Part 1:

  I rang Mike after suggesting to Richard that there should be a gear page on the web site. I offered to write it which I may regret at some point as its turning out bigger than I thought. We spoke whilst it was about Noon in Hell (High Noon in Hell, Hollywood needs that). We spoke about just about everything under the (High Noon) sun and whilst Carp jumped out of the lake next to his property in Michigan I managed, I hope, to get some kind of insight into how the recordings that have been a constant in my life came to be. 
  Mike and Richard have asked that this be an open page where questions will be answered and your involvement is encouraged. If there is anything that we haven't covered then write in and we'll get on it.
  Initially I wanted to condense the conversation into an organized piece but there was too much information to lay it out in any sense. What you have is an interview of sorts which touches on most of what I could think of at the time. There is one heck of a story to tell about the history and recording of Michaels albums, I really enjoyed talking to him and I hope you enjoy what we have.
  So without further ado here we are, how does the boogieman from hell get into your living room/headphones/car (that's your Bad Machine dudes and dudettes). Well first you've gotta take one guitar……(and one Michael Katon) and here we go.


I started by asking a little about the infamous telecaster that has been a constant in Mikes career and his home studio that is an integral part of the whole deal.


So the telecaster, what is it and what does it get used for?

MK "It's a 1958 all original. Its used for finger style playing I have to put really light strings on it because the frets are so low. The intonation is bad on it and everything."

To the extent where you have to re-tune it for the top end of the neck and the middle etc?

MK "Yeah you really have to do that, but, man its got the tone y'know. I'm afraid to get it refretted, I think I'll just buy another neck for it 'cause nowadays these guys around here, it'll cost you $250 to get a fret job. I just bought a neck from Warmouth for a lot less than that, obviously you've got to get a nut done for it and stuff but hey, you've got a whole neck man.

My buddy has a nice telecaster that he's built that he is thinking about selling, its all Warmouth parts. I've played that on a couple of gigs, its real nice, its got stainless steel frets (They won't wear out like nickel). Only problem is he doesn't put a finish on the neck, and I sweat real bad. Its just bare wood, can't put a finish on it now as oils and stuff have soaked into it. "


Tell me about your Studio

MK "Yeah' I've got 24 tracks, and also a buddy of mine's given me some ADAT stuff. He just got this Paris system, hard disk recording. I might get that (ADAT) and buy another one so I have 16 tracks of digital to run alongside my 24. I could use other tracks for like room mics and stuff." 

The majority of the recordings are still "hot tubes and analogue tape though?

MK "I have one of these Tascam machines, its 24 tracks but they made 'em for like one year or something. Its like one inch man. The heads some kind of special head, it gets enough low end and I'm only running at 15 inch per second (IPS). It works good." 

In particular the new record, it certainly sounds healthy!!

MK "Well the new one what I did was I actually simplified it and made a conscious effort to do so. I took out two thirds of my rack and locked it away in the storage closet and I only used a few, they're high end stuff. Like I got these compressors called Imperical Labs Distressors, they can mimic a lot of the older LA2A and al this older tube stuff. I kinda put those across a whole drum track. There's a setting on there where I can compress room mics it makes it sound like reverb, makes the room sound bigger somehow. I used that instead of reverb. "


I asked Mike about how he captured his guitar sound in the studio. Listening to Bad Machine I could swear that the guitars had been doubled or even triple tracked on many tunes but in fact not.

MK " I had more guitar tracks on some of that stuff, when I was mixing I just erased it all. A song like Sugar Pie, a lot of that stuff too, its only three piece man but I'm using a few different amplifiers and they're miced and this (the fat tone) is the delay and difference of tone and stuff you know panned one side or the other." 

Any of you who have tried this kind of manoeuvre will have experienced I am sure problems regarding earth loops etc, how does Michael overcome this?

MK " I've got all kinds of weird honking rigs ha ha".

Undeterred I pressed for some more detail!!

MK " Kind of what I do live is, I just got some wires that I made with alligator clips and stuff and hook 'em to the different amps and stuff and just keep hooking 'em around 'til your earth (buzz) goes away. There's ways to get around that. Like live overseas you'll see a wire that goes from the mic to the PA system (cabinet mic) I'll have it hooked onto that and then hooked onto the jack on my amplifier so its all kind of one earth, I don't know if it breaks the loop or ties it all together somehow or whatever. Overseas its dangerous 'cause the voltage is 240 or 220. In the US its not so bad, you can almost take a poke right out of the wall (not recommended) and its 110 so it will knock you away but it won't kill you, unless you were standing in some water or something. Overseas man it would knock your head off. So yeah if you listen to Sugar Pie there's some ground loop shit happening on there." 

To detect this either alienate your neighbours or use headphones!!! 

Mike then detailed the set up for the Sugar pie solo

MK "That was probably a Fender Bassman, tweed y'know, actually I used a Line 6 on a lot of that stuff too, the POD thing, so that basically, a bassman, the line 6 with a stereo type out, probably the Marshall setting and then a Fuzzface (an old crest audio) then also a Roger Mayer voodoo axe in one channel, then all of that going into an old Butler Tube driver, one of the very first old ones that were hand made by this Butler guy, Eric Johnson uses one. Then all that shit was going into the board man so I had a whole heap of stuff going on just to get an old fashioned sound!!! 

Mike seems to prefer this approach to using the multitude of digital packages that exist.

MK " I know a friend of mine where I go over to do some work once in a while has 32 channels of pro tools y'know and he's going hey Mike check this out and he plays me something and I'm going, I don't tell him but man its too clean. Like all this shit coming out of Nashville now y'know they're fixing up vocals with tuners and all kinds of crap and its boring man."