Producer Steve Levine has taken advantage of the tumbling price of quality recording equipment to assemble a complete digital studio in a tiny room at his home. Paul Tingen enters the digital domain...
The Guinness Book of Records invents some curious categories, like airplane eating or pole sitting, so that they can cram as many names as possible into their fact‑packed pages. A category like 'greatest sales per square foot of selling space' may not quicken the imagination quite as much, but it got the excellent hi‑fi chain Richer Sounds a mention for their achievements at their London Bridge branch. By these standards, the British producer/engineer Steve Levine is a prime candidate for entry in Guinness too. All the makers of the book have to do is invent a similar category, perhaps 'professional recording studio with the greatest amount of gear per square foot', and it would almost certainly mean a spectacular number one entry for Levine's studio. For in a back room of his residence somewhere in West London he has managed to cram a top‑level 32‑track digital studio in a space that's about the size of a luxury toilet. Its exact dimensions are 10 feet by 6 feet 10 inches, and somewhere between four ADATs, a Yamaha 02R digital mixer, and racks and racks of outboard gear and sound sources, he's even managed to find space for human presence, with a bit of clear floor space and two swivel chairs.
My fundamental aim is to help an artist achieve his or her best.
Sitting in one of these chairs in this tiny space, with gear towering above one's head in all directions, is a slightly unnerving experience — yet it feels cosy rather than cramped. Steve Levine sits about two feet from me — he can't really move any further away — and the combination of a youthful, boyish face and grey curly hair give his appearance a curiously timeless quality. Levine (38, as it turns out) talks fast and has strong and well‑argued opinions about many things, with a special affection for what he appropriately calls his "studio in a box. I can do almost everything here: pre‑production, overdubs of vocals, acoustic guitars, percussion and so on, editing, pre‑mastering, and since I got the Yamaha 02R, also mixing. Years ago I had a private digital 24‑track studio in London, but because the equipment was so much bigger, I needed much more space and had to house it in an industrial unit. I've long wanted to do everything at home in as compact a place as this, and it's only really been possible since this year, when the 02R came on the market."
Levine continues, explaining that most of the acts he currently works with are up and coming, and that working in his small but perfectly equipped studio saves them a lot of money, and gets both sonically and artistically top‑level results, because the artists feel they can relax in the welcoming surroundings of Levine's home. "Initially I thought I'd just do pre‑production work in here on the computer and hard disk, but then we tried recording some vocals and got better results than in a commercial studio. The artists really liked it here. So I now have this booth that I can set up in the adjacent room, and it becomes the perfect recording room. It's the size of about two phone boxes, and whilst we have no eye contact, it's possible to record pretty much anything in there, with the exception of a full drum kit. And equipment hasn't only become much smaller, it's also become very portable. Everything in here is fitted in flightcases with wheels. I can dismantle things in seconds, fit them in my car, and set up somewhere else in two hours. I often do this when I want to record drums or a whole band. After doing pre‑production here, I go to a cheap studio with a good‑sounding room, record things on my own equipment, and come back here to edit, overdub and mix."
Dirty Hands
The above illustrates the basics of the Levine Method of Recording and Producing, with central themes such as the versatility and high quality of modern equipment, the idea that small and cheap are beautiful and not necessarily of lesser quality, and his fondness for working with young artists. The seeds for Steve Levine's (not to be confused with colleagues Ian Levine or Stewart Levine, who are no relation) 'method' were clearly sown during his early days at CBS studios in the mid‑'70s, when he started as tea boy and gradually made his way upwards via the then‑stereotypical route of tape‑op, assistant engineer, engineer and eventually producer. He quickly got himself noted: it was as early as 1976 that The Beach Boys' Bruce Johnson spotted Levine and told him that he'd make a good producer. Johnson's statement proved prophetic, for 20 years later Levine is one of the most successful UK producers around, with credits such as Culture Club, The Beach Boys and Gary Moore, and with a special talent for "bringing out the seed that is there" in unknown artists.
Levine's talent for working with up‑and‑coming bands can be traced to formative events that clearly made a big impression on him: "CBS had a great policy, which I wish would still be practiced today. Studio 3 was their junk room, containing all the shit gear that was left over from the other studios, and when they had just signed or wanted to try out a new band, they gave them two days of free recording time in Studio 3 with a junior engineer. That was a fantastic thing. It gave bands experience in working in a studio, and engineers could learn a lot and feel at ease, because it wasn't that important if you made a mistake. The band members were usually the same age as you and didn't worry about you being a junior engineer. It gave me tremendous experience in working with young artists, and it's a real problem that studios don't do this kind of thing any more, and that the studio industry in general doesn't give opportunities for people to get their hands dirty in a studio and really learn the ropes."
Digital has made my job much easier and much more cost‑effective.
So worried is Levine about this problem that he is working with RePro (see box) on finding rememedies for a situation where most people learn to engineer in the isolation of their own home, leading to "the sound quality of finished records going down" and "people asking me very fundamental questions at workshops I do." His apprenticeship at CBS, he says, "was a hugely successful background. I was the last generation that really went through that process, from tea boy to engineer, to producer. Every day that I work now, I draw on that wealth of experience. I worked on every single type of music, rock, jazz, classical. Sometimes I had to set up the studio for 9 o'clock in the morning, and then we did a jingle in one hour flat, recorded, mixed, and out, everything done. That kind of regime is very, very good for you."
Fundamental
Levine's hugely succesful background and his talent for bringing out the seed in a new artist manifested themselves very quickly in his work with Culture Club in the early '80s. After having completed his apprenticeship at CBS, he started work as a freelance producer‑engineer. He soon found himself working with a then‑unknown band called Culture Club, and fell headlong into staggering success, with his productions of million‑selling singles like 'Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?' and 'Karma Chameleon' and three best‑selling albums, Kissing To be Clever (1982), Colour By Numbers (1983) and Waking Up With The House On Fire (1984). Levine remembers: "Drummer Jon Moss wanted to have the effect of a dual rhythm, and so we got my LinnDrum to play the backbeat of the tracks and he played over that. That was the beginning of the sound of Culture Club, even though 'Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?' was done with a CR78 drum machine, rather than the Linn."
The O2R is one of the best things I ever bought, and I can't describe how happy I am with it.
Culture Club made Levine's reputation as a hit producer, and he soon found himself working with a wide variety of artists, ranging from The Beach Boys, Ziggy Marley, Deniece Williams, Gary Moore and China Crisis to America. But he never strayed too far from the core talents that brought him so much success with Culture Club: getting the best out of young artists, having an ear for high‑quality, chart‑friendly pop music, and also getting an excellent vocal sound (see 'Recording Vocals' box). Levine: "I suppose I do pop music best, but that covers such a wide range. The more diverse the things I do, the better I like it. I don't want to be known for just one thing. But everything I do is held together with a common thread, and that common thread is that I really know my onions when it comes to making a record. I really know how to get the best out of an artist. I can find the thing that needs to be brought out. And I don't take over, or play everything myself. I don't believe in that. I program things to save people hassle, because I'm a good programmer, but my job is to help people, not to be them. My fundamental aim is to help an artist achieve his or her best."
By the end of the '80s, Levine had shifted part of his focus to composing music for film and television. Amongst other projects, he scored movies such as Mr Frost (with Jeff Goldblum and Alan Bates) and Eversmile New Jersey (with Daniel Day Lewis), and composed the music for 20 episodes of the US TV series She Wolf Of London. Filming and production initially took place in the UK, but when it was moved to California halfway through the year‑long project, Levine followed, in early 1991. He ended up living there for three years, and came back in late 1993, weary of riots, earthquakes, floods and the other surprises that sunny California had apparently delivered him and his family. On coming back to the UK, Levine found that it was very much a matter of "starting again." Unsurprisingly, with a track record like his, this hardly meant twiddling thumbs and chasing work. Instead, he opted to build once more on the original inspiration of CBS Studio 3. When I spoke to Levine early this autumn, he was working with (or had just worked with), over half a dozen up and coming artists and bands, including Eddie Lloyd, Akira, Darling! and The Emotionals. The only well‑known exception was a 'pop' album with The King Singers.
Phenomenal
Levine thus now generally works on projects with smaller budgets, and his small but top‑quality home studio is the ideal tool. Perhaps it's time to examine the gear that's packed into Levine's tiny room. Levine: "I've built this selection of equipment up over many years. I've refined it to exactly what I want. My synth collection had grown to enormous proportions at one stage and has now shrunk back to the things I decided I really need. Technology moving on helps: I used to have three Akai S‑series samplers, and now just one Emu EIV with 128Mb of RAM and a 1Gig Jaz drive does the same job. The Emu is a brilliant machine with great filters. Many people don't program or process their sounds any more these days, through inexperience or laziness. It does take some patience, but I think it's very satisfying when you make a great, new, fresh, sound. The other day I created a pad sound that sounded vaguely like an evolving Wavestation patch, a looped and filtered 15‑second sample of a river and a nondescript breathy flute‑like sound from an old CD‑ROM. It was a fantastic surreal pad sound. So it does pay to experiment." Levine is known for having a large sample library, and he's even made some sample CDs.
The master keyboard in use in Levine's studio is a Yamaha KX88, and other sound sources include Roland U220 and D550 synth mdoules, Roland R8M drum module, Ensoniq ESQ1M synth module, Korg Wavestation AD and Yamaha TX802 synths. Right next to them is an Atari Mega 4 with hard drive. Levine: "In all honesty, I can do everything on the Atari that my Mac with Notator Logic software upstairs can do. I have the Atari in my studio because the majority of people I'm working with use an Atari, and it's absolutely fine for sequencing and synth editing. Unless you want to do hard disk recording there's no point in getting rid of your Atari. My hard disk recorder and editor is still the Akai DD1000, because of the instantly‑removable cartridges. I record all my audio onto my ADATs and then use the DD1000 for editing real drums or guitars and cleaning up things, or making vocal comps."
Unless you want to do hard disk recording there's no point in getting rid of your Atari.
The two centrepieces of Levine's studio are the Yamaha 02R digital desk and his four ADAT machines with BRC (Big Remote Control). The small size of the desk is in itself a breakthrough, for it means that he can have a top‑quality desk in his tiny room to mix on. Before the Yamaha, Levine had a Mackie 3204 desk, which was only used for monitoring, but not for recording, let alone mixing. Levine says about the Yamaha: "It's fantastic. I don't mind the 'page' system, because in practical terms you only use very few. Having a meter bridge does help, though — it means that you can look at two things at the same time. This desk is one of the best things I ever bought, and I can't describe how happy I am with it. It may not be perfect, but for the money it's amazing. You're looking at a man who once spent £220,000 on two Sony 3324 24‑tracks, plus £28,000 on a DDA desk with £20,000 Optifile automation. All great gear, but the Yamaha costs only £10,000 fully loaded, it sounds great, and I can do top‑quality mixes with it. It's connected to my ADATs with fibre‑optic cables, which results in a phenomenal S/N ratio."
Solution
And so onto the ADAT machines. Levine is aware of the recent discussions, with some people saying that ADAT is not an entirely reliable format (see, for example, the interiew with David Lord in SOS November 1996), but he reckons that they're as reliable as any other professional format, "as long as you service them properly. I have them routinely serviced before and after every project, and given a full tweak every 500 hours. Looked after like that, they haven't given me any more trouble than my Sony 3324 did. So whilst they're not trouble‑free, in the real world they're a lot less trouble than hard disk computer recorders, which seem to crash all the time. I still have the original ADAT machines, because my whole system is digital, so I don't use the A/D or D/A converters. Also, the use of the meter bridge on the remote is essential for me, and I don't necessarily need an increase in rewind speed. Another thing that's great about the ADAT is that I can send my tapes all over the world, for other people to work on, because so many people have one now. And the BRC provides me with a reliable time code and word clock master."
Levine is aware of the recent resurgence of valve and analogue equipment, with people arguing that the digital sampling rate and word length are too low, that digital's frequence response is too limited, and that it just sounds plain bad. Levine has his own view: "I agree with all that these people say. It would be great to have a 24‑bit, 400KHz sampling‑rate digital medium, but it wouldn't be practical with current technology; plus, in the real world, analogue will hardly ever manage to perform what it is theoretically capable of in laboratory conditions. Most analogue 24‑tracks in the world are over 10 years old, and most of them will be well‑worn and have worn heads. People travel from studio to studio with their tapes, and these different machines are often not quite compatible. Then there's the problem of tape wear when you use a tape over and over again, and when you bounce on analogue, you play from the sync head, and it sounds crap anyway. The point is that whilst analogue is, in theory, capable of delivering better sound performance than digital, in the real world it hardly ever does. In a normal working environment, digital wins hands down. There are no lining up problems, and even if it plays back with severe error correction, it will still sound better than a badly lined‑up analogue recorder.
"My solution is to have top‑class, well‑serviced digital equipment, have a complete digital signal path, so no converters are used unnecessarily, and to have a top‑class analogue front end. If you start with a shitty mic and a shitty mic preamp, and put things through a lousy A/D converter, and record all that at too low a level, that's when people hear things that are not pleasant. I have some of the best microphones that money can buy — Neumann, Sanken, B&K, Schoeps, Shure — plus an extensive collection of mic preamps, including Focusrite, GML, and TLA. I either use the A/D convertors of the Yamaha 02R, which are excellent, or my Apogee converters. My analogy is that using a good analogue front end is a little like shooting a film on 35mm and then transferring it to a video editing system. And I agree that good analogue equipment is a little bit like the film medium, in that it has a kind of masking effects that people like — things become better than reality. But digital has made my job much easier and much more cost‑effective. I'll happily put my way of recording against real world‑quality analogue and I bet that you'll be really hard‑pressed to hear any difference at all."
Focusrite Green Range
In the main body of this article, Steve Levine talks about the necessity of having top‑quality analogue equipment before digital equipment. Levine has recently done some recording workshops organised by Focusrite, and one by‑product of this collaboration was that he had early access to Focusrite's brand new Green range, consisting of a dual mic preamp, a mic preamp with parametric EQ, and the Green Voicebox (for a review of the latter, see SOS November 1996).
Levine:"The Green range comprises very price‑conscious products that are intended to make Focusrite technology affordable for home recording studios, post‑production facilities and so on. The Voicebox is a one‑stop solution for recording: microphone in one end, completed vocal out the other. It's different from the other stuff I have, but it sounds really good and is very good value for money. It would still be phenomenal at twice the price. The EQ mic preamp is fully featured. It's primarily designed for vocals, but it can also handle guitar or bass. The 2‑channel microphone preamp is a plain, classic box for getting whatever you're recording as clean to tape as possible."
Recording Vocals
"I've been really fortunate to have been able to work with some of the best vocalists in the world, and many people say to me: 'you know what I really liked about your music? The way the vocals leap out at you and the quality of the vocal sound that you get.' That's a label that other people have put on me over the years. Recording good vocals is down to a combination of things: the choice of microphone and microphone preamp, the way the artist feels, the right foldback balance, the right atmosphere. So I create an environment within which we can achieve the best results, both sonically and emotionally. I think that the way the vocalist feels creates most of the sound. It's so important. I've seen too many people set up a situation where the singer isn't comfortable, or where there is little time to do the vocal. But vocals get the song across, so I really believe in spending a lot of time with a singer to get the best results. I will always make sure that I have many tracks available, so that the vocalist can do as many takes as he or she wants, and I'm happy to keep recording until it is right. Because when it's right, a vocal jumps out at you.
"The right environment is phenomenally important to singers. Without exception, lead vocalists always insist that the other band members aren't there when they do the vocals. Ironically, they tend to be very shy and nervous people. They like to do it on their own, sometimes even with the lights off. Here in my studio it's great: I can't even see them when they're singing in my vocal booth. Most singers prefer to sing with headphones on, but when they want to sing with speakers, I will put the foldback out of phase. It's a very handy trick that will get rid of the most offensive spill. Using a fairly directional mic prevents much spill in the first place. The actual microphone I use will depend on the voice, but normally I have a choice of three: the Sanken CU41, Neumann TLM170, and if I want a valve sound, the Gefell U92S. If I'm doing stereo vocals, like a choir or backing vocals, I'll have a Sanken CMS2 stereo mic, which is also very good.
"They are all very expensive microphones, but I've learnt over the years that good microphones make a big difference. A good cheaper microphone is the Rode NT2. I don't like the AKG 414 very much, because I find the high end synthetic and it's really hard to get rid of the sibilance. I much prefer to use something like a Sanken, which is absolutely true, and then use the GML or Focusrite to increase the high end. If you boost at 18K, you get that sheen on the top end, but no sibilance. My choice of mic pre‑amps will depend on how loud or quiet the vocal is and what kind of track I'm doing. I mostly use the Focusrite 215, and when I want compression I have quite a lot of choice here. The Innovix is an old compressor from the mid '70s, and there's the Summit, which is fantastic, and a dbx, or the GML. And now of course, there's the Focusrite Voicebox and the rest of the Green range."
Selected Equipment List
RECORDING/MIXING
- Akai DD1000 magneto‑optical recorder
- Alesis ADAT digital 8‑tracks (x4)
- Alesis AI‑1 AES/EBU interface
- Alesis BRC (Big Remote Control)
- Alesis RMB meter bridge
- Mackie 3204 mixer and expander
- Sony PCM 2500 DAT recorder
- Technics SV260 portable DAT recorder
- Yamaha 02R digital mixer with four ADAT cards and meter bridge
COMPUTERS
- Atari Mega 4 computer
- Atari STacy laptop computer
- Macintosh LC475, 20Mb RAM/180HD
EFFECTS/OUTBOARD
- dbx 165A compressor with modifications
- Eventide H3000 Ultra‑Harmoniser
- Focusrite Green dual mic preamp
- Focusrite Green preamp/EQ
- Focusrite Green Voicebox
- Focusrite stereo mic preamp/EQ
- GML 8200 parametric EQ
- Groove Tubes preamp
- Ibanez SDR1000+ reverb
- Orban compressor/limiter
- Rockman Distortion/Sustainer
- Roland GP8 guitar processor
- Roland SN550 voice eliminator
- Summit Audio TLA tube limiter
- tc electronic TC2290 effects
- TLA C1 stereo valve compressor
- Yamaha REV1 reverb
MICS
- Bruel & Kjaer 4004 mic
- Fostex ribbon
- Neumann TLM170
- Sanken CMS2 stereo
- Sanken CU41 mic (x2)
- Schoeps BLM 3/CMC‑5 (x6)
- Shure SM55
- Shure SM98 (x4)
- Sony ECM S5 stereo
SYNTHS/SAMPLERS/PERCUSSION
- Emu EIV sampler, 128Mb RAM
- Ensoniq ESQ1M synth
- Korg Wavestation A/D synth
- Oberheim Drummer
- Oberheim DSX sequencer
- Oberheim Strummer
- Roland CR78 rhythm machine
- Roland D550 LA sound module
- Roland R8M percussion module
- Roland U220 PCM sound module
- Simmons SDS V with MIDI
- Yamaha KX88 master keyboard
- Yamaha TX802 FM synth module
- Yamaha TX816 FM synth module
GUITARS/INSTRUMENTS
- Antoria Mandolin
- Encore Dobro guitar
- Ibanez Blazer guitar
- Starfield guitars (x2): custom green, humbucker pickups and custom white, stacked single‑coil pickups
- Stepp DG1 MIDI guitar synth
MISCELLANEOUS
- Apogee AD 1000E D/A converter
- Axe 4‑way DI box
- B&W CM1 nearfield monitors
- Denon cassette deck
- FM Acoustics 214 line driver
- Friendchip SRC2 SMPTE generator
- Furman AR230 power conditioner
- Furman AR‑Pro power conditioner
- Jeanius Electronics Russian Dragon
- Real World MIDI Matrix (16‑in/48‑out)
- Sony 5030 U‑matic video machine
- Sony CD 227 ES CD player
- Sony magneto‑optical drives (x2)
- Syquest 44Mb rackmount hard drive
Levine & Repro
Alarmed by the impression that the quality of finished records is going down, because there is insufficient emphasis these days on giving trainees hands‑on recording experience in major studios, Levine has been part of recent moves by RePro, the producers' organisation, to create a new platform through which the know‑how of the older generation can be passed on. Levine: "We've lost the mechanisms to train people in the real world, rather than at colleges. Most studios can't afford to employ people any more to go through the old apprenticeship of tea boy — or tea girl, we need more women in engineering — assistant engineer, engineer, producer.
"Repro is trying to address this problem and is considering dropping its membership fee dramatically to encourage as many young people as possible to join. The idea is to create a community where everybody is helping each other, so that if, for example, a young engineer needs to mic up a drum kit in a session and has never done so before, he can call somebody and get support and information. We're also trying to launch the idea with record companies that they should re‑introduce production teams, and/or an executive producer, so that younger and older engineers and producers can work together more. Now record companies have a tendency to hire more and more inexperienced people, who then make a mess of something and then someone more experienced has to come in and do a rescue operation, and those kind of situations aren't good for anybody."
RePro is currently also engaged in looking after the rights of producers and engineers in the brave new digital world, in which mechanical copyrights will become less and less important as music is spread more and more by digital cloning, radio and satellite broadcasts, and the internet. Repro was a founding member of PAMRA (Performing Artists Media Rights Association), set up in 1995 in anticipation of a law that will come into being on December 1st this year. This new law will give performers the right to receive revenue from broadcasts and internet transmission of their music. Producers are expected to receive part of this revenue. Another important and related area is ISRC (International Standard Recording Code), which is a code by which every digital recording can be identified, and which is intended to protect the copyright and performance revenues of performers and producers.