Air & Mellow: Mellow

John and I were in France last spring, and thought we'd search out some home recordists in Paris. I tracked down Air and we also came across some acquaintances of theirs (through the fabulous boys of Tahiti 80) by the name of Mellow. While Mellow may not be a well-known band in the U.S., their work has had massive exposure as the soundtrack of Roman Coppola's movie CQ, and they were hard at work on a new album, Dragonfly, when we caught up with them.

Patrick Woodcock and Pierre Begon-Lours are Mellow, and they graciously met us at Patrick's mother's home, where they have a studio, The Mellow Workshop, built in the basement. We hung out upstairs having tea and then took a tour of the winding rooms downstairs, where many odd instruments and fun recording gear were to be found. Plus there was some guy messing about in Pro Tools.

Who's the fellow downstairs?

PW: The fellow downstairs is the sound engineer, and he comes to do additional production, and then we're gonna mix together in a big studio. Pierre is our sound engineer, it's just the fact that at some point we need an external view, another point of view. He comes from Liverpool, and he's somebody who can really give a totally different view.

You get wrapped up in your own way of doing things and hearing it. It's nice to have an outside ear.

PW: Exactly.

What's the name of the engineer downstairs?

PW: Marcus Draws.

He's worked with Brian Eno [ Tape Op #85 ] and Björk, hasn't he? I know his name from Nerve Net. Is this movie CQ funny?

PW: Oh it's great. You gotta see it.

Roman Coppola. Is he the son of Francis Ford Coppola?

PW: Yeah. I highly recommend it. I really didn't quite know what to expect but I'm like, "Oh this movie's a gas."

It's very sixties... It sounds like the Barbarella soundtrack.

PW: You know, it's impossible for a band to do this type of music without being a soundtrack, you know? 

Did they give you a rough cut to work to?

PW: Yes, rough cut. At the beginning they had just the synopsis. Just the paper and so we had each week, we had a VHS cassette with all the new shots. What we were missing...

Did you rent gear to play the video on with sync?

PW: No. Actually we used the JVC. It was just like a challenge to do it, because we had to synchronize the Pro Tools with this analog VHS, so we asked for a VHS with timecode on the left, we used to work with another computer 'cause the old Pro Tools only did sixteen voices, so we had two computers synchronized on the VHS. And one remote control. Can you imagine? A nightmare! The mixing, 'cause we had to premix everything for the final mixing, we sent the tape out. We did some two-track kind of ADAT or Tascam. This is for the movie itself, and then we had to do another mix for the album, in an old place, we mixed on an old Helios console.

What studio was that?

PW: The studio Del 'Aire, northeast of Paris. Big, big place — very messy, but lots of old gear, 1960s — '70s. He had an old amplifier, which had belonged to George Harrison. It was the very desk that had recorded Exodus, Bob Marley.

PBL: When we first started, I worked in a studio, actually used to own half of a big studio in the '90s, and it was an MCI desk, which came from Super Bear [Studios] and had recorded War. So some of this material was recorded through that console, the very beginning.

Were you recording at night, off hours, or for free?

PW: Night, usually. And then we decided we wanted to build something that was more adequate to our needs.

Do you both play all the instruments?

PW: I play most of the instruments. Pierre does drums and programming and, uh, hits me when...

PBL: On stage it's you who hits me when I play badly on guitar and bass.

PW: It's funny, because he's the boss.

So what are you using to record to now? You have Pro Tools?

PW: Yes. We just moved to Pro Tools Mix Plus. We just updated to Pro Tools because it was a nightmare to work on bouncing to ADATs. CQ was a big nightmare.

That was done with two ADAT machines?

PW: No. The extra tracks were on the second computer on just like Cubase software, which is not possible to do anything. It was synchronized, it was okay, but if you wanted to edit something or change it was very complicated to go back.

When's your new record going to be done, supposed to be done?

PW: Uh, should be finished in a month or over a month

Are you going to keep Marcus working the whole time?

PW: He's going to do five or six tracks on the album. Pierre and me, basically Pierre, is going to do the rest. It's just that we need a break. With major songs it's good. We didn't know where to go. We were kind of stuck, so it relieved pressure. Now Marcus has the pressure.

So you have the Pro Tools Mix Plus going there. Do you have a console down there?

PW: Yeah, but now I don't think we need so much this console. Now I think we might just sell it and buy some good preamps. It's a Yamaha O2R, you know, kind of a standard digital console.

PBL: It was very good. It was a little revolution when it came out.

Are you able to make a living off of doing the band?

PW: More or less. Sometimes we have to go back to side jobs. I am an architect and Pierre is a sound engineer, so he does one or two records a year and I do one or two projects a year.

You have a firm that'll call you up and offer you work?

PW: I have an architecture company — I have a partner. When I need to work, there is something to do. Sometimes I bring a project, and give it to her. People know I'm an architect so when I've got a project I bring it [to] the company and I don't necessarily work on it, but if I'm in need then I can knock and I can do something.

That's right. You met the guys from Air in architecture school.

PW: Yes, Nicolas. Serge Gainsbourg did a bit of architecture too.

Do you ever do other people's projects in here?

PW: A bit, sometimes. We had some people come in to do a mix, a French band who we did a single for. Just because we're friends with some record labels, sometimes they send projects and we're not very expensive, so sometimes they just give a ring and say can you do that, and you know if we have a little bit of spare time we do it. It's not the major thing — it was designed for Mellow, not for other people.

We're gonna do the walking tour. So this is the basement of your mother's house. Where's your mom?

PW: Uh, she has to work. She's a teacher.

On Saturday?

PW: Oh yes, Saturday service. I don't know, she's always busy, party, some theater or something. At the beginning it was dust/earth everywhere. When I came here, I asked the neighbors to help me to do the concrete here to play drums. I was playing drums in this room.

The neighbors have never had a problem with noise?

PW: No. It's okay.

You don't play drums super late?

PW: No. [laugh] When we quit the professional studio we were looking for a place. So obviously it was the cheapest place we could have. So we decided to work for ourselves. At the beginning we worked here, on it was earth, again here, concrete here. The room was very small — it stopped here. We knocked the wall down. We dig the earth out, did the plaster, and we had the concrete come through this very small window. You can see the remains. [laughs] We did it very cheaply for all this. It was very good to have then the studio and the control room.

Do you have doors on these? Oh, you put these panels up on the doors when you're recording.

PW: If we do drums we close these doors. If we do vocals we don't worry about it. Sometimes we get noise from the street. On guitars, sometimes we can hear the rain.

Nice. Is this a typical drum mic'ing setup?

PW: This is more just like, trying to make it professional, 'cause there is a sound engineer here. Usually we use one or two mics and just mess around 'til it sounds good. It depends, sometimes we want to have a real drum setup. Depends if we want to do something live and trashy or something really...

More atmosphere, kind of?

PW: Less atmosphere. Sometimes we want to avoid these, and have to be separate.

Close mics?

PW: Mics for everything and so we started with this console. This console is quite famous because it mixed the very first Air track, which was a very popular mix, so that was our first console.

There you go, a Tascam...

PW: Nicolas sold it to me for... 

PBL: We never use it, but because Marcus came we had to get it out. And because we're working a little bit on this G3 there, if we do vocals we can record on this and then we send it back to him.

So you're working in here while he's working in there. Oh, you're not gonna waste any time.

PW: No.

Lots of keyboards.

PW: Yep.

Keyboards, basses. Wurlitzer, extra one. This is a little D6.

PW: Oh man. Hohner clavinet D6. 

PBL: This other one is very much like the Elka Rhapsody, which is clavichord strings/piano. You can put it together, and it's quite rich.

Cool. Fun stuff.

PW: It's quite funny, cause you just have to, you mix it in, you get the...

Blend from the sound?

PW: Yeah, you put up cello, a bit of strings, then you get piano level, the clavichord, and also the clavichord piano, if you want something with a little attack, clavichord piano, or if you want something more mellow.

What's the name on this?

PW: It's a B-IP600. This was the best, above you could have the Moog White Elephant, which is the same organ but it has a Moog filter within it. But we don't really mind 'cause we can just use other filters. It's got funny little features, like slurrer on the chord, which, when you press the keys, does a ramp on the chord.

Like a portamento?

PBL: Like you hit the chord and it pitches up. 

PW: This can also tune the range, it's, you know... 

PBL: The rate. Did you see the picture of the skier on there?

Yeah, the skier is cool.

PW: On stage, it's very difficult; it's impossible to bring all these keyboards.

Yeah, do you have samples of a lot of them?

PW: Yeah, we are obliged to record them all. Onto 2-track. 

PBL: Here's an old Marshall — 1965, I think. 

Oh yeah, it's different.

PW: It's a PA amplifier, so you really have to put it very loud. But you get a nice sound, it works quite well. Different channels have different tube sets, so it sounds differently.

That's cool, versatile. So does this go outside of here?

PW: Yeah.

This is the hallway between the two rooms. Here's the garden.

PW: Where we take our breaks. 

PBL: Yeah, have some tea. 

Guitars.

PBL: Yeah, many.

PW: This one comes from L.A. Silvertone. I like cheap guitars — not so much into Fender, Gibson. This is an old echo. They all sound different. This is, uh, a sitar.

Handmade? Like the Coral?

PW: Well it was an old guitar, and we put the funny bridge. We used it a lot on CQ.

So it's like the Coral electric sitar.

PW: It's a little bit different. Sometimes it sounds more like another instrument, but it's different than the Coral, which is a sound that everyone knows.

Oh, an old Hofner bass. This is cool.

PW: We got that in London.

Well, can we go in here and bug Marcus and see what you have in here? Marcus, we're gonna make it very hard to work cause we're gonna be talking. What do you have in here?

PBL: Avalon compressor, Amek, Neve too. This is our little micro modular.

PW: It's tiny. So tiny. So interesting for all the sounds it gives.

And you can program it?

PW: We bought this, the Mutator — this is the last thing we got. We used to have a Sherman Filterbank, and we used on this album and then we sold it and bought the Mutator. It's more mellow. Not as rough.

Are you using the O2R Marcus, or staying within Pro Tools?

MD: Just to monitor, I don't really know the O2R.

What are you working on right now, Marcus?

MD: How do you mean?

Are you editing stuff or... ?

MD: Just tidying stuff up, cleanup, tidy up the fades.

How long are you here for right now?

MD: Two and a half weeks. 

PW: And the most important thing, the Stylophone. 

Oh yeah, you can still get these, you know? You can still get them new?

PW: Really? Where?

I heard you can still get these new.

PW: I bought it in London actually. It was not really expensive and it was used, but it was in its box. And this is very important too, we used it once. This ancient digital sequencer.

Does it output MIDI or computer control voltages?

PBL: CV gates, and it can be used with this and the [Roland] SH-101, 'cause they belong together, and you can do a double arpeggio and use this filter in the SH-101, so it's all nice and together.

PW: This is never in time. Never. 

PBL: But I think these things are sometimes not very practical. You can do it with modern stuff, but the amount of pleasure you get in using the old, and you know it's more complicated, obviously, but it has a nice feeling. It's fun.

Well, we should let Marcus get to work. Do you do a lot of stuff with the keyboards where you process like, say, run the Farfisa into a filter or guitar effects, stomp boxes?

PW: Yes. I showed you that little Multibox, little synthesizer, we put the guitar on stage, we use a lot of this with the Farfisa, and it's very interesting, very warm.

Do you get inspiration by just finding sounds to build songs?

PW: Yes. That's the fun bit. It's exciting too, sometimes it's more complicated just being in the computer software, but we just like to run around, experiment.

Do you get sounds into the computer but then move them around and build the song, as far as sequencing and opening up space?

PW: Yeah. It's all layers, one on top of another.

And then take some out, push them?

PW: Push them, yeah. And uh, take one from one place somewhere — find another place that gives something unexpected.

Has that changed the way you work?

PW: Before we started Mellow, we started using these Akai samplers. We did a lot of recording and we had Pro Tools already — it was four track Pro Tools in '96 or '95. We used to take four tracks, put them on the Akai, then four tracks, it was really cool in those days, just to be able to do these free things, on the MCI console.

Did you like the MCI console?

PBL: Yeah, nothing distracted. It was impossible to destroy the sound. Everything you do sounds good on it. Even if you put the low frequencies too hot — all the high frequencies, all the mid frequencies, everything's always beautiful.