Studio Engineer in-Training? Here’s What You Need to Know

“Are you a walking microphone encyclopaedia and a cold-blooded problem solver? Do you know how to turn the most vague of ideas into something that sounds great? Then we’re looking for you!”

This is easily what any job post for a studio engineer, sound engineer or audio engineer could read like. Want to know more about what’s involved in the mysterious craft of studio engineering? Want to know what the difference really is between a studio engineer and a producer? Read on!

Multiple Hats

These days, you’re seldom just a studio engineer, a producer or a mixing engineer. If you’re working in a more modest studio, then you’ll need to be able to wear multiple hats and, if you’re working in a home studio, then you’ll need to be able to wear them all. So, to get a better idea of the entire production process, it’s definitely worth taking a look at the different roles and their responsibilities. In this blog, we’ll be taking a more detailed look at the job of the traditional studio engineer.

From the Idea to the Record

As the studio engineer, you’re relying on both your right and your left brain. It’s your job to translate the creative vision of the artist and the producer into technical reality. You do this by making sure that the performance of the artist is captured as purely as possible, and there’s far more to it than simply plonking a microphone in front of their nose or in front of an instrument and hitting record. When the producer requests a ‘70s rock drum sound, a good engineer will immediately think of a big live room and two large-diaphragm condenser microphones set up in a Glyn Johns configuration, and a Neumann U47FET pointed at the kick. This is really technical stuff. And, if you’re really lucky, you’ll be working with an artist or band that really vibes with your creativity and, before you know it, you’re standing in the live room swinging a microphone around your head like a lasso, searching for a golden, never-heard-before chorus effect.

A Well-Oiled Machine

As the studio engineer, it’s your job to make sure that the technical side of the recording session runs smoothly. To achieve that, you need to be well versed when it comes to problem solving and be able to work under pressure. Artists generally don’t come fitted with an on/off switch so, if they’re inspired, they can’t exactly put it on pause. If they’ve had time to settle down while they wait for forty-five minutes while you hunt for technical gremlins, you can’t expect them to jump up and give 100% at a moment’s notice.

Communication

However – making the artist or musicians wait every now and then is unavoidable. If you need to dive behind an effects rack for fifteen minutes, it’s highly likely that things will start getting restless on the other side of the glass. Here, simply explaining what you’re doing and how long it’s likely to take works wonders. Musicians are able to muster far more patience when they actually know what you’re up to – with the natural exception of a few divas. The fact is that many artists just don’t care about all that technical stuff so, instead of saying something like ‘I’m just setting up a return for the reverb’, try saying something like ‘I’m just making sure that you’re getting a bit of reverb on your vocal while you record.’

Studio Engineer in-Training? Here’s What You Need to Know

Know Your Software

These days, almost all music is recorded with the help of DAW software (Digital Audio Workstation). These programmes include masses of options, many of which you won’t always actually need. A lot of this software can also be customised, so you can arrange the windows to match your workflow and place all of the functions that you always use within easy reach, as well as create your own keyboard shortcuts. In the very least, you need to have a quick shortcut for play, stop, record and for creating a new track. It’s also worth developing a habit of editing as much as possible on the spot. During the recording session, you can quickly hear which takes worked and which didn’t and get rid of the duds or combine a couple of takes. By learning to do this, you’ll save yourself and the artist a mass of time later.

Know Your Equipment

As the studio engineer, you’re responsible for both selecting the right microphone and the right microphone position, so it’s essential that you’re at least familiar with the sonic character of every one of the microphones in the studio. The same applies for microphone preamps. If you have an hour to spare then use it to nerd-up on microphones. Try out some of the more outlandish setups that you’ve come across on YouTube or compare the response of a handful of microphones to a specific instrument. If you have enough inputs, then you can even experiment with a few extra microphones at the same time during recording sessions. Remember, some of the most iconic sounds were made possible by a happy accident.

Studio Engineer in-Training? Here’s What You Need to Know

So What Does a Producer Do, Then?

The terms ‘studio engineer’ and ‘producer’ are often used interchangeably, which isn’t that weird, since a lot of the people that sit at the helm of the studio – at home or professionally – wear both hats. In electronic music and hip-hop, the term ‘producer’ is used for anyone that makes beats or writes EDM tracks. Originally, the term ‘producer’ was used to describe the record producer: the person responsible for shaping the artistic direction of an album. The producer, alongside the artist or band, dots the ‘i’s and crosses the ‘t’s of the musical arrangement and gives coherent form to the overall sound of the collection of songs. Producers are also like coaches, trying to get the best performance out of the band so, as a traditional producer, you don’t actually sit behind the mixing desk, but play the role as a sort of director. For more, see our other blog about what producers do.

The Mixing Engineer

Whether you’re making EDM or indie-rock, as soon as everything’s on ‘tape’, it’s going to need to be mixed and mastered. This is where the mixing engineer comes in, who takes all of the separate instrument tracks – or stems, and turns them into a whole. If a specific sound or atmosphere has already steered the recording process, then the mixing phase is the moment when that vibe is made more explicit and concrete. The average home studio doesn’t have access to hardware EQs, compressors, reverbs and delays. Most of the time, your microphone is simply hooked up directly to your audio interface and the bare sound is recorded. With those kinds of recording, the mixing engineer has a lot more on their plate. It’s also often the case that the studio engineer, the producer and the mixing engineer are all the same person – especially if you’re working on a tighter budget.

The Mastering Engineer

A lot of people are under the impression that mastering is a magical and mysterious process while, in fact, it’s probably the least creative end of the production line. Mastering is the final step before the end-product reaches the ears of the listener. You could therefore see it as a last check to be certain that everything is where it’s supposed to be. The mastering engineer only receives a stereo file of each song, so they’re job isn’t to adjust the balance of instruments – that’s already been done. Their job is to listen closely to the final mix, picking out where things can be improved in terms of the overall sonic balance or where the dynamic range can be optimised. The final master should also make sure that every song on the album or EP works alongside one another in terms of sound and volume. They’re also the person responsible for adding neat fades between each track. The biggest advantage of using a separate mastering engineer is that you’re getting a fresh set of ears – someone who has never heard the songs before and will be able to hear things that the artist or the mixing engineer just can’t pick up on anymore. For some mastering tips, see our other blog.

In Conversation with a Professional Studio Engineer

With artists ranging all the way from David Bowie and Michael Jackson to Iron Maiden and Foo Fighters on their CV, Wisseloord Studio is a magic spot nestled in the East of the Netherlands. But times change and, at one point, the building even stood empty for a while. Until the studio engineer who was there from the very beginning teamed up with investors and set to work, firmly planting the studio on the map as one of the top recording locations in the world. We were lucky enough to have a chat with that selfsame studio engineer: Ronald Prent.

Studio Engineer in-Training? Here’s What You Need to Know

Learning the Ropes

While he resembles a hardy construction site supervisor, Ronald Prent is one of the most experienced studio engineers in the business. As well as successful Dutch acts, he’s worked on records with names like Def Leppard, Tina Turner and David Bowie, so this is a man with both the knowledge and the vision. His background even hinted that his destiny lay in running a renowned recording studio. “My father worked for the hospital radio station in Hilversum. When I was around fifteen years old he would sometimes take me to work with him to help carry cables and other equipment. I found it all fascinating: the process of making a radio show and playing records. Even then, before I knew what it was, I was a bit of an audio engineer. There were people working at the station who also worked in national broadcasting, and that’s how I found my way into the world of radio. Working in radio, I encountered a lot of people who were involved in making music, and what I found even more interesting: recording music. After applying for a job at Wisseloord, I really thought I hadn’t got it until I got a surprise invite to come in for a chat. Within five minutes, I got the job. I started as an assistant. That was in 1981.”

A Little Practice

Ronald cut his teeth working under the former studio manager, Joost Hummeling. “He would give me lessons about all the equipment we needed to use, including an explanation of all the electronics. He would describe the character of a specific microphone and point out which microphone models are best for which jobs and explain how crucial microphone placement is. So, I learned in practice how to shift the microphone to another spot and then listen to the difference in sound. If you’re just learning how to do things, the key is to watch closely, listen closely and ask plenty of questions. For example, if there was a studio standing empty, we would also get in there and practise and try things out.

I remember Jan Fred Arendsen, who was one of the top engineers at the time, saying to me ‘Take your time. It’ll be another seven years or so before you really start mastering the profession.’ At the time, I remember thinking ‘Wow! That’s a long time to wait. Could I do it in five?’ But, he was bang on. It’s only after around seven years that you can really start feeling like an engineer and – more importantly – really start trusting yourself.”

Experiment!

Ronald then started to lead his own projects, his very first being for the Backdoor Label, which was set up by Ton van de Bremer from Phonogram to give young talent a chance. “That was with The Mo. And I remember having this lightbulb moment where I decided to stick a flanger on the snare drum so that every hit sounded different. That’s just something you wouldn’t do these days, but I was young and when you’re still learning, you should be experimenting. Luckily, that record was a success. I actually heard that track on the radio recently and thought ‘Yeah, I don’t like that snare sound.”

Then, suddenly he had The Police in the live room. Like most studio engineers, Ronald was a freelancer and, after working with The Police, he was invited to work abroad. “I was approached by Mink Deville and asked to record an album in America. That was brilliant. Not because working here was bad, but because there comes a moment when you’ve learned everything that you can and, to learn more, you need to step outside of your comfort zone.”

A Refocus on Mixing

Following a few years spent working around Europe, including England, Italy and Germany, where Ronald also lived for a short time, Bart Sloothaak got in contact in 1995 and asked if he would consider coming back to Wisseloord Studios to become the resident mixing engineer in Studio 3. “I did that until 1999, when the studio was sold on. Bart and I, together with a third investor, tried to buy it ourselves but it didn’t work out. After that fell through, I reached out to Galaxy Studios in Belgium who were, like me, already working on surround sound. I had a great time there and got a lot of support when it came to surround sound production as well as a lot of freedom to experiment with it.”

Around two and a half years later, Wisseloord popped up again. “I heard through the grapevine that it was up for sale again and was asked if I would still like to make something of it. I immediately started to look for investors who believed in my plans as much as me. The Wisseloord model used to be just a vision and conversations, but now it’s almost complete.”

Expensive Gear

Ronald Prent knows exactly what he wants. Even if that means having to take one component from one unit and combining it with another. “It’s always about the people involved and not the tools you’re using. However, those tools need to be good enough to allow those people, without any difficulty or hindrance, to get creative. Which is why cheap gear just won’t cut it. You have to be willing to invest. Avid makes brilliant digital mixing desks and PrismSound makes the best converters in my opinion, so after one of my engineers suggested it, I asked the companies to build something that would work together. It wasn’t an easy process. We actually had to get them to collaborate, design something new and then build it into the space. When we finally got to switch it on, everything worked beautifully. Studio 1 now has 96 inputs and 96 outputs, Studio 2 has 48 ins and 64 outs and both mastering suites have 16 inputs and 16 outputs. We also have a lot of SPL and Dangerous Music gear, and Neeve also did a lot of work on our mastering suites. We also have custom PMC speaker installations in the recording studios and Egglestone speaker installations in the mastering suites, and both companies went really far when it comes to the system calibration. There’s also zero equalisation on any of the speakers. Everything is flat and entirely neutral, which was one of my demands. So the team that took care of the speakers also worked closely alongside the team that designed the acoustic treatment in each room.”

A Bit of Research

“That’s what everything rests on really. Everyone does that little bit extra. The cable manufacturer, Grimm Audio even designed an entirely new cable for us. It’s super high quality but still affordable, which is essential when you think about how much of it had to be laid. We have around 55 kilometers of cabling in this place. The idea is to use the minimum amount of materials and equipment as possible to get the maximum possible result. Some people think that we pay mates-rates for our equipment or even get it for free. That’s so far from the truth. And I wouldn’t want it to be that way. I’d rather be thanking companies for that extra bit of research that they put in on our behalf than thanking them for free gifts. What we have instead, is a fully tailor-made setup that yields unique results. The reps from these companies also came along to our press conference at AES in San Francisco two years ago, simply because they were so proud of what we had managed to build together.”

Demand Quality

Ronald is clearly aware that there’s a high demand for supreme audio quality these days. “The music industry is still far too focussed on a target audience that doesn’t actually have that much spending power – so the 12 to 17 year old demographic. The demographic that tends to spend more is around 23 to 60 years old, and they’re completely ignored. Kids are finding old vinyl or even CDs in their parent’s cupboards and noticing that they sound way better than mp3s. More and more artists are also releasing their work themselves, so they first release the high-quality version and then fans can use a code to go to the artist’s website to download the mp3s. This also brings a lot of website traffic, completing a whole business model. The kids making dance and hip-hop music are particularly concerned with quality, from both the creative side and the consumer side.”

The House of Music

Ronald Prent has spent years watching his dream come to fruition. “We wanted to create a meeting space. Just building live rooms for recording bands doesn’t really cut it these days. So, as well as recording and mastering facilities, we have a cutting room where we literally press and cut vinyl records on site, and we offer every possible version of file delivery and media delivery. We even host business-to-business events. In Studio 1, around 4 tonnes of lighting can be suspended and there are cables routed outside to a parking space for a mobile TV van. Connect up three plugs and you’re done, so we can even put on small live shows for 50 to 80 people. The starting point is always the same: excellent quality that’s still affordable. I want people to come here and meet like-minded people. We have a few small production companies operating out of our office wing alongside producers with their pre-production spaces. We want the place to be buzzing with activity so that everyone is inspiring each other. We even have a restaurant on site with a professional kitchen that everyone on the Wisseloord site and the various people coming in from the music world are free to use. What we’ve tried to build here is a House of Music.”

‘The Atmosphere and Interaction is Essential’

Stepping into a professional recording studio is a unique experience for a lot of bands. The same was true for the members of Polaroid Fiction when they were invited into Joris Peeters’ studio. The blind producer and owner of BatProductions comes with a mass of intimidating experience backing him up.

Studio Engineer in-Training? Here’s What You Need to Know

Quiet & Controlled

The calm and controlled vibe in the control room is a stark contrast to the energetic music that Polaroid Fiction makes. Joris the producer first asks the band what their motivation is. “We’re still a little tired from last night,” sighs singer and guitarist, Wouter. “We played a promo show for Limbomania. I don’t think we’ve ever played such a long set, but I think we managed to pull it off.” Joris is no stranger to worn out bands. “Of course, I understand that you can’t just cancel a gig. But things do tend to work much better if you come into the studio with a fresh head. So, please, no wild nights while we’re recording this weekend and not too much alcohol. Young bands can sometimes underestimate what it takes to record. It’s fun, but it’s still really hard work. Preferably, I sound check everything the day before so that the band can just focus on playing. You can’t always do that, of course. Everyone is busy, but it does make the recording session run a lot more smoothly.”

Everything at Once

Joris prefers to record a whole band at once, only recording the vocals separately. “This helps give the record a less mechanical feel. It’s also what I’ve set up my studio to do. The amplifiers are all set up in a separate, closed room.”

While the bassist, Lesley is warming up, the drummer, Simon is busy searching for floor tom legs. He only brought his snare and cymbals with him, since the studio gear list included a full drum kit. The idea was to speed up sound check, but the search for the legs brings up nothing, leaving Joris with a bit of a dilemma: should he take a break from the session and nip to the local music shop, or find a more creative solution. In the end, a few strategically positioned microphone cases solve the issue and before you know it, a clean, booming floor tom sound is thrumming through the monitors.

The Ideal Sound

Sound checking the rest of the drum kit goes quickly from there. The subwoofer in the control room gives the drum sound an immediately impacting feel, with a lot of help from Joris’ extensive microphone collection. A vintage model has been placed behind the drummer, making everything sound remarkably warmer. “I’m a bit of a microphone freak,” Joris admits. “I think I had 52 at the last count, which isn’t bad, but I have a personal goal to build a full library of around 366, just so I can use a different one every day of the year.” Back to the drum sound, and while everything has gone smoothly since the floor tom leg crisis, Joris is still not satisfied. “Have you tried out my snare? I’m pretty sure you’ll like it,” he says dryly over the talkback. Simon doesn’t spend much time deliberating and swaps out his snare for Joris’ custom model. A few hits and he’s convinced.

The Microphone Signal

The bass is sounding great through the microphone, but on hearing the DI signal, another doubt pops up: the signal is too weak to be usable. Joris takes a moment and considers taking a signal directly from Lesley’s pedalboard, but he knows that’s not going to work. Without his amplifier, the sound is way too extreme. Luckily, this is a problem of luxury, since, even without the DI signal, everyone is really happy with the fat bass sound.

When setting up the microphones for the guitar amplifiers, Joris does need a little assistance. Usually he has an engineer in to help, but they couldn’t make it today, which is no issue for the band who, following Joris’ careful instructions, are able to get everything mic’d up. Despite his sight impairment, he knows the routing inside and out and knows exactly where everything needs to be plugged in. The band actually has more trouble finding the right inputs and outputs. A few minutes later, and the sound is coming through to the control room, but the result isn’t quite there yet. Joris asks everyone to be quiet while he listens closely to the problem area. A moment later, a microphone is swapped out and the position is changed, finally getting the ideal sound out of the amp.

Hit Record!

As soon as they’re set up, the band is already eager to commit the first take to tape, but Joris demands patience. He also insists that the monitoring headphones of every band member need to be just so. Especially since the bassist still can’t hear anything through his headphones. Rock & roll can get technical too. They try different sets of headphones to see if that’s the issue until finally, Joris slaps his forehead as he realises that one of the AUX outputs was still switched off – the smallest details can make the biggest difference, after all. Now, the click track is running and everyone is ready to go again, but Joris still isn’t quite ready: he needs to check the balance and make a monitor mix. “Luckily, the routing has been thought through,” Joris explains. “The balance through the headphones is fully independent of what I do in the control room. So I can mix happily without them noticing anything.”

The Rough Mix

As soon as the band has played the last chord of the song, Joris is clearly into it. “Great sound. Great song. This is the kind of music I want to make. I’m a fan!” His cry of pure joy reveals that he’s really not faking any of it just to keep the band motivated. A quick rebalancing of the monitor mix through the headphones and it seems like Joris is finally ready to hit record. But, before he does: “Are you sure you want the click track at half-time?” he asks. “For the feel of this track, I think it would be much easier to double the tempo.” The band is unconvinced. Even without a click track, they seem to be able to play everything super tight.

The Third Take

The band delivers another tight rendition of the song, but Joris has one final comment: “Always try not to put the drumsticks down or switch off any effect pedal right before the end of the recording. Otherwise you’ll be able to hear it in the mix. Let’s go for another one. Then you guys can come in here and have a listen.” The band throws themselves into the third take of their new number. While Lesley gets to sit in the producer’s chair, Joris goes to sit in the live room, leaving the door open so he can hear everything. “It’s so I can listen to the result from a distance. There are always little things that become clearer.”

Before they can start recording the vocals, the band decide to record a second song which, in hindsight, turned out to be a bad idea since it left just fifteen minutes of studio time on the clock. Wouter doesn’t see the issue: “It can still work,” he insists. But Joris is unconvinced: “It’s just not possible to sound check and record in fifteen minutes. You’ll never get something satisfying. I think it’s a better idea if you come back another day.” The band isn’t sure. Wouter suggests that he records the vocals at home, saying that he’s got a lot of microphones. Joris can only laugh: “You might have a lot of microphones, but I’m certain that you don’t have preamps like these. I know it’s easier to record at home these days, especially since the age of the mp3 has lowered the threshold, but recording in a decent studio is really underestimated.”

STUDIOTOOLS

Joris Peeters thinks that a lot of modern musicians have become lazy: “These days, there are so many production tricks around that it seems like you don’t actually need to rehearse the material properly. Recently, my engineer spent a good fifteen hours correcting guitar tracks. I just don’t think that’s right. The responsibility lies with the musician. Music depends on the atmosphere and the interaction between the musicians. When a computer needs to be used to mess with that too much, then it stops being an honest recording. I would personally never use autotune on my own vocals. I’d much rather just record it again and again until I get it right.”

The Producer

Following years spent working in his little home studio, Joris Peeters launched BatProductions in 2002, setting up a professional recording and mixing studio, fully stocked with a huge microphone collection, the perfect mix of analogue and digital outboard gear. What he’s built is a flexible recording space, and one of the most highly regarded studios in Belgium. Remarkably, Joris was born blind and works with customised software that makes it possible for him to access the functions of the DAW he works with, Sonar 8.5, through speech. He can also read braille, meaning that there is no issue or obstacle he can’t navigate.

An American Studio Adventure

Born in America but hailing from the Netherlands, world renowned recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder (1924 – 2016) could be found working in his studio every day, even at 85. In 2010, guitarist Tom Klein had the chance, alongside other Dutch musicians, to travel to the US and record with one of the masters. It would turn out to be a unique experience.

Studio Engineer in-Training? Here’s What You Need to Know

It’s a Long Flight

“I went for a coffee with the Hammond organist Rob Mostert,” Tom begins. “He asked me if I wanted to play the guitar on his new album, which he just happened to be recording with Rudy Van Gelder at Englewood Cliffs in New Jersey. I almost fell off my chair. Rudy Van Gelder is a household name where I come from. He’s recorded all of the jazz greats and even engineered the world famous Blue Note albums.”

The moment that Tom realises that Rob is serious, he immediately agrees and, in the early spring of 2010, finds himself stepping onto a plane headed for the USA. He’s not alone. As well as Rob Mostert, Rob’s girlfriend and vocalist Karin Wartenbergh and drummer Chris Strik were alongside him. No bassist? “No. Rob used to play pedal bass on his Hammond.” And he would be playing pedal bass on a pretty special Hammond, since Rudy Van Gelder’s studio was home to the selfsame Hammond that was once played by the late legend, Jimmy Smith. “Rob is an incredible organist. He has that swing,” Tom gushes.

Hallowed Ground

After the long flight and a night spent in a nearby hotel, the band head over to Rudy’s studio. “I was so nervous. I mean, it felt like we would be stepping on hallowed ground,” Tom remembers. All those nerves fell away the moment that they met the studio team: Rudy himself, who was already 85 and his 69 year old assistant Maureen. “They were both so lovely to work with and immediately made us feel at ease.” But, while Rudy Van Gelder was the son of Dutch immigrants, “He didn’t speak a word of Dutch. His father forbade it. He thought that you should speak the language of the country where you live, not where your parents came from.”

At the end of the fifties, Rudy built and equipped his own studio which he maintained until the end. The recording room looked much like a small chapel, with vaulted ceilings – perfect for the kind of acoustics that Rudy was looking for. “He actually built some of the recording equipment himself and considered it a closely guarded secret when it came to the sound of his studio,” Tom reveals. “The story goes that the composer and pianist, Dave Grusin came in to record but Rudy quickly realised that he actually came to find out how Rudy was doing it. Rudy was unimpressed. Everyone should be busy developing their own sound. That was his philosophy. That was also why only certain, trusted people were allowed to enter the control room.” In Rudy’s studio, everything was about the music. “There was no cantine or anything like that. Just a table and some chairs in one corner of the studio. As far as I’m concerned, that’s fine. You come for the music, not the catering.”

The American Working Method

American studios tend to have a different work ethic than we do across the pond. European engineers are expected to be able to do a range of different jobs while, in America, every engineer is a specialist. For example: a microphone placement specialist. “If you’re a top drummer in America, then you’ll often come to the studio with a truck full of your own equipment,” says Tom. “They even have their own team for setting up their gear – including one person, just for the microphones. This is just accepted by studios – especially if the drummer is really high-profile.” If that happened over here, people would think you’re crazy for flying in your own gear, including a Hammond organ, a Leslie Box, a whole drum kit and a guitar amplifier. Luckily, that wasn’t necessary, because Rudy’s studio was very well stocked. The only gear Tom brought with him was his guitar and effects.

“The moment that Rudy started working, you realised just what made him so special. Like, you could see where his power came from,” recalls Tom. “Rudy was, before anything else, an audio engineer. So he really focussed on the initial registration – the beginning of the recording chain. It was only after he’d heard Karin sing that he selected a microphone. And when he was positioning microphones he was extremely scientific about it. The result was that, once you’d finished recording, you barely needed to mix anything. Almost everything was already perfect. The moment you played it back, you could already hear it.”

A Quick Start

“What was also really nice is that we were able to start playing within a couple of hours,” Tom continues. “Rudy set everything up really quickly. I’d never really experienced that before. Sometimes, you’re sitting in the studio waiting for everything to be set up and levelled, and you don’t actually play a note until the late afternoon or evening. By that time, you’ve already hit the dip and your energy is drained. With Rudy, you felt like he was doing everything he could to allow the musicians to play good music. You didn’t have to wait around or worry about any peripheral issues so you could just fully focus on your job. Recording with him was a real eye-opener.”

Tom goes on to illustrate Rudy’s ease and eagerness to serve the musician: “I always play with a little bit of reverb. It just makes things feel better. Rudy preferred to add the reverb later during the final mix, so he tried to add reverb to the monitor mix while we recorded, but it didn’t work out. In the end, Rudy told me to just add my own reverb. He said ‘The most important thing is that you’re playing with the right tone for you.’ In the end, Rudy was really surprised that my amp reverb sounded so good in the final mix.”

During the session, the band played as one, rather than recording instrument by instrument. “I was set up in a little guitar room with the door left open so I could still interact with the rest of the band. While you do get a bit of crosstalk recording like that, playing together really improves the quality of the music and gives you a great end-product. You get this proper live feel on the recordings.”

It’s All About the Moment

When you were recording with Rudy, it was all about the moment. That was one of Tom’s biggest takeaways. “Music in general is about the moment. Especially jazz music. Rudy was really focussed on that. I had experienced the same thing in other studios, but Rudy was an extremist in that sense. Once the recordings were made, there was no question of repairing any details with overdubs. The moment had been captured, it was what it was. And if the recording wasn’t quite good enough, then we had to record the whole track, all together, all over again. Then, you pick the best take and start working with that.” This method was a conscious choice for Rudy. “When he first started, for years he could only record with just two tracks.

All of the musicianship and the mixing had to happen in real time, which demanded incredible focus and concentration from both the musicians and the engineer. While Rudy was glad when multi-track recording finally happened, he realised that it also came with some disadvantages. The musicians started being less focused and didn’t play as well, just because they knew that things could be fixed later.” So, in Rudy’s studio, ‘old-school’ musical discipline was the rule. Luckily, Tom and the musicians he was recording with only saw this as an advantage. “The music is more concentrated as a result and that only makes it better. You also dare to take more risks because, how bad is a mistake? The truth is, it’s not. That’s the essence of jazz. It’s the genre where you’re supposed to be seeking out the boundaries and taking risks. Sometimes the risks pay off and sometimes they don’t, and you can hear it all.”

Does it Need Mixing?

On the first listen, Tom could already hear that everything worked. “The mix was pretty much there already. I had never had that before. The sound was already lush and warm. Another thing that was astonishing was the natural balance between every instrument. When someone launched into a solo, the sound already sat to the front of the audio image while you could still hear the rest of the instruments perfectly. It sounded really organic and really natural. The same was true of the vocals. Karin barely had to soundcheck, but her voice sat beautifully in the mix already.” Originally, the American saxophonist and one of Rudy’s good friends was going to join the session. “Unfortunately, that didn’t happen because he had to go on tour,” Tom explains. “Later, he came to see Rudy and Maureen and they played him some of what we’d recorded. Apparently he was so impressed, he immediately offered to play in some parts. This was a really nice final surprise and a big compliment to Rob, who had written everything.”