug well, I feel bad now.
Will Betts: Maybe on the way out.
Chris Barker: Yeah. On the way out. We'll get the hugs, in front of everybody so they see. They go, "That must have gone well downstairs." Yeah. Save that hug for later. Right, I think that's all, Drew.
Will Betts: Yeah. That's it.
Chris Barker: Do you want to take us through what the studio is?
Will Betts: Yeah. Okay, let's run it down. We have a studio just off the Pacific coastal highway, Malibu. The beach house studio.
Drew Bang: Bungalow.
Will Betts: Beach house bungalow.
Drew Bang: Thank you.
Will Betts: Beach house, free house bungalow. Hackintosh, you're running?
Drew Bang: Sure.
Will Betts: With Pro Tools 12, perpetual.
Drew Bang: Yeah. There are no subscriptions in the future. They've been abolished.
Will Betts: It's a bright future.
Drew Bang: Looking good.
Will Betts: The DG I/O. ATC SCM45s for your monitors. The Neve Genesys Black.
Drew Bang: Let's do it.
Will Betts: A great drum kit. You said the 70s Rogers with a 22 inch kick.
Drew Bang: Thank you.
Will Betts: Thank you. The Townsend Sphere for a mic. That's a great choice, I've got to say.
Chris Barker: Considered.
Will Betts: Yeah, there's no off the cuff business there, is there?
Drew Bang: No, I mean, you know.
Will Betts: And then the 1178 which was a curve ball.
Drew Bang: I'm surprised at that. I thought that'd be pedestrian.
Will Betts: No one's gone 78 yet.
Drew Bang: Two up baby.
Will Betts: And then sixth choice was Melodyne. Which you use for bass. Which I am going to try.
Drew Bang: Yeah. Conformism.
Will Betts: Then your luxury item, your additional item was the maneki-neko lucky Dave.
Drew Bang: Lucky Dave.
Chris Barker: Lucky Dave.
Drew Bang: Incidentally, for the mind's eye, lucky Dave has been, is a white maneki-neko. Because they're normally gold. It's a white one and he's got the Ziggy Stardust lightning bolt.
Will Betts: Lightning bolt across the face.
Chris Barker: And you would keep that the same, you would just have a Swiss mechanism in him.
Drew Bang: Yeah.
Chris Barker: So it was perfectly silent and you could have him bob in his little hand on the-
Will Betts: You wouldn't find that distracting at all?
Chris Barker: Well, you could turn it on and off, maybe if it's Swiss.
Drew Bang: Well, what I found out.
Will Betts: They do, they were famous for their switches, the Swiss.
Drew Bang: Well, what I found with sitting him on the metre bridge is that actually the natural sort of reverberation within the room will make the arm go off anyway as a sort of like a standing wave thing that happens and kind of.
Chris Barker: Maybe that's the signal for when it's good.
Will Betts: Yeah, he's just rocking out.
Drew Bang: Lucky Dave lives.
Chris Barker: Lucky Dave lives.
Will Betts: If you're enjoying the podcast, make sure you subscribe using your favourite podcasting app. And also think about rating and reviewing Music Tech's, My Forever Studio. Don't forget to check back every Thursday for new episodes. Thanks for listening.