Steve Levine

"When we made the original albums, the first album Kissing To Be Clever was made only with vinyl in mind, there was no such thing as CD. It was recorded on analogue 24-track, and as half-inch was only just starting to be used, the majority was mixed onto quarter-inch. The second album was recorded 48-track on analogue, and mixed onto Sony PCM F1 [an early stereo digital recorder based around a Betamax video transport]. I did mix some of it on half-inch, but actually the F1 at the time was superior as the format was new, and that was my only master. I immediately transferred it digitally to Sony 1610 [a professional and very expensive early stereo digital recording and editing system based around a U-matic video transport] at Advision Studios, one of the only places to offer that service at the time, and having listened to the tapes again, the F1/1610 master still sounds superior. The third album was recorded digitally throughout, using a 24-track Sony 3324 digital machine, and mixed onto 1610."

The studio is home to Levine’s considerable collection of microphones old and new which get used regularly. “It’s good to show young bands alternative ways of mic’ing,” he adds. The desk is a Yamaha DM 2000 – “It more than suits my need at present, though I might upgrade to a larger format console in the future.”

"Two other bits of MIDI gear that I've bought recently are the Roland MSQ700 and TR909 (both reviewed in E&MM April). The MSQ is really good. Its' MIDI sequencing potential is very wide, but one reason why I've been able to use it so fully so early is that I seem to be getting better at understanding Roland's manuals. Either they're writing them better or I'm just getting the hang of them."

"No matter how good it is, a keyboard will sound like a keyboard if you play it that way." That's why Steve Levine prefers to run the set-up from the Roland MC4, removing the more predictable element of human, habit-formed fingers over the black and white plastic. Organising the MC4 instructions makes you think again, and consider how a violinist might set about the job.

"Recently, I’ve started using my GP-8 guitar processor again. I’ve not turned it on for years! I used it lots in the mid ’80s but now it comes out for those signature sounds. There’ll be one or two layers where I know the GP-8 will do just the job!"

“Here in the studio I’ve got my original [Roland] CR-78, my original Simmons [SCS-V] and my original Linn [LM-1],”

“Here in the studio I’ve got my original [Roland] CR-78, my original Simmons [SCS-V] and my original Linn [LM-1],”

“Here in the studio I’ve got my original [Roland] CR-78, my original Simmons [SCS-V] and my original Linn [LM-1],”

"I think the modern restoration and repair tools are fantastic. I’ve used iZotope RX a lot to clean up the ones with the tape hiss on, although I’ve left everything that went through the Watkins [Copicat] with the hiss on."

"I’ve taken out some of the drum sounds from my Ensoniq [ESQ-M], which are quite interesting as well."

"But I've worked with sequencers since the day they first came out, so all these things are nothing compared with the problems I used to have. Years ago, even just a simple thing like a synthesizer going out of tune was a major headache in the studio. I've worked with every conceivable computer programmed sequencer - from the Roland CSQ-100, to the Prophet switch type, to the ARP ones that had the sixteen click thing that you'd line the notes up with. I've worked with an ARP 2600 synth also - in fact, I've just bought an ARP 1600 which I'm very pleased to have as part of my set-up here. But people just make such a big deal out of MIDI and sequencing."

"Up until recently we used the Yamaha QX1 sequencer with great success but that wasn't a popular machine - people didn't realise how brilliant it was. It was a really excellent machine. The only problem was it wouldn't record an external sync signal, but there are ways around that as well. Our problem was we were always running out of tracks because the QX1 only has eight. We were finding we were doing more and more things before we actually put them on tape. So then we changed over to the Steinberg Pro-24."

"It was a Roland CR78 drum machine, and Mikey [Craig] played bass and Roy [Hay] played my little Korg Delta 770 onto one track, because we knew we wouldn't have a lot of tracks to play with, then the first overdub was guitar, just DI'd into the desk, and then there was a lead guitar, with a Roland RE201 Space Echo, and then the lead vocal. On the actual master version of that track, I'd built a noise gate myself which didn't work very well. It chopped the front off everything, and on the master we had the guitar that went 'wha wha wha', which was actually Roy playing through that noise gate."

These days, he works out of a thoroughly modern home studio based around Apple G4 Macs running Logic and Nuendo.

"I’ve had the Mac Pro (2009 Intel from day 1) and its served me very well, my previous system was the last of the power PC models."

"In the past I used the Lexicon 224, 480 and to this day I still use the PCM 42. With Lexicon, you know the type of effect you are going to get and what the quality of the sound is," he said. "With the younger generation of musicians, they don't necessarily know the heritage of Lexicon, but when they hear something they like, they will ask you what they are hearing. That has been the case on more than one occasion when I've been using the Lexicon plug-in."

"In the past I used the Lexicon 224, 480 and to this day I still use the PCM 42. With Lexicon, you know the type of effect you are going to get and what the quality of the sound is," he said. "With the younger generation of musicians, they don't necessarily know the heritage of Lexicon, but when they hear something they like, they will ask you what they are hearing. That has been the case on more than one occasion when I've been using the Lexicon plug-in."

"In the past I used the Lexicon 224, 480 and to this day I still use the PCM 42. With Lexicon, you know the type of effect you are going to get and what the quality of the sound is," he said. "With the younger generation of musicians, they don't necessarily know the heritage of Lexicon, but when they hear something they like, they will ask you what they are hearing. That has been the case on more than one occasion when I've been using the Lexicon plug-in."

"I use the RME MADI PCI-e card this gives me 64 separate outs into my DM 2000 mixing console. I also have a PCI-e UAD quad-core card to run my UAD plugins."

"I've got the complete Oberheim system (DMX, DSX and OB8), a Prophet T8, and I still use Prophet 5 now and again. I have got a problem at the moment though because it seems almost everything is going over to MIDI. I've actually got the very first MIDI OB8 - I had it converted. I'm pretty sure it's the first one because Chase Musicians - where I buy most of my synths - had only this one in stock: I got it for the studio and they wanted to keep it in the shop! (An Oberheim-sanctioned OB8 MIDI retro-fit has been available since January.) It's proved very useful for running the DSX sequencer with other synths."

"I've got the complete Oberheim system (DMX, DSX and OB8), a Prophet T8, and I still use Prophet 5 now and again. I have got a problem at the moment though because it seems almost everything is going over to MIDI. I've actually got the very first MIDI OB8 - I had it converted. I'm pretty sure it's the first one because Chase Musicians - where I buy most of my synths - had only this one in stock: I got it for the studio and they wanted to keep it in the shop! (An Oberheim-sanctioned OB8 MIDI retro-fit has been available since January.) It's proved very useful for running the DSX sequencer with other synths."

"The TR909 is one of the few things I've been using on the drum side apart from the LinnDrum. I've used it on some of the sessions for Helen Terry's solo album, and it's worked very well indeed. It doesn't sound like the Linn at all, but I do think that sometimes the Linn can sound a bit samey, and I like to have some variation. What I like very much about the 909 is its' flamming ability, which is so easy to use."

"The TR909 is one of the few things I've been using on the drum side apart from the LinnDrum. I've used it on some of the sessions for Helen Terry's solo album, and it's worked very well indeed. It doesn't sound like the Linn at all, but I do think that sometimes the Linn can sound a bit samey, and I like to have some variation. What I like very much about the 909 is its' flamming ability, which is so easy to use."

Throughout this video Steve Levine is sitting in front of a Roland A800 Pro.

Steve Levine can be seen playing a Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S61 MK2 at 5:36.

"The new TB-303 was used with the sequencer as that often created cool musical bits that I could render out of the track and re-position in different spots.

Finally, lots of TR-808, TR-909, etc. I also used the hardware TR-8 on a few tracks as I like the instant hands-on way of creating a rhythmic beat. Apart from Roland Cloud, I used much of my Eurorack modular synths and some of my vintage hardware drum machines my Linn LM1, Simmons SDSV, and CR-78."

Long a fan of digital equipment, Steve tries to keep as much of his recording chain digital as he can, but feels that you can only get the best out of such a system if analogue signals entering the digital domain (for example vocals and acoustic instruments) are recorded to as high a spec as possible. Consequently, although his setup is based around four Alesis ADAT XT digital multitracks, an Emu EIV and Yamaha 02R and 01V digital desks, the mics and preamps at his disposal comprise some of the finest (and most expensive) analogue gear around — of which more later. Steve: "That's the kind of signal path I like; you go straight from this very expensive analogue input stage into the 02R, and then digitally on to the ADATs."

Long a fan of digital equipment, Steve tries to keep as much of his recording chain digital as he can, but feels that you can only get the best out of such a system if analogue signals entering the digital domain (for example vocals and acoustic instruments) are recorded to as high a spec as possible. Consequently, although his setup is based around four Alesis ADAT XT digital multitracks, an Emu EIV and Yamaha 02R and 01V digital desks, the mics and preamps at his disposal comprise some of the finest (and most expensive) analogue gear around — of which more later. Steve: "That's the kind of signal path I like; you go straight from this very expensive analogue input stage into the 02R, and then digitally on to the ADATs."

Long a fan of digital equipment, Steve tries to keep as much of his recording chain digital as he can, but feels that you can only get the best out of such a system if analogue signals entering the digital domain (for example vocals and acoustic instruments) are recorded to as high a spec as possible. Consequently, although his setup is based around four Alesis ADAT XT digital multitracks, an Emu EIV and Yamaha 02R and 01V digital desks, the mics and preamps at his disposal comprise some of the finest (and most expensive) analogue gear around — of which more later. Steve: "That's the kind of signal path I like; you go straight from this very expensive analogue input stage into the 02R, and then digitally on to the ADATs."

Long a fan of digital equipment, Steve tries to keep as much of his recording chain digital as he can, but feels that you can only get the best out of such a system if analogue signals entering the digital domain (for example vocals and acoustic instruments) are recorded to as high a spec as possible. Consequently, although his setup is based around four Alesis ADAT XT digital multitracks, an Emu EIV and Yamaha 02R and 01V digital desks, the mics and preamps at his disposal comprise some of the finest (and most expensive) analogue gear around — of which more later. Steve: "That's the kind of signal path I like; you go straight from this very expensive analogue input stage into the 02R, and then digitally on to the ADATs."