Trident 80B Recording Console

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"Some of the best recordings in the world were done on a Trident such as The Beatles' 'Hey Jude', David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' and James Taylor's first album, and many more."

Built by Malcolm Toft/Trident and designed by John Oram, who worked for VOX back in the 60's, The Trident 80B was one of the most successful British consoles designed, hand wired and produced in the early 80's. Its sought after for its "open sounding mic pre's and very 'musical' eq as they say… its the classic Trident British sound." 

The Inspiration

My long time friend Jim Gerovac, of the band Craving Strange, had told me about a documentary called Sound City, with the story of a vintage mixing console renowned for its sound and pedigree. After seeing this documentary, I knew I was ready to take the plunge into upgrading my recording studio center piece. The heart of any recording studio is the mixing console. Its where all the mics get plugged into, its where the sound travels before it goes to tape, or the computer or anywhere else. The console is THE heart and soul of any recording studio's system.

For my price range I was finding a lot of 16 channel, class A consoles that were new and would do the job. But I had run into issues in the past with only having 16 inputs. It just wasn't enough. For big bands recording live, I needed more inputs. At least 24, and for the future, I'm certain I would need/want even more. I found information about the Trident series consoles on a few of the forums that I frequent. Its versatile, its known for its incredible drum sound and "musical EQ's". The Trident 80B has 32 inputs and 24 outputs. Perfect for large scale recording with room to grow. 

In my research about consoles like these for sale, I found them to be quite pricey. Even a little bit out of my price range. There were 3 on the market at the time. Two being sold through Vintage King, a reputable company whom I've worked with in the past. One of their 80B's was far from perfect, "a fixer upper" and the other was "refurbished in mostly proper working order". There was one more on ebay, that had been written very little detail and was going for 20% less money. I messaged the ebay seller and found out this console was being brokered by Warren Rhoades of Sound Stage Studio in Nashville, TN. Warren was selling it for a friend of his who has owned it for the last 10 years. Warren was actually the original owner of the console.

This is where things get interesting… 

Original Magazine Ad for the Trident Console

This particular Trident 80B console was ordered and purchased by Warren for Sound Stage Studios, in Nashville, TN back in the early 1980's. This console was in Sound Stage for about 20 years, where it recorded the likes of Willie Nelson and John Cougar Mellencamp. None of this information was listed in the ebay add. Just that it was in Nashville and in working order. Warren told me, "The console is in perfect working order, has been in storage for the last year. It comes with a bunch of cable and we need to get it out of storage as soon as possible."

I had a friend of mine in Nashville go check it out. He brought with him a music producer friend of his. "Dude, for the price and condition of this desk, you are getting a steel." I made an offer on the console, with a bit of negotiation, we came to an agreement. Now I had to get the 500lb+ thing from Nashville, TN to Brooklyn, NY.

To be continued...

Remix

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My Trident 80B console has a setting called Remix. What is Remix? Remix is common practice in the art of making music. It means just what it says, you take a mix of your song that may need some improvements, and you mix it again. 

In the old days and more of a specialty now, mixing a song meant having all hands on deck, working together with the faders, buttons and knobs of the mixing board, watching notes to a time line while the song was bounced to 2 track tape. It meant hours and hours of making those notes, and hours and hours of putting them into effect using the analog console, while the song played thru from beginning to end. 

Now a days, with the help of computer based recording platforms, mixing or remixing can be much more simple. I use Pro Tools, but almost any computer based program comes with automation, multi effects processing, plug in inserts and easier ways of getting the perfect mix without setting up hundreds of thousands of dollars of gear, for the mix of one song only to have to do it all over again for a remix.

What's this button do?

Tech Talk: Automation is when you program the volume, panning, and effects levels to move on their own. Multi effects processing could mean compression, reverb, delay, flange, chorus, equalization, or anything that effectively changes the characteristics of a signal or sound-wave. A plug-in is a direct insert onto a digital audio track. This is also typically an effect of some sort.

More recently, I've been implementing board mixes into my process of mixdown. A board mix is basically a mix of the old and the new. You send all of the audio outputs from the computer back to the analog mixing console. This gives you the chance to add analog EQ and outboard gear to final mixing stage. Also, just the fact that the audio signal is passing once again thru an analog source, can really warm up the sound. In the business of recording music, warmth = "Awesomer!"

The time saving part, is that I've already applied my volume changes, panning, effect levels, inserts and multi effects, inside the computer. I could then bounce the track down to 2 track tape, or bounce it down to a 2 track digital audio file such as Wav or Aiff. 

I read in a book once, mix your song, remix it, remix it again, and remix it again till it feels right. But the reality is, you should be very careful how far you go in the remix process. You don't want to lose the magic of a first or second mix. 

A quick anecdote: Michael Jackson and the engineer for the Thriller album, Bruce Swedien are mixing Billie Jean. Its the end of a long day and Quincy Jones has left for the night. Bruce and Michael work late into the night on what they believe is an absolutely fabulous mix of one of my all time favorite songs. When Quincy arrives in the morning, they're wrapping it up. They exclaim, after mix 91, they've got the perfect mix and can't wait for Quincy to hear it. Quincy says, "Let me hear this piece of shit." He got real quiet and after a moment said, "Now lets listen to mix 2." Mix 2 blew it all away and that's what went out on the Thriller album, mix 2.

WATCH Bruce Swedien talk about Billie Jean

One Way Or Another

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Taste. When it comes to recording music, taste is everything. What you like, what the musicians like, what the producers like, what the artists friends like, what the artist wife/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend like. Anyone who listens to the music is going to have an opinion. "It sounds too big! It sounds too far away. It sounds great! It sounds boring. It sounds like its on the radio." It's easy to hear things if you listen for them. Whenever I work with an artist, the first thing I do is ask them, "What are you going for? What do You want it to sound like?" 

Finding that balance of what sounds good to you and the group, and what sounds good to other listeners is always difficult. I have no control over the song if I'm just there to record and mix it. I can offer ideas of what I think will make things more appealing to someone like me, but it may or may not appeal to the one being represented by the art. I'm always invested in the music I'm working on even if I'm just there to push the buttons. I put the mics in place. I dial in the EQ or compression. I'm the first and only person between the artist and the tape machine. 

Tyrone with bass player Kyle Bruse

Art is an idea. Art is a concept. Art is the execution of a concept or an idea. Art is hard? Art is simple. Art is subjective. Art is none of the above? Whatever you perceive your art to be, it's best to be able to express it in a form that is able to be understood by those you are working with. "I want it to sound very natural. I want it to sound anthemic. I want it to sound like the Beatles. I want it to sound like The Black Keys."

John Ginty on the Porta B3 with Vintage Leslie Cabinet

I'm currently working on several projects where my influences vary. On one particular project, I'm co-producer with an artist. Tyrone came to me with a concept and I'm helping to take his song ideas and make them full band representations of  those ideas. I've called in some friends to be a part of the project and he is also bringing people to the project. Each time you add a player, the variables, the vibe and the concept, changes. For instance, we're working with a big hitter named John Ginty as the B3 organ player. John has the #3 Blues album in the nation right now. He plays with The Dixie Chicks and The Allman Brothers regularly. He is a master of his instrument and a creative genius. He takes the songs and puts in his parts, simple at first, and then fully flushed out with his own creative juices. Taking the songs to a place inconceivable to both myself and Tyrone. Now, we have a choice. Go with the simple syrup that has bits and pieces of flare, or go with the whole spice rack. Its a tough decision. I'm there as a critical ear and can offer opinions, but the choice is Ty's. I'm an enabler. 

Another project I just finished is with Dan & Rachel. We, very quickly, recorded and mixed a song for their future tour of Italy. Dan came over for the final mix on Sunday and we sat back and both thought it sounded pretty full and good. Once it arrived home, Rachel wanted a few changes which I implemented post mix session, put it in the dropbox and then it was complete. A few days later, they might want a tweak or two. Thus is life. Everyone hears it, and mixed with their own emotions, experiences or expectations, it evolves until its just right. I am a vessel. "I am merely a guide." I am that which is in-between concept and execution.

The point. Everybody's a critic, myself included. The bottom line. If you do your best and work hard for the people who are putting their trust in you, all will be well.

Double Duty

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Killy Mockstar came in the other day again to sing the final song of her EP and to mix up some tracks. We've shifted gears away from it sounding like a live record and we've headed full on into the world of effects, and Kenny G. Its true, our sax man was adamant about the Soprano Sax having a big, soft sound like that of the rarely mentioned Kenneth. Such is life.

Poison, a rollicking, punk racer of a song, was the final vocal performance and Kelly made quite a time of it. She is used to cueing the band for some of the changes which made our life a little harder since on this day, we have this Kelly and on cue/record day, we had that Kelly. One of the changes took some doing, counting, figuring and finessing. Once we got thru it though, we were home free and into the process of high fiving and talking about how awesome we are. Its what we do.

Add, Subtract, Multiply photo by Craig Schober

The psychology of voice. You have to be there for the singer. You have to make sure they feel confident and empowered. You have to tell them how good its going when it is, and how to make things even better if they need some coaching. Singing is a powerful force to wield. It takes a sophisticated delivery to tell someone what you think will make them feel or sound better. Tough stuff. Trust is where its at. If you both trust each other, things go very well. 

Mixing these tracks has taken on many forms. This record is very colorful. You have players in this band with so much talent and you want each person to be represented and even pushed forward on certain parts. I'm doing my best to get everyone's voice heard. We're getting towards the end and I believe it to be going very well.

No Time For Rest

Shifting gears.

Dan & Rachel have been in the last few days as well. The goal: Record and Mix one new song for an upcoming tour. We've been recording this track in bursts. They came over after my Killy Mockstar session on Friday. No break for this guy over here. As soon as Kelly was out the door, I was in it thick asking about what they needed and setting it up for the session.

Multiple timing shifts on a tempo map, plus a reference guitar and vocal for starters. Live drums, two electric guitar performances, piano, synth bass, double vocals for Dan and a super clean and delicate vocal for Rachel.

Casey Holford came in for the 4 hour band recording parts. He got a look at the new set up over here, which is nice for me to show off, and helped out a lot with the guitar tone choice. I put together a pretty big drum sound. Rachel is playing a steady kick and snare for the track, so I close miked both and then put in a few room mics for depth. 

Tech Talk: On the snare I used a pair of MD 421's top and bottom with LA3A inserts, on the kick I used an AKG D112 with API 550b & 527 comp insert. Placed middle into the port aimed at the beater. For the room, I used an AKG C 414 about 4 feet from the front of the kit, and then high in the room and 10 feet back, another C 414. For the guitars we chose the Mesa/Boogie Mark III. It has a full range of sounds and is easy to dial in quality tones. I put another MD 421 on the cone, and again used the C 414 for the room a few feet back. 

Daniel Voicing

At the end of our four hour session together, we had finished with the drums, guitars, bass and piano. The next day, yesterday, we spent about 2.5 hours on vocals and a percussive 1/4 note decaying delay sound that pops in and out of the track. I get such a great vocal sound over here. I know Dan and Rachel's voices so well, that I had already chosen the setup prior to their arrival. Here we also worked together on finding the right delivery. Rachel and I directed Dan, and then Dan and I directed Rachel. The outcome is impressive. 

Those two had to run off before we could mix it, so that is happening a little later today. Its mostly mixed at this point, it just needs a little fine tuning in the sense of vocal placements and levels. I added a wonderful gated reverb to the drums and then added the 1176 all buttons in technique to the drum bus. They sound HUGE! 

Perfect little Angels

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Two mornings this week, I went into the city for a remote recording project with Dan Costello and several groups of 4 year olds. We're recording holiday songs for the kids to give to their parents.

Remote setup. Cones!

A remote recording is any time a session takes place outside of the studio. In this case, it was in a preschool classroom in Tribeca. The backing tracks are already recorded and sound great. Dan Costello played the music as explained in a previous blog. The goal of these remote sessions is to capture the cute little kids voices singing the holiday songs. 

Initially we wanted to have them sing most, if not all of the songs. As things go with 4 year olds, plans change quickly and often. In rehearsing with the children the day of, it was apparent we would be lucky to get a clean and confidently sung chorus. 4 year olds have the attention span of fish. From moment to moment they are drifting off into teasing, nose picking, wanting to talk about princesses or wanting to distract Dan from singing the songs he's chosen. 

The kids were great on the first try in rehearsal, but once this tiny magical moment passed, they were kind of over it. We brought them into where the microphones were set up, a long carpeted room with high ceilings. I had two mics set up in a stereo XY pattern to capture the chaos. And that really is mostly what it was. Once Dan stopped singing along, he was trying to direct them with his arms. To which the kids emulated him masterfully. They also stopped singing and used his arm motions as an indication to dance around voicelessly. Hilarious! I just had to laugh, but it was "frustrating" in terms of trying to get a quality product. 

The calm before...

Eventually we recorded a few outtakes where Dan had them repeat after him, "Frosty the snowman!", "Dredil, Dredil, Dredil," Feliz Navidad" etc. I think now, the back - backup plan is to have the teachers come in for a session and sing along to the tracks just in case we don't have enough here to work with. We have two more days of recording with an entirely different group of kids. Oh Boy! 

Killy Mockstar day 4 the importance of Robot

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Kelly came over for another Killy Mockstar session. Mix a bit, sing a bit, opera a bit, you know, the usual.

We spent the first half of the session working on the mixes of the songs. With one song already in good shape, I created a template from this mix and added the elements and presets already created to the next batch of mixes. This helps save time on getting sounds and volumes. You basically start with where the other mix left off and tweak things accordingly. 

photo by Craig Schober

I've found thus far, the BeatBoxer's place in the mix to be the biggest challenge. He needs to be as present as a drummer, but his sonic impact is less dynamic. Finding just the right spot for him in the mix is imperative.

For the later half of the session Kelly got on the mic to add some operatic and robotic voices to a song called Robot. Its a 1984 kind of vibe about the lose of emotion and our modern day reliance on devices and such. Its important for this song to take you on the journey from being a human to turning into a robot. The operatic elements slowly build into the track have a profound impact on the story, especially in the musical breaks. The robotic voices are just that, part of the character turning into a robot and realizing how much easier it is to not have feelings. Pretty profound stuff.

Once she recorded five tracks of opera, she then added a track of robot voices. We spent a good amount of time narrowing down the sounds to the essentials for the story. Kelly has a vision for this one, and I want to help her find it. 

Previous Album Cover

As the elements came together and choices were made regarding what to keep and what to lose, the song came to life. Kelly was emotional at one point. Ok, that's not so unusual, but it is good to know its moving her. That's a good sign! 

There's one song left to sing and mix. With four songs in really good shape, we should be finished by our next session. The deadline for completion was changed because of the Rolling Stones. The release show was scheduled for Nov. 9th, but a few players from the Stones took over the place they were to play for their own private party. Bastardos! 

Rebecca Florence

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Now, I could take you thru the step by step of mastering her entire album. I did this, then I did that, and then I sprinkled it with this, etc. But I'd rather tell you a little story about Rebecca Florence and my relationship with her as Producer/Engineer and her friend.

A great picture of her that I'm sure she'll hate.

I met Rebecca at Sidewalk Cafe over a year ago. She was playing the open mic and coming up and into her own as a singer/songwriter on the piano. She's a bit of a wild child. Her style is entirely emotionally based. She puts her heart, soul, whiskey, muscle, and razor sharp vocals into every moment of her songs.

Early this year, she asked me about recording an EP, so we got together for a planned 4hr session to record several songs with vocal and piano. Now, at this point, I've seen her play at Sidewalk in front of the open mic crew several times. Its wild, sometimes frenzied, but always impassioned. That was what I was expecting for her session on my old Wurlitzer piano in the live room. I set up the mics and we tested a few choices for the vocals till we found the right fit. 

Then something magical happened. She took a deep breath, and played the most focused, intense, and honest performances I've ever heard from her. We recorded 5 songs the first day. She came in a week later and recorded several more. She's dark. She sings songs about heartache, about female empowerment, about love, friendship and Murder Ballads. Awesome!

The "I am not a Vampire" moment.

I told her at one point, this seems more like an album than an E.P. She smiled and realized for the first time, she was recording an album of all original material. Her first. She switched gears after that. Ideas started to flow for backing vocals, guest performances by Brook Pridemore and Bob Black, real record/album kinda stuff.

During the final stages of recording we talked about what the tracks wanted or needed to feel finished. As things go, once the roots of a song are recorded, you can start to imagine and envision other parts. She added some very cool harmonies, and some crazy cool sound effects, and at one point, we added a male choir funerary mass. I added a few ideas as well, and the next thing you know, we're doing the final mixdown, and now here we are, the record is mastered and ready for release. 

I'm proud of her. Its a full, fluid album with so much color and character. I played a few songs for Reginald M Lamar, and he loved it! Its also NOT an over-produced, perfectly polished and edited pickle. You know the kind. This is Rebecca Florence, with some bits of Bob Black, Brook Pridemore, a little more of her, and a dash of Brian Speaker. 

Look for I Am Not A Vampire next year, just in time for Valentines Day.

Al Calderon Pop Mix

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Al Calderon came in just over a week ago to sing his parts for his first cover release, Sarah Smiles by Hall and Oats. We captured a pretty exciting performance from the young pop star and now its time to mix it down and make it sound just right.

Like

The reference materials I received were also pretty sparse in production. One was a guitar and vocal Alicia Keys - Brand New Me (Carly Rose Sonenclar Cover), the other a piano and vocal "Breakeven"- The Script (Max Schneider (MAX) and Kurt Schneider cover). I'm really glad we went with the Wurlitzer electric piano sound, as I find it to have so much more character than those other single instruments. It also has kind of a nod to my favorite style of music, Soul music. 

I went thru Ben Pagano's smooth Wurlitzer performance and evened out the levels a bit. I added a pinch of compression and a small amount of delay on one side of the stereo image to give a bit of depth and to leave room in the center for Al's voice.

Soft Vocal on Top/Louder Vocal on Bottom

On Al's voice, I went in and literally drew up the dips in volume and drew down the peaks of his vocal performance. You'll always want compression on a pop vocal to bring up those quips and characteristics that the singers have. The problem with compression is that if you use too much it takes away the dynamics. So you compress some and then ride the fader a bit to bring up the soft, and bring down the peaks. Here's a pic of the Waveforms with and without the automation. As mentioned before, I split the vocal onto two tracks in order to effect them differently.

Vocal Volume Automation

Effecting the vocals is always tricky on such a clean and sparse track. You want the singers voice to be upfront and you don't want to hear any artifacts. Artifacts are fake sounding reverberations or reflections. I chose a Warm Vocal Plate and messed around with the characteristics until it felt just right. I noticed in the reference material that the vocals were very effected but the effect didn't last with the decay of the singers voice. It ended to leave some open space in the performance. I deduced that this was most likely a gate that quickens the decay without changing the tone and shape of the reverb. I had never used such a thing on a singer before but once I put it after the reverb on the bus channel, it worked like a charm. The reverb swelled in and out with the loudness of the performance and that was it! I also automated a touch of Hall reverb on two long spaces where it seemed a little reverb tail was needed. It sounds natural, and gives a roundness to the overall vocal.

Al and I spoke about it this morning. We're both happy with the outcome. The best part is his performance. The song has an arc and tells a story not only with the great lyrics, but also with his terrific vocal performance.

I fully expect this track to get about a million views on YouTube. Can you imagine? I also expect this track to get listened to by industry folks making big decisions on Al Calderon's career. He's on the move. He's currently shooting a movie with some big hitters which I'm not privy to tell you about, but it's kind of a big deal.

Waiting for the paint to dry.

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Preston in action.

Day off at SpeakerSonic means getting some stuff done I've been meaning to do for a while. Today, I'm painting the control room interior. The paint choice was based on Preston Spurlock's most recent painting here in the Live Room. We did an art/studio time trade for the Kung Fu Crimewave record that is sitting, 95% finished and has been since March, in a dusty oblivion. Hint hint, wink wink, nudge nudge.

So while the first coat is drying I thought I would take you on a bit of a tour of some of the art that people comment about when they visit this place. While most of the pieces are officially paid for and owned by yours truly, others are on semi-permanent loan to the collection, and I'll whine and moan to keep them for as long as I can.

Other Preston paintings are spotted throughout the space as well. Some of my favorites are the Jared Loughner collage, the Dolphin and the Drinking Fetus. (My titles, not his.)

Preston's Dolphin

Preston's Drunken Fetus

Eric Wolfson's Lincoln

Eric Wolfson is a huge fan of our American Presidents. He has painted all of them in one form or another and has left with us here the Lincoln and the Carter. He has a whole series in this sunflower color scheme. Folks are particularly fond of the Lincoln.

Adam Green's Bird Zoom

Another eye catcher is Adam Green's deconstructed Big Bird called Bird Zoom, from his Houseface collection. I acquired this on a really fun day hanging out with Adam. He showed me around his home and his art studio, and I brought home a few pieces that I liked. Bird Zoom is on display across from Preston's piece in the Live Room.



Not many folks will get to see this piece as its in a private room. But I'm also particularly proud of Toby Goodshank's Street Scene painting. Here's a pic. I bought this before his show opened in Berlin. Once I saw it, I fell in love with it. He's fantastic, and I'm fortunate enough to have a few of his collages as well.

Toby's Street Scene

There's plenty more to take in if you look around. Some great Piwi drawings, a beautiful Cora Sprengal original, a collage by Inas Al-soqi and a few Chris Urban paintings given to me by Crazy and the Brains. Next time you come by for a session you can see them. Till then, click on them and enjoy them here.