Having been George Duke’s studio engineer for 34 years – recording 19 albums with him, from 1979’s Master of the Game until 2013’s DreamWeaver – two-time Grammy winner Erik Zobler is not your average recording engineer. His recording credits include albums by Whitney Houston, Miles Davis, Anita Baker and Michael Jackson, plus film and TV projects such as The Bourne Supremacy and Happy Feet. Over the years, he’s also worked in live sound, as a producer and a mastering engineer.
Working from his Los Angeles home studio, he presently divides his time between mixing and mastering, with a studio workflow covering both analogue and digital domains: ‘Every piece of equipment leaves a footprint on the audio, just like picking a paint colour,’ he notes.
Zobler has been using Manley gear for decades and, after doing a sax session with Everette Harp, decided to buy the stereo Pultec EQP-1A – Manley’s modern take on the legendary Pultec Equalizer produced by Pulse Technologies.
‘Soprano sax can be difficult to get a good sound on,’ he explains. ‘I had been trying different things at the studio, with marginal results. When I put the Manley Pultec on his sax, it was an instant winner. By the end of the session I said, “I love it so much that I am buying one of these”.
‘A few years later, while working at George Duke’s studio, I told him we needed a high-quality mastering EQ,’ Zobler continues. ‘He asked me which one I wanted. I told him the Massive Passive Stereo EQ. I showed up at the studio the next day, and there it was.’
That Massive Passive became an integral part of his recording chain, which generally centred on tube units: ‘I would go through a mic pre, a Massive Passive, then a limiter, to tape or converter,’ he says. ‘I did a ton of overdubs and vocals that way; it was a big part of my tool belt. When I was working with George, I used it almost every day.’
‘Manley stuff has always been vibey and tubey,’ he continues. ‘It smooths things out. I hesitate to use the word ‘warm,’ because you could add 120Hz to something and someone can call that warm. But, there are other characteristics that have to do with overtones and how they shape transients, that kind of thing. Manley equipment has always treated those harmonics and transients in a nice, friendly way that puts a smile on your face when you plug it in.’
Long ago, Zobler made it his mantra to never let technology get in the way of capturing an emotional performance. And that means knowing how his tools will perform long before he hits Record.
‘If I know that a Manley piece of gear, or any other piece of gear is going to work for any situation, then I’m already ahead of the game, and I can concentrate on capturing the moment,’ he says. ‘If you want it super distorted, or you want it super clean, everything in between, whatever your goal is, if you can accomplish that while getting a great performance, you’re the best of both worlds. And that’s what I call my Holy Grail of perfection.’
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