In the 1990s, Ben Findlay worked a lot mixing at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios. These days, Ben is mainly a live sound engineer for Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney, Jeff Beck, Robert Plant, Cat Stevens, and Sting.

Two of the shows he mixed on Peter Gabriel’s “Back To Front” tour were also filmed for cinema release this year and Findlay is mixing the theatrical and DVD releases.

He told us that Sonnox’s Oxford EQ is playing a crucial role in the project, with the GML Option a particularly helpful tool. 

Most of the EQ’s in this mix are Oxfords, and the Inflator is my secret weapon, I use it primarily on Peter’s vocal channel, to give it a presence that dominates the mix.  It’s proved extremely effective in bringing extra life to the drum bus as well.

Oxford Reverb is also a great favorite of mine, It’s really flexible, you can tailor it do exactly what you want. There’s a very comprehensive EQ section built in to the reverb too.  I’m using it on the drums, on some of Peter’s vocals, and on David Rhodes’ acoustic guitar. With two guitars on some songs, I need to separate them.   I find using a subtle amount of Oxford Reverb helps define a space for each instrument.

When we played the show mix back to Peter we put the ‘Warmth Function’ on the Dynamics plug-in across the entire mix, which he loved.  So the whole show has that process added to it in varying degrees. That made the sign-off process much easier and was a bit of a lifesaver!  Sonnox feels to me like a very solid brand, and the support is always great.

The picture is of Peter Findlay mixing in The Big Room at the Real Word Studios.