Hakim
[ juin 1999 ]
A most interesting album that went platinum in Spain. Hakim sings in classical arab and spanish, with an andalusian touch from Malou...
Album « Comosuena », Sony/Epic, 1998
For those with an eye for the finer details, we salute you...
Malou, whom I met during the Mothersays album, called me towards the end of the recording of Hakim’s project as he was looking for a studio in Paris where we could mix. The album was recorded mainly by Jose Luis Garrido, whose work I find amazing. Most of the greatest spanish musicians and artists someday went to his studio: Musitron.
Once in Paris, there was a few things left to record, strings, flutes, backing vocals and a few percussions. At this time I was starting using new monitors from Mackie, the HR-824. It is always difficult to learn how to work with a new reference, so I was happy to have a few days of recording prior to the actual mixing stage. At first, I used the Mackie’s along with the usual Yamaha NS-10. As the songs went by, I truly felt confident with the HR-824, up to the point of doing the last mix (Benkhaf Ml Aeen) without using the NS-10 at all. You know what ? This mix turns out to be my favourite one on this album. I have kept using the HR-824 ever since and waved goodbye to the Yamaha’s.
The console used was Musika’s SSL 4048 E (with a G computer) and the tape machine was the always troublesome, yet nice sounding X-850 (32 tracks, 1" digital) from Mitsubishi.