Matt Lawrence On Oxford EQ

In this interview, we sit down with Grammy-winning producer Matt Lawrence to explore why the Oxford EQ has become his go-to plugin in the studio, celebrated for its transparency and ability to preserve the character of recordings. Matt will also discuss how this essential tool helps tackle challenges posed by less-than-ideal source material, ensuring that the creative flow remains uninterrupted.

Why does the transparency of the Oxford EQ make it one of your 'go-to' Plug-Ins in the studio?

That is my default EQ the Oxford 5band EQ with filters. You don't always want character, sometimes you just want a go-to workhorse that's going to do what it does and protect the character that you want.

If my default EQ is something that is a bit coloured all my mixes are going to be coloured that way. Now if I want that that's fine, but I kind of want to draw the character that I chose in the studio ideally. So the reason I like the Oxford EQ is that it's very clear, it's very neutral. It does its job well but it doesn't interfere with the colour that I've got already.

How does the Oxford EQ help with less than ideal source material? 

You know you're aware these days one of the great things about technology is that we can go and record remotely or in places that we didn't use to record.

Now with that comes limitations in the recording space.

The room might be really boxy or there might be a hum that you didn't hear in the studio the monitor wasn't set up properly the monitoring wasn't correct.

There might be fixes to be made to protect the character that you've got protect the performance you've got and the Oxford stuff is great for that.

You can get a really tight notch cue to remove problem frequencies, and that I use quite a lot.

When I'm recording producing or engineering I like to move quickly; I'm very aware of the creative flow and trying not again trying to be neutral trying not to get in the way of that.

When somebody's ready to go, they are absolutely ready to go. They're not gonna be ready to go in the same way in 20 minutes. So get it in record. If there's a problem and there's some noise, deal with it later because the performance they're gonna give will never ever ever again be given.

And you can't nudge that around in a dark room on your own trying to get this performance. It's coming; Capture it, sort it out later; I find the Oxford stuff pretty handy for that reason.