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A favourite technique is to employ subtle
overdrive on synths or keyboards, using Mooger
Fooger delay or Blue Tubes Analog Valve Driver
ADR2S, to give them more presence in the mix.
He explains, “…with digital, if you add a little bit of
overdrive to a few things here and there, suddenly
it just takes on a more analogue, 3D quality.”
It’s his understanding of a mix’s analogue
potential that informs his digital direction.
It is this respect for the infinite permutations
of tools at his disposal that ensures Aitkenhead
never gets bored. There are sessions where
he admits to not being particularly engaged
musically, but often this distance can generate
positive results. He values artistic objectivity very
highly, and recognises the need to listen with the
ears of a consumer – who doesn’t care how long
it took to get the drums sounding crisp, exciting,
and defined; or the guitar to sound bright and full.
He expands: “You get emotionally tied to things
you work on. You do some clever thing with a
piece of bass delay that took you an hour and
a half to set up… I think the secret is turning up
the next morning, pressing ‘play’, and realising,
‘it may be clever but actually it’s not enhancing
the song.’”
Being creative with equipment means
Aitkenhead can maintain interest by focusing on
the elements within a track that grab his attention.
“It may well be that I don’t think the song is
particularly special, but there will tend to be, in
most bands, an element or thing that engages or
excites you.” Working out how to squeeze the best
from every element is the challenge, and each
project contributes to the endless learning curve
that makes the job so fulfilling.
Band-In-A-Box
Once the rockstar-dust has finally settled in the
live room, the mixing/mastering process begins.
He doesn’t own a console as such – all the mixing’s
done in the box – and while he appreciates the
psychological thrust the sight of a desk can inspire
in clients, his question is whether or not this
approach would give him options creatively that
his current set-up can’t fulfill. Presently, he doesn’t
see the need, “Control surfaces don’t change the
audio, my obsession is with the sound of stuff,”
he observes. It’s this obsession that drives his
perspectives on the important interplay between
different sonic elements that ultimately define
the mix-down. A key aspect is early incorporation
of vocals. After perfecting the rhythm and bass
parts, he may bring the vocal in to ensure it gets
the space it deserves right from the start. “I used
to get to a point where I’d make the instrumental
sound pretty good and then realise I hadn’t
generated space or a place for the vocal.” Putting
vocals in earlier solved this problem,
and also instantly augmented the
various counter-point melodies
from accompanying instruments
once they were introduced. He also
appreciates the flexibility an early
assessment of the mix can provide:
“I’m quite a big fan of getting
the mix to work early on so that
you can then actually have fun
with it, you can start playing with
treatments, you can start looking
at things that may or may not be
exciting.” Influential ideas that could
dramatically change the approach
towards the total sound are therefore much easier
to incorporate than if they were only realised at
the end of the process.
His current work involves mixes for an artist
called Statik, an ex-DJ from the Grime music genre
who is working on collaborations with Indie artists
such as Pete Doherty, Coco Sumner, and Fyfe from
milk studios music maker
the Guillemots. A steady stream of clients, almost
all from word of mouth (Aitkenhead has only
advertised in NME about three times during his
career), justifies his decision fourteen years ago
to go pro. He attributes his success to changes in
approaches towards recording artists. He explains,
“I think I’m at the right end of a market that’s now
radically changed. You can make a great sounding
releasable album for ten grand now... Maybe less.”
Aitkenhead still loves to go and see live bands
and this ensures that, while he still receives work
from record companies, he is also free to sound
out new, unsigned talent that can benefit from
his studio expertise. And he’s delighted that there
is still a tangible thirst and passion for creating
music that means there’ll always be a need for
recording studios like his. �
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AUDIO MEDIA MAY 2009 45