My first major credit. I mixed 6 of the 10 songs of this album with Jean Marc Hauser who did most of the recording over two years. There was an incredible amount of information on the tapes and each point of the patchbay was used somehow ! Some time may pass before I get to face a so technically complex situation, and we wouldn’t have lived through without Laurent’s amazing vitality and generosity.

Album « Caché derrière », Sony/BMG, 1992

For those with an eye for the finer details, we salute you...

The recordings have been made using two 24 tracks Tascam DASH tape machines. Almost everything went to tape using Focusrite preamps/equalizers.

For the mixing we used a Sony 3348 and a SSL 4064 G series console. As we rapidly ran out of channels, we hired in a Yamaha digital console (DMC 1000 or something like that) that was mainly used for effects return. We also had a pre release version of the Roland RSS system which we used extensively with uneven luck, I must admit.

This was also the occasion for me to try the Meyer HD 1 speakers, which I found amazing. I listened to what I mixed with the HD 1 on many different systems and if the overall colour of the sound did change, the balance between the instruments did not, which is a real tour de force.

Our usual outboard gear setup included every device we could get our hands on within the three studios complex that Davout is (it is useless to say that the studio also had to buy additional patch cords!). On top of that, Laurent had brought two H3000’s and a Quadraverb from his own facility. The total of effects plugged was 21 (great fun for total recalls...) The vocal setup comprised a Teletronix LA 2A compressor a PCM 42 and the excellent Lexicon 300 which since remained my favourite reverb.

The total mixing time of the album was about three months, and we used up to ten days for one song in this case, Paradoxal System, for which I set my highest mix number record. As you may know SSL consoles automatically number the mixes you save (unless you give a mix a specific name which is seldom my case). For this song we printed the mix number 350. If you’ve done worse, I’d be glad to hear from you!