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Mix Regional Sessions: Canada

NOBLE STREET STUDIOS, TORONTO

Shawn Mendes Mix Sessions, including “Treat You Better” and several other songs from the upcoming album, took place in Studio B, with various producers and engineer George Seara. They mixed on an SSL 6040 console…The Tenors Christmas album was recorded and mixed in Studio A and B, with various producers and engineer Seara. They recorded using Mytek converters and mixed on the SSL 6040. Microphone of choice was a vintage Telefunken ELA M 250…The majority of mixing for the Chantal Kreviazuk Mix Sessions took place in Studio B, with various producers and engineer Seara. They mixed on the SSL 6040…The Arkells were in Studio A, with Joe Chiccarelli producing and engineering and Trevor Anderson as second engineer…Arcane Roots were in Studio A and B, with Dave Schiffman producing and engineering and Alex Krotz as second engineer…Carvin Winans, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Michael McDonald, David Clayton-Thomas, and Take 6 worked on Carvin Winans and Friends: The Gospel of Soul, with producer Gavin Brown and engineer Lenny DeRose…The Weeknd was in Studio B with various producers and engineer Shin Kamiyama…Deep Purple worked on a new release in Studio A with producer/engineer Bob Ezrin…Will Smith worked on an upcoming album in Studio A with producers Shane Eli and Doc McKinney and engineer Anderson…Courage My Love was in Studio A with producer David Bendeth, engineer Brian Robbins and second engineer Krotz…The studio also installed a new pair of Quested monitors in Studio B.

Billy Talent at Revolution Recording. Photo: billy talentBowman (@bowmanitis) 2016

REVOLUTION RECORDING, TORONTO

Billy Talent was in Studio A (Neve Room), with producer Ian D’sa, engineer Eric Ratz and digital engineer Kenny Luong…Producer Gavin Brown and engineer Lenny DeRose were in Studio A working on projects for Carvin Winans, Maia AF, and Taryn Manning…Chantal Kreviazuk was in Studio B (SSL Room) with producer Thomas “Tawgs” Salter and engineer Stephen Koszler…The Strumbellas were in Studio A recording a cover of Bryan Adams’ “Summer of ’69,” an exclusive single for Amazon Music Songs of Summer collection, with engineer Denis Tougas. The band self-produced…Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy were in Studio A recording a session—which included guest vocals by Johnny Reid, Measha Brueggergosman and Ron Sexsmith—with engineer Vic Florencia. MacMaster and Leahy self-produced…Laila Biali was in Studio A with producer Ben Wittman and engineer L. Stu Young. Biali also co-produced…Tanya Tagaq was in Studio A recording the follow-up to her Polaris Music Prize-winning album Animism with producer Jesse Zubot and engineer Koszler.

GGGarth Richardson at The Farm

THE FARM STUDIOS, VANCOUVER

The Farm Studios owner GGGarth Richardson recently saw the following artists: Halfmoon Run, produced by Nygel Asselin and engineered by Shawn Cole; Hedley, produced by Richardson and engineered by Dean Maher; 5440, produced by Richardson and engineered by Carl Dicaire; Rise Against, produced by Richardson and engineered by Dean Maher; Bjork was writing with Damian Taylor; Biffy Clyro, produced by Richardson and engineered by Mike Fraser; and Zoo Harmonics, produced by Richardson and engineered by Dicaire. Some of the new gear at The Farm includes a Lexicon 480L, Pultecs, Studer A80 8-track, 1176 Blueface, and an 1176 Blackface.

PLANET STUDIOS, MONTREAL

Justin Bieber recorded vocals with engineer Daniel Cinelli (One Republic, Prince, Mika, Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean) in the newly renovated Studio 2…Timber Timbre mixed their latest album in Studio 2 with engineer Marcus Paquin (National, Local Natives, Little Scream)…Recording and mixing for Nikki Y (A440/Universal Music) took place, with Wyclef Jean producing and Cinelli engineering…Robert Charlebois recorded an upcoming project for Cirque Du Soleil, produced by Jean-Phi Goncalvez (Beast, Plaster) and recording/mixing by Pierre Girard (Galaxie, Steve Hill, Ariane Moffat)… Steve Hill (2015 Juno Award winner for Blues Album of the Year, 2015 Maple Blues Award winner) was in Studio 2 mixing his upcoming album with Girard…Florence K (Universal Music) recorded new material for upcoming album in Studio 1 with producer/engineer Cinelli…Roch Voisine (RV International) was in Studio 2 with producer Jay Lefebvre and engineer Cinelli…The studio also recently fully renovated Studio 2. The Control Room has been completely redesigned and includes an SSL 4064 G+ with Ultimation, the Live Room has been expanded with multiple iso booths, and they have a private lounge area, full kitchen and patio.

Mike Fraser working with Relic Kings at Armoury Studios

ARMOURY STUDIOS, VANCOUVER

The Wild was in Studio A with producer/engineer Mike Fraser and assistant engineer Spencer Bleasdale. Drums were tracked to RADAR before being transferred to Pro Tools for editing and overdubs…Devin Townsend Project was in Studio A with engineer Adam Getgood; assistant engineers Karl Dicaire, Taylor Jean, Adrian Mottram, and Mike Young (Young also edited, and Devin Townsend self-produced). Several recording stations were set up throughout the studio…Toseland was in Studio A with producer Toby Jepson, engineer Fraser and assistant engineer Bleasdale. With the time difference between Vancouver and the UK, James Toseland would have to stay up late to approve the mixes every night…Janne Saar was in Studio A with producer/engineer Rob Montes and assistant engineer Bleasdale. They set up a recording station for Saar in the large iso booth where she would track her own vocals…Claude Choe was in Studio A with production assistant Angelica Kim, engineer Paul Silveira and assistant engineer Bleasdale (Claude Choe self-produced). Recorded and mixed at Armoury and then they went to Prague to record The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra…Chris Wong was in Studio A with producers Tony Arevalo Jr., Joe Chan, and Michael Nowak; engineer Kent Poon; and assistant engineer Bleasdale. Neumann KU 100 Dummy Head Microphone was a big part of the sound, as a room mic for many of the instruments…Relic Kings were in Studio A with producer/engineer Fraser and assistant engineer Bleasdale. The guys rocked so hard they blew a couple amp heads. Vocals were done in the main live room in a booth constructed out of the baffles…Hi Kommand was in Studio A with producers Joel Hedberg and Jessica Hedberg, engineer Silveira and assistant engineer Bleasdale.

Studio A at The Orange Lounge

THE ORANGE LOUNGE, TORONTO

Shawn Hook was in with producer Noel Zancanella using a vintage U 47 VF-14 and a Neve 1066…Alex Lifeson (guitarist for Rush) and producer Terry Brown were in working on material…Hollerado were in with producer Gus van Go finishing vocals for their CD. Van Go brought his own mic and used a Neve 1079…Serena Ryder was in with producer Thomas “Tawgs” Salter working on her upcoming CD. They used a Shure SM7, a Neve 1089, and an unknown compressor…Nelly Furtado was in doing vocals on a song. She used a vintage U 87, a Neve 1066, and a Summit TLA-100…DJ Alesso was in working on remixes for various artists…Keith Urban was in Studio A working on material…Ryan Tedder (lead vocalist for OneRepublic) was in Studio A working on material…J-Soul was in doing vocals and mixing for his new CD, with Matt Stevens engineering. They used a U 47 VF-14 and a Neve 1079, with a Tube-Tech CL-1B…Big Wreck was in working on new material for a CD with producer GGGarth Richardson. They used an SM7, a Neve 1066, and a vintage ADR 769 Vocal Stressor. All projects were recorded into Pro Tools HD.

Megan Hutton (Instant Rivalry) Vic Branco (producer/studio owner), Nick Lobodycz (engineer), Caleb Hutton (Instant Rivalry)

IGUANA STUDIOS, TORONTO

Purveyor of Chaos was with producer/engineer/mixer Darius Szczepaniak working on new material. Szczepaniak used a mixture of the Glyn Johns technique and some new school metal techniques on the drums. The bass was recorded with multiple amps and will be processed later with the latest in amp modeling and profiling. They did a mixture of different mic pre’s on the console and ran some of the sounds through the VCAs to get more of that console’s modified sound…District Avenue worked with producer Vic Branco, engineers Andre Doucette and Nick Lobodycz, and mixer Szczepaniak. Once Szczepaniak gets a good level coming in with the preamp, he sorts out the drum microphone mix using the small faders on the way to tape, leaving his monitor faders at zero. He utilized the VCAs to sum LR pan blends of overheads and room mics. He started at +100 L and +100 R then slowly pans (hopefully with two pan pots) more toward center. He observed the change in the way the mics work together and found the ideal blend. Szczepaniak says, “If the overheads microphones are placed well to begin with they shouldn’t be anywhere from 10-15 pan points from one another”…Instant Rivalry was in the studio with producer Branco (Instant Rivalry also co-produced), engineers Lobodycz and Doucette, and mixer Szczepaniak. On the single “Hoedown,” they used a pair of headphones placed on the acoustic guitar body plugged into a DI to capture a warm lower end to the acoustic tracks. They blended that with a Neumann U 87 to get a great sound.  They also ran the harmonica into a small guitar combo amp on full blast to get a gritty vibe…Fallen Heirs was in the studio with producer/engineer/mixer Doucette. He says, “When mixing, I’ll often listen to the effects buses soloed in order to paint the backdrop, then blend the entire effects group it into the dry mix. I find it’s a more accurate way to find a balance between my reverbs, delays and modulations.”…Maddy Rodriguez was with producer/engineer Johnny Simmen working on the Man Overboard EP. When doing drums, he put a U 87 right above the kick drum in the middle of the drum, cranked the SSL mic pre and then slammed it with an 1176 in All Buttons mode. He also put two lapel mics on the floor behind the drum kit on each side and crushed those as well. He says, “When you blend these mics under the rest of the drum kit just right—so that you can’t hear the distortion—it adds this energy that I can’t seem to get from any other type of processing”…Park Eddy was with producer Giordan Postorino (Park Eddy also produced) and engineer Doucette. His favorite vocal recording chain is when the reverb send is patched before the LA-2A works. The singer’s dynamic will control the level of the reverb, and when they get loud, the reverb will be get loud because the signal is uncompressed. When they sing softly the reverb turns down again. He says, “By compressing the dry signal only—create a parallel aux bus and patch the output of vocal to the input of the aux channel—the compressor/limiter will pull the dry vocal back during loud sections as you would normally have it, but allow the reverb to stay loud and with the original dynamics in place. This results in a blossoming type of effect. Essentially what you are doing is replicating the same effect the singer would experience if they were actually standing in this massive great sounding room you’re creating”…Acid Test was with producer Adam Percy and engineer Simmen. For an interlude on the band’s EP, he miked up the guitar strings themselves. He says, “There was a very dreamy section with a lot of reverbs and spacey sounds, and having just a clean guitar sound didn’t seem to cut it. I put Steve [Fall, guitarist] in the live room, set up two 414s in XY and then filtered off most of the high end on the SSL. Blended with a handful of reverb underneath a double-tracked clean guitar fit the vibe perfectly.”

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