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Epitaph Companion

by Dirk Serries

/
1.
Pitch Circle 12:26
2.
3.
Ephemeris 11:20
4.
Air Drag 11:33
5.
Lateral 15:54

about

This album features music, recorded in preparation for scoring the EPITAPH album on Consouling Sounds.
The music was performed real-time at the Sunny Side Inc. studio in Anderlecht (Belgium) August 2017.

Dirk Serries : electric guitar, effects, amplifiers

Photography by Martina Verhoeven.

credits

released December 26, 2019

Sunny Side Inc. studio notes :

The choice of microphones, placement and routing through preamplifiers and outboard gear for this solo guitar session was almost
entirely made in advance and imagined, based on previous solo recordings and having worked regularly together over the last few
years.
Shared experience in music and recording brings consciousness of space, and with mutual respect leaves more room for
essentialism : to reach for what matters.
With time and experience, a good collaboration can evolve up to the point where the recorded artist is fully at home in the studio,
trusting of the sound in the room, the recorded sound and the process in general.
This allows him or her to be able to completely remove any obstacle or potentially disruptive factor in the process of truly expressing
oneself : no fear : of a new setup, different environment and acoustics, all kinds of unfamiliarities that can eat away at the artist’s
expression, effectively diminishing the potential great result of a recording session or worse leave the artist frustrated with the
recording experience. It also dilutes inhibition or doubt towards exposing one’s inner voice under many a sonic microscope and
external ears.
From the studio engineer’s perspective, a regular and positive collaboration shows him or her what sound is desired, unwanted,
works or doesn’t, what textures the artist is after, the image of the sound, the general feel and esthetic. Over time it helps making
decisions and commit to a sound that will be closer to an end-result even before the recording, as the mere thought of an upcoming
session combined with the previous experiences will allow the engineer to confidently prepare a setup mentally, based on sonic
memory, that might achieve the shortest path between studio performance and a finished record.
With this recording, that is exactly what happened : a blossoming over time into a harmonious experience, where the finalization of a
record-making happens at the recording, capturing the performance with all the right and necessary information, no more no less.
To rejoin the improvised performance in its naturalism, organicity and purity, unadulterated by postprocessing, a true communion
between music and equipment, space and time, sparked by an evolved syntonicity of minds.

The technical bits :

Two amps were used (Fender Twin reissue and Marshall MG100-hdfx) : the Fender left side for subs and robust low mids, the
Marshall right, on the clean channel, for a clean forward sound and the treble.

Microphones : 3 setups
For the close microphones (only part decided on the day itself) : an AEA R84 for the Fender slightly off-center from the cone, about 4
inches away, and angled as to protect the ribbon from low frequency air bursts, was chosen to further emphasise the low end and
subs thanks to the proximity effect of the figure of eight microphone pattern. The R84 proved itself in this scenario, capturing a lush
sound in the nether regions of the spectrum.
For the Marshall, a trusted cream-colored vintage Sennheiser MD421 was chosen for its high-mid/high detail and sparkle, without
ever getting too aggressive; placed here at 2 inches from one of the 10 inch speakers, slightly off-center as well for more intrigue.
To capture the ambience of the sound - pretty much in-between the direct sound and the reverberated one from the room, early
reflections territory where much life resides - and a good natural stereo image from the room, we chose a pair of Line Audio CM-3
cardioid small-diaphragm-condenser microphones for their linear, open sound, which constitutes the first layer of depth.
Placed at a distance of 90cm, in ORTF setup, in the middle of the two amps, at 1 meter height.
The left side slightly closer to the Fender, to make up for the difference of loudness perception between bass and highs.
The space, width and third layer of depth, possibly the most influential in the sound, was captured with a pair of custom ribbon
microphones with Lundahl transformers, Nohype Audio LRM-2, in blumlein configuration, at a height of 140 cm and 3 meters away
from the amps.

Preamplifiers and outboard :
Thanks to our ULN-8 converters which have a very clean dynamic range, with little to no noise, we were able to go for an almost
uncompressed sound on the way in the recording, capturing the full range confidently from the breaking point of silence - above the
guitar amplifiers self noise that is - up to the soaring loud heights as is.

For the close microphones :
AEA R84 : we went for a deep color and vibe with Universal Audio LA-610 tube preamp, and took advantage of the internal tube
equalizer by adding a subtle but present 1.5 dB boost at 70Hz for ample bottom. In case the subs and lowmids would swell too much,
a hint of optical compressor was used on the way in, with about maximum 2dB of gain reduction on the loudest parts.
Sennheiser MD421 : here we chose a more upfront sound with Telefunken v676a preamp, the built-in highpass filter cannot be
switched off which is desired here, and is at 40 Hz to make sure no rumble or subs will reach the recording as the Fender + AEA are
taking care of that. To open up the higher frequencies and air, a Siemens equalizer added a sweet shelf 3dB boost at 15KHz.
For the ambience stereo setup : we chose to go neutral and capture a pristine stereo air with Metric Halo ULN-8’s built-in microphone
preamplifiers, providing ample clean volume for the gain-hungry CM-3’s.
For the blumlein room stereo setup we choose to add a layer of thickness and heart with Mercury M72s stereo preamplifier, an
incredible tone box based on Telefunken V72 design. It has a slight roll-off up high, so to compensate this the Mercury went straight
into a Chandler Ltd. Curve Bender Mastering equalizer, with a 2dB shelf boost at 16KHz and 1dB wide bell boost at 8KHz.
30Hz lowcut was engaged in case of insanely low room rumble.
With proper gainstaging at the soundcheck, we recorded the session at 48KHz. Once the sound was recorded and upon listening,
the levels were spot-on in the DAW, so not a iota of gain was changed after recording and the only digital processing in the session,
calibrated before the recording, are a safety saturator/compressor on each of the 3 pairs of microphones, provided by Empirical Labs
Arousor’s incredibly musical tone, keeping rogue peaks in check and at highest loudness tickling the compressor circuits by
maximum 1-2 dB.
An experience where the technology acted for the music by accompanying the sound or staying out of the way of the music wherever
needed; all in one long natural breath, unadulterated by any action or interaction while unfolding.
A feature we hope you will experience by listening to this mesmerizing session.

Nico
Sunny Side Inc

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Dirk Serries Antwerp, Belgium

Dirk Serries has never shied away from leaps of faith or experimentation. This bandcamp page serves as a collection for his diversity in styles, collaborations and solo recordings. From the pure bliss to the free improvisation.

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