Noted front of house engineer Kevin Madigan (Crosby, Stills & Nash, Smashing Pumpkins, Ray LaMontagne, Lucinda Williams, Eels) is drawing on his experience with Waves plug-ins as live engineer for CSN in recording and mixing Graham Nash’s new album at Village Studios in Los Angeles.
“My experience using Waves plug-ins on the road has given me in-depth knowledge of them,” Madigan says. “It’s kind of like how in years past I would get used to my favorite hardware pieces and know exactly what they could do. Now, with Waves, I can consistently have great versions of them available everywhere I work.
“My needs in the studio aren’t always that different from what I do live,” he continues. “The process that helps me create a great live mix can translate very well to the studio, where I often go for the same favorite plug-ins. When I know from my live experience what I want something to do sonically, I’ll already have a good idea of how to use it in the studio as well.”
In the studio, he’s been working with the Waves Abbey Road Collection: Reel ADT, REDD, TG12345 and J37. “The RS56 had already been getting good use on the road,” he adds. “I’ve also been using the recently released Waves dbx 160 – thanks to Waves for that.”
He notes that Crosby, Stills & Nash performs live with an impressive collection of guitars played by talented players and managed by skilled guitar techs. “The guitar tone is deep, rich and crisp before I do anything to it – even more so in the studio when recorded with a U67 and C12,” he says. “If there’s any dynamic control necessary, a Waves CLA-2A Compressor/Limiter does the job.
“For these studio sessions with Graham, my favorite Waves plug-ins are the CLA-2A Compressor/Limiter on vocals and acoustic guitars, the PuigTec EQP-1A on vocals, the PuigChild Compressor on bass, the SSL G-Master Buss Compressor on the drum group, and last but not least, the X-Noise, a sonic problem-solver par excellence.”
