Recording: What place do effects have in musical composition?
Michel Sanchez and Éric Mouquet: Sometimes an effect is the basis for a composition. We are extremely curious and adore exploring the array of sound effects, type TC Fireworks as well as disposable plug-ins of Logic Audio, whether it's native or TDM. In fact we don't like the rupture that exists habitually between composition, arrangement and mixing. It's for that reason that we use Euphonix which permits us to go very quickly from one stage to another.

Describe a mixing session, how do you incorporate different treatments?
Once the song is arranged the balance on the console is often very close to the result that we want to obtain and so it's sufficient to follow a couple levels and to play with the EQ and the dynamic processors to reinforce the sound.

You have collaborated with very different female singers. Talk to us about these experiences, especially Marta Sebestyen, Beverly Jo Scott, Ana Torroja, Angela McCluskey, Stefka Iordanova, Anggun…and the effects used for each one of them.
All these singers have in common the attribute of being excellent vocalists and most of the time a simple reverberation is enough without even needing music. Still, they've trusted us and we've had liberty to try all kinds of effects including saturation, pitch shift and even modifying the form. All the great artists with whom we have worked, from Peter Gabriel to Beverly Jo Scott, have never been afraid of our samplers.

In Endangered Species, the single from the album Music Detected, you pay homage to Kraftwerk by using the vocorder. What effect do you think the vocorder has had on the world?
The vocorder is an instrument like any other, it's subject to fads. We really like this effect and we think the Voice Prism Plus is making this evolve in a good direction. The voice being the most sensitive instrument, anything that allows us to play with it interests us very much.

Do you use filters very much?
We use a fair amount of plug-in Waves, for example Focusrite. For ‘filtres à lampes' we like Manley and Avalon.

Which of the albums that you have produced has been the most creative in terms of effects?
The albums have followed the evolution of computer technology, each album in its time attempted to be as innovative as possible without falling into the trap of over production. It is true that in our first albums we edited the rhythms less frequently.

Since the recognizable success of the song Sweet Lullaby, up to your latest album Music Detected, has your use of effects evolved very much?
More and more we include the effects as soon as we have captured the first sounds of the composition. The sampler is our instrument of ‘Predilection', it serves equally well to filter sounds as it does to play with vocal samples for creating new textures.

You have realized the OST, notably of Strange Days with Peter Gabriel and Le Prince du Pacifique. Do you address the issue of effects differently in the context of working with visual imagery?
The work for films is the same as for studio productions, the difference is more in the composition than in the realization. On the other hand mixing in Dolby Surround 5.1 opens huge possibilities usually not used in the film's final mix. All film composers know well, how hard it is to make dialog, sound effects, music and FX work together. The points of view on the final mix are sometimes different.

In your studios what's the role of effect processors and other plug-ins? What do you use the most? Do you use for example programs like HyperPrism d'Arbortem? GRM Tools?
They have a small role. We use HyperPrism a little bit, GRM Tools more. We like the effects of Ohm-Force and specifically the Ohmboyz delay. Metasynth is another program which allows us to create sounds and filter based on images, it's very innovative and creative. We also use extensively M6000 which has a very high performance mastering section, same for Distressor.

We are often surprised by the amount of effects at the mastering stage. What according to you are the pitfalls to avoid at this stage of mixing?
In the mixing stage its important that the system you are working with is viable, without that, everything might go wrong. When you change studios to do the mastering or other takes for example, you have to be able to find the same equilibrium as at home. As long as you follow this simple rule nothing prevents you from experimenting. It's always interesting to try to leave the beaten path. The mastering aesthetic changes ceaselessly in pursuit of new musical styles that appear, everything is permitted.

What are your recent productions?
We came back from a tour in Japan a few days ago. We were innervating a new formula based on a group of four musicians. We received a very good reception from the Japanese public, who have been following us for a long time. The album of Ana Torroja that I (Eric) produced in 2002 is having much success in Spain (over 35,000 in three weeks).

What projects are you working on?
We will soon be meeting with Josh Groban who wants us to compose and produce for his next album. We've also been contacted by other artists for projects writing and producing other albums.

Which production are you the most proud of technically?
We are proud of all our albums, being a little more proud of our latest album Music Detected.

Which production of others do you admire most?
We like the productions of Massive Attack, Trevor Horn, Fatboy Slim, Chemical Brothers…



Thanks to Recording Musicien for providing us with a copy of this interview