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By a chance meeting, Javier Weyler went from being an audio engineer to
become the drummer for one of the biggest bands in the world! Now he’s
brought his audio expertise into the Stereophonics fold so that both he
and the band have become big sE mic users…
Javier Weyler was born and raised in Venezuela and was surrounded by
music from a very early age. He started playing drums at the age of 13
and spent nine years in a band releasing two albums. In 2000 he moved
to the UK to further his knowledge about audio engineering and started
working at Sahara Sound as an assistant engineer. It was there that a
life-changing meeting took place…
“I ended up meeting Kelly and Rich from Stereophonics,” he says. “They
came to the studio to work on demos for You Gotta Go There To Come
Back. We became friends and I ended up playing percussion on that
album. In March 2004, the band came down to the studio again to work on
the demos of the next album. I started playing along with them – it
was a very natural process.”
Javier eventually became a fully paid up member of Stereophonics and
now uses his expert knowledge to spread the word about his mics of
choice… “I have a couple of sE Z5600a‘s and a pair of sE3s. I use them
for everything, especially the Z5600a‘s which I use for guitars,
vocals, overheads, drums and stuff like that. The Z5600a is a great all
rounder as you have the polar patterns: omni, cardiod and figure of
eight so it’s very versatile and you can use it for several things. And
I love the fact that it’s a valve mic so it’s very warm. I've been
using it from recording vocals in my bedroom up to putting it in front
of my kit. A lot of dynamic range to put up with! It’s a good package
as well, as it comes with the case and all the accessories so you can
take it anywhere with you.”
Javier is so impressed with his sE mics that he has become something of
an evangelist for them, persuading other drummers and even the
Stereophonics engineer to use them… “I fell in love with them as a good
all rounder microphone and have recommended them to lots of different
people. Jim Lowe, our engineer, bought a pair of sE Geminis. We used
them as a pair of overheads for the album Sex, Violence, Other… and
they were great. The vibe was really good and they captured the drum
kit sound really well – very natural and roomy. The majority of that
album was done using the Geminis.”
And Javier uses them for recording his own music and that of a band
back home too… “I am writing my songs at the moment. I have a
production company with a friend of mine who’s an engineer and we’ve
been recording a band in Venezuela and using sE for the overheads and
the room mics and they work great for us.”
What with his music, his Black Beans Music production company, the new
Stereophonics live DVD (“as a way of celebrating 2005 with all the
touring – hopefully everyone will enjoy it as much as we did making it,
” he says) and a new album planned for later this year, the future
looks incredibly busy for Javier and his sE mics…
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