Recording and Production in the News

Killer Sound for Cult Comeback

Cambridge, UK - Left-field British rock band Killing Joke have released their eponymous comeback album to great acclaim - not least thanks to producer and co-writer Andy Gill and his unique approach in bridging the best of analogue and digital recording techniques.

At his own studio in London, Gill combines a vintage Neve 51 console and stacks of valve outboard with Logic Audio and Pro Tools MIX, and turns to the tried-and-tested Prism ADA-8 to ensure the best possible conversion of signals while capturing powerful rock sounds.

The ADA-8s were also pressed into service for sessions at Grand Master Studios in LA with Gill at the helm - capturing the amazing drumming of Foo Fighter Dave Grohl, guesting on every track on Killing Joke.

"Dave was keen on doing the whole album once he heard the tracks," says Gill. "We did everything at my studio first, with the ADA-8 as the Pro Tools gateway along with a couple of 888s. We always knew that at the end of this process we'd be looking for a great drummer to add that live feel, which is why we went out to LA to record Dave - with just a FireWire drive with the tracks on it.

"Grand Master is a really funky, 1970s style studio with its own antique Neve. The drum sound was literally the best I've heard, and Dave was the best to work with - as were the three Prism ADA-8s we hired. I've compared Prism with the top competitors and they always come out on top - that's why I've bought two for my own studio. I'm thinking of upgrading to Pro Tools HD in the future, and these converters are with me in that regard because they can be upgraded, too, when I'm ready. I don't rush into new gizmos: I need reliability."

Gill has made his name in production with albums, film and TV soundtracks . From producing The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Stranglers and Jesus Lizard to recent work with the latest Killing Joke album featuring Dave Grohl, and one of the hippest bands in Britain today ; The Futureheads. He co-wrote and produced the Michael Hutchence solo album which was completed, with the assistance of Bono singing on the albums lead track [ slide away ] , after the star's death. The career in production followed an explosive start in the industry for Gill as the co-founder and guitarist of post-punk pioneers Gang Of Four, exerting a lasting influence on British and American music by dramatically expanding the remit of the pop song, challenging many of pop's accepted formulae and encapsulating a lost era of bold experimentation.

Central to the band's sound was Gill's extraordinary guitar playing, a staccato-and-feedback powerhouse still revered and copied today by such as 'The Red Hot Chilli Peppers' , REM, Radio Four , Death in Vegas, The rapture and many others. For Gill, breaking sonic barriers has led naturally to a production expertise that revels in great effects, old and new.

"I've got hundreds of pedals and a lot of valve outboard, but combining these with hard disk recording is the best of both worlds. If somebody wanted to do a project on tape I'd be quite disappointed - you get so used to the ease of editing and the infinite flexibility of Pro Tools and Logic. Once I'd heard the Prism converters - even at 44.1kHz - the superiority was obvious. They really win in terms of transparency and detail."

The Prism Dream ADA-8 is a modular A-D/D-A converter and processor that can be configured for eight channels of simultaneous A-D and D-A, or for 16 channels in either direction. It also serves as a D-D format converter. In the 2-wire mode, the ADA-8 can record 96kHz or 88.2kHz sampled audio to a 48/44.1 recorder.

Based in Cambridge, England, Prism Sound is a leading designer of a wide range of products for the recording, broadcast and commercial sound industries.

For more information, contact Prism Sound sales at sales@prismsound.com or call (973) 983 9577 in the US, Canada or South America or +44 (0)1353 648 888 from other countries.

For photos and other press information, please call Kathy Arnold at The Network 360-446-5035, email: thenetwork@ywave.com