Pro Techniques from Rick Blanco

By Randy Alberts

	Ricky Blanco with his Grammy and Control|24

It's a safe assumption that every registered musician in New Orleans is voting for Ray Nagin for years to come. Who wouldn't? A big part of Mayor Nagin's platform is his Economic Development plan that includes a well-deserved program promoting the city's revered local musicians and puts them on the global music map.

"This town is making a big effort to give local musicians the credit they deserve," says Ricky Blanco, a Miami-born producer, engineer and mixer who has had the pleasure of working with Gloria and Emilio Estefan, Shakira, and Rivers Cuomo of Weezer. Since moving to New Orleans last year with his family, he has been adjusting just fine to life in The Big Easy. He's opened Silver Crescent Enterprises and works largely now with new artists and bands in town. Still, that didn't keep Blanco from winning a Grammy for Best Salsa Album of the Year last year for engineering Robert Blades' Encore in the meantime.

"The new mayor is trying to get record companies to recognize the great musicians here by creating opportunities for local bands to be heard, so I've helped them out a bit," continues Blanco about his groovy new hometown. "I've been focusing almost exclusively on new artists and bands since I moved here. I also engineer at the House of Blues in town where they have the Mo' Tunes program — the city's 13-week concert series that helps local musicians make money and boost their careers by getting in HOB in New Orleans. I love it, it's all turning around full circle for me here in New Orleans."

From Louis Armstrong to the Nick Diaz Experiment
Blanco recorded and engineered Blades' (pronounced 'Blah-diss') Grammy-awarded Encore and assisted with brother Rubén Blades at the HOB/NO. Here he used Pro Tools, and enjoyed working with experienced and newbie talent alike. Some recent dates of his, ripping up Bourbon St. stages and studios, include artists such as Jerry Cantrell from Alice In Chains, Supreme Beings of Leisure, and Jenny Guthrie, a brilliant singer-songwriter who recently moved to Nashville to get more exposure. Blanco certainly learned from and enjoyed his time recording Encore, as well.

"He's had his own bands and he produces people like Gloria Estefan, Ricky Martin and Jon Secada," Blanco notes about Blades. "Robert knows what he wants in the studio and it's my job to capture it all. Like a photograph, recording those moments is like using a good camera, and that's why I use Pro Tools."

True to the heritage of the French Quarter, Blanco explains how audio productions differ there from those in Miami. "When recording traditional music, such as jazz, bluegrass, salsa and many other styles, it is important to capture the true sound of the instrument. The sound should be more natural — maybe just a little EQ and some light compression and that's it."

Like beignets, chicory coffee, and too many Hurricanes, something that also feels traditional to Blanco since moving to New Orleans is his new Control|24 integrated Pro Tools control surface.

"It's a lifesaver when it comes to doing things a lot quicker," says Blanco. "Assigning inputs and arming tracks without having to move your mouse is great, and it's a full-function console with good preamps, too. I also have vintage preamps which I use for most of my recordings, but I use the Focusrite preamps in the Control|24 along with those. And everything you can do with a mouse and keyboard in Pro Tools you can do three times as fast on the Control|24. It's really just milliseconds of time saved here and there over using a mouse. But when you're trying to do two or three things at a time in a busy session, those milliseconds help out a lot."

Blanco went to Full Sail School of Recording and then spent some time honing his live sound abilities in Atlanta. After moving back to Miami in 1998 and working at Gloria and Emilio Estefan's Crescent Moon Studios, he opted for a smaller private studio (Sunrise Studios) and expanded his experience by recording various musicians in a variety of music styles. One noted jazz musician was Hal Schaefer. Looking back now, the live music cauldron of the sizzling New Orleans scene is the perfect full circle for Blanco and Silver Crescent Enterprises.

"You can't really go out and see live music anywhere else like you can in New Orleans," Blanco proudly declares. "You can see live rock, jazz, blues, salsa, techno and anything you want here regardless of your tastes. There's always some hot live band playing in each club every night."

Pro Technique 1 —
Using DPP-1 to make new vocalists feel more at home
A tip on using the Digidesign's Pitch Processor plug-in (DPP-1) to increase the confidence of vocalists would have to do with altering their errant pitch and intonation, right? Wrong. At least not at Silver Crescent Enterprises where Rick Blanco uses the DPP-1's built-in track delay controls to give novice and experienced vocalists alike a subtle bit of in-ear monitor confidence when tracking.

"I like to send an aux send to an auxiliary track with DPP-1 on it for the lead vocal," explains Blanco. "But instead of pitching it I just use its track delay controls to set the left side to 15 milliseconds and the right side to 30, depending on the vocalist's range. If they're nervous and not singing at their fullest range, I find that bringing the DPP-1 delay up a bit behind the mix and especially in their headphones gives inexperienced vocalists more confidence. They tend to sing better with it."

Blanco explains that the effect is very subtle and that no one notices it until he mutes the DPP-1's channel and the vocal sounds suddenly thinner. By that time everyone's buzzing the control room talkback channel to put it back in.

"For inexperienced vocalists not familiar with the sound of their voice in the studio, I'll sometimes use a 30 millisecond delay on both tracks if they're really new at recording to spread their voice out more evenly. Fifteen to 30 milliseconds is where I usually start. I'll use less or sometimes even more. With a less experienced singer, that spread needs to be wider. I don't do this on every track and it rarely makes it to the mix, but it's a great starting point for a new vocalist who needs a level of comfort to achieve their fullest potential. I want the session to be productive for us both."

Pro Technique 2 —
"Breathing" a bass, guitar or vocal line with Echo Farm
Next up is Blanco's quick and easy tip on "breathing" a brief measure or entire track of instrument or vocal part. Describing the subtle effect as a "light phasing that moves in and out and doesn't pan," Blanco suggests grabbing Line 6's Echo Farm plug-in and dialing up the "Sweeping Echo" preset.

" I change the BPM (beats per minute) to the BPM of the song to lock the echoes up and reduce the number of repeats to no more than two or three," says Blanco before opening the door for his next session that night. "I then play with the sweep speed until it works with the song and gets just the right depth. I also put an EQ after that and I cut off everything below 80 Hz to avoid low-end rumble. Then I'll just leave it flowing in and out to create a nice little breathing effect."