Rick talks with Colin Brittain

[Music] foreign [Music] so this has become a big part of your tracking chain do you use it when you're tracking drums at all where do you like it there that I'm usually using on the rooms okay um sometimes I'll use it on like a kick and snare kill like you know one channel going with the kick drum one the snare if it's like a tighter sound or something that I'm actually going to use the close mic's like a little bit more forward you know um all right and then honestly like a lot of times I'll just like run since I've only got one of them once the drums are tracked sometimes I'll like Chuck one or two of different mics that weren't tracked with it back through it um that's such a versatile box you can really do a lot of like limiting compression with it or not at all I was just telling you my favorite thing to do with it really is barely compress anything at all it's just like you know fader's barely moving it's really just a tone box you know so one thing I think that has like the most um character that it makes it sound like old and super new all in the same situation you know I don't know it's the best way I explain it so you know you're out here in Nashville how long have you been out here been out here for like maybe a year and some change okay this is a beautiful space you got here thank you yeah so you're planning on heading back to Los Angeles early next year correct and you're leaving this beautiful Council here for people who come utilize yes so are you intending to come back here to work on your own projects then as well I think so I you know I grew up around here and my family is around here um so you know I hadn't really spent a whole lot of time in Nashville since 2013 when I moved out to LA and um so this was kind of just more of a homecoming sort of experiment um obviously I work a lot in Los Angeles where I met you you know it's where a lot of my work is and so but yeah I think we're going to keep it I've got a great Engineers running it his name is Joe Dunn and um we're just gonna kind of like make it a creative space it's a I've showed you around the the place is like a lot of outdoor space it's a really like nice sort of artistic Retreat area where people can kind of like be isolated but also be in the city and um so yeah we're just going to kind of keep it open and yeah of course I'll come through and got a lot of great talent there's so many talented people here just come through and you know every every once in a while and do some trips and make some records out here no that's a pretty powerful move to be able to work on both coasts for sure yeah yeah over the past year if you had to pick any piece of gear that you've acquired just in the past year to be your favorite what would that be any single piece of gear for any for any any purpose I mean it could be a Shaker just one piece a year that you got this and you're like this is perfect you know this API console is like that's a hard question you know what I mean that's like asking like which one of your kids do you love more I know um but I would say that like uh overall like the if if the studio was burning down and I had to save one piece of gear and money wasn't like you know you weren't like which one's more valuable or something like that and none of that was under consideration the fair trial the UTA and Fairchild is up there with it for sure like that's probably the one that I'm like the most stoked about to use um the console the API console that you helped me buy and and told me about and has educated me on apis and like the old API specifically that has been a complete weapon for me so I'm gonna actually miss using that every day when I'm back in L.A but um you know the fattening of that thing really is interesting um and also I love the console Drive portion of it I think that's really really creative and fun you know obviously I love the eqs as well so it would have to be you know channels 23 specifically channels 23 and 24 on that console or the Fairchild if I had to to pick sorry rest of the sorry rest of the guys are doing no no no and I like that you know you can get your arms around the Fairchild and if you're only worried about the two channels for sure then you can get those yeah you can probably get maybe you could get all of them like we could just yank us you know how bad the fire is talking about the API you know I noticed now that I'm in here I spend a little bit of time got a lot less mic preamps than the last time I saw you yep so you're you're relying on these guys definitely yeah for sure yeah sure I brought a lot of them back to LA okay actually so that way because I've got two spots you know so I work out there a lot so I didn't really need them in here you know that works out nice you've had the chance to use some of the make-belief plugins yeah what's your thoughts I mean whatever you guys are doing over there is um is different and I'll say this I've had some uh some insight because I have some friends of mine who some other friends who are are making manufacturing their own plugins and I've kind of like learned a little bit about the script that they use to to make them the algorithms that they make and I'm not a technical person at all but it seems to me like a lot of people who are building plugins are using a similar foundational script to build their plugins and and because of that I've noticed that a lot of plugins sound have a similar like sort of digital sound to them if that makes any sense for example the early Waves plugins I know that like the original L1 and like you know mv2 and those kind of things have like a an older sound to them it's like a different sound to them than like the newer like fabfilter Pro MB you know those things they sound different there's a different thing you guys have your own sort of sound that's like super modern that I really think is cool um it's just a different vibe so it's not like you know oh I'm just getting this new plug-in that you know is using the same script as everybody else that looks cool and Etc it's like genuinely the fundamental it's like using a different converter or something that's how I think about it so it's really useful really cool I also love the Simplicity about it okay you know yeah yeah like you said the people who are just excited to make music you know whoever that is whether you're you're like me or or someone like Greg Wells who you know this is all we do for a living and all that or you're just getting started started or you're in between really what it comes down to is the people who are stoked to make music are too busy to make music to have anything else negative say about anybody else and um and yeah that's what these plugins like if you don't like plug and just use something else but besides you you it's these I think the point of like something like Kevin's limiter is really just it is quite literally a one-trick pony it's all it does you if you want it like more limiting feed more into it absolutely that's it it's set and release you know and I think that uh I think that's part of the Brilliance of of your idea with that you know I mean there's plenty of you know I really don't like plugins that I'm a presets guy you know like honestly like I'll go to presets and then I tweak them et cetera or whatever but like I'm not sitting in there figuring out if you have something like you've got I mean I I was working with my friend um Mike Shinoda the other day and I you sent him the the pack because I was like you should try this and he goes what is good math and I was like bro I don't know I think it's like some conversion I was like he won't tell me I was like and it's some kind of conversion you know saturation thing it just it just sounds good you should just try it and then he's just like okay and then we just left it on there and then moved on yeah and then forgot about it so I'm gonna blow it open I'll talk about it here um you know it got blue blue open on gear space where you know we call them the null police so good math is actually three really really really really clean game faders that's all it does is his clean game and then there's a saturator slash Clipper that's hidden inside of the a-hole yep where it gets interesting is there's something that happens um with a rounding error which we've talked about you know I said just set them to random numbers there's something that happens with a rounding error World round over under the 24th bit and it'll add you know I don't want to say ads Headroom where it doesn't clip it just Clips in a way that's very very musical you know and um the internet is pissed I mean I honestly like the the clipping is is a whole thing I have people come in all the time they'll be like you know they'll see how hard I hit the metric Halos um because I'm in the red all the time with that tracking and mixing both and they're like there's this one guy the other day is an artist who was just like bro you know you're I'm not trying to tell you how to do your job but you know you're it's real right over there and I was like yeah I mean when I was like when it gets distorted like the lines all turn red you know like it it tells you like hardcore and then I said let me show you what happens and I just went you know and slid the fader all the way up and blistered it to where the converters were just annihilated and I was like do you see like and he was like that's a really nice Great Sound it's a really great sounding Distortion it's kind of like if you're hitting a Neve preamp way too hard you talked about the metric Halo that's right yeah so like that's why my point is it's like digital conversion that is hit too hard or like digital fading or digit plugins that are the right thing if you destroy them it's like a nice distort I mean it's all Distortion is right so it's like it's all a guitar amplifier is it's like tube or whatever getting hit way too hard and that's what makes a distortion so like it's you know I don't see why people would be upset about that no no I'm the exact same way turn it up bro you know or turn that off yeah turn it up turn it off you know and you're right Distortion is in my opinion when used properly inherently musical there's sure reason why people are gushing over things like original fairchilds and original needs and it's definitely not because they're cleaner than something that Dan levry makes don't you think that I mean what do you think that the original Marshall guitar head came from like you know guitar amplifiers used to just be to make your guitar louder on stage right because guitar is not a very loud instrument especially the electric guitar do you need some amplification and then you know people were like these don't go loud enough so how do we make it louder well you make it louder by adding more juice to it adding more power to it and then it is somewhere along the way it started clipping some tubes and then making that loud and everyone was like actually that's kind of wow I think we're going to break that no no you're good keep going keep going and then it's like oh that sounds crazy and then it's like well how do we make it more distorted you know it's like all of it is is pushing the limits too hard like you know it sounds like a cliche or something but that's kind of what it is um so yeah like I mean Distortion is that's what you use instead of compression most of the time that's what great mixers do and great Engineers do I've seen you do that when we've been working together yep you just be like oh yeah just distort it harder we don't need more compression just to store it harder and then sure enough if you do it right it's louder than everybody else's stuff and it's clearer than everybody else's you know so it's like gain staging if everything was too clean then it'd be boring yeah you know for me when I look at it especially in the mix you know compression limiting is like pushing the transients back that's right Distortion just tap off yep yep yep in the Box you know this isn't the hardware world this is for everybody out there in the world to be a little bit more like Colin Burton in their computer okay number one go-to EQ in the Box No Cap complete truth this one sontak your son Tech okay yep that's the truth are you using on them you know besides the two bus yes I'm using it on vocals um the 10K shelf in this one or the 10K boost in this one I don't know if it's a shelf or not I think it's yeah the 12K uh the 10K show the 10 the 10K this is the bill the Bell the bell curve at 10K like that is a is a weapon yeah of mass destruction I'm a fan of 10K I'm a fan pretty much of 10K everywhere to be honest with you like that's kind of my high that's usually my high thing sometimes 12K is as a nice little compliment I hate 11k I hate 9k love 10 love 12. usually eight you know that's your s-ing frequency so sometimes for guitars it's a nice little area I kind of usually keep that pretty neutral okay so but 10K is the one for me you know usually eight eight brings up nine you've talked about my um my thoughts behind the frequencies you choose make the engineer yeah yeah you've you've brought that up about me before actually yeah so it's you know that's one of those things and you know we'll talk about this on the internet but I want to give a shout out to Ken Scott he wrote a great book called Abby wrote a Ziggy Stardust and in there he talks about the sound of an engineer and how everyone was told that he has sound but he had worked with many different artists many different Studios across the whole world how could he have a sound he's not in the same room every day with the same people um and he found that he thinks it's the frequencies that you rely on in your work you know that's something that we've discussed before because you've got frequencies that you rely on and have introduced me to in ways like that I like didn't [ __ ] with those frequencies at all like particularly 1.5 K in times you know yeah so for me I was like 1.5 is is a is a really really like I don't know why that's just a go-to for me I think I figured out that one day like messing with that 1073 I figured out that on acoustic guitars it was like kind of brought out that like boxy sort of like thing vocal thing yeah and then I found out the pieces of gear because you can't do that with every piece of gear your 1.5 can be pretty shrill in some areas or like pretty like honky sounding and some on some pieces of gear um like apis the 2500 or sorry the uh 550as sound great you know uh the 1073s sound great just you know those were typically in the studios I was working in so like those that's kind of how I found that it's like oh it's right in the middle let's go you know and it pushes it up and it's also right in sort of the vocal frequency um but like usually a little lower than the vocals kind of sit so like it just brings everything forward and I was you know obviously I'm a big fan of Eric Valentine and he's like all about that heavy mids push dry thing that goes on of course he goes lower typically um but like that just became a thing for me is like okay you want it closer you know push it up um you can always dip it back out if you don't like it no no I'll say I started using 1.5 k a lot more since we became friends yeah I've always loved it I'm a lead vocal I always felt like that was you know the way to make a vocalist take a step forward sure yeah but Toms and kick drum in particular yeah I've definitely been adding more yeah yeah for sure so in the Box oh okay number one uh Suntec is the EQ number one compressor in the box that would depend entirely on what you're talking about because unlike what bus it is because if okay so if it's just overall because like it's a hard thing because I I would okay I'll break it down into different things drums yeah so drums probably honestly I probably the that's also a hard one but because I use them differently they sound super different for different things but uh the uad Chandler zener limiter is pretty weapon on drums I wouldn't just stick that right on a drum bus you know I'd use that probably more of in parallel but I'd say that's a pretty heavy one or or the uh the honestly the Slate stuff is pretty good too the Slate compressors or like the fat though is really that's those are interchangeable for me but yeah I'd say the zener limit if I had to like erase everything except for one I'd use that one which which slate one are using are you using like the fgx are you using the 401 it's the uh I want to say it's the red the Slate red you know the one that looks red no it's called red oh so you're talking about the the virtualbox yeah the virtual bus compressors I use this is the red one on your drones yeah okay interesting kicks and snare drums I think that really sits well it's a nice it's got a nice vibe to it yeah it helps the transients out that's super cool yeah okay lead vocal okay uh probably honestly the uad la2a okay you've been using that one for a while that one's the one that goes that goes the furthest yeah we're talking about the silver right the silver one yeah yeah after that you know everything else so this involves your guitars Your Bass you had to pick one keyboards you know okay so I'll break it down in two ways so the the master bus well I'll start there it's a master bus um I'm an SSL fanatic you know uh and the best SSL plugin like I've heard like G bus can plug in is the SSI is the uad sslg bus the acoustica makes a good one but it's kind of you know finicky I know how you feel about that um but but the uh the the uad one pretty much across the board sounds the most like an actual piece of gear to me and I love the filter on it so there's that and then for everything else the Fairchild like the the uad Fairchild honestly the Fairchild Legacy is pretty vibey that one's really cool I could do one right yeah I would put that like on uh although I don't always use that I use the the regular one like the 660 sometimes but one of the Fairchild plug-ins you can pretty much get away with anything on that yeah so the Fairchild plug-in one thing that I want to point out that I love that I don't know if you [ __ ] around with it but the uh the DC limiting threshold that's at the bottom yep it's got the two settings one for the like what the stock manual is and the other one is what oceanway had there yeah I'll just say this oceanway seem to know how they know they know what they're doing I'll have to mess with that more I knew about that but like yeah click on the oceanway one it instantly makes that thing sound better okay yeah yeah that's cool and also you know I I also appreciate the uh the uad one but hot tip on the ways or the SSL bus compressor try out the ways one in multi-mono okay that's the closest I found interesting yeah I'll try I'll try that I mean waves one is you know it's classic of course it is but it collapses the mix you know the uad one sounds wider yeah that's right but when you're using it multi-mono it runs it in you know interesting okay another thing I'll say is the um that's worth you know checking out is like the rent the world waves Renaissance ax plug-in yeah that's an underrated plug-in yeah I love that on guitars that's a really good guitar thing and then the other thing is is Clear Mountain apogee's new stuff apogee what's it called just the la3 or sorry the uh uh yeah the la3a okay the apogees apogees la3a is is really really good okay I've got to try that because there's been a lack of really good la3 that one's the best one uh I will say that the poltex that you know Bob and Steve Jackson did for apogee are incredible those are also those are the best in my opinion that's what I use on my vocals on individual vocals all day yeah that's the best one that's better than the acoustic ones I think like more accurate to an actual Pull Tech to me yeah number three would be your go-to limiter in the Box go to limiter in the box like for mastering yeah just straight across the two bus um okay that's the one that's the one okay interesting leave it there it's the loudest most accurate smooth one that I've heard okay yeah and I heard that from some really great people so you've got like Kevin's limiter and then it goes into that guy yeah so like if I'm mixing in the Box uh completely then obviously I don't really use Kevin's limiter that much thank you for your heartbreaking yeah but I don't actually use Kevin's limiter I use the the it's Kevin's number one Reverb in the Box in the Box oh okay uh seventh heaven seventh heaven yep that's the percussi one right do you have some presets that you like from there uh yes the London plate the London Plate's great um but you gotta like kind of mess with the pre-delay okay you gotta get it get it out there yeah you got to get it out there longer you ever pull out the low end in it sure okay I also do a lot like after it too uh particularly with like Pro Q3 or something like side chain side chain depends on what is on what it's on but usually if it's on like a vocal which is what I use it for the most time you'll duck it with the EQ correct yep okay I've got you have you ever tried the a m Chamber from that thing uh yeah sure I've tried it all yeah I've tried and they also have a cheaper version too it's an expensive plug-in I think it's like three or four hundred bucks for that plug-in but there's a there's a cheaper version that's like smaller that doesn't have as much to it um that's also really great so that's for people who are on a budget it's a good option okay and then uh your go-to delay uh honestly age delay yeah Lo-Fi button nope no nope uh with a filter the Lo-Fi button is cool sometimes uh with a filter okay um and then the noise turned R the modulation turned off and the noise turned off and then I usually have one plug-in after it which I won't talk about but I do have a sort of like chorusy flanging kind of something that definitely adds a lot to that one that adds a lot of vibe that that's that's usually my go-to that's especially for um that was the one for that I used more for like quarter note delays and dotted dotted eights and those kind of things like you know longer sort of delays um for like slap delays um I use uh like baby audio's comeback kid or um or echoboy Jr honestly Apple boy junior is pretty sick it's a sauce yeah yeah which which one is your favorite on Echo boy Junior as far as the the style type uh it depends on what I'm doing with it but wide which is I think the default setting like wide and then um I think it's the space Echo one it's like the tapee sort of one so I'm always rocking them the memory man's cool too that's a different vibe that's a little it's more like a like a combed out sort of vibe to it so dark and diffused yeah it sounds sort of like a Bucket Brigade delay but it's not yeah it's not that it's like more of a it sounds like a magnetic like a magnetic Echo Wick yeah yeah yeah um I like that a lot because it's uh very very diffused you know when I'm looking for a delay the sticks out H delay yeah you know that is like a perfect repeat also uh something that's worth noting if you're mixing with age delay or any kind of other delay that's con that can be kind of sterile on its own uh it's worth mentioning maybe like trying after it like right after age delay putting another H delay with zero feedback with like maybe 10 milliseconds delay to kind of get it Off the Grid a little bit okay and then also after that you could use Echo boy Junior with zero feedback and zero mix knob all the way up and like literally zero time zero point zero Time Zero feedback yep and just with that wide knob on and turn the saturation up and that'll kind of to make your [ __ ] go like this it's really cool that is a great trick so you know before we go if you had anything to say to a young dude or lady coming up in this game what would you have to say to him just have fun don't take yourself too seriously have fun you know keep your expectations as big or as small as you want them to be you know so it's just like literally the sky's the limit perfect yep well thank you so much for your time dude yeah thanks for coming by it's always great to see you man [Music] foreign