Dave Schiffman (Vampire Weekend, Adele)
As Rick Rubin’s engineer, Dave Schiffman worked on seminal albums such as Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Toxicity by System of a Down. Now a Grammy-winning, multi-platinum selling producer, mixer, and engineer, his discography includes music by The Strumbellas, Vampire Weekend, Adele, Jimmy Eat World, HAIM, Hozier, Limp Bizkit, Weezer, Nine Inch Nails, and Alanis Morrisette
Tell us about your current studio setup.
I'm mixing through a 32 channel breakout box. Currently, I'm using the Shadow Hills Equinox. The output of that goes through my analog chain. The chain is as follows: Alto Moda Unicomp compressor (with and without side-chain mix dependent), Inward Connections DEQ dual 6 band parametric EQ, Overstayer MAS 8101, Tree Audio Trunk tube stereo buss, Telefunken Tab 395 EQs (flat), and finally into a Burl B2 A/D convertor.
I've been adding and taking away from the chain for years looking for the combination that gives me the feel of a console with the flexibility of ITB mixing.
I also have an 1176, Neve 2254 x2, Dbx 160X2, and three Neve 1073s among other toys that I use as hardware inserts and print them into a mix once I'm happy with the sound.
For monitors, I've been working on PMC for the past 10 years. I've recently moved over to the Twotwo8 model and really love them. I'm also upgrading to Atmos, which will be PMC based as well.
For go-to plugins, I love all the UAD plugs as well as some smaller boutique companies like Kornoff Audio, Audio Damage, Leapwing, and Acustica, among many others. I own way too many.
Having mixed and produced so many songs over the past few years, how do you stay fresh and excited about making music every day?
I like to mix things up stylistically. My taste in music is pretty eclectic and that helps keep things fresh, whether it's punk, rock, alt, alt-pop, Americana, Pop, R&B. I focus on good music as opposed to genres.
How do you typically approach a mix?
I usually start by organizing files into a way that I can understand first and then import the rough mix that the artist has been living with as a starting point. This gives me an idea of what they see as the main themes within the song.
From there, I start to tease out the ideas they have and look for ways to enhance them.
Sometimes I'll add samples to drums, but it really depends on what I'm going for and the recording quality. From there, I start with vocals. Get at least a basic vocal sound and start to color in around that.
Honestly, from there it can vary a lot depending on the style of music and the vibe I'm going after. I try to stay away from a "cookie-cutter" approach as it can feel stifling and sometimes will make me do more to tracks than is needed.
Listening and understanding the arc of the song is really important to how the mix lays out.
As for big editing decisions, if I have an idea and hear something that isn't there, I'll try it out. If it’s working to my ears, I will send it to the artist and see what they think. Sometimes it’s just not what they're feeling and that’s cool. It's all subjective but I feel like offering up ideas is what I'm here to do. Sometimes it flies and sometimes it doesn't.
What advice do you have for aspiring mixers and producers looking to get their big break in the industry?
Keep doing it. Mixing is a long game and learning how to listen takes time. The more you do it, the quicker ideas come. Practice critical listening on other people’s mixes. Try to dissect what they're doing and if you like it or not. Figuring out what you like and what you don't really develop the kind of mixer you become. You get hired on your past work and if that taste lines up with the project. Developing your point of view is essential.