Paul Northfield Interview

[Machinated]

http://recordinghacks.com/2009/10/28/paul-northfield/

some pretty cool stuff in there, definitely a lot of stuff that I agree with and have learned to be the case in a lot of situations.

I love the In Absentia drum sound, and after finding out it was tracked at Avatar, it all makes sense.

 

[Machinated]

http://www.maelstrom.nu/ezine/interview_iss58_248.php

also a small interview near the bottom of that (mostly talking about portnoy's drums though). still some cool information.

 

[Ermz]

Makes sense about In Absentia. After that record their subsequent releases started to have a much less polished, professional and immersive sound (with the exception of perhaps Deadwing, which is still a marked step down in terms of ambiance and space).

 

[Machinated]

yeah definitely.

interesting that he appears to really prefer neve to SSL. also looks like he favours logic where possible.

i also think that although in absentia sounds superior to anything else they have done to me, harrisons drums sound pretty alike in general which shows that the drummer is the key difference in drum sounds.

 

[Harry Hughes]

Great Interviews. Great mix and engineering on the last DT album too, love that guitar tone and drum sound.
It would have been good if he actually produced it too. It would have been good to see someone step and say "Well, the arrangements could do with some work" because while Black Clouds and Silver Linings sounding good mix/engineering wise, the songs were fucking atrocious and sound like they were arranged by a 9 year old kid just starting out. John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy might be masterful technicians on their instruments, but fuck those guys really can't write good music anymore.

 

[PhilR]

yeah definitely.

interesting that he appears to really prefer neve to SSL. also looks like he favours logic where possible.

i also think that although in absentia sounds superior to anything else they have done to me, harrisons drums sound pretty alike in general which shows that the drummer is the key difference in drum sounds.

I think Gavin engineers the drums himself in his home studio nowadays. He has a pretty awesome space, it was featured in Sound On Sound magazine years ago.

Here it is: Gavin Harrison interview from Sound On Sound in '99

 

[Ermz]

From Gavin Harrison's interview:

I recently did a mix on some Genelec speakers. I was so impressed -- I thought it was the best bass drum sound I'd ever heard, but when I played the mix on the NS10s I couldn't hear it. We went to Los Angeles and mixed the record again with this guy called Chris Lord-Alge. He's only got NS10s, and they're all he's used for about 12 years. I told him about the Genelecs and he said that he has to remix albums all the time that are done on those because they sound too good! If you've got a pair of those at home you're going to be the happiest person in the world, but played on your bog-standard Dixons hi-fi, the recording doesn't sound anything like that.

Boy that's going to make a few people around here a little sad . It does 100% coincide with my experiences using Gennies too.

Also I love how he refers to one of the most successful mix engineers of the current age as 'this guy'. Fame truly is non-existent in this biz. If engineers/musicians don't even know each other, what chance does the general public have? Even if 40% of the records they hear on the radio go through one guy...

 

[PhilR]

CLA wasn't such the big name in pop rock in '99 that he is 11 years later though. He did more movie soundtracks than anything back then.

 

[Machinated]

yeah i read in tape op recently with steven wilson saying gavin harrison engineers the drums himself as they are set up already at his place.

pretty sure most of the porcupine tree guys dont live to far away from me - wilsons a hemel hempstead lad, colin edwins in watford etc