RECORDING TECHNIQUES WITH MICK WORDLEY
LEARNING HOW TO FIND THAT SWEET SPOT BETWEEN APPRECIATING EQUIPMENT AND OBSESSING OVER IT.
If you head into Mixmasters Studios in South Australia, you’ll find yourself in what can only be described as a church of recording equipment. Though there’s some modern gear, vintage is the main game down there. And yet, the owner, engineer and producer-in-chief, Mick Wordley, doesn’t describe himself as particularly technical.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that Mixmasters is a place where hardcore audio experts go to drool over the never ending list of exquisite equipment, but for Mick, it’s all about options. The musicans can play with their toys, so long as they learn to pull back just before diving down the rabbithole – because at that point, the music is almost secondary.
So how on earth did you wind up with an SSL 4000-E console?
It was the first one sent to Australia, and actually began life in INXS’s studio in Surry Hills. But my friend, who originally started working with me, had built a nice room in the Apocalypse building in Crows Nest [in Sydney], which by then had the SSL up on the second floor.
Then, [producer and engineer] Rick O’Neil was doing a lot there at the time, and he said I had to get a hold of the SSL. When I went to have a look at it, all it was doing was nursing a Yamaha. So I worked out some crazy deal with their accountants, swapped some gear and cash, drove over in my trusty Mercedes station wagon with a huge trailer hooked up, and spent about four days pulling the whole room apart. Is there any more classic console equipment in your studio?
I mainly have 1064 Neve channels, which came out of the Neve 80 series from a studio in Sydney called Trafalgar, some 33114 broadcast (class A/B) channels, and BA 183 line amps which sound great.
I also have a wonderful Neve 8108, which is a two-inch channel strip console full of transformers. It sounds huge, but still very musical. I mixed some of my very favourite records on that console and they still sound wonderful – like a controlled log fire. But these days, that console remains stored away, awaiting some TLC. Are you still into tape, or have you made the transition to digital storage?
I still print to tape if the project suits it. I record the live tracks to a Studer 827, using ‘hot’ tape without noise reduction – usually Ampex 499 or BASF 900 – and monitor off of Pro Tools in the process. Tape has a definite sound that’s like a soft limiter, and when you mix it – even in Pro Tools – the track sounds more connected. It’s perfection that comes from the imperfection, I guess. You’ve also got a huge collection of vintage and modern mics in there. Do you have any go-to options for different genres, and a crown jewel that you can always turn to?
Oh God, that’s too hard! I’m a huge fan of ribbon mics, which I picked up after spending some time with Steve Albini. He gave me my first lesson with an STC 4038 BBC designed British ribbon mic.
I also have a nice mob of Neumann U-47s and U-48s which I love for their story, as well as their sound. But I don’t really have any genre picks. I’ll never underestimate an SM-7, but I also love a Beyer M-88 or a 201. In fact, sometimes I record a snare with a 201, and an SM98 taped to the side.
I think it’s a good thing to try something new in every project, whether that’s the mic or placement. When I recorded The Imposters [Elvis Costello’s backing band, with Heath Cullen] at Sing Sing Studios, for example, the door to the Neve room didn’t close completely, but the sound coming through the wee opening sounded interesting. So I pointed a small condenser tight pattern straight at the crack in the door. That little bit added something to the snare that was awesome. So you’re always mixing it up?
Well, I have recorded a lot of acoustic guitars in my time, and my Neumann KM-84s and KM-54s are the guys, usually in stereo. But I often use a Heil dynamic on the bridge with a KM-84 on the neck, because they catch the ‘wood’ very nicely. People often speak about finding the right mic for the singer, but you rarely hear about finding the right preamp. Is there an art to that?
Its black art – there’s no rules, really. Personally, I don’t stray too far from my Neves, Chandlers, Telefunkens, Avalons, and Retros. And though I’m not really technical, I think it’s because I like the musical harmonic distortion.
But one can get lost pissing around, which dilutes the music and performance. I think it’s better to get going quickly and not be obsessed with gear, like I always recorded Jeff Lang with a Neumann U-47 and Neve 1064, but when I recorded Archie Roach for the Tracker soundtrack, I ended up with an inexpensive Studio Projects T-3 mic, but it just sounded great, so I used it.
Remember that many benchmark records were recorded through one console [no ‘channel strips’], and we use them as examples of great recordings. And aren’t some of our favourite performances bootlegs?