The thread in which we discuss Kurt Ballou

I wasn't the only engineer on it...
But what he did with these guys was incredible.
Was one of the first full length records I worked on. Having listened to the source tracks a few months back. I can't believe he made it sound like this.

 
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Found his gear list. Seems pretty up to date. INSANE stuff

Mixing Consoles: Custom 48 input console made of Tonelux, Thermionic Culture, and OpAmp labs components.

Tape Machines:
Otari MTR100 2” 24 track
Ampex ATR-102 2 track with 1/2” and 1/4” heads
MCI JH110 1” 8 track
Tascam DA-20 DAT
Tascam CD-RW 700
Tascam 102 MKII Cassette

Monitors:
Urei 809 mains
Adam S3A near fields w/ Polk subwoofer
Mackie HR824 near fields
Yamaha NS-10 passive near fields
Audix 1A studio monitors
Sony Boom Box

Mics:
AEA R88 stereo ribbon mic
AKG C451 with CK1, CK2, CK3, and CK5 capsules (5)
AKG D12e
AKG D112
AKG D190 (3)
Beyerdynamic M-201
Beyerdynamic M-160 ribbon mic (2)
Blue Mouse
Earthworks TC30K (2)
Heil Sound PR-20
Heil Sound PR-30 (4)
Heil Sound PR-31
Heil Sound PR-38
Heil Sound Handi-Mic
Josephson E22s (2)
Microtech-Gefell UM92.1s tube mic
Microtech-Gefell MV692 with UM70, M70, M71, and M69 caps (4)
Neumann KM 184 (2)
Placid Audio Copperphone
RCA 44bx ribbon mic
Royer R-121 ribbon mic
Sennheiser 421 (2)
Sennheiser 441
Sennheiser E-906
Shure Beta 91 PZM
Shure Beta 98 D/S (5)
Shure Beta 58
Shure KSM-141 (2)
Shure SM-57 (2)
Shure SM-57 w/ TapeOp mod
Shure SM-58 (6)
Soundelux E49 tube mic (2)
Wunder CM7 fet

Digital Audio Workstation:
Mac Pro Quad 2.66g, 5g ram
Protools HD3 Accel PCIe 24 channel in, 32 out, up to 192khz sample rates
Apogee AD16x and DA16x conversion (16 in, 16 out)

Plugins:
All stock Digi plugs plus…
Amp Farm
Bomb Factory BF-3a
Bomb Factory BF76
Bomb Factory MC77
Bomb Factory Fairchild 660 and 670
Bomb Factory Plutec Bundle
Drumagog Drumkit From Hell
Focusrite EQ
Focusrite comp Impact
Joe Meek SC2
Joe Meek Meequalizer
Massey VT3
Massey CT4
Massey Desser
Massey L2007
Massey Tape Head
Massey THC
Maxim Refuse
Lowender Reverb
One Revibe
Sans Amp PSA-1
Sonalksis (all)
Sonnox EQ
Sonnox Transient Designer
Sound Toys Crystalizer
Sound Toys Echo Boy
Sound Toys Phase Mistress
Sound Toys Sound Blender
Sound Toys Speed
TL Space
Waves (all)
and many more…

Outboard Gear:
Pre-amps:
Altec 1567a 5x1 Tube pre/mixer
Avedis MA-5 (2)
Chandler LTD-1 (Neve 1073 style)
Chandler TG channel MKII (Abbey Road style) (2)
Chandler Germanium Daking mic pre/eq (6)
Drawmer 1969 Tube stereo
John Hardy MPC-3000 (4)
LaChappel Audio 583v (2)
Requisite PAL Plus MK III tube mic pre/ opto limiter (2)
No Toasters Nice Pair stereo pre
OpAmp Labs (10)
OSA mutant
Shadow Hills Mono Gama (2)
Thermionic Culture Early Bird (stereo)
Tonelux MP1a (4)
Universal Audio 6176

Di:
MXR bass DI+
Radial JDI
Retrospec Juice Box tube DI
Sans Amp Bass Driver
Whirlwind DI

EQ:
Chandler LTD-1 (Neve 1073 style)
Chandler TG channel MKII (Abbey Road style) (2)
Daking mic pre/eq (6)
Empirical Labs Lil’ Freq (2)
Krohn Hite filter
LaChappel 583v (2)
Manley Massive Passive stereo tube eq (2)
OpAmp labs 2 band inductor-eq’s (10)
Sony MX-32 (4)
Summit EQP-200a
Thermionic Culture Pullet stereo
Thermionic Culture Early Bird stereo
Tonelux EQP4 (16)
Universal Audio 6176

Compression:
Aphex Expressor with Audio Upgrades mod (2)
Aphex Compellor
Chandler Germanium Compressor
Chandler Zener Limiter
Custom built LA-2a clone
Dramastic Audio Obsidian
Drawmer 1969 tube stereo
Drawmer Three-Sum
Daking FET (2)
Empirical Labs Distressor (2)
Retro Instruments 176 tube compressor
Requisite PAL Plus MK III tube mic pre/ opto limiter (2)
Sontec dynamic range controller
Standard Audio Level-Or Thermionic Culture “The Phoenix” vari-mu tube compressor
Tonelux TXC (4)
Tube-Tech SMC-2b multiband tube compressor
Universal Audio 6176

Gates:
Symmetrix 562 E stereo gate
Symmetrix 564 quad gate

Effects:
Alesis Midiverb 4
Deltalab Effectron
Digitech Studio Quad
Electrix Filter Factory
Electrix MoFX
Eventide H3000 Ultraharmonizer
Furman spring reverb
Lexicon MPX-500
Lexicon PCM-42
Peavey Valverb spring reverb
Roland RE-501 Chorus / Tape Echo
Yamaha SPX-90

Other:
Jensen MS encoder/decoder
Little Labs IBP phase alignment tool(2)
Radial SGI (studio guitar interface)
Rane headphone amp
Reamp V1
Thermionic Culture Vulture tube distortion generator

Instruments*:
Drums:
First Act toy drumset (2)
Dunnett stainless steel snare 8x14”
Keller mahogany snare 4.5x14”
Ludwig super sensitive snare (mid 60’s) 4.5x14”
Pearl Steve Ferrone signature brass 14x6.5” snare (Black Beauty knock-off)
Slingerland 70’s 24” kick
Tempus kit. 14x6.5” snare, 8”, 10”, 12”, 14”, 16”, and 18” toms, and 22” kick.
Yamaha 80’s Recording Custom (birch) 24” kick
Yamaha 80’s Rock Tour Custom 8x14” snare
Assorted Zidjian cymbals (most have been broken by angry drummers)
Paiste Giant Beat ride
Assorted percussion junk (tambourine, chicken shake, etc.)
1 straight cymbal stand
2 boom cymbal stands
1 hi hat stand
1 snare stand
some drum thrones
DW9000 double bass drum pedal
Pearl Eliminator single bass pedal

Drum Machines:
Boss DR-660

Keyboards:
Knabe upright grand piano
Korg Microsynth
Korg Poly-Six analog synth
Hammond H114 organ w/ Leslie 247 tone cabinet
Glockenspiel Melodica
Melody Horn
Assorted Yamaha Portasounds

Amps:
Allston Amps Chupakabra
Ampeg V-4R 100w
BadCat Black Cat 30w class-A
BadCat Lynx 50w class-A
BadCat Panther 50w class-A 1x12 combo
CMI 1x15 combo
Fender Vibro Champ
Gallien Krueger 800RB
Gibson Titan 100w
GMT 300g
Guild Thunderbass (2)
Marshall JMP 50w
Marshall 25/50 Jubilee 1x12 combo
Orange AD200
Orange Dual Terror
Orange OR50 40th Anniversary
Orange Thunderverb
Traynor Reverb Master 50w
Traynor YBA-1 50w
Verellen 50w amp
Yamaha T-50
Yamaha T-50c (2)

Speaker Cabinets:
Ampeg SVT 8x10 (2)
Ampeg V6 2x15
Homemade 2x12 with Jensen Mod’s
Emperor open back pine 1x12 with Weber speaker
Emperor half open 2x12 with 1 Weber Hemp Alnico Blue Dog and 1 Weber 65 w British
Emperor 6x12 1/3 open back with 2 Eminence Red Fangs, 2 Eminence Swamp Thangs, and 2 Celestion Sidewinders
Emperor 6x12 1/3 open back with 2 WGS alnicos, 2 Eminence Texas Heats, and 2 Celestion Sidewinders
Gibson Titan 1x15/2x10 cabinet
60’s Marshall 4x10 basket weave column with 10 watt Celestion’s (2)
70’s Marshall checkerboard 4x12 model 1982 with Rola Celestion V30’s
’73 Marshall 8x10 cab with 15 watt Celestions
’73 Marshall 8x10 cab with 4 12’s and no 10’s
Peavey 1x12 with EV speaker

Guitars:
Dean Dimebag tribute bantar
Electrical Lucite custom with Lace Alumitone’s Electrical Mahogany custom with EMG-85 and EMG-T
Fender super jumbo acoustic
First Act custom Sheena guitar with EMG-85
First Act custom guitar with Lace Deathbucker and Lace sensor emerald
First Act Delia 12 string hollow body with Kentron pups
First Act Delgada fretless bass
Frankenstein short scale tele with TV Jones Magnatron, Lindy Fralin Tele pups, and Bigsby tremelo.
’70 Gibson Les Paul Custom with 59 Classic pup’s
‘62 Gibson Melody Maker (set up for Nashville high strung)
‘62 Guild Starfire with Bigsby
‘96 Rickenbacker 650A Atlantis with Lace Sensor Emerald/Red
’79 Peavey T40 bass with 2 EMG-MMtw’s and preamp
Warmoth Baritone Jazz Master with EMG-89
Warmoth Jazz Master with EMG P-85 and P-60
Warmoth P-bass with EMG-P

Effects Pedals:
Boss BF-3 Flanger
Boss MT-2 Metal Zone (Analog Man mod)
Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal
Boss OS-2 Overdrive
Boss PS-3 Pitch Shifter/Delay
Boss DS-1 Distortion (Occtone mod)
Boss DD-5 digital delay (Analog Man mod)
Boss DD-6 digital delay
Boss Noise Suppressor (2)
Boss Graphic EQ (2) (Analog Man mod)
Crimson Cock (Rangemaster clone)
Digitech Bass Synth Wah
Danelectro Grilled Cheese Distortion
DOD Buzz Box
Dunlop Cry Baby Wah
Dunlop Uni-Vibe
Electro Harmonix Big Muff pi
Ernie Ball Volume Pedal
FoxRox Octone
Hao Rust Driver
Hao Sole Pressure
Line 6 Modulation Modeller
Marshall Guv-nor MKI clone
Menatone Red Snapper
Mountain King Megolith
Mt’lab Dokuhebi
MXR KFK EQ
Providence Stampede (2)
Red Crapper (Red Snapper clone)
Sanford and Sonny Blue Beard
TC Electronics G-System
Unholy Trinity 3-way splitter
V-Stack Tweedy
Way Huge Aqua Puss
Way Huge Swollen Pickle
Way Huge Fat Sandwich
Z-Vex Fuzz Factory *
 
^^^^ Holy bejeesus. Notably absent are the 5150, Rectifier and mesa 4x12 from his amp and cabinet lists. Gettin awesome sounds from different equipment than the other 9 million metal engineers. Bravo.
 
^^^^ Holy bejeesus. Notably absent are the 5150, Rectifier and mesa 4x12 from his amp and cabinet lists. Gettin awesome sounds from different equipment than the other 9 million metal engineers. Bravo.

99% of the music he records don't need a 5150 or rectifier sound so I get why he doesn't bother getting one
 
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