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Producer · Engineer · FOH

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Emre Ramazanoglu

Drummer, Engineer, Mixer, Songwriter

Emre Ramazanoglu

Emre Ramazanoglu has had, in his words, some 'mad little jobs'. But when these include engineering for Noel Gallagher, songwriting with Lily Allen and remixing with Mark Ronson, you realise his modestly is hiding a huge knowledge and talent. All confirmed when he tells us “I just lucked myself in!”

Lily Allen, Sia, Noel Gallagher, Richard Ashcroft, The Prodigy, Tricky, Mark Ronson, Shakira

Emre's Aston Gear

Spirit

Starlight

Origin

Thanks Auntie

I came to London to work in a weird little dance music outfit based in the back of a flat in Gospel Oak. Luckily, I was crashing on a (very tolerant) Aunt’s floor right next to a house where a couple of the Sneaker Pimps lived with a mate of mine from home. Dave, the (amazing) drummer gave me a break depping for him playing in a drum and bass band with some outstanding musicians, and then introduced me to Jim Abbiss who was looking for a drummer who could program. I worked with Jim in his band for a couple of years and then we did a bit of freelance stuff before I headed out on my own as Jim needed a conventional engineer, and I wasn’t really doing that at that point in my career. I just lucked myself into some mad little jobs and it grew from there!

My workflow changes radically depending on whether I’m tracking, programming, writing or mixing. It’s hard to define it usefully as I try to adapt it to the situation at hand. I tend to work really fast and just print the external processing as I go or when tracking. I use a Pro Tools HDX rig with a ton of Universal Audio plug-ins hanging off it. I’m 100% in the box and always have been really. I do have a bunch of nice preamps for tracking and some colour boxes/spring reverbs and so on, but my ear gravitates towards the dark and dirty and I’ve always tried to make that happen in the box.

Lend us a Spirit please, mate

I first used the Aston Origin on an old Selmer transistor amp I was smacking drums through. It was just a great representation of the amp sound and immediately made me curious about the rest of the range. Now the Spirit is my choice of drum overhead mic in situations where I need a characterful sound but also some real clarity without a hyped top end.

I used the Spirits extensively on Noel Gallagher’s Who Built the Moon? album. Everyone in our studio complex lent us their Spirits so we had one for each of the six backing singers! They were perfect sounding.

The Starlights live on my snare top and bottom and they’re incredible on acoustic guitar – I put them up first most of the time. The laser on the Starlights can be useful to aim directly at the part of the snare you want. It’s also very handy for arranging a spaced pair. I use it a lot if I have to handhold it in a writing session and record acoustic, say aiming for the 12th fret. When doing acoustic guitar and vocals simultaneously they have an amazing rejection of the vocal. Also the quality of the low end in Vintage mode is what I have been after for ages. I’ve been using the Starlights with Jon Kelly recording Richard Ashcroft’s new album. They excelled on acoustic guitar and snare drum. I love the proximity of the Starlights. Don’t be shy, get it right up close!

I always use a Spirit or two and my Starlights when recording my band’s (Ill Considered) gigs. They cover drums and percussion and, because of the great build quality and sound, are an amazing tool for me to use live. Also, thanks to that ridiculously solid build quality, you can put Astons in more precarious places than other mics.

Out-takes

Q: Who are your favourite artists?
A: "P Funk, James Brown, Death Grips, D'Angelo, Fela, Talking Heads, Die Antwoord, Guns N' Roses (Appetite era), Earth, Wind & Fire, Bee Gees, Miles Davis, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, AC/DC, Bob Dylan, A$AP Rocky, Dr. Dre, Beastie Boys, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Velvet Underground, Can, The Lonely Island, Brecker Brothers, Tower of Power, The Meters, Jack DeJohnette."

Q. If you weren’t working in music what would you be doing?
A. “Extreme Lawyering.”

Q. What would your fantasy mic be?
A. “One with built-in saturation/distortion and an assortment of acoustic resonator/filter attachments.”

Q. What are the 4 words you’d chose to describe Aston, or your experience with the brand?
A. “Quality, clarity, forward-thinking.”

Credits

“I ******* LOVE these mics!”

Noel Gallagher uses the Aston Spirit on his new High Flying Birds album "Who Built the Moon?

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