Artist Interview: Jeff Balding
Grammy Nominee Rocks the UAD-Xpander, and a Few More UA Products too, including the TEC-Award-Winning Neve Plug-Ins
By Marsha Vdovin
Whoever said that nice guys finish last never went to Nashville. This month we checked in with Jeff Balding, a multiple-Grammy-nominated engineer and producer based in Nashville. Jeff has made his mark working with a diverse group of artist from some of the first ladies of Nashville (Faith Hill, Shania Twain, Wynonna Judd, Trisha Yearwood) to the thrashing sounds of metal bands like Megadeth. And Jeff couldn’t be a nicer guy.
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| Engineer Jeff Balding |
I wanted to start by hearing about your background. We’re always interested to know how people got in the business. Where are you from?
I’m originally from Albion, a small town of about 1,800 people in southern Illinois. I got into music early on, in grade school actually. Then on to the usual routine of rock bands and such in high school. I was getting ready to go to college and wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do. My heart and passion was music, and the thought of going to school for something like electrical engineering just didn’t feel right. My girlfriend at the time, who is now my wife of 26 years, convinced me to follow my passions and to at least check out some recording schools. I researched all the recording schools I could find at the time and found the most interesting choices in or near Nashville. I looked at a couple of schools and Belmont seemed to be exactly what I was looking for, so I came to Belmont.
Belmont's in Tennessee?
Yeah. Belmont University is in Nashville. Both Belmont and MTSU had recording programs that were fairly new, and were more about the music business than a commercial music degree with an emphasis in recording. I chose Belmont, it seemed like a good fit. I met a lot of friends at Belmont who I’ve had the chance to work with over the years. Mark Wright was finishing at Belmont during that time, and he's Senior VP A&R at MCA. Doug Howard is over at Lyric Street as Senior VP A&R, and another friend Dan Huff, has had an incredible career as a producer and guitar player.
You were actually in a music business program, but you learned some engineering?
Yeah. They had a music business program that gave you a bachelor's of business degree, a BBA. But it had an emphasis on music business with recording classes, publishing classes, et cetera. You could actually focus on whatever direction you wanted to go in. Bob Malloy was head of the program at the time. He had a huge influence on me and my life. He was really ahead of the times with the program he developed. Now there are quite a few choices for recording schools.
Then you just worked your way up from there?
You know, I had a little bit of a different path than most guys did. I was never an assistant engineer. I did a lot of demos in college. Some friends of mine had free use of a studio in Nashville from 2 am to 6 am, so we'd get up at one in the morning, go to the studio and record until 6 or 7 in the morning. The band I was working with got signed by Chris Christian. He had a small studio just outside of Nashville and was looking for a staff engineer. So through that, those late night sessions, and meeting him, I got the staff position at a studio as head engineer. Back then, things would rotate between staff guys and freelance guys. I worked for about a year and a half on staff at Gold Mine Studios. After that I went freelance.
So you've been freelance for a long time.
I have. I've been freelance ever since then. Sometimes I look back and think, man, I wish I had been an assistant, and had the opportunity to learn from someone already making hit records. But on the other hand it really made me dig in and figure things out on my own. I spent a lot of hours in the studio experimenting with sounds. That’s what it’s all about: experience. Even after you get into engineering, recording and mixing, it's still all about experience, what you want to hear and your perspective.
Do you have a preferred tracking room, preferred mixing room?
There are some great rooms in Nashville, although there are far fewer rooms than there used to be. A couple of studios that I love to track at are Blackbird and Sound Kitchen. They both have great facilities and great gear. We still need to support big studios, because most of us don't have the resources of a great tube mic collection or a vintage gear collection, so we need those studios because of that.
What about for mixing?
I mix at both of those studios. I also have a room at my house that I mix at. It varies between the two, but more and more, I seem to be working at my room.
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From left: Jason Scheff, lead singer for Chicago, Jeff Balding and Jay DeMarcus of Rascal Flatts |
What type of gear do you have at home?
I use Pro Tools. I have a 5-card HD system on a Quad-core 3.0GHz Intel Xeon Mac Pro with two UAD-1 cards. It's a pretty healthy setup, but for mixing, you definitely need it. I also use some outboard gear and such that I'll put on inserts. Although a lot of it's in the computer.
You mix in the box?
I mix in the box a lot. It's one of those things where at first I was resistant to it, but the more you do it, the more you learn the tricks, and find the things that are great about it. One of the things I love is opening up a mix three weeks later without the expense of a half a day of recall. So it gives you the option of tweaking a mix on a totally fresh ear.
What type of monitors do you use?
I use Genelec 1031s to monitor with. I also have a pair of Tannoy Golds, SGM-10s, with Mastering Lab crossovers. I work between those two sets of speakers.
Do you use any type of control surface?
I do. I use a Digidesign/Focusrite Control 24. Though for most of what I do, I do mouse mixing.
"Mouse mixing," that's a good term!
Yeah. You just kind of get used to it. There are times though when you do want a feel of a real fader. Sometimes there's a little more emotion in riding the faders, so that's why I have the control surface, so I can grab a fader when I feel the need.
Do you have past experience with Universal Audio hardware? How did you end up with this vintage 176 unit?
[Laughs.] Oh yeah. The 176. That's something I've had for about 20 years. The first place I ever saw a 176 was at Bill Schnee’s studio in L.A., back in the '80s. He had one in the rack, and I'm sure he used it on different things, but what I noticed him using it on was the bass guitar. That really influenced me, and I thought, I must find one of those. So I started looking around for one, and finally did find one. They're really interesting-sounding compressors. There are still a few pieces of outboard gear I use, like my Neve 32264s that I use on the mix bus; they’re great compressors. I go out of those into an LE system through the UA 2192 converters.
Do you have any other UA hardware?
I do, actually. As far as the vintage stuff, I have a pair of Blue Stripe 1176s, which are really cool. I also have an 1178 and a 2192 converter. I just picked up a 610/Solo and a pair of the classic 1176LNs. On the software side of things I have the UAD plug-ins and a UAD-1 Xpander.
How do you use the 1176s?
Drum, guitars and vocals mostly.
"We still need to support big studios, because most of us don't have the resources of a great tube mic collection or a vintage gear collection . . ."
What's the difference in sound between them and the 1178 and 176?
That’s a good question. The Blue Stripes definitely have a different sound than the blackface 1176s. I like them both a lot. The 1178 probably sounds the closest to the blackface 1176s.
The 176 just does that vintage thing to a track simply by putting it on the insert. Bass is probably one of the places I really enjoy it, because it does something that just opens the sound up, just running through it without any compression in.
So you use the 2192 converter?
Yes, I love how it sounds. Absolutely great for mixing down.
That's a great product, and it's never gotten very much attention, because it's not that sexy, really. But it has this great word of mouth going about it.
The first time I heard about it I was over at Blackbird Studio and one of the guys said, "Have you heard this converter?" I hadn’t, so I plugged it in and it's like--wow, this thing sounds great. So I've been using one every time I mix, to print the mixes through.
How long have you been working with the UAD-1?
Since around the first of the year. And I have to tell you; I honestly do love the sound of the plug-ins. I think the detail is exceptional in them. I'm a sucker for high-res plug-ins, they just sound great.
Which do you tend to use the most?
The Plate 140 comes to mind first. I think that's a great-sounding plug-in. Anybody I talk to agrees. It's great on snare to put a little space around it, and I use it as a general plate. The 1176s, I use those quite a bit on drums, guitars, even vocals.
Because you're mixing in the box, are you tending to record really clean, or are you still recording through hardware?
Of course, with DAWs, what you put in is what you get. So if there's a sound I feel very committed to, I’ll lay it down with everything on it, if that's compression, or whatever I'm putting on it. In general, I probably record with less; I’m a little more of a purist at heart. So I get it down clean then I can mess it up later. There are a few things, like room mics, I'll record with compression, but in general, I try to put it down pretty open, so I can have options later.
I'm hearing that more and more from people who are mixing in the box.
It makes sense. When you have everything in the box, you can change it, and play around with it, and have the option to change it two weeks later. Of course that’s both the curse and the luxury of it. But at least, for instance, I can change the compression setting two weeks later on the Neve 33609 if I feel I need to, so you never have to settle for something you did hit the first day of mix.
And how do you use the 33609?
Sometimes on a group master, and I love it on a vocals and bass. That plug-in has a lot of detail in it, and I like detail when it comes to plug-ins.
Have you tried the Neve 1073 plug-ins?
The vintage Neve 1073 and 1081s have been two of my favorite Neve modules to record with, so I'm glad you chose those two to clone for plug-ins. I use them mostly on drums. It's one of my favorite drum EQs.
How do you think they stand up?
I think they definitely feel like their analog counterpart. I've also used the 33609s a lot over the years and I think the UAD 33609 has captured the essence of the hardware. I believe compression is the hardest thing to clone in a plug-in, and the UAD 33609 is very close to the original.
Have you tried the Helios?
Yes, I have tried the Helios, and I like it. There used to be a Helios console at a studio in Nashville, and I always liked the sound of it, so it was like a pleasant surprise when I saw you come out with the Helios EQ. That console always sounded great to me and that’s what had drawn me to the Helios plug-in. I’ll use it on different things depending on what I need at the time. All this plug-in stuff is like crayons in a coloring box. You know what it sounds like so you can go to it when you need it.
How about any of the other EQs, the Cambridge, the Pultec?
The Cambridge, I've not had a lot of time on, but the Pultec, yeah, I’ve used it quite a bit, actually, especially on bass or vocals. It is definitely a great-sounding EQ.
How do you use the Xpander?
That’s one of my latest acquisitions. I’m looking forward to the possibilities I have with it. I’ve always wanted to mix something on my laptop. Now that I have that option with the Xpander, I’ll have to give it a shot. The laptop I have is a 2.33GHz dual-core 2 Intel Mac Pro, so with the Xpander I have a lot of possibilities, including being able to work on vocals or editing in remote locations, such as the lounge [laughs] and when I travel.
That'll be great, too, because you'll be able to work on planes or the airport lounge--
That's exactly it. I love to take my laptop on the plane, with an M-box and the Xpander, I can sit on the plane or in the airport lobby and tweak all night. It's pretty amazing, when you think about it.
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| Engineer Jeff Balding with the UAD-1 Xpander |
The New York Times did an article a month or so ago about how a lot of musicians are moving to Nashville who aren’t necessarily country musicians, and how it's just a real music center.
You know what? It's a great place to work and live. And it’s definitely not just country music anymore. There's such a diverse wealth of talent here it blows me away. Musicians and artists, people that you wouldn't even know lived here, have moved here. There's really something building here. I think your going to hear a new sound come out of Nashville in the near future.
Is there any artist you seem to have a special relationship with that you've worked with over and over?
There's been several over the years such as Wynonna, Faith and Lonestar. One artist I've worked with since 1995 is Dave Mustaine of Megadeth. We've done several projects over the last 10 or 12 years.
That's so much different than the rest of the artists you've worked with. How do you make that transition?
[Laughs.] I listen to a lot of different music, so I have that to draw on. But also, within music, there’s a spirit and emotion that you really look for. Or I do, anyway. I think if you can lock into that, you can do just about any style of music because it's just communication, that emotion you get out of it, where it takes you, and so forth. I've definitely worked with an eclectic and diverse range of artists over the years, and I've absolutely enjoyed that part of it.
And you’ve been nominated for a Grammy.
I have over the years. One year I was nominated I think four or five times. A lot of it was country that year. In fact I had four out of the five nominations in one category and still didn’t win [laughs].
You're involved with the Intel Artists program, and you also seem to be pretty involved with the Recording Academy. Why is that? Why get involved in these things?
I’m honored to be involved in both of those. With the Recording Academy, I believe in what they do and what they stand for. I think their advocacy initiatives are something we all need to get behind and support--they go to the mat for a lot of the rights of musicians, artists, writers, producers and engineers. I also love Music Cares, another division of the Recording Academy, which helps anyone in the music industry in their time of need--they pour millions of dollars back into the community, and have helped everyone from Katrina victims to people who have a drug addiction and want to get free from it.
I think the Recording Academy does some really great work, and I'm so glad Maureen Droney is the executive director of the Producers and Engineers Wing. She's kind of a personal role model of mine. She's such a perfect person for that job.
She really is and she does a fantastic job. I serve on the National Steering Committee for the Producers and Engineers Wing of the Recording Academy. A lot of the issues and initiatives we’re involved in support the rights of producers and engineers. The P&E Wing is involved in advocacy, educational and technical initiatives that affect all producers and engineers. One of technical initiatives we’ve developed is the Delivery Recommendations for Audio Recordings. This document was developed to help educate and communicate to the industry how to deliver and protect master recordings. There are so many great initiatives supported by the Recording Academy. I encourage everyone in the industry to join. It’s a great place to be a part of the community we all work in.
Read more about Jeff Balding on his web site.