Los Angeles, CA (December 14, 2010)–Engineer and mixer Khaliq Glover used the Rupert Neve Designs Portico II Channel Strip on Michael, the first posthumous collection of Michael Jackson songs.
Grammy Award-winning Glover, also known as Khaliq-O-Vision, worked alongside producer Teddy Riley during overdub and mixing sessions for the album of previously unreleased material, Michael, which is being released today (December 14) by Sony Music Entertainment.
Khaliq remarked, “This box is absolutely awesome; it’s my new secret weapon. Even something simple like an SM57 or 58 running through this baby sounds like a completely different type of microphone; it adds serious character. And if you’ve got a high-end microphone, it’s really amazing.”
One of the final overdub sessions for the project involved Orianthi, the Australian guitarist who had been rehearsing with Jackson for the This Is It tour prior to his untimely death. The guitarist was recorded using a Royer R-121 ribbon microphone through the Portico II alongside a Shure SM57 into a vintage Neve 1073 module. “Royer mics sound amazing on guitar anyway,” Khaliq says, “but the Portico II Channel really dialed it in. We didn’t have to use a lot of anything, but the compression and the EQ really set her guitar right where it needed to be in the track, dynamically and tonally.”
The Portico II can make a big difference to a track with only minimal adjustment of the controls, comments Khaliq. “I tried the compressor on several different things, and tried it versus plug-ins. Sometimes with plug-ins, you have to really push and turn them up to 10 dB of gain before you hear something that’s acceptable. You don’t have to do a whole lot on any section of the Portico II channel to get something that really fits in perfectly.”
Rupert Neve Designs Inc.
www.rupertneve.com
