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Producer · Engineer · FOH
Romesh Dodangoda
Romesh_Dodangoda
Romesh_Dodangoda
Romesh_Dodangoda
Romesh_Dodangoda

Romesh Dodangoda

Producer and Mixer
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Romesh Dodangoda

Romesh Dodangoda is a producer from South Wales who has worked with some of the biggest names in rock and metal, including Motorhead, Bring Me The Horizon and Bullet For My Valentine. There's nothing Romesh doesn't know about getting a great rock sound and he is very insistent on getting the right mics to capture it…

Motorhead, Bring Me The Horizon, Funeral For A Friend, Lower Than Atlantis, Twin Atlantic and many more
With my eyes closed

I think it all started from getting into playing the guitar when I was younger. From then on, I got really interested in recording myself and what kind of guitar tones I could get. I started a band and enjoyed it for a little while, but what I really loved was going into the studio and recording with them. From then, I realised that I just wanted to be in the studio, working on songs, and the obsession started there!

I travel a lot to various studios depending on the record I’m making but I do have my private studio which is based in Cardiff, South Wales. The studio revolves around an Audient ASP 8024 inline console. I have quite a big collection of outboard, lots of preamps and compressors such as 1176, LA2A, Distressors, Retro 176, SSL, etc. Everything hits my Antelope Orion convertors which are fed from the desk multitrack outputs so I can blend microphones and commit things straight to a channel rather than printing lots of options and never deciding. I’m quite a big fan of committing sounds if I’m multi-miking amps.

I use Steinberg Nuendo v7 as my main DAW. I have Pro Tools in the studio as well if any sessions come in for me to work on in that format. I have used Nuendo for so long and I’m really fast on it and can almost use it with my eyes closed. That’s a really big deal for me as it allows me to be creative very quickly without having to worry about anything. Almost everything I need is on keys or commands.

I've got the set

I heard about Aston from knowing the team of people behind the products who I have a lot of trust in terms of their knowledge and ability to create great products. I was shown the Halo reflection filter at NAMM at the launch of it and straight away I had to have one. Even in the loud environment of NAMM I could easily hear the difference in the voice in front of it. It’s been an amazing tool ever since, even in my well-treated vocal studio. Using that as well just adds that extra isolation that clears up the vocal really nicely and gives it a lot more focus.

I now use the Halo on so many vocals with artists, it just cleans up the vocal so well and gives me such a focused sound. They look really great and inviting so singers really enjoy singing into them and, as I said earlier, even in a great vocal room, they really help with that last extra bit of clarity on the vocal.

I’ve also had the Spirit and Origin mics from very early on when they came out. They are both fantastic, with different qualities to them. The Spirit is great for pop vocals and where you want a really nice bit of air in the vocal. The Origin is absolutely fantastic for more natural sounds whether it is a vocal, or strings, acoustic guitar, or even in front of a kick drum.

I think my favourite piece of Aston gear at the moment, though, is the Starlight. As soon as I heard Aston were bringing out some small diaphragm condensers, I was on the phone straight away wanting a pair to test. I think I use them in almost every session I do now, they are that good! I have used them in place sometimes of classic Neumann and AKG small diaphragm mics, but not so much because they sound as good as them (which they do), but because they sound great in their own right.

Make your own studio

I just came back from a session that Aston saved me on. I got a call to do an urgent vocal with a well-known pop band that I have worked with a lot. The band were insistent on me doing the vocal but wanted me to fly to Budapest as they were on tour. After searching for suitable studios near the venue, I had to come up with a much easier solution, so I decided we should get a hotel suite and turn it into a studio. I called up the fantastic team at Aston and within a few minutes, they had arranged to get me a Halo and other bits and pieces out to the hotel in Budapest for me which was incredible. When I got to the room, it was so echoey, reflections everywhere, it was a bit of a nightmare. The vocal we were doing was for a big project so it had to be good. I wasn’t even sure the Halo reflection filter would fix it. Actually, though, it completely saved me. It allowed me to turn a very bad-sounding hotel room into a brilliant vocal room and I got the job done and everyone was really happy with the result!

I worked on a Motorhead record The World Is Yours a few years ago and recently, Motorhead guitarist Phil Campbell brought me into produce and mix his new band Phil Campbell and the Bastard Sons record. I used a lot of the Aston Starlights across the album. It was used on the hats and ride for drums and we also had a stereo pair of them as a brighter set of far rooms. When we came to overdubbing, the Starlights were my first call for acoustic guitars and some slide guitar we did. They sounded brilliant! If I had to list how many sessions I’ve used the Starlights on then we might be here a while!

To me, Aston is a brand built by people who truly understand the quality of sound that producers and engineers are after, and that’s why so many of us are using their microphones.

Out-takes

Q. If you weren’t working in music what would you be doing?
A. “Being a professional food taster for the Masterchef TV show.”

Q. What are the 4 words you’d chose to describe Aston, or your experience with the brand?
A. “Solid, reliable, unique, versatile.”

Q. Who are your favourite artists?
A. “I am a huge Oasis fan. From their early years they were responsible for getting me to pick up a guitar and learning how simple song arrangements need to be to be memorable.”

Q. What was the first song that made you cry?
A. Imagine - John Lennon

Credits

Aston gear has been used with the following artists...

Bring Me The Horizon

Motorhead

Bars & Melody

Phil Campbell

Don Broco

 

 

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