An industry veteran Engineer, Mixer and producer Joe Chiccarelli has worked with many top artists and is a winner of numerous awards, including nine Grammys. Let’s just mention these megastars: Elton John, Frank Zappa, U2, Tori Amos, Counting Crows, Beck, Etta James, White Stripes, Jason Mraz and most recently Alanis Morrisette’s last brilliant album, “Havoc and Bright Lights”.
That’s why we were so honored when he chose a Creamer Plus as one of his important tools on a current album project for an Australian artist Bernard Fanning under the record label Dew Process/Universal.
“The C+ sounds pretty impressive! , says Joe, “I loved it on guitars and keys and even percussion! It’s big sounding, clear and punchy. The tone options are a big plus and overall I’m really pleased with it! I’ve just started to discover uses for it and I’ll put it to work wherever I can on this project!”
We are very grateful to Joe for thinking outside the box and firing up a product he was totally unfamiliar with. What’s amazing is that every single engineer has a favorite use for the Creamer. Sometimes it’s the vocals, other times acoustic instruments, drums or electric guitars. It depends largely on the mike and other units used in the signal chain.
One of Joe’s go-to mic’s at the Sunset sound is a vintage Sony C37A. It is a very warm sounding tube mike, which is already very harmonic-rich. He also tends to use an old Pultec EQ and a Retro 176 limiter, both very lush sounding tube units. Even within such a massively colored signal chain, Creamer held its own and retained signal definition. (in this case, a mic like U87 or U47 would deliver much more presence than a C37A. Of course, it all depends what the sound source calls for.).
We caught up with Joe at the AES Show in San Francisco, and later visited him at a session at Sunset Sound in Hollywood. We’ll keep you posted of any interesting news on this front line.
Thanks Joe!
