Show 174 – Interview with Mike Hillier and Katie Tavini and more!

This week we chat with Mike Hillier (UK Audio Engineer, Music Tech Magazine writer) and Katie Tavini (UK Audio Engineer) about their recent live recording of The Charlatans.

Download Show #174

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Check out this great video podcast Big Ass Superstar did for us
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-jfEdgSW3Q

18 thoughts on “Show 174 – Interview with Mike Hillier and Katie Tavini and more!

  1. Hi Guys,
    Thanks for reading out my previous comment. Asking the guys if they knew me because we’re all UK cracked me up, until I realised I probably have bumped into Katie a few times as she was 2 years below me at undergrad level university. So yeah, small island, small world. There’s basically me, mike, katie, russ hughes, peter gabriel and brian eno. So it’s a pretty saturated market, but still awesome.

    Thanks again for a great show,
    Luke

  2. Hey guys

    It’s James from MKai / Emkai / Ummmkkkkaaaaayyyy Audio again. The proper pronunciation is M (the letter M) Kai ( rhymes with sky) but you can say it whatever the hell way you like, kinda likin the mr.Garison way but the URL would be a hard one to put across.

    Great show as always, loved the stuff about live recording. Me and a few other guys used to record some of our band rehearsals. We had an old 600watt peavey 8channel PA system so we would run everything through it and take a feed of the stereo out into a digital recorder. We were limited to the 8 inputs so we had to compromise on drum mics as we were a five peice band. We had 2 vocal mics, 3 guitars sent from our amp, a bass run from the amp and one mono overhead on the kit. For the last input we tried different placements on the drums but they didn’t really add to the final mix so we found placing the mic dead centre in the room captured a great sound that filled out the recording. We had to play around a bit with levels before we got the recording to sound any way decent but we got there in the end.

    Just realised Im getting my south park teachers confused, it ain’t mr. Garison. Oh my god, I’m changing the name of the blog and podcast!!!! Any suggestions lol

    Keep up the good work

    James from ………….. Ah don’t worry about, James will do

  3. Hey guys,
    I’m currently doing the first major upgrade to my home/mobile studio and I am currently at the computer portion. I’m looking into the Mini Mac server edition with the quad core 2.0 ghz i7 processor with X2 500 GB 7200 rpm hard drives, and I was wondering if you have known anyone to use this for their main studio computer. The reason I chose this because its small and portable enough to fit in a rack tray along with 2, 8 input firewire interfaces, my gate, and power conditioner. I’ve looked into the creation station 400 from Sweetwater which I almost bought, but I’ll be saving some cash switching to the Mini Mac, let me know your thoughts.

    Fly the chicken!

    Brandon

  4. Hi teams Ryan and Jon,

    First a techie question, and then a comment: I’m curious to know how much of an impact the next Pro Tools being 64bit will have on CPU efficiency, specifically whether it will make it easier to run more plugins. I know that more memory availability will be great for virtual instruments, but will it also increase DSP, or have little effect?
    I have an I7 870 8 core, SSD for the system drive, and a 10k Raptor for my recording drive and still struggle with multiple instances of Slate VCC when mixing, and even just one of Ozone 5 when mastering a stereo track – all of this of course in a 32bit environment (PT9 MP). I cannot wait for AAX and 64bit PT 11 so I can use all 16 gigs of RAM, but not sure to what degree that will help my CPU load…thoughts? Thanks!

    Now my comment: This is for Nathan Rice who commented about the guy with “the most disgusting REDNECK accent”. Nathan, do society a favor and keep your bigotry to yourself – don’t soil this pocast with your character flaws. I love the positivity and “cool breeze” vibe of HRS, and then you show up, spewing your predjudice, all while thinking you’re being clever and witty – if you are unable to locate a therapist who is skilled enough to help you, then please just go back to the Gulf and take a l o n g walk off a short oil rig platform. Thanks in advance.

  5. Awesome show, guys! I’ve got to say, Mike and Katie were pretty entertaining. I wonder if the other five people in the UK are as interesting. 😀

    Anyway, I’ve been having a bit of an issue with monitor placement on my computer desk because it’s only about 3 feet wide. I was going to buy monitor stands, but they can get pretty pricey (which of course is never ideal). As an alternative I was thinking about getting two straight mic stands and just screwing some slabs of wood with appropriately sized holes onto them. My main worry is stability. Do you guys think they would be sturdy enough for M-Audio BX5as? They are roughly 11 pounds each. I would rather not wake up to my speakers on the floor… Thanks!

  6. Hi Guys,
    The shows just keep getting better, thanks for all the work you do. Im after a little advice and I’m sure you guys will have an opinion one way or another.
    I’m 45 and consider myself a professional musician as that’s how I make a living. I have also recorded many of my own songs and even managed to produce a complete CD a few years back.

    I have owned many PA systems over the years and worked as a FOH sound tech for many local bands and even got some experience in a radio station and learned things like real tape splicing. I’ll let you explain that to the digital youngsters who may be listening.

    However, I have to solid credentials and still consider myself an amateur when it comes to all things audio. So I have been looking around to find myself some type of course that can give me more knowledge and perhaps some real credentials other than a HRS diploma.

    I really need something that I can do from home due to family commitments. I came across audiomasterclass.com and was wondering if you knew anything about it? Or do you know of any other courses I could take via the internet etc that you believe would be beneficial to me? My aim is to start using my small home studio to make some extra income. I’m just not confident enough with my own abilities to start doing it without first doing some formal learning.

    Thanks again for all your great advice week after week. Great to see your website working again too. Ride the Australian Kangaroo because us Ozzies have eaten all the chickens, and Kangaroos are faster 🙂
    Cheers!

  7. Love the show. Do you guys have another RSS feed that has archives going back more than 10 episodes? I’d love to be able to download older episodes on my iPhone in an easier fashion (than downloading MP3s, adding them to iTunes, creating a playlist, etc.)

    Thanks!

    -Tom

  8. It’s me again, Just wondering if you have heard much about the new Behringer X32? I know Behringer is somewhat of a taboo word these days and I have to agree it has been for many years now, barely entry level equipment.

    However, I watched a demo of it from NAMM and the things it claims to be able to do have left me almost drooling. Albeit with the sour taste of the Behringer name. Does the fact that Behringer purchased Midas have any bearing on the quality we can expect from this digital mixer?

    I will be looking for real life reviews of this mixer when it becomes available. I would be especially concerned with the quality of the preamps as you know that if the preamps suck, then the desk is about as useful as a tits on a bull.

    I would love it even more if one of you guys could somehow manage a review on the mixer at some point. I know it probably goes against everything you hold sacred in your audio world, but you never know. Behringer just might be able to get something right again one day. It would be cool if it was the X32. At least the name rocks.

    Keep it real
    Geoff…

  9. GSAA,

    LED boxes = pimp. My pops an i used to make those when i was a youngen and i always loved putting them together.

    Some cool ideas in this episode. We tried to do a live recording once and spent all kinda time getting everything ready only to have the computer crash on us about an hour before the show. I did some quick macgyver work… and it still failed… then i did some quick macregniG work and grabbed an old tape deck from the back of the bar. I panned the vocals and percussion hard left and bass and guitar hard right. It worked ok, but at the time i did not have the skill set to make it sound good and we figured we’d hit it better the next time we did it.

    RTC

  10. Since Scot asked about 64 bit Pro Tools, I’m going to ask about 64 bit Reaper. What are the advantages and disadvantages?

    Ride the Chicken,
    -Kris

  11. Hello dare,

    I have turned a major corner since my last post…tried Reaper x64 and am floored by it’s power! I tested it with 101 plugins scattered over 30 tracks (something I would never need). I ran a mix of x64 VSTs and bridged x32 VSTs. Some of these (the RTAS versions) were intense resource hogs in PT, but Reaper didn’t even blink! I mean I had MULTIPLE instances of BFD2, Ozone 4 and 5, PSP Warmer 2, Kontakt 5, Slate VCC and Waves SSL Channel Strip on every track, and various other compressors and EQs everywhere. The session was 96k/24, and my overall CPU drain was just 10%, with 9 gigs of 12 still available…of course there was no audio or MIDI present, but I still couldn’t believe it. I think that I will skip PT 11 and just record and edit with 9, with the possibilility if not probability of moving 100% to Reaper once I am more comfortable with it – way to go Jon – I owe it to you for inspiring me to try it…thanks man! Give it a shot Kris, Reaper x64 is very impressive…

  12. GSAA!

    For the commentor who was complaining about the surrounds on his headphones deteriorating: I do ENG/ EFP (Electronic News Gathering/ Electronic Field Production) and years ago found Garfield covers. They don’t replace the headphone pads, but go OVER them. They’re cotton; they are cool in the heat and warm in the cold, and they keep the black stuff off your ears. They run about $18 a pair, and are washable, so they last a LONG time. I think they make them to fit a bunch of different headphones (most of the ENG people I know use the Sony MDR750B’s, which is what I use them on), but I’m not sure how many models they offer. I DO know that if you’ve got a pair of cans that you really LIKE, I wouldn’t recommend replacing them with cheapies. I DO understand the desire to have multiple pair of inexpensive cans for guest musicians, but I wouldn’t scrap a GOOD pair because of the pad disintegration…

  13. GSAA.

    Despite their reputation, I still have a few Behringer parts (left over from leaner times) which still serve their purpose after 5-10 years of abuse — mostly used as spares for live gigs now.

    I second Geoff Taylor’s request:
    “I would love it even more if one of you guys could somehow manage a review on the [X32] mixer at some point.”

    The X32 appears to do about as much as a Yamaha LS9 or M7CL, and much more than a Presonus StudioLive — for about the price of a StudioLive. Assuming it lives up to the hype.

  14. Hi, in episode 174 you mention a blog that reviews or analyzes songs. I couldn’t make out the web address – was it something like Bob Ozinsky on blogspot?

    I’ve googled and googled and can’t find it. Can you please post the link to his site.

    Many thanks.

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