sE Reflexion Filter and PJ Harvey live
Tuesday 29th September 2009
PJ Harvey's engineer, Head, uses the sE Reflexion Filter to obtain the best sound in a tricky live scenario…
We've seen countless stories of how sE's Reflexion Filter has helped vocalists around the world get the perfect take. Now we're starting to hear how its groundbreaking design can be used in a variety of other situations. Hear, PJ Harvey's engineer uses a Reflexion Filter to help him get the perfect live sound…
Howard Bullivant, aka Head, got in to recording out of frustration in the 1980s. "Studios were really expensive," he recalls, "and quite often the finished piece of music didn't sound as I imagined it should. There was too much technology involved, and it sounded like machines and not people."
Over the years his quest for the perfect sound has led him to create own his own bespoke studio, and to work with many of the biggest names in the business including Yoko Ono, Thom Yorke, Massive Attack, Elizabeth Fraser, Marianne Faithfull, Mick Harvey, Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Paul Weller, Pete Doherty and Therapy?.
"All one can do is react to what the musicians want to do," he notes of these high profile outings. "The better musicians always inspire you to push yourself to new limits."
Head has now experienced many studio set-ups but prefers the subtle nuances of tape over digital and says: "Sonically it's just better, and it's harder to hide the warts. If you play like shit you will sound like shit but, on the other hand, tape can capture the simple energy or beauty of a performance like nothing else."
Also helping him capture stunning performances is an sE Electronics Reflexion Filter which he has been using live with PJ Harvey…
"I had been told about the Reflexion Filters by some musician friends who rated them very highly," he says. "I have been using them on the piano mics for some PJ Harvey solo shows. She has been playing an upright piano in a live situation and for front of house and monitors this can be tricky. In these shows Polly plays quietly and the mics need all the help they can get to reject feedback. The Reflexion Filters gave us those few extra dBs to make a positive difference. They made it possible to concentrate on doing a good mix rather than constantly trying to beat the feedback."
Head has just started mixing an artist called Hayley Willis in Spiral Studio in Cornwall and he will shortly be recording vocals and mixing a Black Frances (Frank Black) Album at RAK Studio in London.
