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Graham Pattison has been Front Of House engineer for many bands and
spent years with Kula Shaker and, more recently, Gomez. When it comes
to recording, there’s just one mic that Graham takes into the studio,
the SE Gemini…
Graham Pattison is a freelance sound engineer based in Paris who has
worked with a host of big bands and artists. For years he worked as
Kula Shaker’s Front Of House engineer and when the band reformed
recently they asked him to work with them at their reunion gigs…
“The gigs were really good,” he says. “I didn’t know whether to get
involved again to be honest. It was kind of like going out with an old
girlfriend! I turned up and mixed the first show and it went great.”
Graham has a long list of other bands on his CV too. “I’ve worked with
Spiritualized and, over the last couple of years, I worked with Gomez
who are now very big in America. I also work for Joseph Arthur who is a
New York based singer/songwriter rising to acclaim right now. I also
release my own music which is a kind of contemporary English folk.”
And for that music he enlisted the help of a couple of old friends from
Kula Shaker: “When the band broke up the bass player and drummer became
really good friends of mine and I used them on my album and Joseph
Arthur also needed a band so they toured with him around Europe. Kula
Shaker’s rhythm section became his rhythm section!”
For years now, Graham’s brand choice of microphone brand has been sE
Electronics, which came was a result of sE’s policy where they let you
to try before you buy…
“James Young from sE sent me a load of mics to try and I bought all of
them!” he remembers. “What I really wanted was something like an old
60s Neumann U67 or FET 47, that kind of thing, but they are so
expensive to buy. I wanted something specifically of that quality, a
really nice condenser. James told me about the Gemini, especially how
good it is on acoustic guitars and vocals, and then how much it was
going to be… and I honestly thought it wouldn’t be any good for the
price. In fact I thought it would be impossible for it to be any good!
But when it came through and I started using it I was really blown away
and have used it on everything since. I also use a Z5600a for tracking
other artists backing the lead.”
“I use the Gemini on main vocals a lot. It’s also really good on any
string instrument. I’d say it’s very warm and very flattering; a very
nice warm and dense sound that I really love in a mic.”
It’s a busy time for Graham and the future looks just as hectic. “Gomez
are just about to release a new record which is going to be really good
and I’ll be doing the live sound on that. sE have just launched their
new H1 which I’ve yet to try out, but I’m looking forward to getting my
hands in that too… it’s a stage condenser that should be great for live
vocals/drums/guitar cabs etc… we’ll see!
I work with a lot of French bands as well. I’ve just produced a band in
London and used all sE mics with them. I’ve also recorded French
singers Elista
Joseph, d’Anvers and Herve Paul with a Gemini and have also just done a
film soundtrack on which I only used the Gemini for the whole thing.”
Which proves that not only is Graham in demand but the Gemini is a
great all rounder too!
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