Pro Techniques from Blackbird Studio

Pro Techniques 10.2003

Pro Techniques from Blackbird Studio in Nashville

By Randy Alberts

"Pro Tools is the fastest way to get to where we're going with a session," says Vance Powell, engineer, mixer, and co-manager of the amazing Blackbird Studio in Nashville, Tennessee. "But once we're there, it sure is nice to have faders that move. It's the professional way to mix, work on comps, or do anything in Pro Tools, because it's so much faster than using a mouse. For our clients, it's the kind of thing we tend to take for granted here at Blackbird."

Clients indeed. Blackbird Studio, a state-of-the-art studio rebuilt last year within the walls of the legendary Creative Recording Studios, is again home to some of the best music recorded at this historic audio site. Originally designed and built by George Augspurger in 1977, Creative Recording was a home away from home to The Judds, Carl Perkins, Kenny Rogers, Shelby Lynne, and a host of other mega-selling artists throughout the '80s and '90s.

Since opening in August 2002, Blackbird, owned by John and Martina McBride, hosts the latter's platinum sessions and those of artists like John Hiatt, Sheryl Crow, Keb Mo, Jars of Clay, Third Day, You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, Jewel, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers. It doesn't hurt that the lyrics to "Blackbird" are inlaid in the studio floor, which tells you how the McBrides and their staff feel about the Beatles and the craft of making music. The fact that Creative Recording gurus Augspurger and Michael Cronin were brought back to drive the Blackbird acoustic rebuild makes a huge difference, as well.

ProControl Mixing, Blackbird Style
John McBride says they're "fanatical about going to the nth degree on equipment at Blackbird," and Pro Tools with ProControl is a big part of that commitment. Two rooms feature seven-card, 64-output Pro Tools|HD systems, and a third room sports a 192 kHz Pro Tools|HD 3 rig, a ProControl, and three Fader Packs. The studio upgraded its Studio Network Solutions pipeline to 1.2 terabytes of networked storage, and also took delivery of fifty vintage Neumann, Telefunken, and AKG mics in the month of March alone to bring their tube mic cabinet count to over 250 great mics, another indication of Blackbird's dedication to top-notch sound.


Vance Powell in front of ProControl

"We can have all three rooms going at once, thanks to the beauty of Pro Tools," says Powell, whose personal engineering and mixing credits include Martina McBride, Keb Mo, and Jars of Clay's The Eleventh Hour (which won the Best Pop/Contemporary Gospel Album in 2002). "For Martina's record, we're mixing in Studio A and recording and overdubbing vocals in B, while our Edit Suite comps vocals for the next song to mix. Several times during this record, Martina was punching in the master vocal comp of a song in Studio B while we were mixing the same song in A. When she was satisfied with her takes — and by the way, Martina will not allow pitch correction plug-ins to be used — I would walk down the hall and import her new track into the mix session. Very fast, and no drives ever moved."

For Powell, the ProControl provides a quick and easy way to comp vocals and rough in mixes. "I'll put up the five or six vocal tracks, and then, just like on a traditional console, audition those takes and use the faders to figure out any gain or EQ differences between the various takes," he says. "It would be a little bit more cumbersome doing the same thing on the computer using just a mouse."

Pro Technique 1 —
Comping Vocals with ProControl
"I want to make sure the breath transitions and everything are perfect. It should sound like one complete performance on vocal comps," says Powell. "If I do the same thing onscreen, it's slow. Period. It's so much better on the ProControl to be able to solo between multiple vocal takes at the same time, whereas with the mouse it requires two or more moves to do the same thing. This way is much better for auditioning the vocals. ProControl makes the standard comping moves feel like you're working on a traditional desk."

Powell, who is currently working on the new Martina McBride record, titled simply Martina, explains that he very much prefers using the ProControl faders over a mouse when matching the audio levels of various vocal takes. He listens first for level differences, then applies more or less gain, or perhaps adds a little bit of EQ to make the various vocal passes ultimately sound as one.

"I instantiate the EQ plug-in first on a track in order to match another track's tone that we all liked. I save the setting and duplicate the playlist on any tracks to be changed, just so I have a way back. Then I'll use the AudioSuite Gain plug-in, if needed, and recall the setting on either the 4-band Waves Renaissance EQ or the Sony Oxford to match tone to the favored vocal take. Often, it's an early comp or tracking vocal that needs to be matched to a sound we arrive at later, and the AudioSuite plug-ins are the fastest way to match those. The cool thing is that by putting all this on the ProControl faders at zero, we can listen quickly and accurately to how, for instance, a new vocal Take 1 sounds compared to the old vocal Comp 2. It's best to make sure the levels are the same and that the tone is close because, if not, it will haunt you later."


	Mix A at Blackbird Studio

Powell continues, "To start a vocal comp, I duplicate the session file, rename it, and open it. I reset all the I/O settings, then rough in a mix. I lay out the six new vocal tracks and typically a previously comped vocal, create a new comp track, and then mute all the tracks except the new comp. Tone matching happens at this stage, too. Then, after bringing the tracks up on the ProControl at zero by hitting Option/Alt-click on each fader, I start auditioning the lines Martina and co-producer Paul Worley have chosen. Selecting and dragging the chosen take regions using the Separate/Grabber Tool, I create a rough edit. I like to do this listening to just the vocal, so I don't miss anything."

Powell explains that once all of his keeper Martina-vocal takes are in place, he unmutes the tracks and solos the new comp track before digging into his comp edits and crossfades.

"I solo the comp from the ProControl, which allows me to take the mix in and out in order to check any timing or crossfade edit weirdness," he continues. "Once I'm satisfied that the vocal sounds real and ‘un-comped,' I close and save the comp session, open the original Pro Tools session, and import the new vocal comp track to it."

Pro Technique 2 —
Adding an Automated Sidecar to a Traditional Console with ProControl
Blackbird's API Legacy Plus console features 48 full-size Martinsound Flying Faders, as well as 48 "mini faders" that do not read or send automation. On a recent project, the producer needed another 32 channels of automation in order to get a string section submix just right. Arthur Sloatman, the studio's designer and tech genius, eventually built an automated fader sidecar for the API later on, but the team needed the automation on the spot and decided to get creative. Need more automation when your console comes up short? No problem — that is, if you happen to have a ProControl on hand.

"The session was all recorded in Pro Tools|HD, and it had a lot of strings in it," recalls Powell. "So we just disconnected our ProControl from the Edit Suite and carried it into Studio B where the API is located. We patched it into our Ethernet network and brought up the ProControl in the Peripherals menu. That way, the song's mixer had faders that returned to the small faders, only now with moving fader automation."

Vance, who says the svelte ProControl was easily tucked under an arm and marched down the hall to Studio B, equates Blackbird's ProControl to their new sidecar.

"It was just like using the sidecar, with the addition of being able to cut and paste automation," Powell says. "We just put the ProControl on top of one of our racks, and the mixer worked on the strings a bit, soloed the tracks on the analog desk, then scrolled around and wrote some automation here and there with the ProControl. It was admittedly a workaround for us at the time, but the truth is if it came down to it, we would do it again in a heartbeat. We'll do anything if it's going to make a record sound better. Heck, if I've got to park this ProControl out back and put a tent up over it — and that's going to make the record better — then that's what we'll do!"

Right on, Vance.