For Randy Bachman – front man for Bachman-Turner Overdrive – replacing prized vintage gear has been no problem at all thanks to Liquid Mix…

Randy Bachman's life in music has thrown up some classics – classics that ensure his sound will live forever. Whether we’re talking Bachman-Turner Overdrive’s You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, or Takin' Care Of Business, or earlier tracks from The Guess Who, or more recent output as the Bachman-Cummings Band, Randy's always delivered the sound of pure Rock & Roll.

Part of the reason is that he's always been meticulous about his sound. And a lifetime in the music business means he knows exactly what it takes to get 'that' sound.

So when it came to saying goodbye to some vintage gear – notably two much loved vintage Neve desks – Randy wasn't sure if he’d be able to recreate the magic that had become a trademark of his sound.
"For years and years I've worked on my vintage Neve consoles, and they've been a big part of my sound… until recently, that is. Having recently sold them both [Neve 8058 Mk.2 and Neve 5305 20-channel console], I was concerned about achieving the sound that I'd gotten so used to over the years…"

"So recently we acquired the Focusrite Liquid Mix. And I have to say that initially I was pretty skeptical that it could live up to the hype."

"But when using the Focusrite Liquid Mix in our mixes, we've found it to be surprisingly easy to emulate some of our favourite outboard gear – including our famous Neve boards. The sound is warm and not brittle, as I would have expected."

“One particular outboard favourite of ours is our [UREI] 1176LN Blackface. By pulling up Liquid Mix’s ‘Stellar 2 – US Classic Solid State 2’ preset and tweaking the dials a fair amount to achieve our favourite sound, I knew we were really close. Christian Stonehouse, my engineer, noted that the original 1176 was adding a slight EQ boost in the 6-7kHz range, so we pulled open the ‘Brit Desk 6’ EQ, and using the ‘Hi-Q’ preset we boosted the 7kHz bell knob just slightly – to ‘1’… and then we had our 1176LN nailed. The difference now, though, is that I can use the 1176 on multiple tracks instead of just one!”
“Another emulation that we found amazing was Liquid Mix's emulation of the Chiswick Reach Stereo Valve compressor (‘London: Brit Boutique Tube 1’), which we own. When dialing them up side by side it’s almost impossible to tell which is which. It's one of our favorites for kick drum, having that Fairchild type vibe. Liquid Mix got our kick sounding as fat as anything – we love it! Of course, as most studio people know, a Chiswick Reach can sound great on all kinds of things – acoustic guitar, bass… you name it.”
“Focusrite’s Liquid Mix has definitely changed the way we mix and has helped us maintain an analogue sound while still being in the digital domain. Hats off to you guys at Focusrite – and I’m looking forward to seeing more products like it in the future!"

Christian Stonehouse, long time mix and recording engineer for Randy Bachman, is also a committed fan of Liquid Mix – not only for the tone it brings to his sound, but also for the increased flexibility of using multiple instances in his productions…

“Basically, Liquid Mix and Liquid Mix HD are excellent additions to any engineer or musician’s arsenal,” insists Christian. “First off, there's the tone you get from the vintage EQ emulations. And then secondly, having the compressor right there beside it is like having a true analogue channel strip, which is just brilliant. For speed, what I'll do is line up a ‘mixed EQ’, whereby you can predetermine which bands do what for the sound sculpting you're looking for, and then find one or two compressors you like – we choose the 1176LN and Chiswick Reach. Then simply save that as your default user plug-in, which will then load up every time you open the plug-in.”

“So then you have the same user-selected interface that opens up every time by default. Of course you have the option of changing it, but what I like about it is that you quickly get to one interface – so you’re up and running right away. Because all the EQs and compressors have different settings respective to each emulation, some are more flexible than others. I find if I stick with one setup, I can be pretty much as fast as being on an analogue console.”

“So for one thing I'll be using our Liquid Mix to replace all the instances of software 1176LN emulations that I've used over the years. Now, I finally have another viable sonic option. I'm really happy with the sound of Liquid Mix and the price point is so low it's silly. Essentially Liquid Mix has taken high-end studio plug-ins and dropped them to a basement studio price. Good on ya, Focusrite!"

Now you can get the Randy Bachman sound! Randy Bachman has kindly programmed four presets for Liquid Mix – Liquid Mix owners can download these presets for free from the Focusrite website!
For information on Randy Bachman: www.randybachman.com