CA&E: How about your studio album?MF: We do a bit of both. We sometimes record 16-track analog. We've been using a Sony digital machine, no ProTooling yet. Maybe some in the mixing, but we do stuff until we get it right, which is time consuming. Rather than do it and say, hey, it's out of tune, let's fix it later - we don't do that. If we do, it's minimal, during the mixing. If we've missed something we will obviously go in and correct it with ProTools. So we're pretty old-fashioned in the way we approach something. We just keep playing it until we get a great drum track that feels good; a lot of people don't understand that anymore. With the sound, we take a lot of care with mic placement, and room sounds. A lot of people say, that's fine, we'll put a sound on it later. That being said, we're open to new things. I think it's all how you use it. But I agree, there's a warm-ness, I think there's a dynamic in analog and transferring to vinyl. There is a sound that's very musical, that can for sure get lost in digital recording and CDs.
CA&E: Do you think the music industry has deliberately tried to overly compress music so it will sound more pumped up on the radio?MF: Oh yeah, that's very common. And The Beatles used to do it, but they used to do it in a friendly way. [laughs] It was just different. Again, there's always a good reason for some of these things. And we do that ourselves. But the trouble is if you do it then the radio companies do it - by the time it comes out of your speakers in the car, the thing is slamming. And there are no dynamics.
CA&E: What role does car audio play during the recording process for you?MF: I have a DAT in my car. You have to have a car that's properly tuned, which I do with Kove Audio. They take care of all of that. So I know what I'm hearing is pretty true and consistent. I know my car stereo very well, I listen to a lot of music in the car.
CA&E: Tells us about the system.MF: It was problematic because it has the computer navigation and such. It took them about four, five weeks to get the stereo in there while maintaining the factory nav. I have some really good, powerful amps and subwoofers in the car.
CA&E: How do you like the 750?MF: The car in its natural state is actually very sophisticated. The other day a Bentley dealer lent me a brand new $300,000 Bentley to drive. It's a great motor car, but the sound system was crap; and the electronics and creature comforts were zero. I got back in my BMW and everything was so accessible, the way it's laid out. There's no doubt with any of these big sound systems you have to sacrifice something. So I don't have a trunk. [laughs] But I make that sacrifice because I want the car fully loaded for sound.
CA&E: How did you hook up with Kove?MF: I've known Gary [Kovner] for many years. I followed him from his old company to his new company; and he does all my cars. He was actually recommended to me and ever since then we've been friends.