Sterling Winfield is a heavy metal producer and engineer with various record labels, production companies, and original material bands. He has 20 years experience in the recording industry with credits including Hellyeah, Seventh Void, and Pantera, as well as worldwide touring experience. From January 21- February 4, 2011, Sterling will be answering your questions on producing and recording.
Born and raised in west Texas, Sterling moved to Dallas, Texas in 1988 after graduating high school, and started mixing for local bands in 1990 after completing an extensive audio engineering course with recording legend Phil York. In 1991, Sterling became a staff engineer for Dallas Sound Lab, and in late 1993 met up with heavy metal pioneers Pantera, who he worked with on their ground breaking CD, “Far Beyond Driven.” The record, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard top 200 in April of 1994, was also Grammy nominated. Since then, Sterling has continued to work with a variety of hard rock bands in the studio and on the road.
How to ask Sterling your questions:
1) Log in to Transport (Or subscribe if you haven’t yet done so)
2) Use the comments field below to ask your questions
3) Sterling will address those questions below
4) Question/Answer period will end on February 4, 2011
Hi Sterling,
whats your typical set up when tracking drums?
(specifically with Pantera.)
thanks.
Tim
hi, sterling
1-how can i get a big hard rock guitar sound with 1 guitar and 3 amps sim(eleven plug in) how to pan the amps? or it is better to record the 3 amps left and then layer the guitar with the 3 amps to the right?
2- how to get a good vocal sound with the apogee duet since i don’t have an external compressor? thanks
hi Sterling,
1. what are your favorite electric guitar and bass guitar mics?
2. how do you approach mixing a record? do you do instruments first and then vocals?
thanks for doing this!
z
This response is for Tim (timderamos):
Well Tim whether you know it or not, that is actually two questions in one. I’ll answer the Pantera portion of the question first. When I worked with Pantera you have to keep in mind that I was co-producing with the two guys that knew what Pantera should sound like best, Vinnie Paul, and Dimebag Darrell. When it came to drums with those guys I ALWAYS followed Vinnie’s lead on that one. You have to remember that he was an engineer when I was still in high school and he knew what he wanted his kit to sound like. There really was never a “typical” set up with Vinnie. He is always into trying whatever is gonna give him that signature sound of his but open minded enough to try ANYTIHNG to improve upon what we had done the last time we were in the studio, so the set up was never the same twice. We were always experimenting and trying to expand our sonic knowledge base. Sometimes we would use an AKG 414 in the kick, and sometimes we would use an AKG D112. Sometimes we would use Sennhieser 421′s on the toms, and sometimes we would use Shure KSM 32′s, or AKG 414′s. Always changing and evolving. I learned most of what I know about micing a drum kit from that dude alone over the years. I owe him a lot in that department for sure.
So with that in mind, when I am running the show, I tend to take what I learned with him, and everywhere else and try to work best with what I have at hand (because you never know what you’re gonna get when you work all over the place in different rooms), and do what is hopefully the most musical and natural sounding for the song(s) that we are working on. All that being said, I do have a couple of things that I tend to do over and over. I like an inside and outside kick mic, top and bottom snare mic (sometimes a side mic too), and I mic the top and bottom of all of the toms. I don’t really have a set of particular mics that I lean on. I just try to do the best with what is available. Remember, it’s not the gear that is responsible for making a great sounding recording. It’s you!
genesimons Says:
January 22nd, 2011 at 8:29 am
hi, sterling
1-how can i get a big hard rock guitar sound with 1 guitar and 3 amps sim(eleven plug in) how to pan the amps? or it is better to record the 3 amps left and then layer the guitar with the 3 amps to the right?
2- how to get a good vocal sound with the apogee duet since i don’t have an external compressor? thanks
Hello Gene,
Let’s go for trying to answer question 1 first. Although I don’t really have much experience with guitar plug ins, especially “Eleven”, I’m gonna kind of wing it here. If you are talking about having one guitar “Direct Input” signal feeding three different plug in simulations, or three different signals feeding three different plug ins, I think the same technique that I would use should apply to both.
I would make sure that each one of the three plug in simulations that you are using don’t sound like one another at all. Here’s what I mean. I worked on an album many years ago out at Sonic Ranch outside of El Paso Texas, and I had to use three different miced amps/cabinets at once to get a guitar tone. Each one of the amps and cabinets represented a different part of the sound spectrum. One was used for the low-end, one for the mid-range, and one for the high-end. With a bit of phase adjustment, and blending we bussed them all to one track, panned it to the right, and then we doubled it, panned it to the left, and it sounded massive! Then again, one of the best guitar tones I’ve ever heard was a Shure SM-57 on a Marshall amp and cab with a Les Paul plugged straight into it. Sometimes you gotta work for it, other times it just falls in your lap. I would think that it might be a bit similar with an “Amp-in-the-box”. Just make sure that the tones aren’t crossing over each other too much, frequency wise, and blend them together and I’m sure you’ll get a decent tone. But, there will NEVER be a substitute for the real deal!
Question two:
I personally have never owned an Apogee Duet, but after checking one out I am definitely getting one for sure! If I were you I would treat it as you would any digital audio interface, and just plug into one of the inputs via the output of your vocal mic pre, and use a couple of compression and or EQ plug ins on an “Aux” channel input on whatever DAW you are using, and just bus the output of that “Aux” or input channel to the channel you are ultimately going to record the vocal performance to. I have used the internal bussing on my DAW for tons of stuff during recording AND mixing. It’s all about the internal routing my man!
tzigularov Says:
January 24th, 2011 at 1:26 pm
hi Sterling,
1. what are your favorite electric guitar and bass guitar mics?
2. how do you approach mixing a record? do you do instruments first and then vocals?
Hey Tzigularov,
I would have to say that I don’t have any favorites for things like guitar and bass, but then I guess I would be lying then wouldn’t I? I know this is cliche, but my all time favorite is a Shure SM-57 for heavy or distorted guitars. But I rarely use just one mic per cabinet, so depending on the song and/or the situation, I also like to go with one of these other favorites: Sennhieser 421, AKG 414, Coles 4038 ribbon, Royer 121 or 122 ribbons (on the back side since they tend to be a bit brighter back there), Beyer 201, Shure SM 7 (set flat),even a Neuman U-87 if it’s not too loud, and that’s just to name a few of the more well known variety, and they are in no particular order of preference.
The same goes for bass. I tend to mostly use an AKG 414, but I will always get a direct signal to blend it with plus maybe another large diaphragm mic like a Nueman U-87 0r M149,Shure SM 32. Sometimes i like to use one of the above mics with a kick drum dynamic mic, like an AKG D112, EV RE20, or even one of those “Sub Kick” outside of the kick drum speaker looking contraptions for capturing the low end of a kick drum. Those work great for expanding the low end! Don’t be afraid to experiment!
This is for the second question from Tzigularov:
2. how do you approach mixing a record? do you do instruments first and then vocals?
Well, I have to say that I am pretty conventional when it comes to this. I like to start with whatever the foundation of the song is. It is usually something that is time based like drums, or percussion, and go from there to things that are more tonally based like bass, guitar, keys, etc., and slowly build up the rhythym section.
I definitely start with instruments first, then move on to vocals and place them into the mix, and then any kind of vocal effects and so on. I have heard of some guys starting with vocals and then slowly building the song around them. I might try that sometime just to see what happens. Who knows, it might open up a whole new world for me. Don’t ever be afraid to try something new, if you have the time that is…
Broseph,
What has been your most unconventional technique with regard to recording drums? I’ve heard of using PZM mic’s taped to the inside of the resonant head of the kick to achieve a great high-end attack and dixie cups on D112′s to capture more moving air into the mic. Anything particularly odd that you find yourself using? or an odd workflow?
Yours in awsomeness,
RickG
PS- How can we get JT to cut his hair? HAHAH
Hey Rick G.
Well if unconventional is the gist here, then I do have a few examples for ya, and not just for drums. What is the old saying, “necessity is the mother of invention”? I distinctly remember having trouble with the sound of the overheads on the Mercyful Fate album “Dead Again”. My assistant at the time (Kol Marshall) and myself tried all different kinds of combinations and nothing seemed to be working until he was moving the mics (Audio Technica 4050′s) to another spot for me out in the studio and I was in the control room listening when it sounded to me like he had hit the sweet spot. I told him to stop where he was and when I looked up, instead of the mics being over the cymbals in a ‘looking down at’ fashion, parallel to the cymbals, they were off to the left and right side of the kit pointed directly at the drummer at about cymbal height. Exactly ninety degrees to the cymbals off to either side. It sounded great and that’s what we went with.
I also remember another time with Vinnie Paul that he kept snapping those little music store kick pads in half because he is such a confident and heavy hitter, so we super glued silver dollars to the kick heads.
I’ve mounted microphones on the insides of all kinds of drums, put microphones in bathrooms for ambiance, stuck mics inside of plastic ten gallon water bottles, and even gaff taped all kinds of weird homemade devices constructed from cardboard tubes among other things to the ends of mics in front of a guitar cabinet to get a certain extreme sound. I think every engineer has to be unconventional, and inventive. Sometimes you gotta think outside of the box. As far as work flow goes, that is always changing and you should always be adapting because of the difference between how other musicians like to work and how they are best made to be the most comfortable in the studio setting. It’s all about getting the best performance out of people, and if they aren’t comfy then you’re gonna hear it.
Now, as far getting J.T. to cut his hair, not gonna happen. At this point I’m more worried about how he dresses… LOL, just kidding J.T., we love ya! Don’t change a thing Brotha!
Sterling, how are you? It’s an honor to get to pick your brain! So, broad question here, but what is the best thing I can do to my mix to “give it legs’? Panning? EQ? Compression? xxxx? Also, what is your favorite/best trick for lead vox to make them really thick and shine? Snares. Wow. I don’t want to sound replace, and wow the same snare can vary so much from song to song it seems. What is your approach once you have it recorded?
Look forward to hearing your very valued opinion,
thanks – Barry
Hey Trendkill Barry,
Can’t complain really. I get to answer folks’ questions on the Apogee website, so I’m doin’ great!
Well I’m not real sure what you mean by giving your mix “legs” so I am guessing you are just referring to making it sound big and bad ass? For me, mixing is a feel thing. I just like to concentrate on each thing individually at first, especially with the drums. Also it’s all about making sure everything has it’s own space to reside in frequency wise so that one instrument is not fighting another and/or competing for the same space as another. I like to dig out all of the trash that might be hanging on by using high and low pass filters to get all of the frequencies that you no longer need to make something crystal clear, and natural sounding BEFORE YOU RECORD IT! Get it right before you go to tape, and your mixes won’t turn into such a nightmare that you get frustrated and quit. Don’t be in such a hurry to hit the red button! EQ and compression will be your best friend sometimes, but try to get the best sound possible with mic placement, then reach for the EQ or compressor. If you get a great tone from mic placement first, then you won’t have to rely on EQ and compression to bail you out all the time. If it sounds natural before you record, it will naturally fit together, and be easier to mix down. There is a reason that musical instruments have certain sounds and registers. Don’t turn it into something it’s not, and it will all work out fine my man!
Hi,
I am beginning to look at audio interfaces. I am interested in either a Firewire or USB 2.0 unit. Which is best? It seems that everyone has a preference. How do I know which is best for me? I usually work alone recording one track at a time with Sonar. I also use Garritan Personal Orchestra 4.0. I would appreciate any help you can give me in making an informed decision.
Regards,
Mack