N. Hollywood, CA (June 26, 2015)—With Queens of the Stone Age on hiatus, guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen is busy tracking records for A Perfect Circle and Sweethead, with his BAE Audio preamplifiers close at hand.
Van Leeuwen became acquainted with BAE Audio preamps during sessions at QOTSA frontman Josh Homme’s Pink Duck recording studio. “We used a lot of BAE Audio mic pres on the last record,” says Van Leeuwen. After hearing the performance of BAE Audio’s 312A and 1028 preamplifiers and subsequently meeting BAE Audio president Mark Loughman, he outfitted his home studio with many of the same preamps that were present at Pink Duck.
“Between the 312A and the 1028, you can really get everything you need,” Van Leeuwen observes. “On drums, I’m using the 312A on everything except kick and snare. They’ve got a punch to them and a quick attack that really lets the character of a well-tuned tom come through.”
The 312A also pairs with ribbon microphones, Van Leeuwen’s preferred choice for overheads. “Ribbon mics don’t sizzle your ears off with high end from the cymbals, which I really appreciate. The 312A has plenty of gain and really captures what they’re doing on the kit.”
Bass guitars also get the 312A and1028 treatment, he says. “I’ll use a 312 with a DI to take a direct signal and then also route it out to an amp, which I’ll mic up into the 1028. I like the attack of the 312 and then I’ll get the roundness and warmth of the speaker cab, which can benefit from the EQ options of the 1028.”
As for guitar, “What we really need is a preamp that will capture that sound with no frills and the 312A is perfect for that. It has a little punch to it, but otherwise it’s not really coloring the sound, so it does exactly what we want,” he says.
BAE Audio
www.baeaudio.com
