Carmen Rizzo
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Paul Oakenfold, Sinead O'Connor, Seal, BT, and Cirque du Soleil are but a few of the artists who've been lucky enough to work with producer/remixer Carmen Rizzo over the past five years. Rizzo has always used Live, Reason, and ReBirth alongside Pro Tools — but since the new ReWire support became available in Pro Tools, things have gotten just that much better for this Hollywood-based, globe-trotting producer.
"It's how I make my living," says Rizzo about his tools of choice. "The new ReWire support makes Pro Tools a perfect environment for me. Most of the artists I work with use Live and Reason, and now it's easier and simpler to work with them in Pro Tools."
In the past, when Rizzo worked with people who used Live or Reason, he'd either import their Sound Designer II files to Pro Tools or run Live and Reason in standalone mode alongside Pro Tools and try to sync things up manually — and that's not so easy, according to this two-time Grammy nominee. "But now, thanks to the ReWire support, it all comes right up on a fader in Pro Tools," he adds. "I travel a lot, so this is making a big, big difference to me these days."
On The Road: Creative and Cultural Conduit to Go
It's easy to see why Rizzo piles up the frequent flyer mileage. This NARAS Board of Governors/Board of Trustees member would rather work in a Paris hotel than a studio any day. He's perceived as a creative conduit, using Pro Tools between different cultures, countries, and musical genres.
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"I'm proud of that fact. I've worked very hard on the road for years to make that happen," Carmen says. The results of Rizzo's musical matchmaking include recent song projects for Dierdre Dubois and Alanis Morissette ("Smile") and Grant Lee Phillips and Paul Oakenfold ("Motion"), the latter track similar in style to Radiohead's best electro-experiments. "Grant is a guy who would have never met the electro-modern world otherwise," he notes.
Rizzo works in Paris four times a year with such artists as former Ekova members Dubois and Arash Khalatbari. He's learning to settle into his cozy loft studio overlooking Hollywood and Vine, but he still prefers the mobile life with his Mbox.
"I mix in Pro Tools, and I know my environments. I'll typically work on songs in the hotel room and in the artist's studio space, then pop into a great studio for a day or two to mix. Of course, we do the big string dates and drum tracking sessions there, as well, but the majority of my projects aren't done in a studio, even my own. When I give an artist the choice between recording in a studio or in San Remo, Italy, they always go for the latter."
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All smiles: Carmen Rizzo |
Remix Yourself: Old and New
Typically, a remixer is given carte blanche with the master tapes on newer material, as was the case for Rizzo's remixes of BT's "The Great Escape" (Chill Out Volume 4) and "My Conjure One" (Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life) by Sinead O'Connor. He uses the vocal tracks and little else from the multitrack masters when creating "new" songs and instrumentations. But for Warner Brothers' new collection of remixed classics from the 1970s and '80s, due out this summer, this cutting-edge remixer was faced with more specialized marching orders.
"They asked me and the other remixers on the project to keep it close to the originals, and not to 'stretch' the tracks too far," says Rizzo. "It's one of the toughest projects I've ever worked on. They didn't want a super cool, modern remix of the songs. In general, I work best with down-tempo remixes, which are more challenging, but I had 'Brass In Pocket' up to 115 bpm before they decided to reel me in a bit."
Rizzo's remixes of Charles Wright's "Express Yourself," Alice Cooper's "I Never Cry," and "Brass In Pocket" by the Pretenders are part of the upcoming release. Also included are subtly revamped classics by Rod Stewart, Devo, and America from other guest remixers involved with the massive project.
Pro Technique 1 —
Locking hardware synths and effects with Beat Clock
Rizzo, a longtime Pro Tools user, was more than a little happy to see the implementation of MIDI features circa version 5. And he's just plain excited about what Digidesign has done with MIDI in Pro Tools 6.
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"I'm living proof that the MIDI features in Pro Tools are plenty powerful," says Carmen. "It feels great, and there are many improvements that should help even the most advanced MIDI users. The new Groove Templates, for example, are amazing: I can now import the exact feel of an artist's MIDI program or MPC-programmed swing factor. It's wonderful they've matched the MIDI feels and swing factors of Cubase and Logic, too, and it's great that I can now save my own templates."
Rizzo explains that many keyboards, drum machines, and hardware effects today have audio inputs and receive MIDI Beat Clock. He often locks said external devices to Pro Tools' tempo in this fashion to time his effects, vocoders, and other musical features unique to these devices.
"You can lock things up and sync your effects perfectly by using these audio inputs. First, create a send in Pro Tools. Then, using the MIDI Studio Setup, assign that send to the input of your hardware. Make sure Pro Tools is sending the clock to the specific device you want to lock up, and set up that device to receive MIDI Beat Clock as well. The effect will automatically be in time with the tempo of your song without your having to tap in the tempo. With this setup, you can continue to use those special FX, vocoders, and performance tools that only your unique devices provide for you in composing your music."
Pro Technique 2 —
Nudging doubled mono tracks for remixes
Depending on the song, remixers often have original mono vocal and guitar tracks to work with. In the days before desktop recording, you'd simply insert a doubler or faux-stereo splitter to fatten up an otherwise one-dimensional track, such as a dry acoustic guitar part — but the sound of the effect was always obvious, and never natural.
"This is a simple tip that works great," says Rizzo. "Highlight the entire region of the track, create a blank audio track next to it, and then copy the original track to the new track. With that region still highlighted, go to the 'Nudge' menu and offset the original track by a 64th-note triplet. Using that as your template, you can now hit the '+' button once on the keyboard or numeric pad and it will offset the two tracks just enough."
He reminds us to pan one track hard left and the other hard right, at equal gain, to create just the right spread-out vibe for the track without going overboard.
"You'll have a fantastic doubled track that sounds very, very natural," Rizzo offers. "It is so subtle, and it doesn't sound like an effect. I use this mainly for acoustic and electric guitars and vocals. Remixers often work with mono tracks in the first place, so this is a good way to liven up those tracks. There are other ways to do it, but I've found this works the best for me."
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