S. Husky Höskulds - Sound Engineer and Recording Engineer
Tom Waits, Fiona Apple, The Gipsy Kings, Vanessa Paradis, Elvis Costello, Bettye Lavette, Solomon Burke, Norah Jones, Sheryl Crow
It is the beginning 90ies when S. Husky Höskulds, born and raised on Iceland, decides to go in for an
engineering career – he moves to Los Angeles to realize this idea. Times have been busy since then.
Husky has worked on projects with artist such as Tom Waits, Fiona Apple, The Gipsy Kings,
Vanessa Paradis, Elvis Costello, Bettye Lavette, Solomon Burke – just to name a few. His
credits include the Grammy-winning album“Come Away With Me” performed by Norah Jones
and the Grammy-winning album “The Globe Session” performed by Sheryl Crow. Here,
he tells us a bit about his career, his work and the experience with RNDigital
Plug-ins.
For more information on S. Husky Höskulds visit his web site
www.eightbitaudio.com
Tell us a bit about your work, about your first release/project; how did you experience that and how did your work develop from this point?
Well, the first couple of records i did, were Michael Penn's "MP4" and the Wallflowers' "Breach".
Funniest thing is that one of them cost a million dollars to make (give or take...), and the other about 100 dollars, and i doubt they sold more than 1200 copies combined, so that was a splendid introduction to the insanity and insecurities of the music business.
What where your most demanding projects so far and why?
There have been several tough ones. In more ways than one.
One that comes to mind was the Gipsy Kings record i did with Craig Street in a house in the south of France.. using a (crap) remote truck from Paris.
Trying to bridge the cultural, emotional and language differences via closed circuit tv and walkie talkie's is not something i'd recommend!
They are true Gypsies.. rich as hell.. but still Gypsies.. so if the headphone mix was not happening - they'd just get up and walk out..
"we'll be back tomorrow" they'd say. Have it fixed by then...
A 'red flag' - if you will, was the singer looking at my hand - as i offered my name, and a shake - turning to the manager and saying: 'who's he.. and where is he from'??
Great guys.
Played their a@@es off. . but couldn't muster a hello or thanks if their life depended on it!
When you work on a project, how do you usually develop the idea of a sound or the idea of what an artist should sound like? What is your approach?
The approach is to not have one.. sort of.
Often the producer will have an idea of what we should / could go for, sonically. And i'll work within those guidelines.
But, if i'm only mixing - that might also come from the artist, or me.. it's different every time.
A lot of times people come to me after hearing Tom Waits, Joe Henry, Fantomas etc.. and want 'that sound'.
Sometimes it works, but sometimes not. Depends on the music.
The hardest thing about mixing is making the mix help or augment the song / performance.
I think a lot of mixers are not good at that or the clients are not good at letting the mixer do that.
They'd rather have 'that sound' than a cohesive mix that serves the song.
What do you think were the important innovations in recording technology within the last few years?
The hand in hand development of computers, plugins and audio interfaces with good a/d and d/a converters is key.
Can you describe how these innovations have taken influence on the creative process?
Well, for me, it's allowed me to build a couple of my own studios (one here in L. A. and one in Iceland), and mix in the computer - with unprecedented flexibility.
And even building the most hot rodded audio optimized systems, costs less than a couple of hardware stereo compressors and a decent eq - not to mention an analog console.
And that is imperative, because good wine and single malt scotch is not cheap, and having to buy a Neve console for my studio would have left me with Southern Comfort and Kendall Jackson as my choices, and nobody wants that!
We hear you use Roger Nichols Plug-ins; in which project did you last use them? Which ones did you use, how and what experience do you have?
I use them on pretty much every record i do, be it mixing or mastering. I've had the whole lineup since they were put out by Elemental Audio, and have used them on everything from Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint to Peeping Tom, Edie Brickell, Mavis Staples and Billy Preston..
Can you tell us why you chose Roger Nichols Plug-ins or what specific characteristic they have?
Well, the most important to me is the build quality.. the GUI .. the accuracy - all that. I can't stand some of those mickey mouse plugins where you touch a knob and it either moves 0.1 dB or 5.9 dB.. neither one of which you can ever get back to!
Secondly, the fact that the Dynam-izer is unlike any other Dynamics processor, is key.
As you're aware of, there are a LOT of people making plugins out there.. and it takes considerable consideration (haha.. i just kill myself) to come up with something new and unique.
Ultimately, that's what it's about - because, really - no one needs 83 eq plugins!!