Buckle up, ladies and gentlemen – because in this SPL User Story, we had the incredible opportunity to visit the legendary drummer, composer and producer Simon Phillips at his studio in Los Angeles, California.
Throughout the 70s and 80s, Simon collaborated with legendary rock bands and artists such as Jeff Beck, Michael Schenker, Nik Kershaw, Mike Oldfield, Judas Priest, Mike Rutherford, Tears for Fears, 10cc, and The Who. Following the passing of Jeff Porcaro in 1992, he joined the world-renowned rock band Toto. After departing from the group in 2014, Simon delved into the realms of fusion and progressive rock as both a drummer and producer.
Enjoy watching the video!
“If somebody would ask me what do you do for a living, I’d probably say I make records. Because even though I’m known as a drummer, I probably spend more time making records.”
“I love making records. I love the concept of putting the record together. The artwork, the sound. Composing the music to arranging it. Mixing to the mastering. I just love that whole process.”
“The eighties was my first time that I started producing. It’s just the experience of working with all these great musicians, great artists, great engineers and great producers. I have just stolen from everybody.”
“What was fascinating to me was how different everything sounded. Same drum kit, same drum kit tuning – but a different studio and a different engineer. That fastinated me and that’s when I really started to have my favorite engineers.”
“Tayloring the sound for the music. That’s really what it is. That’s the palette that you choose to paint the picture with, make the record with.”
SPL Transient Designer:
“Ever since I was introduced to SPL, I was really taken – especially with the Transient Designer.”
“I don’t travel anywhere without a Transient Designer. It’s the key to my drums sound.”
“It is primarily for ambience. Room sounds are very important to me. There are a lot of rooms that don’t sound very good and they need help. And with the Transient Designer, that’s the easiest thing to do. No compressor – I’ve tried it with many compressors – and it doesn’t do the same thing. It’s just okay, not great. But the Transient Designer, that was it! To me that is the most impressive studio gear I have seen in a long time!”
SPL MixDream:
“For mixing, I use the SPL MixDream. Firdt of all it gives me a way of coming out of Pro Tools, it gives me a way of bussing and having control over the overall level, which is great. It is also really easy if I want to Mute the backing vocals, the lead vocals, the keys or the guitars, I can do it at an arms lengthsitting here, instead of messing around with a mouse. I love the way it sounds. I want to hear the music as just one.”
“But I also like to use an outboard compressor and an outboard eq. I just prefer it.”
SPL IRON:
“The IRON is a pretty amazing compressor. I change a lot. I go to one setup for a while and then I get bored of that sound and I want it to sound different. I would call it kind of an old-fashioned sound. I’ve mixed many records using this as the master compressor. But I also use it to track – I use it for vocals. It’s a great vocal compressor, which is very easy to use. I used it for bass too. The nice thing about it is that it’s very smooth. What I love about it is that everything is indented.”
“The most important thing is that these devices have earned their place in these racks, because I don’t want anything in these racks that are not doing anything really good.”
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