Top 5: Rick Carson

MARSHALL JCM800 2204

I’ve chosen this particular Marshall head because it’s what I feel connects me to being a musician. At this point, I’m no longer a musician, I’m an engineer through and through. I produce music, and I can play, but I choose not to perform on most of the recordings I work on. That said, this Marshall is my Marshall.

We’ve made a lot of modifications to it. It’s got a couple of switches, some are universal and allow you to add different gain stages to any preamp. Others let you reconfigure how the preamp is set up. There’s a switch to toggle between a stock Silver Jubilee, a #34 and a #36, based on the famous S.I.R. amp mods by Tim Caswell and Frank Levi. It’s a really versatile amp that cleans up beautifully. I’ve even used it to record clean guitars. If I need to record guitar, or make a big guitar record, this is always the amp I use.

EX MACHINA CUSTOM TITANS

These are a set of surround speakers – flyable surround units that mount to walls or ceilings. They go down to about 80Hz, similar to Yamaha NS-10s. All Ex Machina speakers share a consistent sonic signature. So when you go from the smaller Titans to the larger, $10k Pulsars (which I also have), the tone doesn’t drastically change, you just get more power behind it.

I use the Pulsars in our 17×28ft control room, and the Titans in my 14×10ft mix room. The Titans are about one-third larger than Auratones, but they’re full-range monitors, so I don’t need a subwoofer. As a result, I haven’t used my NS-10s for mixing or mastering in quite a while.

METRIC HALO ULN-8

Metric Halo are our business partners in software development – I’m building my whole future with them. I’ve built my studio around their interfaces because I think they’re exceptional.

Originally, the studio used Metric Halo, but at one point we switched to Avid interfaces to be more commercially viable. I didn’t like how they sounded. The Metric Halo boxes are great, and because they’re modular – they were originally built to run on Firewire 400 – you’re not stuck in the past. If you want to upgrade, you just buy a card, slot it in, and you’re good to go with today’s USB. That kind of future-proofing is really valuable. You’re never left behind.

AUSTRIAN AUDIO OC7

The first time I heard the OC7, I was instantly impressed. It looks like a kick drum mic, so I guessed it might sound good on a kick. I put it on a kick drum, and fell in love with it. It’s actually a full-featured condenser designed for vocals.

When I told the Austrian Audio team it was the best kick drum mic I’d ever heard, they were surprised – “What kick drum mic? That’s not a kick drum mic!” But it works brilliantly. Because it was designed for vocals, it doesn’t exaggerate any one part of the spectrum. It’s not hyped or brittle in the top end, which is why I think it suits kick drums so well. The 3kHz and 10kHz ranges come through with good attack, and the low end is captured in a way that’s more like a UT FET47 than a Shure Beta 52.

SONTEC MEP 250

I use the Sontec anywhere I’d want a parametric EQ. I first started using it on lead vocals when I was mixing heavily on my SSL console, and it essentially lived on that vocal channel.

Now, when I mix on the SSL, I patch the Sontec in where needed – it might end up on the bass or the snare drum, but most often it’s still on the vocal. These days, I tend to use it more like an SSL EQ without needing to power up the whole desk. I’ll patch it in and use it on kick and snare, print those down, then move it to the lead vocal and bass. Once those are sorted, I’ll use it on main guitars and keep working through the mix that way – unless someone specifically wants to mix entirely on the desk.