Artistic Palette
Having left the analog world back in 2006 without ever looking back since, Morgan relied on an Avid VENUE D-Show system to create his house mix on the Troubadour Reunion Tour.
Noting that he likes the desk on a human level because “it’s big and so am I,” Morgan has a long reach and big hands that keep everything on the system surface at his fingertips.
As testimony to his permanent departure from the analog way, not a stick of outboard gear could be found at his mix position. In the last couple of years he has discovered all of the Waves plug-ins, making them a strong part of his artistic palette.
Quite a few of the Renaissance compressor modules found their way into the reunion tour, used on kick drum, bass guitar, and guitar.
Two-voice doublers are a favorite for fattening-up lead vocals, while four-voice doublers are a preferred choice on the backing singers.
Morgan kept an H-Comp hybrid compressor at the ready for Taylor and King, as well as a Waves C4 multiband dynamics processor.
Featuring four bands of up-and-down expansion, limiting, compression, and dynamic and standard EQ, in Morgan’s hands the C4 is combined with the H-Comp to produce a sound on Taylor’s harmonica that pays direct homage to Paul Butterfield slamming through a Twin Reverb.
Avid’s Eleven amp simulation is also a major ingredient of Taylor’s Twin Reverb harmonica sound. An Avid Smack! compressor is applied to vocals and Taylor’s acoustic guitar, while a Tube-Tech CL 1B plug-in sees use on violin and Danny Kortchmar’s nylon string guitar.
Putting a little analog color into the digital domain by increasing apparent loudness without increasing gain (like a modeling of analog tape compression) Morgan used a Phoenix plug-in from Crane Song to give a little back to passages in his mix he had squashed once.
“It really is quite delicious,” he says of the module. “You get back the sparkle you lose going through various stages of compression. I still use old tube emulations as well – Avid’s Bomb Factory LA-2A and LA-3A, as well as the LA-2A and LA-3A versions from Waves.
I like the Avid LA-2A on the Earthworks piano mics I use, and the Waves LA-2A on Carole’s acoustic guitar. Conversely, I like the Avid LA-3A on Robbie Kondor’s synth, but I use the Waves LA-3A on his organ keyboard.”
In Morgan’s opinion, the best emulation of Dr. Walter Kuhl’s venerable EMT 140 plate reverb can be found in a TL Space plug-in. “The EMT 140 is the classic acoustic guitar reverb,” he says. “If you want to hear James Taylor playing ‘Carolina in My Mind’ just like back in 1969, this is how you do it.”