Gary Loizzo has been a part of the recording industry for
over 30 years, serving as both a studio owner and live sound engineer. He began his studio work in the 1970s, quickly
becoming known for his engineering abilities by artists in and around the Chicago area.
It was during that time he met up with members of the rock
band Styx, and subsequently became their
full-time recording engineer. When the
band reunited in the mid ‘90s, Loizzo was asked to go with them on tour to run
live sound. Today he works both in the
studio and on the road, engineering and producing their studio projects, and
mixing the live shows.
As the crew prepared for a recent show in Dallas, Loizzo
graciously took the time to share his industry experiences with me. I found him to be very forthcoming about what
he does, and appreciate the engaging conversation and valuable information he
provided.
***
For a studio owner, running live sound can be a definite
departure from making a record, but for Gary Loizzo, engineer for one of the
most successful rock bands of our time, it has proven to be a fulfilling
experience. Over the years, Styx has enjoyed quite a musical history, scoring a
succession of multi-platinum albums and embarking on numerous sell-out tours,
and Loizzo has been there through it all.
After serving as the band’s studio engineer for nearly their entire
recording career, he joined them on the road to run live sound, where he
remains today. As preparations for the
recent show in Dallas
took place, he explained that he is passionate about both recording and live engineering,
and enjoys alternating between these two very different crafts.
It was amidst this flurry of activity that Loizzo graciously took the
time to share his experiences.
Loizzo began his musical career over 30 years ago as part of
the Chicago-based group American Breed, whose 1960s hit “Bend Me Shape Me”
earned the band a gold record. Though
Loizzo did not engineer any of the material for the band, he quickly realized
that was where his interests lie. In
1973, he began working in some of the major Chicago-based recording studios,
engineering for artists in and around
the area. Soon after, having established
himself as an engineer, he decided to take a risk, and in 1976, Pumpkin Studios
opened its doors.
He began his work with Styx
in the early ‘70s on their fourth studio album, Man Of Miracles, and
continued taking part in bits and pieces of the next few albums. By the time “Corner Stone” was released in
1979, he had become their full-time studio engineer. His work continued through the band’s
multi-platinum success, halting with their hiatus in 1983.
Throughout the 1980s and ‘90s, Loizzo worked on a variety of
other projects, reuniting with Styx upon their
reunion in 1995. When the band decided
to tour in 1996, they asked him to go on the road and become their live
engineer. They wanted to sound like the
records, and since Loizzo had engineered the majority of them, thought he would be a good candidate for the job.
Though he had engineered live shows for a few other artists
in the past, Loizzo quickly found this was going to be a very different
experience from what he was accustomed to in the studio. “After a while I really realized that mixing
a record and mixing live were two very, very different things,” Loizzo
Said. He referenced studio engineering
saying, “it was a very polished work that you could listen to several times,
and hear different things each time you listen to it.”
Fine tuning the live mix, however, required a different thought
process altogether, since it is necessary to achieve the best possible sound
for both the band and their audience the first time around. “It was a very nice collage,” Loizzo
Said. “When I started mixing live, I
realized that if I didn’t mix as a caricature, if I didn’t push things out at
people, then they’d miss them, and there was never a time, an opportunity for
them to get those again.”
Another difference between studio and live engineering is
the varying choices of microphones that must be used in each situation. Because of the treacherous conditions of the
road, it is not possible to use the same mics there as it is in the
studio. Loizzo explained, citing a
recent show that had to be rescheduled due to a mini tornado that ripped off
the venue roof and rains that soaked some of the band’s equipment, that it
would be too much of a risk to use some of the high dollar mics while on
tour. “Speaking as a studio owner with a
fine collection of microphones, I would never ever bring some of the multi
thousand dollar microphones I have out on the road for many reasons; I could
never allow that to happen to good mics.”
Through the years, he has been able to find what he thinks
are great substitutes for some really good studio microphones, even using some
of them in the studio where they have worked very well. Since drums are, perhaps, the hardest
instrument to mic, they usually require the most thought. Sennheiser 414s are his preferred in-studio
mic for toms because they have a nice large diaphragm and are, therefore, able
to capture the sound from both the shell and depth of the drum. This mic is replaced on the road by Beta
Shure 98s, which are very small mics that produce a very round sound. After using them for a while on the road,
Loizzo decided to see how well they fared in the studio. There he found the Beta 98s worked, in many
cases, every bit as well as Sennheiser 414s.
For vocals, condenser microphones are always used in the
studio, while dynamic mics are predominately used out on the road. This is, for the most part, because the wide
polar patterns of the condensers make them impractical due to the amount of
stage volume and bleed that would tremendously degrade the sound of a live
performance. Instead, he prefers Shure
57s and 58s, as well as Beta 58s for miking live vocals.
When miking guitars, Loizzo said he prefers a Royer 121 in
the studio, along with a few other ribbon mics, but primarily uses Shure 57s
when miking them live. These differences
are important. In the studio, he will
try to create space by using other microphones, but on the road, placing a 57
in a speaker puts you right where you need to be to hear a good guitar sound on
stage. “I try to get everything as close
miked as possible because the room itself will defuse the sound,” Loizzo Said.
“So I go for very tight sounds out here and the room does what it does
to it.”
On the road, the keyboards are not miked, but instead are
taken directly into the console, while the bass is both taken direct and
miked. Again, a Shure SM 57 is mostly
used on the bass guitar.
The transition from analogue to digital has been a slow one
both in the studio and out on the road.
Though his studio still houses both analogue and digital equipment, Loizzo
said the digital set up is what is most often used. Styx’s live shows
are now all digital as well, which takes fewer people and a less amount of time
to set up. The reason for this is the
compact size of the equipment, and the fewer cables required for
connection. Loizzo explained this
adding, “That’s one advantage to going digital.
A few years ago, the equipment didn’t sound good enough to trade off for
the space and ease, but within the last couple of years, several digital
consoles have come out that, really to me, sound good.”
In addition to running live sound, Loizzo continues to work
with the band on their studio projects, often serving as both engineer and
producer on a variety of CD and DVD releases.
He relishes going back and forth from the studio to the road, reveling
in the satisfaction he receives from both.
Though recording is what he’s always done, and according to him, what he
will always do, he enjoys working with Styx. “They are hard working musicians who are
really talented and good at what they do,” Loizzo said.
Loizzo’s love of his work and evident appreciation for
the band only served to heighten the ensuing excitement surrounding that night’s
concert in Dallas.
As he made his way toward the venue to
begin the set up, his parting comment made it clear the audience members
weren’t the only people who would leave the city feeling as if they’d been
entertained. “I enjoy the show; it’s
the highlight of my day everyday.”
To learn more about Gary Loizzo, visit www.yourmusicandmore.com.
