Hello everyone

 My name is Leo Alvarez and I own and run Soundjunkie recording . I'd like to offer my services to all of you as a mix and recording engineer. In addition to a well equipped studio I have access  to a large pool of musicians and instruments that can tackle any musical project regardless of style( pop, rock, jazz, salsa ect.).

I guarantee my services, in other words if you ain't happy I'm not happy. You can see pictures of the studio at myspace.com/soundjunkierecording.

Regards

Leo Alvarez

 Glad you like it!!!

 The monitors are Event Precision 8s without a sub, I find that they have enough low end (they're rated to 32hz but I honestly don't think they go much below 40) and they're very smooth but detailed in the mid-range. So far I've not had the need for other monitors, although I'm considering eventually getting into the Bearefoot MM27s because I like the idea of mastering monitors in the tracking / mixing environment,  however they fall right into the silly money territory ( they're 6500.00 a pair). As for the Tavu song, back then I was using the older version of the Earthworks SR-78 ( they died on me and were replaced by Earthworks with the the SRs, I don't remember the model but they sound pretty much the same to me) on over-heads placed like an inverted V over the drummers' head (making sure that the snare is centered in the stereo image ) connected to a pair of modified SPL CH-1s with about 4db shelving on the AIR band on the channel strip (about 17k) and about 3db of 3k on the mid peaking band. Compression was from the SPL as well (about 3db), this is a single knob compressor with gain make-up. It doesn't always work in this application but when it works it works! The rest of the drums where miked with SM57 on the snare (Presonus M-80-Distressor 3:1dist 2 on, about 4db GR <attack4, relese 5>  -Massive Passive high pass filter on 120hz +3db @180hz,<peaking> +3db@2.5k<peaking> ), Sennheiser e-602 on kick ( my all-time favorite kick mic, same signal path as snare,1:1ratio on the Distressor <tape emulation> high pass @22hz with +4@ 68hz<peaking> and +3@3.3k shelving), Audio Technica ATM-25s on toms(M-80 into SPL QURE, don't remember the EQs, this was recorded about 6 yrs ago) and Earthworks QTC-1s on room ( Earthworks Lab 102 into Distressors on Nuke about 12db GR, no EQ). Back then I didn't use hi hat or ride mics so it was just a  question of balancing the hi hat in the overheads and minimazing snare leakage. On most ocasions the best way to do this is miking the snare with the snare mic coming from below the hi hat (provided that the drummers' set up allows for this), so that the mic null point is facing the hi hat.  Come mix time I used a Presonus ACP-88 (the 8 ch unit) 4:1  auto attack / release and about 4db GR and  4db shelving   @ 12k and  about 3db @ the freq. that made the snare pop (don't remember what it was )

Hope this answers your question

Regards

Leo Alvarez

Yeah I ended up putting the Earthworks on hi-hat and ride where their transient response just kills! My overhead of choice now is the Cascade Fat Head II which I love for this. They do require EQ but they do wonderful things to the transients, almost like what tape does, plus they take EQ so well that you can pile it on and it sounds natural. I'm also using the stereo x-15 on room and that is just mic pre to an FMR 1773 for a bit of compression and to disk, no EQ necessary.  The drummer in that recording just hits everything really, really hard so in a way I guess he IS balanced. One trick I've been using with drummers that have thelead hi-hat problem is a de-esser. Used with care you can kill a good deal of the bleed and not kill the snare with it!! The Waves Renn. de-esser works really well for this since you can be really specific with it. Whatever top you loose on the snare you can make up in the over heads, or snare bottom if you record with it ( Something I always do now but didn't back then) and of course a bit of EQ on the snare itself!

On the snare,

 What you do is go to the de-esser side chain (with a really narrow Q) and locate the worst of the hi hat that is on the snare channel and then (now monitoring the full signal) start  gradually lowering the threshold.The result will probably sound a little weird by itself so reference often with the full drum kit. In the worst of cases you might have to use more than one de-esser at different frequencies, it takes patience but it works. I really don't like dealing with samples so I've learned to try just about anything to fix the problem leaving samples as a last resort. To me the natural interaction of the drums with each other IS what makes the drums work. Another thing that I'm very fond of (in fact I find it indispensable) is the SPL Transient Designer. I'm simply not happy mixing drums without it. Are you familiar with the unit?