Pat Mastelotto

"After we got to tape we really went to work. Engineer Bill Munyon and I transferred ‘the take’ to Pro Tools where we could replace or add sounds and effects, and correct both the midi and human latency. Often we made additional passes through my Fireworx or put various combinations through my Dayking EQ or guitar amps (a matchless or small smokie amp) and re-mic them to add air, space and fizz. A Sherman Filter Bank was also used in abundance to further recharge the limp sounds. Some PT plug-ins (amp farm, vari-fi, lo-fi, pitch change, time expansion, Reso & Bruno) were used. On a few occasions additional Paiste cymbals, Saragosa percussion, Taos drums, a bit of found percussion or an old drumkit were overdubbed. As we approached the final mix my drums might be as wide as 28 tracks, so instruments were sub mixed in ProTools down to 14 faders on the mixing desk. The general approached was 2 tracks each for kicks, snares, toms, cyms, samples, loops & effects. I generally had 3 snare sounds (original, ringy and crispy) arranged in stereo on the two snare faders. Similarly the feet (boomy, chesty, etc.) were brought up on two faders and cymbal faders might include metal overdubs or metallic effects and so on. Additional compression and a bit of 'verb were added at the mix. That's basically it."

"Pro Tools HD with a 192 HD. I also use Abelton Live a lot; in fact, 99% of the first Tuner album was recorded direct to Abelton. Live really dominates my laptop on the road with my project KTU: The house is a surround mix, so I use an M-Audio interface to give the house multiple outs."