Interview:


Doug Colosio: Engineer, Musician and Producer



This month we are interviewing the multi-talented Doug Colosio. Doug has played music since the age of 11 and has been involved with sound since the age of 16. At 31 years of age, his current schedule includes recording engineer, producer and musician at North Point Sound & Recording (formally Klamath Productions), live sound engineer, and playing bass for the Marcy Brothers Band. Doug even played keyboard and sang at my wedding! We got together one afternoon for a Pio Loco Lunch and this interview.




Rich: How did you get started in music?

Doug: My mom made me take piano lessons, then I started liking it after that. Then I got into high school and found the guitar and that was cool. I found that if I played guitar well enough, I could get up in front of people and play and that was a thrill. From there I went (on the road) with a nightclub band for a while. I started playing keyboards again, learning how to play chords. Before that I just sight-read. I didn't know anything about chord progressions. The guitar kinda got me in that area and I translated it to keyboard. I then realized, ''hey I can play keyboards in a band too!''.

Rich: How did you get started in the sound business?

Doug: Through Stu (Stuart Herreid). I started by loading the van. We then started doing stuff through the music store. I worked for Stu when he had his first music store in Redding on South Market.

Rich: How old were you then?

Doug: Actually, let me go back. I first started working for Stu's mom and dad when I was about thirteen, here at Herreid Music.

Rich: Which part of the music business do you like best?

Doug: Probably, I would have to say performing and producing in the studio.

Rich: Any particular type of music?

Doug: I really prefer country. I like rock and jazz. I kinda like alterative and blues. I like all kinds of music, everything really. But I guess I work best in the country realm because that's where I work with the Marcy Brothers. I'm dialed into that Nashville thing.

Rich: Do you like the analog or digital recording format best?

Doug: Definitely digital. It's so much cleaner. I guess it really depends on your point of view. I haven't really worked too much on the 2'' analog tape and I've heard that that's the best comparison between analog and digital. From what I've heard, I like digital better. There's no noise floor really.

Rich: Do you have a favorite piece of recording gear?

Doug: I think my favorite piece of recording gear is the AKG C414 recording microphone.

Rich: Because of the clarity?

Doug: Yeah, it's so transparent.

Rich: Is it a tube mic or solid state?

Doug: It's not a tube mic. Its solid state.

Rich: Do you use it a lot for vocals?

Doug: Yeah, vocals, acoustic guitar, saxophone, fiddles. I use it for everything. It's a great mic.

Rich: Speaking of other mics, what do you like for micing drums?

Doug: Drums? OK. I'll take it one drum at a time. For kick drum an AKG D112 is probably my favorite, used with a little hole in the front head of the kick drum to get the best punch out of it. I stick the mic right outside of the kick drum front head, about 3'' away so the bass waves develop a little bit. On snare drum, the standard sm-57 mic on the top and sometimes I'll mic the bottom with a condenser mic Then the hi-hat is a condenser, and for the toms, 421 sennheisers are really good but lately I've been using AKG 408's they are condenser mics.

Rich: Are those the little mics that clip on to the drums?

Doug: Yeah, they are little tiny things, but they handle high pressure levels real good, and they just sound real nice, real authentic. For overheads I use condenser mics, close micing the cymbals. And to top it off, I'll throw up some room mics using the old, trusty AKG414's for the room sound.

Rich: Which mic would you use for electric guitar?

Doug: I usually go with an sm-57 on the cabinet and I'll use 414's for ambiance.

Rich: The AKG sounds like the perfect all-around mic.

Doug: Yeah, I wish they were cheaper!

Rich: When you're micing live shows, if you had no limitations on mics, would you use the same mics?

Doug: The problem with the 414's live is the feedback rejection. It's not that good on that mic.

Rich: But you wouldn't need an ambient mic as much live.

Doug: No, you wouldn't need it. Live is such a different thing. You're more worried about gain structuring and feedback. Then you make up whatever you lose in micing on the board EQ.

Rich: Do you usually put the drum mics in tighter live?

Doug: Yeah, pretty much. On the kick drum I'll still try to get the same type of kick sound, and a lot of times live I'll use a 421 on the kick because usually that's what available. AKG D112's are sometimes hard to get.

Rich: How about for vocals live?

Doug: SM-58's always.

Rich: The beta's or the regulars?

Doug: The regular 58's. Betas are great too. Beta's actually have better feedback rejection but they don't sound exactly the same.

Rich: I like the regular 58's too.

Doug: Yeah, a nice vintage mic.

Rich: Do you have any special recording technique you would like to share?

Doug: The best piece of advice would be EQ layering. That's not an easy art to learn. It takes time to get your ears tuned into it. EQ layering is building a mix of frequencies from all the different instruments. You listen for conflicts in frequency and try to pull that out with the EQ, by zeroing in on whatever is causing that conflict or whatever two or three things in the mix cause that conflict. So if you have a conflict at 160hz, you look to see if it's an acoustic guitar, tom mic or keyboard or something, and you just go to those channels and sweep the EQ frequency around. You pull it out until it just sounds cleaner.

Rich: What's the strangest or most interesting sound or recording job you've done?

Doug: It would have to be a band I did in Eureka. Reverend something or other. Some alterative band. I can't remember the name. They were just really strange people, and they had very poor manners, and were tough to work with. Nothing was good enough for them, and it was one of those days that seemed like it lasted for 38 hours.

Rich: Makes for a long day. Was it loud? (laughing!)

Doug: It was way too loud. It was distorting my ear drums! As for most unusual or different recording session. It probably was when I went to the Catholic Church in Anderson, and recorded a madrigal choir for Enterprise High School and got a really neat sound. The room sounded so cool. I was able to mic the choir so that it just sounded like you were standing right there in the church using ambient micing. That was probably the most interesting thing I've done mic wise.

Rich: What's the most important thing to remember when doing sound or recording?

Doug: I guess, trust your instincts. At a certain point, you have to trust that what you hear and what your hearing is right. Everybody has an opinion when your doing things, and people hear things differently. Hopefully someday you come to the point where enough people think that what you do sounds good, so that you can develop some confidence and realize that when the old guy comes up and says that it's too loud or it's too bassy, or it's too bright, it's your ear you have to trust and have the final say.

Rich: Any suggestions for a band that wants to come in and record? To be prepared?

Doug: Know your material inside and out. Be able to play your material a piece at a time, like your drummer, bass player and guitar player should at least know how to play the song with out anybody else playing. Everybody should know their parts as good as they can before they get in the studio.

Rich: So they don't come in and rehearse.

Doug: Yes. Rehearsal in the studio is extremely expensive and frustrating.

Rich: Anything you would like to add?

Doug: Come Record!

(Editors note: After a stint as Merle Haggard's sound engineer, Doug is now playing keyboards in Merle's band. Best of luck to Doug in the future!)

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