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Interview with Michael Brauer
CL: Some background
MB: My career began as an intern working at MediaSound Studios in New
York City in 1976. I became a staff engineer in 1978.
My first big break came in ’79 when I was asked to record and mix two songs
with singer Luther Vandross for an R&B record called Change. Soon after,
Luther approached me to record his upcoming solo album Never too Much which
went on to become my first Gold Record. I became Luther’s engineer and
recorded all his music for the next four years including two Aretha Franklin
albums.
Since then there’s been good years and there’s been bad years in my career.
Lately I’ve been blessed with a lot of good music and steady work.
I love mixing, That’s all I want to do when I’m not with my family.
Recent projects include Ben Folds, Athlete, Dream Theatre and Coldplay.
CL: Some info on your studio:
MB: I work out of Quad studio in New York City. I have my own room
that I leave set up. It’s really comfortable and private. The control room is
the best sounding room I’ve ever mixed in. I have two assistants, Keith Gary
and Will Hensley. Will is learning from Keith and someday will take over when
it’s time for Keith to go out on his own. Keith is my assistant but is also a
full-fledged protools and recording engineer. I take on a new assistant every
two years. It’s an intense but rewarding time for them.
CL: The racks.
MB: I love my Soundtower racks. I have four of them with lots of toys
front and back. I have a fifth one in the works, I can’t help myself. My first
acquisition was a pair of pultecs and a Neve 33609. My latest is an ADL 670.
Will it ever end? My assistant hopes and prays for it to stop.
CL: A few of your most memorable/fun projects?
MB: My first big session was the most memorable because I had such a fear
in my gut that I had a nonstop urge to puke for the whole time leading up to the
session. It started out as a strings and horns overdub session. That was fine,
no problem. Then a couple hours later I get the call that actually it’s not
overdubs, i’ll be recording a full rhythm section first and then horns and
strings. They ask if it’s a bit over my head, and are thinking about using a
senior engineer. I say it’s no problem at all, I’ve recorded plenty of these
sessions separately, what’s the difference if I do it back to back. Ok, no
problem. They call back that evening, Ok, it’s all going to be live and there is
a 15 piece percussion section, background singers and lead singer on top of the
strings, horns and rhythm section. Session starts at 9am and it has to be mixed
to mono, 4 track, and Mag full stripe(film) and handed over to the client at 5pm.
Are you sure they ask, that you can handle this? Of course I can. I hang up the
phone and the butterflies are so intense in my stomach that I go straight into
the bathroom ready to heave ho. The feeling doesn’t go away until the morning of
the session. I walk in and have my assistants set up the recording ready for a 9am
start time. Before the musicians walk in, I buss out all the faders, set the mic
pads for every input, Eq everything the way I expect each instrument to sound.
(this was common practice at Mediasound) and wait for them to walk in. Once all
the musicians were seated and ready, I began getting sounds with the drummer,
got levels, tweaked the Eq’s and worked my way through all 38 musicians. 20
minutes later I was ready to hit record (also normal setup time for all of us
at Media).
Only problem was that my ears were not yet trained to hear all those instruments
playing at once. I couldn’t mentally isolate one instrument or section from the
others as they were running the song down. I was experiencing a brain overload
and the result was that it all sounded distorted. It was not technically
distorting but my brain couldn’t decipher all that information. I was scared but
kept calm. Puking was no longer an option. I had to get control of myself. There
was one truth that could not be questioned. This session would be over at 5:01pm.
What ever happened, whatever hell might occur, I knew for a fact that at 5:01 it
would be a past event and I could relax. Of course my career might be over but at
least the fear of failure would be over. At 5:01 the client left with their
product in hand and a smile on their face. I knew after that day nothing could
ever touch the intensity I experienced, therefore, all future projects would and
could only get easier....yah right. Ignorance is bliss.
My most memorable session was my first time recording Aretha. It was also the
first time that I remember being nervous about working with someone famous.
Luther Vandross was producing and when she walked in I had the mic (AKG 414)
set up and ready to go. She ran the song down once and then told me to go back to
the top and hit record. She sang it and that was the take. Luther and I looked at
each other in amazement. We spent maybe another hour adding some harmonies and
alternate ideas and then she went home. Blew my mind. Song was “Jump to it”.
Most recent fun project (probably most fun of all time) was mixing Ben Fold’s
upcoming record. I went down to his studio without my toys and mixed on his
little Neoteck desk without automation. It was like the old days again. I’d
practice different parts of the song to make sure I had my moves and transitions
right. Then, when I was still feeling a bit unsure and had that nervous excitement
flowing through me, I’d tell my assistant (Ben’s great engineer, Joe Costa) to hit
record on the 2 track and I’d mix it from start to finish, as one performance. If
I screwed up at any point, I’d stop, bitch real loud, that was his cue to roll
back, and we’d hit it again until I had what I felt was a great performance. I
didn’t want to splice takes together. It was truly an awesome experience mixing
his music. He has such pure energy. I didn’t want the week to end. Unfortunately
he got a bad case of the flu and I couldn’t finish the last few songs because he
hadn’t sung them yet. I’ll never forget that week.
CL: What are you working on now and what are you using?
MB: I’m mixing Coldplay and I’m using all my toys. I’ve been using the
Chandler TG Channel EQ on snare for most of the record. It’s a great EQ.
CL: What projects have you used Chandler gear on?
MB: I own two chandler toys (The EMI compressor and the TG Channel EQ) I love
them both and I use them everyday. I use the compressor as a send so if I want
slamming gtrs, I just send it to the compressor and I have the unit returning on
a couple of faders panned L/R. I also send my stereo room to EMI’s. I have one
setting that I haven’t touched since I found it’s sweet spot. Wade has offered an
upgrade on the unit since I purchased mine but since I don’t ever touch it I don’t
need it. I probably should get another pair so that I can put vocals across them
(my friends love getting a great rock vocal from them)..hint hint wade. The reason
I love the TG Channel is because it has such a unique sound. It has a mid frequency
attenuation section that I use to change the sound of a snare to get rid of thick
woody tones or to open it up. For some reason it seems as if the attenuation knob
boost things around it by opening up the mids in the snare. I can’t explain it but
to say that I love the way I can get an amazing snare sound that I couldn’t get
with my Motown or my Neve EQ’s when I try using attenuation with them. The
brightness is different than what I can get with my neve 31083’s. It’s maybe a bit
broader in band and has a bit more character to it.
CL: What are a couple pieces of your favorite gear (non-Chandler)?
MB: My two non-chandler favorites would be the distressor and my AWA green
compressor.
If you have questions you can either send them to Wade or ask them on my site and
I’ll put the answer in the Q&A section.
www.mbrauer.com
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