All photos: Ian Cullen / Sound Technology Ltd
Sergio Maschetzko is a busy man. Be it producing, mixing, as technical manager of the Lexington venue in London, or mixing front of house sound. Most recently he has been on a UK tour with highly tipped upcoming band, English Teacher. And he’s done it with a large selection of Austrian Audio microphones.
Having grown up in Uruguay, Sergio moved to London in 2001 to follow what he describes as his lifelong passion for music. He worked at the 12 Bar Club in London and was soon operating front of house for a variety of venues and bands.
In terms of live sound Sergio has most recently worked with Black Country New Road, Black Midi, Yard Act, and has just completed the English Teacher tour which concluded at the end of May at Electric Brixton.
Sergio first had the opportunity to try Austrian Audio microphones at the Banquet Records / PRZYM venue in Kingston-upon-Thames. “I didn’t have my regular touring package with me so was lucky to be introduced to the OD505 and OC707 by Jacob the in-house engineer, and I loved them.” he explains.
Since then the engineer has deployed a whole series of Austrian Audio microphones across the stage, and with English Teacher a total of 12 Austrian Audio mics are in action on almost all vocals and instruments.
On drums, a pair of CC8 small diaphragm condensers act as overheads, while on the snare a signature combination of an OD5 Active Dynamic and CC8 are used.
“I’d go as far as saying the OD5 is one of the best and flexible microphones I’ve ever used.” says Sergio. “It’s warm, bitey, but with amazing clarity too, and it’s very robust. I’ve used it on pretty much everything including vocals and I love it.”
“I never mic the bottom of snare, I only mic the top. Nobody hears the bottom in real life.” he continues, “The CC8, with a HPF engaged, is providing the attack, while the OD5 active dynamics provides the volume, the warmth and the full body.”
On Lewis Whiting’s two guitar amps Sergio is using an OC16 large diaphragm condenser and the OD5 in combination.
“I love the sound this combination delivers, I’m genuinely running it completely flat on the console. It’s just a beautiful reproduction of the sound from those amps and I wouldn’t change that set-up for anything!”
On bass Sergio regularly uses a smaller 10” bass cab to capture attack and high -percussive bass tone in addition to a 4 x 12” cab. The OD5 is again in action here for the small 10” bass amp.
And finally and most importantly on vocals, an OD505 handheld mic is used for the incredible dynamics of lead vocalist Lily Fontaine, while a further three OD505 are used as BVs.
“The Austrian Audio handheld vocal mics are amazing. In one word I would say clarity, but also with depth and full body, and low noise. They also require less gain so have really great feedback rejection.”
Concluding, Sergio is unequivocal in the performance of the microphones.
English Teacher will be playing at Glastonbury Festival in June, as will Sergio where he will be front of house for Yard Act. He says Austrian Audio mics will be in use for both at the festival.
This new blog is presented by the team at Sound Technology Ltd, a leading distributor of musical instruments and pro audio equipment in the UK and ROI.
