Doug and the Rolling Stones! – Producer Spotlight
So you want to work on the road with some cool bands, doing the mix for those “tip of the tongue” acts? Look no further for your inspiration than one of the hardest working “cats” in the business. Having racked up over 25 years in the audio business Doug McClement has the credentials that will make many weep. He is on the top of the list when record companies are looking for a robust solution for their clients. Doug will not need an introduction to many of our readers, though if you have not heard of him read on. He has a very cool recording truck!
Doug McClement became interested in audio as a teenager, working in stereo stores and playing in bands around his home town of Kingston, Ontario. He set up Comfort Sound, a four-track studio in his parents’ basement in 1973, recording demos for local bands and songwriters.
After graduating with an Honours Bachelor of Commerce from Queen’s University in 1975, he moved to Toronto, where he worked as a computer programmer for TD bank during the day, while running a home studio at night and on weekends. By 1978, the studio was busy enough for Doug to quit the bank, expand to eight-track and go full time into recording. He also started to get requests from studio clients to record their bands on location. After a couple of years of taking gear out of the studio for these remotes, he purchased a cube van to accommodate the expanding live recording business.
Throughout the eighties, the studio expanded from eight to twenty-four tracks, and changed its focus from radio and records to music for television and film. Doug was hired by several television networks to engineer remotes outside Canada, in places like Nigeria, Jamaica, Germany, Cyprus, Spain and Kuwait. A portable multi-track system was designed specifically for shows outside the province. The remote side of the business grew to the point where Doug decided to sell Comfort Sound and go full time into live recording.
Doug set up LiveWire Remote Recorders in the summer of 1994, and has been doing location recording ever since, both with the truck, and with the portable airpack system.
Doug has been nominated four times for a Gemini Award for Best Sound in a TV Variety Program, and has received platinum albums for engineering Blue Rodeo’s “Diamond Mine” and “Five Days in July”, and “Bargainville” for Moxy Fruvous.
He is a member the World Studio Group, and has been a member of the Audio Engineering Society since 1974. He is on the executive board of the Toronto AES Chapter. Doug is currently the Director of the Producing and Engineering Program at The Harris Institute for the Arts in Toronto, where he teaches one day per week.
Doug has been married to Caroline Van Belleghem since 1983, and has two beautiful young daughters, Megaera, born in May, 1998, and Molly, born in August, 1999. The family lives in an old Victorian house in downtown Toronto with their cat, Gracie.
When not on location, Doug enjoys listening to Ry Cooder and Tom Waits, watching movies, reading, and watching baseball. He also plays bass for "The Yeltsins", a roots music band that his wife thinks should be named "We Be 40".
Doug McClement meet the people, The People meet Doug McClement
So Doug, we have some standard questions we bang out to industry professionals covering some pretty wide areas, let me put these to you.
Are you a live man or programmer?
Live. What I know about midi I could write on my thumbnail. I just joined
the Pro-Tools tribe in December.
Insert or Aux?
Insert on volume related fx (comps, gates, de-essers, eq's)
Aux on spatial effects (reverbs, delays, etc)
Is automation everything it's cracked up to be?
It's great, and certainly indispensable on complex film and TV mixes. On
the other hand, you lose all those "happy accidents" that occur when you
forget to do a mute or a fader move on a pass, things that make you go "that
was cool, let's leave that on the record!" About 80% of what I do is
live-to-air television awards shows and concert specials, so I seldom get to
use automation. My main console is a 50 input Neotek elite, and it is not
automated.
What are your thoughts on audio education in college?
No studio in Toronto hires anyone off the street anymore. (there are about
150 legit studios here. Toronto is the fourth largest centre of audio
recording in North America, after NYC, LA, and Nashville) They must have
been through some type of audio industry school, and participate in some
kind of internship program. The studio staff doesn't have the time to train
anyone from scratch these days. Although they don't expect someone fresh
out of school to come in and start engineering sessions, they at least don't
have to spend a year teaching them the basics.
What was your first commercial job?
Doing singer/songwriter demos in the early 70's in a 4-track studio in my
parents basement. I was 17 years old. Also did a lot of live recording of
folksingers in coffee houses, so I was doing remotes even back then.
Analogue or Digital?
I prefer analog, but it is cost prohibitive for most of my clients. In our
mobile, we offer 48 track analog on two 2" Ampex MM1200's, 48 tracks of 24
bit Tascam DA-78, and 48 tracks of ProTools HD. That way, the client can
decide what's best suited to their project. On the live Bon Jovi album we
did last year, we recorded on 48 tracks of DA-78, but did the bass and drums
on 16 track 2". The best of both worlds.
Ultimately, I look on the digital vs. analog debate the way a photographer
would choose a different type of film depending on whether he or she were
shooting an F1 race or a still life magazine advertisement. The job
dictates the format. It doesn't mean one is better than the other, it's
just that digital seems to work for some types of music, and analog works
well with others.
What do you feel to be the most important development in audio
technology in recent years?
In my 25 years in the business, I have never seen a technology become a
standard so quickly as Protools has over the past 18 months. It's not so
much that it sounds great, or is the easiest system to use, it's just that
everyone was desperately hoping that a standard DAW format would emerge, and
as soon as it achieved critical mass, everyone jumped on the bandwagon.
Very similar to Microsoft. Very average product, but brilliant marketing
and management.
What has been your most memorable session?
Wow. I've done almost 2500 remotes over the past three decades, so it's
hard to choose. I'd have to say doing the intro music for the Rolling
Stones Voodoo Lounge tour while they were rehearsing here in Toronto would
be up there. Stevie Ray Vaughan with Albert King on "In Session" would be
another. I guess my favourite took place in 1990 when I was hired to build
a 16 track studio on a train, which travelled 4,000 miles across Canada from
Vancouver to Halifax over 26 days. We recorded bands in a boxcar while the
train was in motion, and did concerts at all the major train stations along
the way, with the major Canadian acts of that era. (Celine Dion, 54:40, Blue
Rodeo, Lee Aaron, Northern Pikes, Jeff Healey, Bruce Cockburn, Jane Siberry,
etc).
How did you get to be a producer?
After engineering a lot of sessions, I felt I had valuable advice to give to
artists to help them get the sound in their head onto tape.
Any advice for a wannbe producer?
Listen to as wide a variety of music as possible, and try to find interviews
in trade publications (Mix, etc) with producers and engineers where they
discuss the recording techniques they used on specific records that you
love.
Can you list your discography?
2002 Natalie MacMaster Live> Natalie MacMaster
2002 Shaggy Remix>Shaggy (1 cut)
2001 Bon Jovi Live>Bon Jovi>
2001 Bomb You Live>Zoobombs>
2000 Because I Said So>Maggie Cassella>
1999 Sheryl Crow Around The World>Sheryl Crow>
1999 Holly MacNarland Live>Holly MacNarland>
1999 Loreena McKennitt Live>Loreena McKennitt>
1998 Live From The Middle East The Mighty Mighty Bosstones>
1998 All Over The Place>Wilco>
1998 Blues Brothers 2000 Soundtrack>Various Artists (gold)
1997 It's Now! It's Live>The Mavericks Live at Massey Hall>
1997 200 More Miles> The Cowboy Junkies>
1997 An Intimate Evening With Anne Murray>
1997 Live in Canada> (radio promo featuring the band "Live">
1996 It Happened One Night>Holly Cole>
1996 September Songs> (2 cuts) Betty Carter and Mary Margaret O'Hara>
1995 What It Feels Like To Kill> Steven Leckie & The Viletones>
1995 Alive For Twenty-FiveThe Torchmen (nominated for Grammy Awd>
1993 Five Days in July> Blue Rodeo (6x Platinum)>
1993 Cohen Live>Leonard Cohen in Concert>
1991 Shut Up and Die Like An Aviator> Steve Earle>
1991 In The Key of Oscar>Oscar Peterson>
1990 Four on the Floor>The Nylons>
1990 I Am A Wild Party> Kim Mitchell>
1989 Diamond Mine>Blue Rodeo (platinum)>
1989 Bruce Cockburn Live>
1988 Ain't It Dead Yet>Skinny Puppy>
1988 Raffi in Concert With The Rise And Shine Band>
1988 What Do You Want> The Shuffle Demons>
1987 React> The Fixx (produced by Scott Litt>
1987 Fire Me Up> Manteca>
1982 You Want It? You Got It Live > Bryan Adams (radio promo)
1979 The Last Pogo>Various Artists>
Impressive list? We think so. Thanks a bunch Doug for your time I’m sure you have sparked more than a little interest in our readers!
For further information about Doug check out his website:
LiveWire Remote Recorders
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