6/16/10 9:39 AM12 Years Of Recording Dwight Yoakam, Dusty Wakeman
Page 2 of 3http://www.eqmag.com/article/12-years-recording/may-06/19768
was a great machine for pitch correction in those pre ProTools days, although you had to take it apart and reseat the cards every time
you moved it. Dwight had been touring non-stop since the last album and was barraged by promotional duties, so getting the vocals took
a little longer. Dwight’s voice is so clear when he’s in good shape, that it would be obvious right away if there was any hoarseness
present. Thankfully, we had the time to spend to get the great takes.
This album also features Buck Owens on “Streets of Bakersfield,” which went on to become DY’s first number one single. We were just
putting together Dwight’s vocal comp when Buck showed up to sing and it wasn’t sounding right. I discovered that somehow the console
tapes’ take numbers didn’t line up with the actual take numbers, so I discreetly pulled Pete aside and told him what happened. He said
“fix it — I’ll stall for time.” He went out and kept those guys busy while Charlie and I frantically rebuilt the comp. That song also features
Flaco Jimenez on accordion, which was recorded in the iso booth in Studio C using the same U47 and a Focusrite mic pre we’d been
using for some overdubs. Once again we mixed in Studio C.
JUST LOOKIN’ FOR A HIT
[1989] — This was DY’s first greatest hits package, but we recorded two new cuts for it a duet with k.d. lang on the Chris Hillman/Gram
Parsons classic “Sin City,” and a cover of Dave Alvin’s “Long White Cadillac,” featuring one of Pete’s most blistering solos. As a side
note, I had the pleasure of recording kd lang twice — with DY and with Roy Orbison. When she sings in the studio, she might as well be
on stage in front of thousands — she gives a total performance and it’s a real thrill to be on the other side of the glass experiencing it in
real time. She does have an incredible dynamic range, though, so you have to be on your toes with the mic pre gain.
IF THERE WAS A WAY
[1990] — I consider the first three albums to be part of the “phase I” of DY’s recording career — most of those songs were written and
performed live before Guitars . . ., was recorded. If There Was a Way marked the beginning of “phase II.” All of the material was new,
some of it co-written with other writers, and we had lots of time to make the records. We used more outside musicians for overdubs — to
his and Pete’s credit, Dwight’s band always played on the records, even venturing into strings and background singers. The parameters
that had been set on the first three records were definitely being pushed.
Another big change for me was the change from Charlie Paakkari to Pete Doell as my “assistant engineer.” I consider both these guys to
be two of the finest engineers anywhere and I learned so much from working with both of them. Charlie was unavailable and we knew
and respected Pete Doell from working across the hall from him at Capitol for years.
Now, Dwight is an amazing singer who on any given day is capable of walking out and giving you a couple of perfect or near-perfect
takes, but getting his vocals got more difficult in this era for several reasons — he hadn’t been performing these songs live for years and,
on many days, by the time he’d get to the studio (usually early evening), he’d have been on the phone all day taking care of business.
Aside from his music career, he was starting to get active in film, which requires lots of Hollywood lunches, meetings, and long phone
conversations. The upside was the string of beautiful actresses and models that would drop by for a visit. In fact, sometimes the
presence of a couple of babes would be the catalyst for that great performance we were looking for. But by now, we were deep into
vocal comping and tweaking, which Pete Doell brought a lot to — he has perfect pitch. Although I had good relative pitch, I really learned
to hear pitch from working with him, especially sharpness. The slightest bit of “pitchy-ness” would provoke a physical reaction in Pete
Doell. This also was the first record to be mixed by David Leonard, who is a brilliant mixer best known for his work with Prince and John
Mellancamp. At first I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of someone else mixing “my record.” But he totally blew my mind — another great
engineer that I learned volumes from.
THIS TIME
[1993] — In many ways, This Time was a career peak for DY. It’s been his biggest selling album to date and yielded a Grammy award
for Best Country Vocal Performance for the song “Ain’t That Lonely Yet.” Pete’s guitar solo on “A Thousand Miles From Nowhere” was
another blazing classic. We’d usually do Pete’s solos at night after DY would sing — lights down low, monitors cranked. Those were
some magical moments, sometimes after a day of routine “work” — the kind of moments that keep you coming back. DY, too, would give
you those moments as well, when he was rested and not distracted by all the BS he had to deal with. We were experimenting with Pro
Tools by now — we had Scott Humphreys and Paul D’Carli there helping us — two of the pioneers of the medium. We really had fun with
it on the track “This Time” — we were more interested in using it to make things greasier as opposed to tighter. We were back to analog,
cutting basics on the A800 with 16-track heads and doing overdubs on a second 24-track A800. When we used Pro Tools, we would
bounce it from the 16-track and back to a new spot on the tape, building the track from there. Once again, the U47 was employed, either
through the Neve 8068 or through my John Hardy M1 pres, which I still use. Pete Doell had found a Fairchild 660 compressor in a
storage room at Capitol, retubed it, and we used it on everything — Dwight’s vocals, Pete’s guitar, Tara’s bass — everything.
GONE
[1995] — Gone was an interesting, artistic album to make. This Time had been a huge record for Dwight, with the never-ending touring a
success like that requires. It was recorded in much the same way as the previous two, with even more experimentation with Pro Tools,
and musically the walls were pretty much blown out. The writing was eclectic, very much a statement of Dwight’s influences. Stylistically,
it ranged from straight-up country to British Invasion power pop to the huge orchestral “Nothing,” with the gospel background vocals. I
loved it, but I think it might have left some of his core audience behind. We used the same vocal setup as on This Time.
C’MON CHRISTMAS UNDER THE COVERS
[1997] — These albums mark the transition into what I think of as Phase III. By now, Mad Dog had turned in to a three room, 6,000 sq.
ft. facility in Burbank and we started working there. My partner in Mad Dog at that time was Michael Dumas, who co-engineered these
records. Michael had been Dwight’s house mixer for many years (and still is) and we were used to tag-teaming on many projects. Often
times, I would be in Studio A recording while Michael would be editing in Studio B. The studio was right down the street from the offices
of Little Dog Records, the label that Pete, Michael, and I founded around that time, which meant that Pete could work in the office until
there was something for him to hear or if we needed some direction. This team, including the musicians, had worked together so much
that much of the work was pretty effortless – everyone knew what their role was.
Mad Dog had a Neve 8108 console, Studer A800, and a big selection of outboard gear, including my very own U47, which we used for
Dwight’s vocals, of course. It was run through the Hardy M1 pre into a Summit TLA-100 compressor and straight to tape. The 8108
sounded good, but was a maintenance nightmare — really bad switches that would vibrate from low frequencies and make these little
buzzes during tracking that would drive me crazy, so we’d collected a big pile of outboard mic pres — Hardy, API, Focusrite, Demeter,
and occasionally a rental rack of 1073s. Once again, we would build a little wall of baffles to keep the room out of the U47 when Dwight
did his lead vocals. Dwight would usually show up late afternoon/early evening on vocal days — we would know he was there by the
rumble of his customized El Camino in the parking lot. He had this habit of pulling up in the parking lot while on his cell phone, and sitting
there revving the engine while talking, which could go on for quite a while. The truck did generate a great low end. Both of these albums
LOCAL GUIDES
All Guides
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
What’s Your Main Production Objective?
Astounding Performances
Stunning Sound Quality
Interesting Arrangements
Great Songwriting
Lots of Groovy Sonic Hooks