Grammy-Award winning producer Steve Levine has always been on the cutting edge of recording technology. A longtime fan of digital recording, he not only was also one of the first producers to buy a digital multi-track, he's also has been using Oxford plug-ins since they were first introduced. With a credit list that includes The Beach Boys, Ziggy Marley, Stevie Wonder and three multi-platinum records for Culture Club, he's pretty much tried every meaningful piece of hardware and software that's come down the pike. We tracked him down for a chat in London, while he was working on another ongoing project as the producer of BBC Radio 2 & 6 music documentary series 'The Record Producers.'

So how do you use Oxford plug-ins on your BBC show?

When I'm doing the radio show, I capture all my location recordings as dry and cleanly as possible. Sound quality is doubly important with thesse programs, because we are interviewing Platinum hit makers like Hugh Padgham (Sting, XTC, Phil Collins); Trevor Horn (Seal, Pet Shop Boys), Tony Visconti (David Bowie, The Moody Blues) and Jam & Lewis (Michael Jackson, Mary J. Blige, Usher). Consequently, once I've edited the interview, there are several things I need to use the plug-ins for. In its simplest role, it's purely the Oxford EQ - just for when the person moves closer to or farther from the mic. It helps me match sounds and make it a little more consistent.

If there's a problem, then I have to use the Dynamics plug-in, or other methods for 'surgery' purposes. For example, sometimes the location has quite a bit of background noise, which I try to reduce as much as possible. It really helps the edits and final mix, because if the background noise changes over an edit point, it's more distracting than listening to what the person is actually saying. I use a few methods for this starting first with the Expander to try and push the background noise down a little bit.

Sometimes you can use the side-chain in the Dynamics compressor to reduce a specific background noise. For example, if the room is very 'boomy', you can boost that frequency in the same way you would de-ess, and the compressor can pull it back. It's really a great tool for that.

Once I'm happy with the basic sound, I'll use the EQ for a tiny bit of brightness and a little midrange. Also, with interviews, I tend to roll out a bit of the low end as well - for the rumble. I can't rate the EQ highly enough.

Do you use the SuprEsser as well?

Oh yes. Since I've had it, I've found a number of different ways of working with it. For example, on the most recent show, we had a problem with the interview, whereby in the first part the subject started chatting to me straight away - while the main recording rig was being set up. Luckily, we had a little hand held recorder that captured the first few moments of the interview.

Interestingly, there were some great comments in those first few seconds, so I needed to keep those. The SuprEsser was fantastic for getting rid of the horrible room sound that the mic had picked up - since it was one of those built in recorders with the mic on top.. Just by boosting the room frequency (around 400 Hz) to find where it was, and then literally sucking it out worked really well. I've been using it quite a bit. It's so powerful.

Does your overall plug-in approach change when doing music production versus radio work?

Oh yes, when I'm working with bands, it's a whole different thing. I run in traditional multitrack mixer form, with 64 discrete digital outputs going into 64 of the 96 digital inputs on my Yamaha DM 2000 console. However, when I'm doing my radio show, I mix internally because you're dealing with a smaller number of sources.

With the Oxfords, I use both the PowerCore and Native AU versions through Logic. I actually split my resources that way - depending on the complexity of the track. It's kind of a crossroads until I switch completely over to the Intel machine. In most cases, if I'm really stuck for resources, I'll use the EQ without filters if I don't need them. Having the AU versions as well is a huge bonus. I still have to allocate my resources.

But for now, by splitting the Power Core and AU, I can run a few more plug-ins - which I need for music production. For example, on the band I'm working on at the moment - is called the Glitches - I put the Trans Mod on the kick and the snare, because they are fantastic to get that extra punch I need.

Also, since I tracked the band at an outside studio I recorded everything one channel per track, I've got the kick drum split across 5 mics; the double pickup from the Audio Technica mic with the condenser and dynamic capsules, recorded onto two tracks. Then I've got the Shure Beta 52 mic, which is about 12 inches away from the front skin, then a tiny Shure SM98 mic that's right next to the actual pedal itself, which has all the click on it. The final mic is the Yamaha NS10 speaker cone in reverse mode to get that sub-kick sound.

On the Shure mic that's about a foot away from the kick, I'm using the Trans Mod to get the additional click. But it's a really nice sound, and the Trans Mod is fantastic for that purpose.

Interestingly, with the increase in the front edge from the Trans Mod, I can use that to key the beater microphone - giving me a really tight sound. Finally, when I'm happy with my combination of mics, I will bounce it down with the Trans Mod to a more manageable one or two tracks.

How about the other instruments?

Well, with a snare, I use upper and lower drum mics on both. I'm using the Trans Mod to get the crunch out of the top mic, which it's absolutely fantastic for. As for the cymbal overheads - recorded with a stereo Sanken mic - I give it a nice 16k boost with the EQ. There's also a touch of 10K, and I roll off the very low end and that's about it.

Do you have a preferred EQ type?

A: Yes, I tend to AB between EQ types but I would say that I use Type 1 the most. There are so many different things that I use them on. It's really quite a powerful EQ, especially with the different types. If you have a really broad curve, they can emulate the brutal thing of an API or a NEVE easily, if that's the way to go. But I use them more like I use my GML, in a hi-fidelity subtle enhancing way, which I feel is one of their great strengths. I'm really just a massive Oxford Plug-in fan.

Interview and editorial provided by Rich Tozzoli - Photo by Rosie Levine