Michael Tanner’s Q & A with Ryan Hewitt regarding Ataxia
Michael Tanner, a friend of Invisible Movement’s owner and a very talented and promising young musician, did a little Q & A with Ryan Hewitt regarding Ataxia’s recording sessions. Ryan was incredibly kind to respond to all the questions and, even though some things are the same as those from the Tape Op interview, some others are different and there are some things you might not have known about otherwise. So, it’s a good read. Many thanks to Michael for having shared his own research.
Generally, what was the Recording Setup like (Console, Outboard Gear, Tape Recorder, Tape Speed, Micing, Amps..)?
Recorded at Sunset Sound on a Neve 8088. Used all console mic preamps and EQs. Only outboard gear that I can remember were 1176 on bass and vocal. 15ips on Studer 800 16 track. John used a Vox AC-15 for pretty much the whole record I think. Silver face bassman and 2×15″ cabinet for bass.
Were the basic tracks recorded live from beginning to end or are they cut together from different versions of the particular songs?
There was some editing, but I couldn’t tell you which songs! We also did some editing in mixing to shorten some songs. Some were pretty darn long…
Was any isolation used for the instruments or did you allow mic bleeding?
The amps were in their own rooms with the doors open a little to allow controlled bleed into the drums.
Did John sing during the basic track recording or did you record vocals afterwards?
He sang during the tracking and there were some fixes here and there that we did after.
Did they rehearse the material or was it all done “in the moment” spontaniously?
Can’t remember if they rehearsed or not.
Was the bass recorded via D.I. or microphone?
I used a FET47 or Royer 122 on bass I think. Can’t remember if I had a DI or not. Probably not due to limited tacks.
Did the drums on “The Sides” and John’s voice at the end of “The Soldier” get a treat by a Modular or how did you achieve those sounds?
Anything weird was definitely created by John with the modular and in some cases and H3000.
Was more material recorded than those songs we got on the 2 records or was something left out?
Everything that we recorded was released between those 2 records.
