now , we ’ re setting up in the big live room out here , and have a small capture room next door ; he can capture on that brand new SSL Origin console in Studio D , the drums from Studio A , right through the [ Focusrite ] RedNet with no delay .
The Dante situation , here ’ s what ’ s good about it : once you ’ re in the digital domain , you don ’ t have to go back and forth . So , I think that ’ s the key ; is that since we ’ re dealing with a world where everything becomes digital from whatever preamp we use , the great thing about Dante is once it goes in there , it only makes that change once – it goes into your computer , it stays digital . So , whatever connects it , whatever interface it goes through , it ’ s all digital ; and then it only becomes converted on the way back out to me and through the console . So , it ’ s a superhighway of connectivity for anything in audio , and you can also do it with cameras too .
PS : What would you say has been one of the bigger challenges you ’ ve faced in your career , just in general or with a particular project ?
Lord-Alge : [ Laughs ] I mean , the biggest challenge I have right now is getting people to respond quickly . We ’ ve gotten into a world where people respond when they feel like it , or they only respond when they have a deadline . And it ’ s changed over the years ; it ’ s like , I can send a mix out to someone and not hear for three or four days , anything – crickets . The back and forth of that , that ’ s one of the challenges .
There ’ s also a challenge in dealing with a new way that people work in this business who don ’ t have any history about how things work , how things are delivered , how things are set up . And there ’ s a challenge in how people archive and how they protect their assets ; I feel that ’ s a problem . I try to teach that every engineer has to be responsible for everything they record , and to protect their artists – you know , save them from themselves – and help with archiving .
Record companies are in business to sell music and make money off music ; their big deal may not be saving it . They ’ re not librarians , you know ? So , if I could go back in time 40 years , I would have made a copy of everything I produced or mixed . Because 80 percent of anything I worked on back then that I want the multitrack for – or maybe want to do an Atmos mix of a great record – I ’ ll never find the multis , I ’ ll never find the masters ; they ’ re gone , they ’ re lost , they ’ re burned . It ’ s over .
But that ’ s the bottom line ; every day is exciting . And maybe the biggest challenge is we have this new format [ with Atmos ], and it ’ s really kind of unknown territory . And hopefully over the course of time , we ’ ll find a way where I ’ m able to hear other Atmos mixers discretely and people can hear it the right way , and we ’ ll have that sorted out . But I ’ d really like for people to actually get back to looking at music as art and not as disposable in the background …
Think of music as being able to have first edition copies of your favorite records , knowing that the copy you have , it ’ s not been stepped on a hundred times – that ’ s the original stuff , the original copy of a master that you ’ re listening to . Because I feel right now that it ’ s pretty unknown ; anything I go back in time to listen to or look for , I can ’ t guarantee that the version I ’ m listening to is an original . Remastering doesn ’ t necessarily mean better .
Andrew Leyenhorst is a freelance producer , recording & mix engineer , and the Assistant Editor of Professional Sound .
PHOTO : MICHELLE SHIERS
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