Top 5: Rick Carson

I’ve chosen this particular Marshall head because it’s what I feel connects me to being a musician. At this point, I’m no longer a musician, I’m an engineer through and through. I produce music, and I can play, but I choose not to perform on most of the recordings I work on. That said, this Marshall is my Marshall.

We’ve made a lot of modifications to it. It’s got a couple of switches, some are universal and allow you to add different gain stages to any preamp. Others let you reconfigure how the preamp is set up. There’s a switch to toggle between a stock Silver Jubilee, a #34 and a #36, based on the famous S.I.R. amp mods by Tim Caswell and Frank Levi. It’s a really versatile amp that cleans up beautifully. I’ve even used it to record clean guitars. If I need to record guitar, or make a big guitar record, this is always the amp I use.

Metric Halo are our business partners in software development – I’m building my whole future with them. I’ve built my studio around their interfaces because I think they’re exceptional.

Originally, the studio used Metric Halo, but at one point we switched to Avid interfaces to be more commercially viable. I didn’t like how they sounded. The Metric Halo boxes are great, and because they’re modular – they were originally built to run on Firewire 400 – you’re not stuck in the past. If you want to upgrade, you just buy a card, slot it in, and you’re good to go with today’s USB. That kind of future-proofing is really valuable. You’re never left behind.

I use the Sontec anywhere I’d want a parametric EQ. I first started using it on lead vocals when I was mixing heavily on my SSL console, and it essentially lived on that vocal channel.

Now, when I mix on the SSL, I patch the Sontec in where needed – it might end up on the bass or the snare drum, but most often it’s still on the vocal. These days, I tend to use it more like an SSL EQ without needing to power up the whole desk. I’ll patch it in and use it on kick and snare, print those down, then move it to the lead vocal and bass. Once those are sorted, I’ll use it on main guitars and keep working through the mix that way – unless someone specifically wants to mix entirely on the desk.