SOS: Secrets Of The Mix Engineers: Mark ‘Spike’ Stent
Britain's biggest name in mixing, Mark 'Spike' Stent has achieved international success in almost every genre. With Muse's latest album, The Resistance, he was dealing with rock at its most epic.
Mark 'Spike' Stent is the most successful British mixer of the last two decades, and one of very few non‑American engineers to have become a big name in the hip‑hop/R&B genre. In so doing, Stent has clocked up more than 700 credits and worked with the likes of Madonna, Beyoncé, Björk, Lily Allen, Depeche Mode, Massive Attack, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Oasis, U2, Usher, Lady Gaga, and so on — and on.
"...I don't normally mix to tape any more, because tape batches are so unreliable these days. I'd also brought my Lavry Gold A‑D converters for going back into Pro Tools. For going to the desk we used the regular 192 D‑A converters, but I'm very particular about what I mix through, and I love that Lavry. Muse also have one of them, I can't remember which one we used, theirs or mine. They're fantastic musicians and I really enjoyed working on this album...”
"Naturally, Stent does not only have a good‑sounding room, but also "the best equipment in the world,” including four Pro Tools rigs, loaded with "shitloads” of plug‑ins, endless arrays of outboard, his beloved Lavry Gold A‑D converters, his "magic” SSL G‑series, and his favourite Yamaha NS10 and KRK 9000 monitors. "I'm used to them, so I know exactly what I'm listening to.”..."
