11/19/08
All of the drum sessions are tracked through Ly’s collection of Daking equipment, which includes four Mic-Pre/EQs, five FET II Compressor/Limiters, four of the new Mic-Pre Ones, and a Mic-Pre IV. Ly, who has a large collection of recording equipment at his private Dragon’s Lair facility in Los Angeles, says, “There are other high end preamps that I can reach for, but the Daking gear gets used before anything else.”
As Ly does not have the luxury of a permanently set-up drum kit, the fact that the Daking equipment, almost immediately, provides a great result is a tremendous help. “Especially when we’re on a time crunch and we have far too many clients to fit into one day. It’s really nice to get the drum kit set up, throw the mics on ’em, open up the Daking preamps and hear just what I want to hear. This leaves more time to create and means less time searching for tones.”
He continues, “They sound cohesive, the low-end is tight, and the clarity is fantastic. The way they speak and help everything sit in a track is really sweet and that becomes readily apparent when you start to mix all of the elements together. Its when you get towards the end of the tracking process and start to throw the faders up and everything just sonically sits where it belongs. It just makes the mixing process that much easier.”
All of Ly’s projects make use of the Daking gear. “I track with them – anything and everything,” he says. “When I go to mix I’ll break out of the box. I’ll get out of Pro Tools and run stuff through the EQs and through the compressors. There’s not a plug-in made that can touch ’em.”
Ly also used Daking mic preamps, EQs and compressors on the upcoming debut album by new all-girl band, Anything But Monday, for Universal Records. “I’ve been working with them for the past year. I’ve been doing everything from editing to mixing to recording to doing some co-producing and I even played a little bass on some of the tracks. I also worked on their promotional videos and I’m producing all of their promotional radio drops. There must be close to 1,000 radio drops out there.”
“I also did five tracks, along with my production partner Berne Penzias, for one of the ‘American Idol’ artists earlier this year,” he adds. “The Daking products were used extensively on that. I recorded and mixed some material with the Ronald MacDonald House and used my Dakings on some commercial work for Murine. Berne and I also working with actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Make it Happen, Live Free or Die Hard, Grindhouse, Final Destination 3, etc…) on some new original material in which all of her vocals are recorded through the Daking gear as well as drums, bass and guitars.”
Ly also plays in a band – alongside Godwin – with actor Thomas Ian Nicholas, well known for his role as ‘Kevin’ in the “American Pie” series of films. “We’re working on a new album that I’m producing, recording, mixing and playing bass on. I’ll also be mixing Thomas’ new acoustic solo album. The Daking gear is absolutely essential for everything I do.”