Will Gosling has engineered on all Big Country's records since Fields Of Fire and is now working on their latest project.

With Robin Millar in the production chair, it's not unnatural that much of the new album will be recorded at Millar's Power Plant studio. Guitars and vocals were being put down in studio one at the time of this interview while remixing will be on the automated Harrison in studio three.

The bass and drums, though, were recorded at Rak's studio one as the room is an important part of the distinctive Big Country drum sound.

Gosling explained that 'Rak has a very big wooden room, which gives a warm ambience. There's also a lot of compression on the ambience. Generally, we use 47s for ambience, but on this session we also used some Sonys.

'I use an old AKG D30 for the bass drum. I've never seen one of these anywhere but Rak. It's a huge thing and very thick sounding. I've found nothing that has the same punch to it. It has a very hard middle sound.'

The AKG D30 is a ribbon mic, but Gosling positions it close to the bass drum head. He explained that he uses it at a slight tilt, which has probably saved it from destruction. Mark Brezicki uses Rock Pads on his bass drum to provide more 'smack'.

Gosling usually uses a 58 on the snare. 'It will take the level and Mark's got so many drums you need something very directional. I don't mic from underneath and we spend quite a long time making sure the snare has the right ring to it.

'The close mic on the snare drum is just to get some of the "smack". On some of the tracks, we've sampled the ambience from the snare and triggered it from the close snare mic.

'When Mark hits a cymbal the snare would normally be lost from the ambience because of the compression. But with triggered ambience, it's there all the way through the song. It's mixed in, so you have the snare ambience, plus the real ambience. I'm a fan of using real sounds, rather than nicking the sounds from elsewhere.'

Gosling normally eschews gating. Brezicki uses a wide range of dynamics and the lighter strokes would be lost. Toms are usually miked with Neumann 86s or 84s. Brezicki has been using single-headed toms on the new recordings and so Gosling has also used Sennheiser MD421s underneath. He called the result 'that beach-ball sound'.

Gosling finds a Neumann U84 the most natural mic for hi-hat — at least for the Big Country sound.

Gosling was happy to talk about his technique for miking the guitars but he also revealed that Stuart Adamson was more than a little fed up with questions about that 'bagpipe sound'.

For the record — both guitarists have custom made Kelsey pedal boards. These allow intervals to be selected on the pitchshifters. Thirds, fifths and octaves are frequently used. Amps on the studio floor included several Fender combos, a couple of Marshall heads and a Sessionette 75 combo. 'It's also the style of playing, but I don't think it's a conscious effort to sound like bagpipes,' Gosling commented.

The mic positions were set up by Gosling. 'I usually start off with a dynamic and a condenser mic about a foot away from the amp. Then we go back about three feet, often with 47s, and another row of 47s about six to eight feet away. We'll usually have some 87s far away and high up to get some ambience, wherever in the room suits.

'It's better to have too many mics and find the ones that sound best. Sometimes, you'll find the mics that are pointing at the wrong amp sound better than the ones that are pointing at the right one!

'We've also got PZMs taped to the mirrors high up, but we haven't used them yet. They sound a bit thin compared to the other mics, at the moment.'

There was also an SM57. Nothing unusual about that, except that it was lying on a piece of foam inside a metal waste paper bin. The mouth of the bin was facing the guitar amp, about six feet away, and the mic was pointed to the back of the bin.

'That's Robin's innovation. It's something he uses for dead studios. It creates a sort of false spring reverb effect. It doesn't sound like a waste paper basket.

'I mess about with the phase of microphones a lot, moving them back and forth. Sometimes, you find that mics which are a bit out of phase sound clearer.

'A lot of it is to do with mic positioning and, of course, the sound of the amp. They spend quite a lot of time getting the sound right. We tend not to EQ.'

According to the text books, the corners, edges and centre of the room are to be avoided. Gosling has found little time for such academic simplifications.

'No text book situation seems to bear any relevance to reality. Text books always say that mics pointing in the wrong direction are going to sound bad, but in certain situations they sound great. I think it's a mistake to adopt that BBC attitude and do everything by the book.

'If you're doing a live recording and you've got 10 minutes to set up, it's best to go by certain rules because you haven't got time to mess around. In a situation like this where you've got all day to get a guitar sound if necessary, I think you can afford to take chances and do things you wouldn't expect to work.'

Gosling had some scathing comments for the 'new generation' of condensers for digital. Initially describing it as 'horribly middly', he eventually admitted that there may be an application where it sounded fantastic, but he certainly had not found it yet. 'Mind you,' he pointed out, 'we're not recording onto digital anyway.'

The Big Country album is being recorded onto analog Studer 24 track, although Sony 1610 may be used for mastering.

'I find 48 track a bit of a hassle — when it comes to mixing anyway. Just the time it takes to lock up the machines. If you're mixing 48 track — waiting for the machines to sync up rather than go to the middle eight and listening to the guitar sound 10 times — you think, "I can't be bothered", and go from the top. I find that self defeating.

'With some music, you undoubtedly do need more than 24 tracks. But I think you tend to use as many tracks as are available. You very rarely get 24 track and use 18 of them. A lot of people are tempted by technological advances and feel they have to use 48 track because it's there. It's not essential, although it is nice to have extra tracks to record effects on when you're mixing.'

The Big Country material will be remixed on the computerised Harrison in Power Plant's studio three. Studio one is also Harrison equipped, although with a much older desk.

Gosling agrees with the widespread praise for Harrison EQ and added that 'the studio at Rak has got very nice EQ as well. It's API (Automated Processes Inc) — an old New York company. They've gone bust now, but people are making modules for them because they're still popular.'

Power Plant also has some API outboard equalisers. A small unit contains two three-band sweep sections with HF and LF shelving and high and low pass filters. The same unit also contains two graphic EQs.

'They do make parametrics but their choice of frequencies is very musical. A lot of EQs aren't. You have to be very cautious with them, especially Solid State Logic which is too harsh, I think.'

New EQ sections were being fitted to Power Plant's SSL console in studio two as this interview took place. Although the over-riding appeal of SSL is often the automation, it is not a facility of great importance to Gosling.

'I prefer to mix without automation. If I do mix with automation I use it to get the cuts right. Especially working 48 track when it's almost essential. The exciting mix is the one with the mistakes in — the things you didn't expect to happen sound fantastic. So I tend to record it on the computer and maybe there are just one or two things wrong that we'll do again — but I don't actually use the computer from start to finish.

I enjoy editing — taking the best bits and sticking them together. It depends on the song though. Some songs progress naturally and it's important to do them in a linear fashion. I don't make it a rule to mix in sections.'

Gosling has also worked on numerous, mobile, live recordings with Ian Dury, Tina Turner and on the Talking Heads' video.

Live work throws up new opportunities and working conditions. With Talking Heads, Gosling worked closely with the live sound team.

'They were great. For most things, you can take splits from their mics because they've worked with the band before and know what mics sound best. You might have to put up some overhead mics on the kit if you want stereo.'

Gosling also worked at the Bracknell Jazz Festival and the first WOMAD festival at Shepton Mallet — recording on two stages around the clock. For those of you wondering how to record the Burundi Drummers, Gosling's answer was to 'stick up a couple of 87s. They dance around, so close miking is out of the window. That was a real experience — there were some fantastic things there.'

Gosling has also co-produced a solo album with Zeke Manyika. The album has not been an unmitigated financial success. 'It does have its devoted fans, but the record company isn't one of them.'

Despite this, both Gosling and Manyika were pleased with the album and another is in the pipeline. 'It's the record company's job to sell the record. It's my job to make a record. I can only do what I think is good,' said Gosling.

Although Gosling is interested in production he finds engineering and producing the same session has its drawbacks. 'When you're engineering at the same time, you worry about the sound so much that you can miss a great performance. I like the idea of co-production because I actually enjoy getting the sound right.'

Gosling's comments on spinning-in vocals said a lot about his attitude to music.

'It's good for banks of vocals but I'm not a great fan of it. I like the character of different performances. So what if one chorus isn't exactly the same as another chorus — that's just music. Music isn't a science. People get bogged down trying to make things perfect, whereas it's not such simple mathematics. It's to do with what sounds exciting.'