[Jeff] John Brinton at Tyler Amps made me a
you like it?
you may think of a clean, crisp, Nashville tone
custom cabinet and I have the JT-46 (like the
of drums.
Blues Breaker model) and then the HM-30, [Johnny] I am loving my Heartbeat Cymbals which is like a Matchless, or a VOX and I blend right now. I use a 24” ride, 22” vintage crash, I love pop music and rock music and so we
those together. But on the record, we used and 17” hats - which are kind of big, but I were fishing around for a unique sound and
those, plus we used a Matchless and a Tyler love them! landed on a couple of these things in post
JT-14. We also used a Tyler 20/20 and then for
production. I know that one of the producers
some, we just went directly in. The producer [WM] One thing I like about the Clarity record took my snare sample and ended up re-
had a really nice Neve mic-pre and we just is the mix and the drums are very upfront. sampling it two or three times and then doing
went straight in through that for the hook on What was your process for arriving there in the something different to it and that became my
the song, “Higher”; straight into the board. final mix? new snare sample. I think he crushed the
junk out of one of the snares and then he like
[WM] Any special pedals you’re using?
[Johnny] We simply like a big drum sound! fattened that one up… he just got creative
We like real drum sound or a hybrid of both and with it. It seems like mainstream music is often
[Jeff] I have some of the Strymon pedals like I feel like when it comes to the mix, we are a a couple of years ahead of Christian music.
the Big Sky, Timeline, and Mobius. But, I think band and not a solo artist so we want it to feel We love mainstream music as well and we’re
I use them because we play so many different like a band. We want it to feel like we would influenced by the sounds we hear and we use
songs that it’s nice to have presets for them want to “hear” it if we were just listening to For the things that inspire us in our own music. For
ready to go. I don’t have a loop setup where All Seasons and not a part of it. We’ve always us, we love it and we’re proud of it and that’s
I can have them all programed. I use a pretty been kind of a guitar and drums forward mix, what mattered the most.
small board. I really like the Walrus Luminary so the guitars, drums, and vocals are all kind octave generator right now because you can of sharing that top spot in volume and feature. [WM] Worship Musician co-sponsored the
go up or down two octaves and blend them all We’ve just always been okay with that. There is Night of Worship @ NAMM. What was it like
together. So for some of the lead lines, like the always a little push back when it comes from leading worship there and opening up for
hook in, “No Other” I used the Walrus Luminary people we are working with or the mix engineer Lauren Daigle?
to get those high frequencies blended in. I’m saying, “We can’t hear the vocals anymore.” loving that pedal right now. I just got a Zvex And we’re like, “We know, it’s cool.” We’re [Johnny] That was incredible! It was our first
Fuzz Factory and I don’t yet know how I’m pretty picky about all that stuff. I think just time playing with her and we’re on the same
going to incorporate it into a worship song, but because we care a lot about it and we really label, which makes it kind of neat. Also, we live
I’m going to find a way! want it to be what we imagine it being. right down the street from Anaheim, where
NAMM is held, for us it was really cool! You
[WM] Emily, what mic are you using?
As far as sounds on the EP, we worked with know,
like
seven
years
ago,
we
were
a couple of different producers and I think stagehands at NAMM- it was kind of like a full-
[Emily] I have a Neumann, but I’m looking to something that I’m just a huge fan of is mixing circle moment. To top it off, the guy running
switch to the Shure KSM8. samples and loops with real drums and kind sound was one of the best in the industry. It
of messing with the drum sound to just get a was an all-around amazing night!
[WM] What else is your “go to gear” and why
unique tone out of them, as opposed to what
July 2018
WorshipMusician.com
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