Living bi-coastally keeps producer/engineer/musician Tony Mangurian constantly on the go. Admittedly more of a player than a techie, he’s been lucky enough to work with some of the biggest artists in the business. From his beginning years with Lucious Jackson to Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and now U2, he’s always kept his vision focused on one thing – making great music. In this interview he brings us up to date on his latest projects, and looks back to how it all started.

So tell us about your background.

I remember as a kid that my parents took me to see Gimme Shelter by the Rolling Stones, as they were both big music fans. After seeing that, I knew I wanted to play music. Also, my Grandfather, my dad and uncles all played. They weren’t pros, but there was always music in the family.

Originally, in the third grade, I wanted to be a drummer, and took lessons for like a year but it was boring so I stopped. Later on, in Junior High School, I decided to get back into it. I wound up going to Fame High School in Manhattan, and also studied with Morris Lang and the New York Philharmonic. Morris helped me get into the New England Conservatory of Music. I learned a lot of classical music back then, but after being in the Conservatory for two weeks, I dropped out because I didn’t want to study music anymore. I just wanted to be in a band, which caused a huge controversy with my parents.

By then, I had been playing with a band in New York, and had started to learn how to record. That’s when I really got the bug. It was right after the first Tascam four-track unit had come out - in the early ‘80’s. So I really got interested in recording and writing music, and I also toured the country in several bands. With that experience under my belt, I came back to New York, opened my own studio, and worked on a lot of compositions. I loved recording and did this for about 5 years.

At the same time, I had run into an old friend who had a band, which then turned into Lucious Jackson. I ended up doing their first demos, and that turned into the first EP. So through the 90’s I co-produced every Lucious Jackson record, as well as other projects including advertising work. One of the Lucious Jackson records had Daniel Lanios producing. He asked me to engineer his New York sessions, and we just hit it off. From that I worked on a number of projects with him, including Bob Dylan’s Time Out Of Mind, Willie Nelsons’ Teatro, and a couple of his solo records.

In 2001 I produced a Chris Whitley record for Dave Mathews’ Rocket House label. Chris and I had known each other since his Bleecker Street days. He asked me to do this project, and it was a kind of loop sample record that turned out really cool.

How did you get the U2 gig?

In the spring of 2007 I was in Miami and Dan asked me to do some engineering on a project, and it turned out to be U2. So I get over there, and it’s Brian Eno and the crew. During this period Dan and I came up with some loops and grooves which they built a few songs over. We worked in different locations like Ireland, France, Morocco and New York, and I worked with Bono to help condense the multi-track material to see what was worth keeping. I was also given some extended jams to edit down into more song-like arrangements for the band to work with. It was a lot of fun.

So you did lots of different things on the project?

Yes. I engineered some tracks, and then Dan and I would come up with loops and grooves. Also, I’d record the band jamming and kind of arrange elements into songs. So basically I did a lot of engineering and editing.

And you used Oxford plug-ins in your workflow?

Sure did. Interestingly, I had never used Oxford plug-ins until this U2 project, but I think they sound awesome. For the rough mixes, I liked to group my background vocals into a stereo pair and put an Oxford EQ on that, then put it through the Reverb. The EQ was used on the guitars as well, getting them to sound really punchy. On the vocal bus I added some air on the top, boosted a little upper mid, and I’d scoop out some bottom too.

Tell us about using the Oxford Reverb.

The Reverb sounds just fantastic to me. I primarily used a Plate and a really long Hall setting. That thing just sounds really great, and you don’t have to use much of the effect either, as it really cuts through a mix. It adds something to the vocals where they just stand out but don’t sound too ‘reverby’. It just sounds like they have a lot of presence. Interestingly, I didn’t even use it as an Aux send; I just put it on the actual channel, and used only around five percent. It really helps the details shine through, because some of the vocal parts had like eight or ten parts.

So what other Sonnox plug-ins did you use?

I used the Inflator on a drum sub-mix, where they were all mixed again into a stereo pair. It really gave them a nice boost. Also, I used the SuprEsser a few times on Bono’s lead vocal and the Oxford Dynamics on the bass, which worked perfectly.

These are simply great plug-ins !

Interview and editorial provided by Rich Tozzoli<