Hi Mick

I was interested in knowing what your experience was like while working with Van in the studio? Has he mellowed with age a little bit? Does he have a certain vocal mic that he favors?
I would think that there is very little overdubbing when it comes to engineering his sessions.

I'd like to refer to Haydn's previous posting regarding client confidentiality, and say that we have to be respectful in this area. However, I think I can probably make some general remarks about recording with Van. His sessions are always a thrill to work on - he's a very spontaneous performer and that makes for some exiting moments.
In order to make the sessions work, I have to prepare for any situation, combination of musicians & singers, etc. The sessions are invariably live, but separation between microphones is essential, as is eye contact. I used to use a Sennheiser MD421 for Van's vocal, but these days it tends to be a Shure SM87.

I understand Completely Mick about the confidentiality. While I was cruising your website I read all of your interviews and I found them to be very informing. Especially the quicktime movie interview.

The vocal Track I am most in awe of is the song "Foreign Window" off the No Guru cd. The vocals seem to have a softness to them. Somehow taking the edge off his voice. The drums sound really nice too. I would have guessed this to be a U87.

Re "Foreign Window" - I didn't record that vocal track, but I'm pretty sure that it would have been a dynamic mic. Condenser mics don't respond well to Van's voice - they tend to overload easily. Of course, there will have been a lot of processing in the mix, which I did work on.