Irishman Nicky Ryan is 'an engineer of the non-trained variety' and a purist when it comes to sound. And he has some scathing remarks when it comes to modern recording studios and the hardware they contain.

'Very little regard is given to musical content,' he explained. 'You can say that it's not the studio's business, that they are there to offer a facility. Who put down those rules, I wonder'? Recording has become more important than the music itself.'

Without an alternative, Ryan's attitude could be deemed negative. As it is, he runs his Dublin studio at the back of his house to reflect his way of thinking. Although some would decry his use of a Fostex B16 he couples this to a high quality custom built desk with 24 inputs and feels the results vindicate his approach.

Christy Moore, one of Ireland's most established singer-songwriters, recently recorded an album in Ryan's studio. Ryan admitted, 'I was delighted to do it as it proved a few things for me. It seems naive but I was scared because I still thought these things should be done in a big studio.'

Long before his studio was built Ryan learnt his craft on the road. He originally worked with Thin Lizzy but in fear of permanent hearing loss he left. Fortunately, he met up with folk band Planxty and was soon 'completely hooked' on acoustic music.

At that time he found himself dealing with instruments such as bouzouki and the uillean pipes — 'dreadful instruments to mic up, if you don't know exactly what they should sound like'. As the group progressed and started using more vocal harmonies, Ryan spent three years honing his technique.

Then Clannad manager Fachna O'Kelly asked him to engineer for the group. Ryan had already established a reputation, but as he modestly put it, 'I couldn't believe it but other people told me I was good!' O'Kelly split to manage the Boomtown Rats, so Ryan took over the management with his wife Roma.

During his time with Clannad, Ryan was increasingly drawn to vocal work; so it was not unnatural that when Clannad split he should work with their backing vocalist Enya Ni Bhraonain.

It was in the environment of the "home" studio that Ryan established his technique for multi tracking vocals. Although working with a 16 track recorder, Ryan wanted to track each vocal part 10 or more times.

His initial technique was fairly simple. A guide track would be put on to Fostex B16 and the first vocal part would be put onto 14 tracks. This was then recorded onto Sony F1 and flown back to the multi track. With the quality of the F1 and its inherent stability, this was not difficult, even without synchronisation. The problem lay with the fact that the F1 produced a continuous glitching noise while in the pause mode. What should have been a simple matter of releasing the pause at the correct moment became more complicated.

Having accurately lined up the F1 to the start of the vocal part, the trick was to eliminate the glitching noise. The mute button would allow this but stayed on for around two seconds so destroying the start of the track. Ryan evolved a method of releasing the mute button at exactly the right time before releasing the pause. The success of this technique relied on Ryan's own judgement and timing. In the end, he reckoned to get a perfect drop-in within one or two takes.

At first, he didn't appreciate how good the quality was. Although the results sounded excellent, he had a lingering feeling that a large studio could be better. Later experience proved otherwise.

Although he did not want to name a specific facility, Ryan had this to say. 'You think — this has to be right, it costs half a million pounds! But in some studios I found that what I was getting back was no better. The business likes to make you think that you need every bit of whizz kid equipment that's out.'

Above all, it is the alienation of the artiste that Ryan finds particularly disturbing.

'Most musicians just want to get it down' and for it to sound nice. You walk into a studio and immediately the place is bigger than you or your music. Music has suffered as a result of this attitude.'

Last month saw the release of The Celts; a distinctive musical work. In a reversal of normal procedure, some scenes were shot to fit the music performed for the television programme. Although it features a choir of up to 70 voices, they all belong to one-time Clannad member Enya Ni Bhraonain.

She composed the music and plays the majority of the instruments, as well as arranging the pieces in conjunction with producer Nicky Ryan.

Released on BBC Records, the music has been commissioned as the soundtrack for a documentary series of the same name which starts early in the New Year. Rather than make the soundtrack the usual poor relation of the filming budget it was decided to record the music over one month at the BBC's Wood Lane studio in London. The result will be available as an album, with a more pop orientated single and possibly Compact Disc to follow.

At the SSL equipped Wood Lane, Nicky Ryan and BBC engineer Nigel Reed, recorded the music using a 24 track Studer SMPTE locked to a Sony F1 and U-matic recorder. Due to the extensive nature of the overdubs, the guide track was spun out to the F1 and then transferred to several multi track reels. The painstaking task of recording up to 20 tracks of each vocal part could then begin. Each reel could then be transferred, via F1, to the master multi track reel. Deterioration of the master reel, which successive plays could have caused, was thus kept to a minimum.

As the accompanying article explains, Ryan is no stranger to this technique. He has been using it extensively, although without time code, at his Dublin studio.

Initially it would appear to be far easier to make written arrangements and to use a choir. In fact the technique stems partly from Enya's method of composing. She actually builds the music track by track and overdubbing is an integral part of the compositional process. Ryan believes strongly in the power of the voice and largely eschews any signal processing. The only effects used are reverb and the occasional delay. One of his initial inspirations in developing the technique was the 10cc song I'm Not In Love. Of course, the fact that it is all the same voice lends a quality that would be hard to duplicate by other means.

In order for so many parts to be added without excessive hiss, the Studer was run at 30ips with Dolby A. Suppressing noise was also a motivating factor in selecting Sanken for the sole vocal mic.

Interestingly for such an "acoustic" sounding work, most of the instrumentation was synthesised. Yamaha DX7 was used for timpani and tubular bells, while strings came from either a Kurzweil or Emulator. The few parts which involved outside musicians are mainly to be found on the single, with the exception of a violin which runs over the closing titles. Instruments were miked for the most part with a Neumann U87.