Rafa sardina
It's an anomaly that few
Spanish engineers work outside of Spain and few Latin music engineers are
Spanish. George Shilling discusses Rafa
Sardina's unique profile at Abbey Road's revamped Studio One
RAFA SARDINA IS an LA-based engineer with an impressive client list and
a couple of Grammy's under his belt. He has worked with names such as Macy
Gray, Angie Stone and Dru Hill and has engineered a number of movie score
and soundtrack recordings. He was recently ensconced in Abbey Road's recently-refurbished
Studio One for three days of orchestral recording.
Q How did you get started in the music business?
I started doing live sound for mainly folk,
world and jazz music in Northern Spain and the south of France. I was doing
live sound for an artist, and he happened to need an assistant in his studio,
so I started fooling around there, once he knew he could trust me. Being in a
small studio was a great experience; I didn't have the constraints of bigger
studios which have more rules about how you do things. That was my beginning.
Afterwards I studied for a while in the
United States and I happened to have the big opportunity of getting
an internship at Ocean Way Studios in Los Angeles. It wasn't really planned, it
just happened. I was studying recording engineering; I wanted to learn more
about different aspects, even music! I play guitar and bass--I still play. That
was why I got into the business. After a few years--I think this happens to
every engineer, especially when you start engineering--you stop playing. You
don't have the time. I've tried to get back to playing and it really helps to
focus more on the main reason why all of us are in this business.
Q Did you assist on any particularly notable sessions?
The second week I was working at Ocean Way
was the prerecording for the Academy Awards, and it was a really big orchestra
with lots of invited people, from Celine Dion to Natalie Cole. It was seven
days of non-stop recording. That I think was the best thing about Ocean Way. At
the beginning of the nineties, it was one of the few studios that, because of
the nature of the room acoustics, had a lot of bands. It allowed you to use the
room as an instrument, and learn miking techniques, which doesn't really happen
any more.
Q What happened after Ocean Way?
I got my break with a very good friend of
mine--and still a very good client of mine--Camara Kambon, a great producer.
He's involved in scoring for movies and R&B and hip-hop music. Back then I
started doing work for Dr Dre and Dru Hill. At the beginning Dru Hill was a big
client, he was number one in the Billboard charts, and that was a great thing
for me.
Q Did you take projects back to Ocean Way?
Some of them I did, I really like the kind
of environment they have. It's a very old school type of studio. The whole
environment reflects that, the colours of the décor. The technical department
is just exceptional, and that's one of the main factors of working in any
studio--how good the people are. There's rarely anything that doesn't work.
Plus the acoustics are amazing. They are smart enough not to try to modify
something that was really good from the very beginning. That happens way too
often, even in the United States, so many rooms have been remodelled, and they
tear the floor apart just to realise later on that the floor was a big part of
the sound. Over a year ago, half of Ocean Way became Cello, but I still
consider them Ocean Way, and they still smell the same!
Q What is your philosophy when recording an artist?
I try to connect people. Besides working on
how you approach a project sonically, I think the most important thing is how
you make the client feel during the session, how you build their confidence.
Because I think that's the biggest risk, having insecurities. They are always
going to happen, but helping the client, the way you interact and how you
respond to their music, even how you form your opinion of what they are doing.
I wouldn't say I'm a diplomat, the opposite in a way, but you have to express
yourself in a way that something positive can come from a situation. When you
think something should be done differently, you have to make the client realise
on their own, that, 'Yeah, that's the way to go.' You can't really tell them...
sometimes you can, but it depends on personalities. Most often you have to
suggest it so they realise.
Q You have won Grammy's for your work with Luis Miguel.
Who is he?
He's an international artist with a Latin
background. I have been working with him for four years and have done four
albums with him. He is a big artist in Latin America, and in Spain. He does a
big range of musical styles, including orchestral recording and even Mariachi.
Q And how was it to work with Macy Gray?
She's such a sweet girl, she really has a
talent. She's very spontaneous, the kind of artist where you'd better have the
first take, even if it's with the talkback microphone or something, because
she's quite brilliant.
Q Is she interested in what happens in the control
room?
Not that much, she's just interested in the
result, which is what most people can hear.
Q What's your favourite console?
For tracking I have plenty of my own gear to
work with, I have old Neve 1073s, APIs, Mastering Lab preamps which I love. In
those circumstances I don't rely that much on the mixer, I just use it for
bringing back the tracks. But for tracking I love old Neves. I like 8032s,
APIs, those types of console. Even though, in the world of new mixers, I think
the SSL 9000, even for tracking, it's one of the best. And for mixing the 9000
is my first choice. I think the automation is quite brilliant and you can move
fast.
Q What other gear do you have?
I have a couple of microphones, I have a
Neumann U48, which is pretty rare. It's like a U47 but with figure-8 and
cardioid.
Q Do you always use the 48 for vocals?
No, I try not to. I love U47s, Telefunken
250s, and C12s, and M49s work great with some singers. If I haven't worked with
an artist before I try to put up a couple of microphones because you always
find surprises, you surprise yourself. I have been trying all types of
microphones, a 58 or Audio Technica. And I love the Sony C800, and the new
Neumanns, the 149 and the less expensive TLM103, they all sound really great
given the right application.
Q What kind of monitoring do you use?
I've been using JBL monitors for the last
year. I work with JBL testing speakers, and I think they are quite brilliant.
Monitoring is like food, different people like very different things. The JBL
LSR28Ps are the mid-sized ones. I usually take a pair of them with me. I still
use NS10s but they just stopped making them, and the ones at home I just blew
before this trip! I like to use big main monitors but only in the few places
where I know how they sound and how they translate. In the land of big monitors
it can be really tricky, because from studio to studio, or even in the same
studio it has happened to me when you go back they are not calibrated right. So
you have to be really aware of that and rely on the small monitors.
Q How loud do you listen?
About average... sometimes I crank it really
loud, like with my NS10s! Often with small monitors I match them with a
self-powered JBL subwoofer which I can turn on or off. That really helps me,
especially for mixing. I usually monitor with it turned off, but then switch it
on when I need to really check something.
Q How do you approach mixing?
I like to push up the faders and work really
fast on the different elements, on everything. Most often I pull everything
down again and work in a more progressive way, but at the very beginning I try
to be very fast, because it brings the spontaneity and you don't lose focus on
what's good about the music. And once you grab that very moment, it's clear in
your head, you can really approach the rest of the mix. I hate that kind of
approach where you put overheads, kick, and you're only listening to the drums.
For me, I like to pull everything up, work on a few different things and go
from there. Lately I've been doing a few different things; with Pro Tools
especially, there is a tendency to have way too many tracks. And that's where
you really spend some time, which has nothing really to do with the mix. It has
to do with housekeeping and production issues when you have to decide what
elements of what you have really make it to the mix. I actually don't like to
spend more than a day, tops, on a mix.
Q Do you still
use analogue tape?
Yes, because there is a difference in sound.
It's not better or worse, I'm not stuck in the past. But certain instruments
really benefit from analogue. At Ocean Way they have the Ampex ATR124s which
really have a phenomenal low-end. Sadly, not that many projects agree to use
analogue, because most producers know it's going to slow down the creative
process, they are going to have to wait for the tape to rewind, they know they
are going to be limited. With editing, I still cut tape, but they know it's not
going to be done in five seconds. People use Pro Tools, or Cubase or any of
these systems on their own, and they expect you to be as fast as they are, if
not better. And if it's a low-budget project, it adds to the cost to work
analogue, especially because you are going to use analogue plus another format,
and people prefer just to use the 'plus'.
Q Do you use Pro Tools?
Yes I have my own Pro Tools. And it's a
great tool, when you don't abuse it. It has to be a tool, when people forget
that, that's when you start getting into trouble. I think the one aspect that
suffers most in a project is not having a definite product. Because of the
nature of Pro Tools, not having the limitations of tape, many people have a
hard time committing, they have too many options. Lately I have been mixing
lots of stuff from Pro Tools, where people just bring endless numbers of
tracks...
Q How do you deal with that?
I have to make the final decisions at the
mixing stage, and I think that's kind of fresh for them too. When you listen to
the project for the first time you don't have time to worry too much, so you
get more ruthless, and you get what really impresses you about the project.
Q How do you prevent the situation of having endless
takes in the first place?
Erasing! That's the only way. Once I get a
few takes I comp, and I force myself to erase.
Q Doesn't that sometimes lead to conflict with the
artist when they know you have more tracks available?
Yes, even if you work on analogue they don't
believe you if you say you've run out of tracks!
Q How do you like surround work?
I think it's very satisfying. I'm still not
sure about how it translates in homes. I worked on a lot of films in 5.1 and
even 6.1. And I have compared Dolby and dts, and dts is a much higher-quality encoding.
Although when you put a DVD on it defaults to Dolby, I guess because they were
the first. I think there is a market for audio only 5.1, but I don't know how
big it is. How you set up your speakers in the home is going to be the biggest
fight, with wives--the first time I brought my speakers into the living room my
wife wouldn't let me put any speakers at the back. My setup is imperfect, so
what chance is there of other people getting it right? I went to a theatre
playback and it sounded unbalanced. It turned out that everything was out of
calibration. That is my only fear...
Q Is there any new equipment that has caught your eye?
I really like the Sony sampling reverb, I've
been using that quite a lot lately. It's quite limited, but it works great,
especially if you are working with an orchestra and you want to sweeten what
you've got.
Q Where is your home studio?
I live in Woodland Hills in Los Angeles. I
have a room within my garage which is my preproduction room where I work with
artists and the place where I listen to stuff. I have a fairly professional
setup with patchbays, so when I bring my own gear into my home I can interface
everything pretty quickly. Everything is in racks, and I have a ProControl so I
can very easily plug everything in 15 minutes and I'm rolling. Otherwise I
wouldn't do it, I couldn't go through the hassle.
Q Do you use an assistant at home?
Sometimes I do, but not very often. I've
been freelancing so often that I haven't had a chance to work at home that
much. Even with artists I have been developing, I've been working outside my
home. It's nice to work at home but you've got to be disciplined. There is the
danger of either not doing much work or working too much.
Q You do development work?
Yes, usually it comes through a referral.
That's what I think record labels are interested in now, I think they stopped a
big deal of their A&R searching, they depend more and more on producers.
And I think more producers, engineers and DJs are becoming A&R men. I enjoy
it; if you really believe in a project and get it signed it can be very
rewarding.
Q Who would you like to work with?
Sting. And I would have liked to engineer
something with Frank Sinatra. I assisted on one session with him and got to
meet him. Al Schmitt invited me to the session.