More than 30 years as a session guitarist, programmer, songwriter, engineer and producer has given Matthew Noble a keen ear for crafting pop music. His knack of spinning irresistible tracks across genres has earned him an engineering client list that includes Rihanna, Diana King, Southside Johnny and Rod Stewart among others. These days, he performs most of his work out of the Loft Studios in Bronxville, New York and in the newly renovated Riverworks Recording in Dobbs Ferry, New York.
Recent work with the musical Big River and gospel artist Rell Holland & Experience have given him a new favo-rite plug-in – Metric Halo’s ChannelStrip.
‘I tried ChannelStrip because some other people that I respect were using it,’ Noble begins. ‘My friend Keith Brown, who is a well-known Nashville songwriter, was working on a project with Billie Decker, who is one of the hottest mix engineers in country music. Keith’s enthusiasm for the plug-in, together with his revelation that Billie uses it “all over the place” was enough to motivate me to check it out.’
Riverworks Recording boasts a huge acoustical space that has changed the way both Noble and the producers and artists he works with approach the recording process: ‘So much of my work there has involved tracking live instruments, as opposed to the virtual players that live inside our modern computers,’ he says. ‘While it’s been a refreshing change, it has also brought with it challenges. For example, getting a great drum sound and a great overall mix with the new expectations for how long things take these days is not easy. ChannelStrip has been very helpful because all the functions that I need to access quickly are all in one plug-in. These include the less ‘sexy’ functions, such as phase reverse and multiple trims, in addition to full-blown and flexible dynamics and equalisation. Having everything in one plug-in has greatly improved my workflow.
‘The ChannelStrip presets are a great starting point,’ says. ‘They’re especially useful in a time crunch, when the client is breathing down your neck. The acoustic guitar and drum presets are often spot on, right out of the gate. When I tweak, the GUI lets me know exactly what I’m doing.’
‘ChannelStrip has a great sound,’ he adds. ‘Like an SSL, it can be very aggressive and not at all subtle. Despite all its flexibility and sonic muscle, it has remarkably low CPU drain, which means I can use it whenever I need it.’
More: www.mhlabs.com
More: www.matthewnoble.com
More: www.theloftstudios.net
More: www.riverworksrecording.com
