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"In Cuban music, the room is the key to making that percussion sound, and those horns and even the Steinway piano that was in the main room. The room was key to that sound." - Eric Coelho

In this episode

  • Eric's live sound tips and tricks

  • Mixing foldbacks for >18 musicians on stage

  • Pros / cons of in-ear monitoring

  • How to wean musicians off the foldback speakers

  • How Eric Coelho and producer Jake Savona met at Studios301

  • Recording the Havana Meets Kingston sessions at EGREM studio, Cuba

  • Soundcheck and microphone choices

  • Gain staging and preamps used

  • Microphone placement

  • Eric (almost) getting lost in translation

  • Soundcheck with Sly and Robbie

  • Touring with the Havana Meets Kingston crew

  • Eric's studio build.

...

About the 

guest

Eric has a background as a recording engineer and as a touring live sound engineer. He travelled to Havana Cuba with Jamaican artists Sly & Robbie and Australian Reggae Producer Mista Savona to embark on a groundbreaking album that collaborated with some of Cuba’s finest musicians and members from the infamous Buena Vista Social Club.

The Production Talk Podcast - The modern way of producing music

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The microphone locker at EGREM studios, Cuba:



Recording the horns with Neumann 47s:



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Jan 'Yarn' Muths or mixartist.com.au, in the studio

Contact the podcast host Jan 'Yarn' Muths at mixartist.com.au

Disclaimer: The Production Talk Podcast is independent of (and not related to) my teaching responsibilities at SAE.

transcript

Transcript

(auto-generated by a robot - please forgive the occasional error)

Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Welcome to the Production Talk podcast with me, Yarn, of mixartists.com.au. In this podcast series, we celebrate the modern way of producing music. We want to talk about all things related to songwriting, recording at home and music production. So, if you produce your music at home, this is the place to be. Please subscribe and recommend this podcast to all your friends. This is the Production Talk Podcast episode 46. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Welcome back to another episode of the production talk podcast. At the beginning of this episode, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the country that this following interview is recorded on the Arakwal people of the Bundjalung nation and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging. Let me welcome Eric. Thank you for being with me here today on the podcast. Eric Coelho: Thanks for having me on. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: So glad we could make that work, We've known each other for a long time. And then over the last couple of years, we haven't seen each other enough. And then recently we reconnected and it's great to see your face again. Eric Coelho: Likewise. I mean, you know, it has been a crazy couple years. Hey. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Oh yes. Oh yes. How did you get through the COVID years? Eric Coelho: Um, surprisingly good, like the first three months, uh, I think like the whole world, uh, was, you know, going on, geez, this is, uh, you know, you get anxious, you you're worried, you're not sure what's happening, but, um, you know, we're, we're lucky to be in this country and this part of the country too. I mean, you know, we, we were pretty sheltered from it, um, in terms of the direct impact, but obviously everything else work life in general. Eric Coelho: Uh, it was pretty nuts, but yeah, once, once we sort of got over that little, um, bump, I think, you know, we settled in and, and I actually enjoyed being home with the family, you know, so, you know, being on tour a lot prior to 2020, That was a big change, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: extra family. Tom has always worked home. Of course. Um, How do you manage all your work and being a dad as well? Jan 'Yarn' Muths: as is that challenging at times. Eric Coelho: Um, always, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: or is. Eric Coelho: I mean, you know, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Uh, Eric Coelho: it's like trying to be present with my family, so really having hard cutoff times from my work, uh, especially when you're working from home and, uh, you know, it's very easy to sneak away and just, you know, uh, jump on a mix for another couple hours. Eric Coelho: And then so yeah, trying to try to set some boundaries and, and, uh, make sure I am present, you know, To be there for them. You know, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Good. why don't you just tell us a little bit more about your background. You are a musician yourself Do you still find time to play occasionally. Eric Coelho: Um, yeah, I do for, for my own sake and sometimes from a compositional point of view, I like, uh, writing and still use guitar and bass for most of, uh, my writing. Eric Coelho: Um, but yeah, so traditionally a guitarist, um, did everything from classical to reggae to, you know, whatever in between the Latin music and whatnot. So, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Okay. Can you talk about the bands you've been involved with Eric Coelho: the first, uh, uh, been a few sort of mediocre cupboard mans in the early days, but, um, but then my, my, uh, I guess, uh, Biggest band that I was in, uh, which I started was called rusty walkie in Sydney, uh, eight piece sort of a reggae slash world music band. Eric Coelho: Um, yes, a bit of a funny name. And at the time we, we just didn't really take ourselves very seriously, but then things started to happen and then we're like, oh, all of a sudden we're on festival stages and playing larger venues and touring around the country. So yeah, it was, it was a good fun. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: time. Okay. And then over the course of your career, you became more and more of a producer and engineer. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: And is it fair to say it that it has turned around a bit more, that you are nowadays more of a producer and engineer than a musician Is that Jan 'Yarn' Muths: right? Eric Coelho: percent? Yeah. I mean, I made that transition, I guess, after, you know, the band sort of broke up and, uh, I went overseas, came back. You, you know, you reassess things, but the album that we put out, uh, we work with a fantastic producer called Tony Bucan is now based in Los Angeles and still producing, uh, some amazing records over there. Eric Coelho: Um, he kind of took me under the wing, uh, and sort of, you know, I was very keen where everyone else went home after they did their takes, or if we're editing or mixing or any of those, I was just there. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: on is Eric Coelho: Shadowing him the whole time. And he was, uh, good enough to be patient with me and allowed him to ask questions and, you know, um, and so yeah, that, that was my first, I guess, real taste of jumping in, on the production side of things and really, um, just being absorbed by it, you know, and just loving the whole process, to be honest. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: And, uh, how old were you when that happened? Eric Coelho: Um, also about, was that 2000, 2004. So 16 years ago, it's about 23 years old, 22, 23. So I've been playing by that stage as a musician for eight years already. So like, uh, performing on stages should, should I say, but, um, yeah, after eight years of being a musician, I, I made that transition I guess. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Okay. And nowadays you do a lot of live sound. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: uh, or, Well, I guess COVID Jan 'Yarn' Muths: through a bit of a spanner in the works there, but. Eric Coelho: well, yeah, last, last week. And I was in Darwin actually, uh, for a festival with a band called units, uh, doing, um, um, monitors in any monitors and, um, but I'm actually sort of slowly pulling away from that because I guess, yeah, once again, COVID gave me the opportunity to stay home and work, and I thought I kind of rekindled some of those relationships I had before, because I was very active in the studio prior. Eric Coelho: Um, and what led me into, I guess, live sound was the back of an album that I worked with a certain artist. And then they said, Hey, can you come on the road with us? And, you know, everything sort of snowballs from there. And next thing you know, you're. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: you're in Eric Coelho: You know the other side of the world and doing a tour and you got, nah, okay. Eric Coelho: How'd I get here, but yeah, it was fun. It was fun. And it was a great learning experience. And I did it for a few years and I'm still doing it, but I am sort of scaling back that side of my, my business. I want to focus more, uh, back in the studio and mixing, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah, I see. Um, if I made a stick with the live sound for a second. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: So you you said that you mix some monitors. So, um, I think mixing monitors for, the stage is probably the harder job of the, two in contrast to front of house in some situations, I guess. And if we then look at the complexity um, you've worked with a Melbourne scout orchestra, can it get any more challenging than that? Jan 'Yarn' Muths: You know, How many musicians are in that band? Eric Coelho: can, it can, right? Yeah. North of 20, it can range anywhere between, I think the, the, the minimum amount that they claim. That can still be classified as a orchestra, I think is 18. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Uh, Eric Coelho: But yeah, it goes up to, I think the biggest show I did with Melbourne scholar was like 34, 35 musicians on stage. Eric Coelho: Um, so they're just scale up, you know, every section essentially. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Um, And and how many different four-pack sounds did you have to provide? for that? Eric Coelho: Um, that one I go between 10 and 12 mixes. Um, so, uh, you know, you sort of split the mixers in sections and then any a solo artist or, or say the, uh, the lead, uh, horn player or Reed player, or that section generally gets their own monitor mix. Eric Coelho: And obviously the vocalists get their own monitor mix. Um, But then yeah, side Phil would be 11 and 12. Um, and then that way, I guess we can just give them a general vibe on stage, but nothing too crazy because you know, it's, then it's punishing for the front of house engineer to try and manage that. So, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Well, well look, I've seen that that many times and uh, it's quite unbelievable to, you know, manage that many speakers on stage and musicians with all kinds of different demands. So to me, this seems to be the most challenging job I can imagine. And I've sewn. Eric Coelho: it keeps you on your toes that's for sure. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Okay. So when you do gigs, like, you know, the gig and Darvin now, the June rounds. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: How many musicians have you got there? Is that for Jan 'Yarn' Muths: four Eric Coelho: so go from 30 to three, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: yeah, Eric Coelho: it's a three piece. So drums, bass, and guitar. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: each one with their own fault back. So That that must be. like a cruisy gig for you, I Eric Coelho: Yeah. And to be honest, uh, the fallback or just the backup there on any is so, you know, feedback's no longer a real issue. Um, and it's mainly just a bit of kick and snare going through the wedges just to give them a little bit of, uh, some substance on stage so that it doesn't feel light. Eric Coelho: Um, and a bit through the side fills too, if it's a festival, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: because Eric Coelho: there it's usually a larger stage. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: And I know that a lot of musicians struggle with, um, in years at first and it, because it sounds very different to what they used to. Um, how, did, how do you get musicians comfortable in with their in ears? Eric Coelho: Um, I guess, I mean, there's, there's different aspects, but I mean, you know, a lot of the, a lot of the musicians that I've worked with, uh, guests, they've been, uh, very well trained in that area. Eric Coelho: I guess they've, they've already sort of done the hard yards. Um, but the few that I have worked with with. It's very new to them. Um, you know, using ambience mikes to sort of bleed a little bit of the space around them, makes them feel a little bit more comfortable. And Jared, during that transition, generally, we still keep the monitor mix pretty much, you know, going. Eric Coelho: And so if they want to pop an ear out, they can still have a monitor. So that's kind of, you know, and then eventually you sort of wean them off, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: You wean them off Eric Coelho: wean them off the monitor, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: like a slow crossfade Jan 'Yarn' Muths: from one to the other. Eric Coelho: But, um, you know, once, once they realize the benefits and, and that's, you know, there's so many benefits with any monitors, um, also doing front of house engineer engineering. Eric Coelho: If I have a band on stage that aren't any monitors, you have so much more control. For the audience mix, you know, and, um, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Can you explain why? Eric Coelho: well the least amount of bleed on stage, the better, you know, if you keep a stage quiet, you've got more way more control with your mikes and, uh, you can control the dynamic range a lot more and, um, not so much spill coming off stage, you know, generally, generally, um, you know, there's, there's good bands that know how to do it and want the best experience for their audience will, you know, even their guitar amplifiers are quite low onstage, you know, we'd just, that's why we have a Mike in front of it, you know, and sometimes, uh, uh, Palmer Dai coming out of the back of the head to just to get the, a, uh, head signal, um, Or some bands go completely digital when they use camper, um, uh, amps, uh, amp simulators. Eric Coelho: So yeah, all those things actually really embellish the show for the audience, for the, for the front of house mix. Um, it just makes a world of a difference keeping that Jan 'Yarn' Muths: right. Hmm. Okay. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: So in other words, you can compress the vocals a bit harder without getting all the negatives of more guitar spill and, you know, symbols and all the wash, you get Eric Coelho: a hundred percent, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah. right. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: And that makes the show pretty much cleaner and punchy and more transparent. Eric Coelho: Yeah. Transparent more three-dimensional I guess, you know, cause you can get a bit more separation too. Um, which is good. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Fantastic. And you mentioned that you also set up audience microphones to feed it into the. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: um, into the, in ears. Tell us more about that, huh? Eric Coelho: Yeah. I mean, you know, um, it's a very common practice and generally, especially at festivals, um, these days they'll have the house texts, we'll have them set up and you just patching to there's, you know, unless you're out of specifically once a certain type of microphone, um, whether they be shotguns or small diaphragm condensers, but yeah, it's just to give them a bit of a buzz. Eric Coelho: When in between songs I'll, I'll have the, uh, ambient mikes on audience mix on a VCA and just push it up into everyone's ears, you know, or a call and response, um, that, you know, the, they want to hear the crowd respond a bit more and just, yeah, I'm just writing that VCA fader to, to give them that. Um, so generally during the show, I have maybe a small blend of it, or sometimes none at all, depending. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: on what, Eric Coelho: You know how focused they want to be in the, in the song. Um, because some of those shotgun mikes, you can literally hear someone having a conversation and it just throws the artist, like someone in the front rows, you know, then it's like, you can actually hear the conversation. It's incredible how much they can pick up. Eric Coelho: Um, and yeah, I mean, not that I ever have it very loud to start with, but yeah, it does throw them off if they feel like, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: yeah, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: That can be irritating. Yeah. I see. I see. Of course, who knows. They might even be talking about the bad. Yeah. Right. So basically what you try to get with those marks. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: It's more the, overall sound of the venue. Um, yeah. Eric Coelho: yeah. Eric Coelho: And crowd reactions and yeah, totally. I mean, yeah. I find. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Uh, Eric Coelho: Uh, another trick is a lot of the musicians on stage, like a little bit of overheads, you know, from the drums. And that kind of gives them a similar feel onstage, you know? Yeah. So, and being panned left and right. Having stereo mixes means that they do have a sense of space around them. Eric Coelho: So Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yes. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: I can see that Yeah. And it's, it's amazing because they can run around the stage and they carry their sound with them. So they don't need Take to their place on stage where they hear themselves, Well, if they run away. they can Eric Coelho: That's right. Yes. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: up Eric Coelho: Super Jan 'Yarn' Muths: the ring. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Nice. Nice. Okay. And, you've also worked a lot in studios. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: So, um, do I remember correctly that you. did Do some work at uh, 3 0 1 at some stage. Eric Coelho: Yeah. Um, in Byron, before they shut down there. Um, I did a record with a king Fisher from Brisbane, um, as, as a recording engineer, working with a producer, Jake Savona, um, at the time. And yeah, that was, that was great to have the opportunity to work on that old Navy, beautiful festival board beer, um, before it got taken away and, and it went to Sydney, I believe to Alexandra. Eric Coelho: Uh, and so, yeah. Yeah, it was a great little, um, you know, I mean, let's face it. We, you know, we don't necessarily need a Navy board to get a good recording, but boy, it's fun to you and the tones are, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: I can relate to that. Yeah. And you worked with uh, Jake, you know, who was on the last episode of this podcast Um, more than that. So tell us more about the other. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: adventures. Eric Coelho: funnily enough, during that, that recording with king Fisher is when Jake, uh, found out that he received a grant to do this recording project. And, uh, and he was telling us about it in the studio during a break. Um, and so when he was talking about the ideas about, you know, going to Cuba and taking some Jamaican musicians and, and all of a sudden, I'm just standing there going, what? Eric Coelho: This sounds incredible. You got to take me, I speak Spanish. I know Latin music, I know Cuban music. I know a reggae on a Jamaican culture, mate, I'm your man as a joke. Uh, and he just laughed it off and, yep, no worries. And then, uh, two or three weeks after that recording project, I get a call from him and he says, Hey, um, so do you want to come to Cuba? Eric Coelho: And I'm like, you sure you're you for real? And he's like, yeah, man, I think, I think it'd be great, you know, and just be great to have someone I can trust. And you can communicate to both, uh, the Cuban musicians and the Jamaican musicians. And not only just as a translator, but someone knows technically what is required and et cetera. Eric Coelho: So next thing you know, uh, my tickets booked to go to Jamaica first. So we went to Jamaica to do a bit of pre production and, um, and then we got all the musicians together, a sly and Robbie, uh, guitars called boat. Uh, and, uh, and some younger sort of up and coming Jamaican artists at the time, got on a plane and flew to Havana, Cuba. Eric Coelho: And the project, you know, we flew from Kingston to Havana and the projects obviously called Havana meets Kingston. So yeah, very apt name for what we were doing. Um, but yeah, and then we spent, uh, Hm, just over a week at Egrem studios in, in Cuba, which is the same studio where, when a Vista social club was recorded and recruiter's done many projects there, I believe, uh, since then, um, and, uh, yeah, an amazing space. Eric Coelho: I mean, it is old, it is a bit run down. Um, it does have that feeling of, um, you know, Cuba not having access to all the resources that they used to, um, you know, since the embargo in the fifties, but. Uh, but they definitely make, do you know? And the music is what counts, I guess, you know, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: tell us more about that studio. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: you know, What does it look like? like? How big is it? How many rooms have they got? Eric Coelho: So it's, um, picture it as like a large wooden hole almost, uh, with the ceilings approximately, uh, six and a half to seven meters high. So quite high, all the walls have wooden diffuses like everywhere. So it's just wooden floorboards, wooden diffusion. Eric Coelho: There's not one, a bit of absorption in that room whatsoever. It's just all the diffusion, but the wood, the wood is so nice. You can even smell it. It's almost like, you know, you can smell the age of the timber in there. Um, and the creaky floorboards, which weren't so great during a session or a take, but you know, you just, uh, you just work around that. Eric Coelho: Um, But they'd have three, they had three booths towards the back of the room, which could fit a drum kit, but very, very tightly. Yeah. So, so they had three booths towards the back of the room and yeah, pretty small, maybe a three by three, roughly. Um, if that, um, so yeah, we use those for isolation booths, but I had to come up with a plan pretty quickly in terms of how to manage the, the session and the recordings and, you know, from my experience with, with, um, reggae and, um, dub music, you know, it's a little bit like my Headspace goes towards militant, dry, tough, tight sounding, you know, not very roomy at all, you know, it's it's yeah, sure. Eric Coelho: You get a bit of spill here or there. The room has to be less of a feature, you know, whereas Cuban music on the other hand, the room is, is the key to making that percussion and those horns and all those other, and even the Steinway piano that was in the main room, you know, room was key to that sound. Eric Coelho: Right. So what I hear on a lot of those records that recruited in with Buena Vista social club, for example. And so, so I just treated that as my goal is like, okay, get the Jamaicans in those, in the back room. And, uh, so I had sly in one of those booths, I had bongo Herman, the percussionist in another booth. Eric Coelho: And, uh, and then I had another percussion set up in one of the other rooms. We tried putting the guitar amp in there. Uh, but then we were kind of short. So we, we just went DI on the guitar and decided to reamp later. Um, because in the main room we had all the percussion Kongers, Timbol is the Cuban drum kit, the Steinway piano, no, all of these elements, weren't always playing at the same time. Eric Coelho: Of course. Um, but yeah, we were just trying to minimize, um, you know, having a lot of that spill, but a lot of the percussion elements were all live with all that spill happening. And man, I have to give it to those Cuban musicians. They're amazing. They, you listen to it and it just, it turns into glues straight away. Eric Coelho: Like it just doesn't. Much at all. Like once it's tracked, it's done sort of thing. Um, which is crazy then the room sounds great, you know? Um, so it works really well with percussive elements and, uh, yeah. And then same with a Steinway piano. Um, just amazing. I just had a pair of, uh, , Jan 'Yarn' Muths: women, Eric Coelho: uh, what, where they UAT nines, um, over the piano itself, just with, uh, with the lid open and then the room Mike was a UAD seven. Eric Coelho: We had, I mean, we had everything they had for you 47 PhETs uh, available. Um, yeah. And they were from the fifties, like, so I think it was a, you know, stuff that was left over after the, uh, um, you know, uh, revolution. Yeah. Um, and same with the piano is like, they just had amazing access to two pianos at which I think. Eric Coelho: From what I was told, they were just taken out of a lot of those, uh, really luxurious hotels after the revolution. And they distributed those pianos to the people, you know, like into studios and music schools and things like that. So, so everyone could learn on a Steinway if they wanted to, you know, so yeah. Eric Coelho: Pretty incredible, um, amazing. Yeah. Amazing history there it's it is surreal. Like, you know, you like everything you would have seen. Of course there's all the old cars and, um, the center of HANA Havana is absolutely beautiful with these amazing opulent, um, you know, architecture. Buildings, you know, there are amazing, they have, you can tell there was a lot of money going through that place at once upon a time. Eric Coelho: And obviously now it's a bit rough around the edges because things have, uh, deteriorated. Um, but it still has that historic opulence from that bygone era, you know, which they still keep alive with, uh, the old cars and, and just, yeah, keeping that culture alive. It's amazing. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: And, uh, how many inputs were you recording at the same time approximately? Eric Coelho: Um, I was limited to 24 inputs. Um, they had, uh, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: old Eric Coelho: One nine to IO. They had a note to R which was quite faulty. Uh, and I had to focus right. Octo praise, the silver face, really older ones without the dynamics. Um, very scratchy pots. So very, very, they had an AML console right there sitting in front of me, teasing me, but it wasn't operational. Eric Coelho: The power supply was gone. And, um, so, and they also had a student AAT staring at me, but once again, they just didn't have the parts to maintain or replace things. So, um, so we had to make, do with very, very basic preamps, but very good room, very good musicians and very good quality microphones. So, you know, at the end of the day, uh, you know, instead of worrying about. Eric Coelho: Geez. I wish I had a better preamp or Neve or this or that. I just had to rely on good placement and, uh, and then let the performance do the rest, you know? And, uh, and then just set the gains. You couldn't really ride the gains because unfortunately every time you'd move again, it would just crack all like crazy. Eric Coelho: And I'm trying to take all the dust out of them and I'm taking the caps off and see if I can, you know, I didn't have a can of deoxidine or anything like that with me. Um, and well or rubbing alcohol or anything that was like always appropriate or, but yeah, it was just that it wasn't very well maintained and, you know, constantly having to work around those limitations. Eric Coelho: But, you know, I think that was probably like a good thing in this regard. And yeah, to be honest, I just focus more on the, the musicians, you know, and, and that's where it's key. I reckon in a, in a project like this to. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: that's where the priorities are. So Looking at what most people have in their home studios today, they probably have would have better quality gear than what you recorded through. Eric Coelho: a hundred percent. Eric Coelho: Yeah. A hundred percent. So, you know, if, if you talk about those focus, right, praise, I reckon, you know, you could probably get one secondhand for 150 bucks these days, if you, if you can even find one. Uh, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: that's right. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: And so, all we do. Eric Coelho: so, um, but yeah, I mean, um, not everyone has a CA uh, Mike cabinet with four U 47 fits Jan 'Yarn' Muths: that's that's true. That's true. Yes. Okay. So that made up for Eric Coelho: that made up for Jan 'Yarn' Muths: you know, once you've got the performance and the microphones in the room, then even cheap gear couldn't break it anymore. It was just Jan 'Yarn' Muths: amazing. Eric Coelho: That's right. As long as, as long as we got a clean signal and, uh, you know, we could capture it, uh, without. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: any Eric Coelho: Problems. Um, you know, then that was the key. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Do you remember how you gain staged your recording signals? Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Have you got any workflows that you can share with us how to, you know, tackle something like such a big recording? project? Eric Coelho: Well, I mean, look, I did have the house technician there who had way more experience than I did in regards to, you know, Cuban style recording, uh, in that room and, and whatnot. Um, and a lot of the times, you know, I, I would go over to his name was Alejandro Alex, and I'd look at him and I say, oh, what do you normally do in this situation? Eric Coelho: You know, and he, and I'd be positioning a mark. And he goes exactly what you're doing. You know, like he was very, he was, you know, we, we became very good buddies at, by the end of it, realizing that we just both want the same thing. You know, we were caring more about the music rather than, uh, you know, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: how, Eric Coelho: What technique and this and that it's literally, you know, put the musician in the right spot. Eric Coelho: And if, uh, if it was too hot, you know, the first choice was to back off the microphone a little bit, you know, and, and, uh, and do that rather than, you know, um, worry too much. I mean, I didn't have dynamics, I didn't have a queue, you know, I did in the box in pro tools of course, but that's already after it's been captured. Eric Coelho: So, so essentially I just worked with Mike position and also, you know, if I had a group vocal or, um, the horn section, for example, it was just literally, you know, going on the talk back and say, Hey, can you just move your chair back? Maybe just one foot back, please. And, you know, the trombone player, for example, you know, cause he was just a bit louder than everyone else. Eric Coelho: And my game was set nicely already and I was liking it and I was like, ah, I just feel like. He's overloading the, the capsule a bit, you know, rather than the preamp, you know, so if you just backs off, not so much air hitting back capsule, and then, you know, it probably sounded a little bit more natural and rara. Eric Coelho: And Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah. Right. So you basically gain stage the horn section with the feet. Eric Coelho: Yeah. Just, just make them move, you know, um, because we had different horn players for different parts and different sections, but using the same mix. So, so once they were set those gains and I was really happy with them, I'd rather the musician slightly move forward or backwards. Eric Coelho: Um, and I'm talking, you know, 20 centimeters, 30 centimeters. So, you know, nothing drastic, you know, not, you're not going to get a direct sounding mic. And then all of a sudden, a Rumi sounding mic, you know, it was just, uh, just small amounts just to sort of balance it out a little bit and make sure that Mike wasn't overloading or, or, um, I didn't have to do too many drastic changes on the gain just because I didn't have. Eric Coelho: Much flexibility there, you know, so, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: and do you remember what microphones are used for the horn section? Eric Coelho: Um, you 47 for use of seven? Well, the trumpet we had the so, so they had, uh, um, I'll share a photo with you actually. Um, you can share with your listeners, but, um, um, yeah, so I've got, I've got a photo of the mic cabinet, and so they had six UAT nines for you, 47 fits, uh, and then a couple other, you know, obviously your, your shores and your feed, 50 sevens and a couple of Sennheisers and whatnot. Eric Coelho: Um, and then Jake brought his UAT seven, um, and I brought a little TLM lumen just in case for Jan 'Yarn' Muths: whatnot. Eric Coelho: And, um, but yeah, so, so with those, with those, uh, mikes, we basically, depending on what we were doing that particular day. Utilize the same black phones and just place them somewhere else for a different part. Eric Coelho: Very versatile. I mean, you know, those mikes, uh, I mean, you can, you can put just about anything in front of them and they are going to work, you know, as long as you place it, the right distance and happy days. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: so he used mainly contents of microphones. in Eric Coelho: Yeah. Yeah. So for any, any, um, anything other than the drums and the guitar for the ramping, especially, um, the everything else was condenser. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah. right. That That's where you get all that detail and the quality and the roominess, I guess, Eric Coelho: definitely a Jan 'Yarn' Muths: good for you. Do you remember how much distance you left between the, the horn section the mikes? I find that condenses can be a little bit problematic with air movement. Um, Eric Coelho: Depending on the horn, of course, like, you know, saxophones could, could be a little bit closer, less air movement, but the trombone and especially a trumpet, you know, in some cases over a meter meter, you know, 1.2, 1.3 meters, roughly. Eric Coelho: Um, and because some of these players. They can blow, man, you know, like, like just, just acoustically speaking, you know, I reckon some of the SPL coming out of that, Trump, it would have been at least one 20 DB. If you were a meter away from it, you'd be having a ringing ears, you know? So they'd really hit those big high notes, like with full power, you know? Eric Coelho: Um, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Well, that's, that's what you want, you know, that's where the sound comes Jan 'Yarn' Muths: from, I guess. Yeah. And did you use pop for the desk for those mikes? Eric Coelho: Um, for the vocals. Yeah. On, on the horns. I think on the SACS, if I remember correctly, we potentially used one because we were a bit closer to the source. Um, but, um, but yeah, mainly the vocals, um, obviously, uh, and then yeah, everything else was. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: pretty Eric Coelho: Clean. Uh, so it didn't require too much pop filters. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Okay. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Let's Say how many musicians did you record at the same time? You said drums, bass guitar percussion. sections. So I'm coding, probably something like seven, eight, or, Eric Coelho: uh, the bed tracks, the bed tracks being drums, bass, keys, guitar, percussion. That would have been somewhere in the one to about, about seven to eight musicians at a time for the bed tracks. Eric Coelho: The horn section was four players at a time. And then overdub any solos or harmonies, uh, additional harmonies or, or just to thicken up certain sections or whatever. Uh, and then vocals one person at a time generally, unless there was like a duet or a. Backing a group vocal type thing, which we did a few times, we did a few group vocal sections. Eric Coelho: Um, and that went up to five to six people in a group vocal and sort of did a circular sort of, uh, set up in that regard. So yeah, I mean, yeah, eight, seven to eight people. But at any given moment, the studio had probably about 15. It was like a party I'd have Cubans drinking rum behind me, uh, you know, uh, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah. Right. and of course you wouldn't never have contributed. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: to Eric Coelho: No, no, I couldn't actually, because my brain felt like it was melting. Cause I was constantly managing the technical task of course, of doing this recording. And I was putting so much energy into that, but also constantly having to, uh, speaking Spanish. And now my parents are from Argentina. I grew up speaking Spanish at home and I speak Jan 'Yarn' Muths: um, Eric Coelho: pretty frequently. Eric Coelho: Um, but the thing is still English is my main language. You know, I live in Australia. So speaking Spanish still requires a little bit more energy for me, um, and more focus, but then also just constantly having to communicate between the Jamaican musicians and the Cuban musicians. And, and also not only just translating something, but also communicating what is that musical idea and how do you actually, you know, sometimes it makes perfect sense in Spanish, but to make it, uh, sort of. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: of, Eric Coelho: Uh, understandable English or even to a Jamaican, um, with their Patois and their different cultures. It's like trying to, you know, I'd have to sing stuff to them or, or over the talk back, you know, or, or walk into the room and explain to, you know, I couldn't believe it, but I was explaining to slide, slide Dunbar, one of the most experienced drummers, uh, reggae drummers ever, um, that the Cubans were doing a, uh, you know, sawn club, which has a bit of a swing to it. Eric Coelho: So basically, you know, clapping out the club and saying, no, no, they're not, they're not dragging it. It's actually the third beats anticipated and dah, dah, dah, you know, and sort of all those types of little things to, to sort of like, you know, um, Yeah, just get that, that interface happening between the two musical styles and the cultural styles. Eric Coelho: So language being one thing, but obviously music's another language. And so, yeah, just interfacing that, but 90% of the time it was incredible how much they could just communicate just by playing, know, they'll just, they'll just, they'll just, instead of talking it out, the, the, the Cubans would just play something, you know, and just tap it out in front of sly and slug it. Eric Coelho: Ah, yeah, man, no worries. Yeah. Yeah. And then get back on the kit and then off they went, you know, like, uh, you know, it didn't require words. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Oh, Eric Coelho: So Jan 'Yarn' Muths: that really sounds like you were juggling quite a few different things there, you know, 24 inputs, dodgy or correctly pots, that by itself keeps you busy and then managing this many musicians. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: And I guess your skills from the Melbourne school orchestra probably would've come handy as well. to provide Fallback or headphone mixes to seven to eight musicians at the same time, Eric Coelho: a hundred percent. Yeah. That did come in handy Jan 'Yarn' Muths: did they demand separate mixes. or whether all in the same Eric Coelho: Um, w they were in groups. Yeah. So, so we'd, we'd have little headphone splitter boxes going to say two, two to three musicians. Eric Coelho: So if you're in the percussion section, they all happy to be on the one headphone mix drama sly was on a different mix. Um, and yeah, so they did, we, I can't remember exactly how many headphones centers we had available, but, uh, But yeah, we made it work. We made it work. Everyone was happy. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Okay. And the headphone sentence where they were driven from, from the digital mixer, from, from the auto or, or out of pro torts, or Eric Coelho: um, we did it out of pro tools going out of the line outputs to headphone amplifiers. Eric Coelho: Yeah. So in that way, yeah, we could get a few additional mixes that way. Um, and just, yeah. And then on that note, I would put a little bit of processing, uh, before it hit their ears. Um, but you know, being on an HD system, I'll just kept it very minimal, maybe just slight filtering, tiny bit of dynamics, um, and maybe a touch of verb on an oryx bus. Eric Coelho: And that was it. Just not that I needed reverb, to be honest, those the room tone alone was, was enough, but, um, maybe for a vocalist or something like that, you know, just to give up. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: yeah. Yeah. Right. Okay. So you had a approach with HD rig there. Eric Coelho: Yeah. So funny that, uh, it was a correct version of pro tools. They had the hardware, they had the hard way. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Nobody said a thing. Eric Coelho: I mean, it is Cuba. Come on. Um, so I mean, look, they just have to be resourceful with whatever they can. And I think for them sometimes, you know, not doing stuff the correct way, but still getting a result was, was more important, you know? Um, but yeah, I mean, look, they had a Leslie, they had a Hammond B3 and a Leslie in there that hasn't turned on in seven years, you know, because they haven't got, they haven't got the right parts to, and like, there was so many of these things where I was like, oh, just would be great to, you know, fly over a technician with, uh, you know, a whole shipping container full of parts. Eric Coelho: Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: just Eric Coelho: Go around Cuba and fix everything for them and leave enough spares. But I mean, yeah, I guess that's a logistical thing that would be hard to do, but yeah, just, you know, they can keep their cars going. You know, you got cars in the fifties going, and I guess they can be a bit more, you can, you can machine apart or something, you know, but, uh, when it comes to audio gear, you know, replacing a tube or a certain, um, bit of componentry is, is it a little bit more difficult to source? Jan 'Yarn' Muths: that's right. And it's, uh, you don't get the same quantity you know, who needs spare parts for on a Mac console against who needs a new muffler for a car. and know that That makes a difference. I'm sure. Yeah. What a trip, how much time did, did it take for you to set it up to basically go from bumping into the studio, setting everything. up sound-check to actually tracking. Eric Coelho: Um, first day was Jan 'Yarn' Muths: uh, Eric Coelho: probably a good six hours before we started tracking. Eric Coelho: Um, there was a lot of things that were managing, not just, you know, the setup. It was, uh, you know, we are in Cuba. Um, the studio had to be paid up front and getting access to a bank and that amount of money wasn't was proving to be a bit difficult. So we had, uh, people were running around different banks, um, to try and get, um, money out and, or changing us dollars to Cuban, uh, two cooks, which is what they call it. Eric Coelho: Cuban. Um, uh, I forgot what it's called credits essentially. Um, so, so those little difficulties and I just went in there and luckily, because I can speak Spanish and, um, I brought it up the studio manager. Uh, enough to allow me to start setting up. And I said, look, if he doesn't come to pay here in time, it was one of those first ATVing periods, you know, where, where you're in a different country and it's not a normal, you know, country where you can just go to an ATM and, or just give them a credit card or anything like that. Eric Coelho: It just doesn't work that way in Cuba. So, so essentially, yeah, while that was all being sorted out, I luckily, um, you know, managed to get everything, um, set up line, checked headphones, checked, um, set up a template and pro tools, um, got the musicians comfy dialed in some sounds, um, mainly the Jamaicans too, you know, cause they, you know, obviously it's all new for them being in a different country. Eric Coelho: Um, for all of them was the first time that they went to Cuba, even though it's like a hundred miles away, you know, it's like another world for them to, uh, and yeah. And uh, yeah, after about six hours we finally got. Music music down on pro tools, you know? And, uh, and Jan 'Yarn' Muths: that's quick, six hours for, for such a big set Eric Coelho: Yeah, I mean, I mean, we didn't have all the other elements set up at that stage. It was just literally the rhythm section. So mainly just the drums, bass and guitar, uh, at that point, so piano wasn't miked up or, you know, all those other elements weren't like that. So yeah, it was just getting a bit of a rhythm section happening. Eric Coelho: And then as, as we went along, we just added the other parts that we needed as we went. Um, and then, yeah, by the end of that day, I think we, we felt comfortable enough. Um, wasn't the most productive day. Usually the first day is never the most productive, it's a set up. Um, but the second day we could come in, fire everything up and pretty much get striked stuck in. Eric Coelho: Uh, tracking, so, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: oh, that's good. And did the band traveled with their own drum set or did you use the house kit there? Eric Coelho: used, uh, the house kit and, uh, it was an up to slice standard, let's just say, but he is an amazing human being that can make anything sound great. We had to tweak it a fair bit to try and get, uh, you know, the kick drum wasn't particularly, you know, it was, uh, it was like a 18 or 19 inch to kick drum and usually he plays a 22 inch drum for, for reggae. Eric Coelho: So we re you know, we took the Rezo head off and tried different ways of tuning and, you know, sort of try, try to get a little bit more out of the kick that we, you know, we were kind of limited to. And, you know, once again, yeah, not much chunk. So once again, we, we, uh, We're limited to what we could get, you know, like, I mean, there's no, there's no, Billy hides a drum hire, uh, down the road. Eric Coelho: There's no, you know, you basically have to borrow from another musician and then, you know, and so the other drama there, the Cuban drama Oliver had his kit and his kit was amazing immaculate. And, um, and you know, and unfortunately on day one, I had no idea that the two kits were designated or one I'd thought it was just for the session. Eric Coelho: And it was, we were hiring these two kits and I, I kind of piecemealed one for SLI out of the two kits that, to make it a better kit for. And then when Oliver rocked up, he wasn't too happy about that. So I had to apologize profusely instead of say, you know, you don't want to sort of, uh, piss off the, uh, the, the musician, especially the locals, you know? Eric Coelho: Um, so yeah, I had to, I had to appease him pretty quickly, but he was very understanding and he, he could see where we were coming from and, um, and understood, uh, you know, and he was there to help out and he goes, I actually, you know what, you can use that floor time and that snare, I mean, slide brought his own snare and some symbols of course, but, and his own sticks, of course. Eric Coelho: Uh, he's got a few things. He doesn't, he doesn't use a drum store. He sits on his drum case that he brings you snare and other bits on. And that's his thing, even, even on live performances. Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: that sounds uncomfortable. Eric Coelho: yeah, but that's, that's what he likes. And it's like his actual case. He sits on it. Um, yeah. So, but yeah, look, we, we met at work and, um, You know, look you're in union, a foreign country with limited resources, but I think everyone was, was, uh, willing to, you know, make it work with what they had, you know, and not, not sort of, uh, be precious about at all. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: And, uh, for a production like this, you know, how many productive hours do you get out of a day? How many hours can you work until everybody's sort of drops off a bit? and Eric Coelho: Well, me personally, like we had, uh, the studio for 12 hours a day, but when that was strict, like they, they basically gave us access, uh, From, I think it was 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM. Eric Coelho: Um, and we did occasionally go over, but that 12 hours I was on the whole time Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Right. Well, that's good that they put a cap on. Good, good for you. Eric Coelho: yeah, totally, totally. Um, you know, it was 12 hours for me, but yeah, the musicians went on for 12 hours because we had rotating roster of musicians, essentially, you know, um, sometimes the Jamaicans would, um, take a break. Eric Coelho: Uh, they'd leave the studio for an hour or two and we'd overdub, um, some percussion or double bass. Oh piano or whatnot. And so when we're doing those over dubs, uh, they're having a break and then they'd come later that evening after a meal or something, and then we'd lay down some other tracks. But we, you know, we generally tried to get most of the beds done in the first few days, but of course, as, as things developed, um, and Jake, the producer, you know, had all these charts and ideas and, and just also allowing the musicians to, to come up with their own sort of, uh, interpretations and, and bits and pieces. Eric Coelho: So, you know, we ended up recording, I think it was 25 songs in that seven day period. Um, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: very productive. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: yeah, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Especially with that many musicians, Eric Coelho: right. And you know, I've got to hand it to Jake. He, he did a lot of prep before arriving to Cuba. You know, it was months and months and months of preparation for him, um, to have. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: that, Eric Coelho: You know, in place, um, and that plan in place and he had it from the onset, you know, the idea of recording enough for two albums, you know, because even though a lot of, uh, additional tracking was required after Cuba, you know, featured artists, featured vocalists, um, overdubbing, Ernest Ranglin, for example, on one of the songs, uh, he's amazing guitar work, um, four 20 salmon goal, what a tune, um, and you know, so all those overdubs obviously were going to happen later, but, you know, to, to really you utilize those days there in Cuba and all these amazing musicians Jan 'Yarn' Muths: and that space Eric Coelho: that room and all those things, it was, it was just, um, amazing feat to, to get that all done in seven days. Eric Coelho: No one, uh, you know, no one blew a gasket. Let's just say Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Ah, you're right. Eric Coelho: you know, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: about to ask if there was friction at any time, so, you know, but, uh, Eric Coelho: Definitely there was definitely friction at times, but you know, that, I think that comes with anything, especially when you put a lot of people in, in one space. Um, and there's, you know, different ideas floating about, there's always going to be some friction, but incredibly it was, um, mostly smooth sailing. Eric Coelho: Everyone was super happy and excited about this project. You know, like it was, there was this spark in the air, you know, all the musicians, you know, no one was yawning and going, oh, I'm just here to do another take, you know, give me my money and I'm out of here sort of thing. No, everyone was really excited. Eric Coelho: Into the actual, uh, whole idea and very passionate about it. So it Jan 'Yarn' Muths: no, that's great Eric Coelho: see Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Well, and you know, the results speak for themselves. So when the first album came out, Eric Coelho: having a meets Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Kingston but one it made a huge, huge splash, there was, you know, internationally, worldwide recognized and had a fair bit of success. So were you involved in the touring afterwards as well? Eric Coelho: Um, yeah, so luckily, uh, Jake, um, got me along for, for the, uh, touring side of things. So the initial tour was in Australia where it was almost identical, uh, to the lineup in the studio, not every single musician, because we did use many musicians. Uh, but it was. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: it was. Eric Coelho: All the core players were there. So we did have sly and Robbie and, uh, Barbarito Torrez, Rolando Luna, the pianist, uh, from one of his, the social club and Bob Barbarito from one of his, the social club, uh, who Lito Padron, the trumpet player, amazing trumpet player, uh, Bo P the guitarists rest in peace. Eric Coelho: Um, and yeah, so we had the core elements from the actual recording for that Australian tour, which was quite a massive task. I mean, if you think about it, each one of those musicians in their own, right. Uh, have their own releases have their own. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah, of Eric Coelho: stardom. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: their own schedule. So to align all of Jan 'Yarn' Muths: these for a tour, Eric Coelho: was, was quite a feat to get all those people together. Eric Coelho: Um, and then also just to keep everyone happy, you know, because they are, they are used to a certain degree of, you know, um, I guess, treatment, you know, being their own star in their own. Right. You know, so, so it was an all star band if you think about it. So, um, yeah, that amazing, but also yeah, tricky to, to logistically navigate and, uh, you know, keep, keep it rolling. Eric Coelho: Uh, well, but we did it, um, and we got some fantastic, you know, reviews and accolades from, from that. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: SOA. Eric Coelho: Um, and then about a year after that, we did a Europe with a slightly different lineup. Um, not everyone being available and also costs come into play, um, and all those things. So, but yeah, the European tour, we still had a lot of those core musicians in there still. Eric Coelho: Um, no Sloan Robbie, unfortunately. So we had a different drummer and bass player, but they did an amazing job. Um, and, uh, we're very invested in the project. Um, and so the European to, uh, uh, in 2018, uh, was amazing. And one of the highlights for me and a bucket list, I guess, for any sound engineer, was to mix a show at the Royal Albert Hall you know, and, uh, and that was also, you know, televised on BBC, uh, and recorded. Eric Coelho: Um, so they did like a little doco kind of. Intro to it. And then the Jan 'Yarn' Muths: show Eric Coelho: was, um, was aired broadcast. So that was, that was amazing. You know, that was something that I just walked away from going. I can't believe we just did that, you know? And so did the whole band and, you know, everyone was just massive buzz, you know, amazing night. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Fantastic. And look, by the time this interview is published, part two is already out. And So it's coming out this Friday, It's two days from today as we record. But by the time this episode is out on Tuesday, it's already out. Which one is your favorite song? Eric Coelho: Ah, geez. Um, I mean, I did mix, uh, the have animates Kingston song with Brendan never at, as the lead vocalist. Eric Coelho: So I do enjoy that. And, uh, that was one of the singles that came out earlier on, um, I don't know, it's, it's hard because I, I, I'm one of those guys where I can see the beauty in every song and I know the story behind the song. So something always grabs me about the different song. And remember that moment when that person was playing that part or, you know, or just even on the road, like the conversation I had with one of the musicians, like I have a very biased view. Eric Coelho: Um, but yeah, I'd say Havana meets Kingston. Um, uh, or yeah, yeah, probably that one for now. Let's, let's, let's say for now, for this week, next next week will be another chain. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah. Well, look, I'm sure this record. Will again, make a huge splash and it will be noticed internationally. That's pretty clear to me the music is just phenomenal the musicianship is ridiculously Beautiful. Eric Coelho: Yeah. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Can you talk about the plans for the future? Is there anything possibly in the pipeline that you are comfortable talking about? Any other tours planned or public appearances of any shape? Eric Coelho: Um, no, not, no. It looked to be honest, I'm, I'm sort of becoming a little bit of a hermit at the moment. Eric Coelho: Um, no, look, I mean, you know, after, uh, those years of recording, I mean, I, I did, and I'm not meaning to make name drop here, but I have, um, had the opportunity to record with Angus and Julia Stone. And, um, and then that's what led into a lot of the touring work too, from those guys. Um, but, uh, you know, um, ever since sort of, I moved away from, I guess, touring and recording. Eric Coelho: I mean, I love recording. I feel like recording to me is kind of like doing a live show in a way you're, you're, you're capturing a moment, uh, in. That moment in time, we'll live from that point onwards, you know, and it's, it's a beautiful thing to be a part of. Um, but I guess, yeah, like my priorities have shifted, um, a lot and, and I just, I mean, you know, you can see where we live here in this amazing just view out here, looking out at the mountains. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: the view is pretty Spectacular. from your place. Eric Coelho: I mean, I have to say, I love just being home and the community around here and I've just became more of a yeah. Uh, I like getting into the local community, getting involved with the kids' school. I know it sounds a bit daggy, but yeah, I, no, that's just Jan 'Yarn' Muths: I know exactly where you're coming from I feel the same. Eric Coelho: And so, so like my studio downstairs is just about finished. Eric Coelho: I just finished, um, all the construction side of things and now it's really just. You know, embellishing it with some nice acoustic treatment. I've got some diffusers in there already. Um, but yeah, so I'm going to get some, um, absorption panels made up and to size and, you know, uh, get it all done to incrementally because I'd like to test the room, um, as I go, rather than just put a whole bunch of acoustic treatment in there and hope for the best. Eric Coelho: So I'm going to do some measurements and, you know, slowly, uh, add to it as, as it required. But yeah, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: see where that's going. yeah, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: You are a bit of a perfectionist Jan 'Yarn' Muths: in some ways. Eric Coelho: I've got my earthworks microphone ready to go. And, uh, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah. So this studio is going to be operational probably within weeks or are we talking still many Jan 'Yarn' Muths: months Eric Coelho: uh, probably a couple months before. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Um, Eric Coelho: I guess settled in, let's just say, um, so I'm planning to move my gear down there probably within the next few weeks and then start that process of, you know, getting acoustic treatment done. Eric Coelho: Right. And, um, so yeah, that's gonna take a few more months of, um, making sure that that's feeling right. And, um, and taking measurements, not just, you know, obviously my ears, uh, are going to do a lot of the talking, but, but I, I always like to confirm what I hear with, uh, some proper room measurements and Jan 'Yarn' Muths: scientific results, Eric Coelho: I want scientific results. Eric Coelho: Exactly. I want to make sure that where my head is, I'm not getting too much of one thing or the other, but, um, yeah, so that's, that's been where a lot of my time's been going in. So I guess. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: From, Eric Coelho: From, you know, that point of view. Uh, and I've been doing a lot of the work myself, I guess. Um, it's been enjoyable, but also it's much cheaper doing the labor yourself, if you can do it, if you have the capability to, so, and I have, yeah, it's been great. Eric Coelho: Um, seeing it come together, I've taken a couple, uh, sort of videos, uh, time-lapse videos of, you know, the walls going up or the ceilings coming in or the windows getting in and double glazing and this and that. So yeah, so a lot of the energy going there. And then once I settled in there, I hope to, you know, really push for, um, you know, getting some. Eric Coelho: Um, of the people that I've been working with in the past to, to come and, you know, hang out and, uh, and let's, and let's make something, you know, but, um, yeah, I mean, potentially some recording too in down there, but, you know, I'm, I'm treating it more as a mixing slash project space or, you know, like if, if people want to. Eric Coelho: Uh, finish writing something or, or we, we need to work on something near arrangement or whatnot. That's, that's cool, but I don't want it to be like a recording studio as such. I mean, you could fit a band in there, but it's probably better just to go to somewhere like rocking horse or the music farm or, you know, using these amazing local studios that we have access to. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Yeah. They're definitely well-fitted for a lot of noise. Eric Coelho: Totally. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Say if somebody wanted to reach out to you and work with you, how could somebody find you? Have you got a website or social media channels? Um, Eric Coelho: I do have a website, so it's Eric quilla.com.edu, um, which are just literally filing. Got done. Um, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: uh, Eric Coelho: Always been a person of word of mouth and, uh, and then a lot of people go, oh, can I see some of your work? Eric Coelho: And I'm like, just send them a link to Spotify or apple music or whatever. And it's not the most efficient way to show them my work. Um, so I had to grow up and put my big pants on and uh, get a website done. Um, so yeah, there's that I, I'm not huge on social media. I should probably change that. My wife always says, Eric, you should, you know, you gotta, you gotta get involved. Eric Coelho: Um, but yeah, so, um, but yeah, definitely my website somewhere you can get in touch and see some, or hear some of the work that I've done. Um, yeah, so I have some links there, but yeah, mind you I'm um, I'm constantly improving on things and, Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Okay. Eric Coelho: Okay. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: you're interested in reaching out to Eric and uh, maybe just for a chat or who knows maybe for a mixed on session recording session one day, so go to the show notes. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: I'm going to put The link there, just click straight on the link and you'll find him. And, uh, yeah, hopefully the studio will blow a big time and get you a lot of business and an amazing music. made. So Eric Coelho: Thank you, man. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Eric, Thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate your sharing. All of this with us Um, and everybody. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Please check out. Havana meets Kingston, part to Eric's work. It's phenomenal music. So thank you so much. Eric Coelho: Awesome. Thanks Yana. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Thank you so much, Eric, amazing stuff. Thank you for all your insight into the production and recording of Havana meets Kingston. If you're new to the podcast, please go to the previous episode. Number 45, where we had an interview with Mr. Savona, the producer behind this project. These episodes go really well together and definitely head down to the show notes to follow the link to the Havana meets Kingston. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: Part two album click there, have a listen. It's out now. It's phenomenal. I just listened to it this morning and it's stunning. Amazing musicianship sounds phenomenon. So definitely worth checking out. You can also check out Eric's website, which is also in the show notes. So if you need anybody to help you out with your sound, Eric is warmly recommended. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: I've known him for many years at a trust and blindly. You're going to be in very good hands. If you work with him in the meantime, please subscribe to the podcast and do me a huge favor. Please think about all the friends, you know, and, um, I'm pretty sure that you do now. Some fellow musicians who would benefit from the things we discuss in this podcast. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: And please do me a big, big favor and pass this podcast on to one or two people that you know, and give them a recommendation. Tell them to please tune in and subscribe to this podcast to spread the message. This will definitely help me to, to keep this podcast going for the long run. So thank you very much for your word of mouth. Jan 'Yarn' Muths: I really appreciate that. If you ever need any help finishing a project, if you need help mixing, you can also reach out to me via www.mixartists.com.au, my website, where I offer online mixing services. And maybe just have a look at the lessons section where you can check out my previous work, or I also warmly recommend to just read through the reviews that I've received from previous clients to just get a sense of, you know, what, what it would be like. So thank you for considering all of this. Please subscribe, please pass the message on and recommend this podcast to all your friends. This is all for today. I speak to you again next week. Have a fantastic week. Bye for now.
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