Past Pupil Profiles: Kieran Lynch

This month we talk to Kieran Lynch, a Pulse College graduate from the Audio Diploma who has gone to carve out a substantial career in both Music and Film. He is currently involved in music production for the TG4 series "Siog Na Rann", an animation which involves a number of Ireland's best known singers. Current projects include engineering for emerging singer songwriter Eugene Donegan's debut album and recording tracks for renowned Irish songwriter Paul Brady. He also worked on Declan O'Rourke's much anticipated second album "Big Bad Beautiful World". His career highlights to date include the latest multi-million selling U2 album "How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb", as well as REM and Damien Dempsey. He engineered the top 10 swansong "Superbi", by The Beautiful South and was involved in the production of the Grammy Award nominated Elvis Costello albums "When I Was Cruel" and "Cruel Smile". He has also mixed tracks for The Corrs and the critically acclaimed debut album "Life Sparks" by Woodstar. He not only has extensive studio experience, Kieran is responsible soundtracks for both film and TV credits include Hollywood block-buster "Get Rich or Die Trying" and further engineering/production duties on "The Tailor of Panama", "Ella Enchanted", "In America" and "The Water Giant 2", as well as Independent Films such as "Spin The Bottle" and the award winning "Kisses and Alarm". We are delighted he found time to talk to Pulse College News.

Q1: You were born and bread in Donegal was their much musical influence growing up?

A: Apart from learning to play the tin whistle my main musical influence as a kid was my younger brother who's an amazing guitarist! I listened to the radio a lot and always veered towards buying alternative music like The Cure, Death Metal and early Acid House.

Q2: Was music an area you always wanted to work in?

A: No, not really. I loved music, like any teenager growing up; but never thought it could actually be my job!

Q3: What style inspires you from a musical perspective?

A: I love music that has honesty and originality. It doesn't have to be perfect it just needs to come from the right place.

Q4: You studied Audio Pulse College what made you choose Pulse?

A: I studied electronic engineering in UCD from 1990 to 1996 where I received a primary and masters degree. When I left college there weren't many jobs around and I wasn't really in to being a software engineer. I had no idea there were courses in sound engineering until a friend of mine applied to Pulse. I signed up the following year in '98.

Q5: Pulse College is known for its hands on practical approach to learning, what area of the course did you find most beneficial in what is now a highly accomplished career?

A: To be honest, I loved every second of it; both the practical and academic aspects. I'm not sure if you cut tape there anymore but I loved the 1/4" editing projects which helped me a lot when I moved on to working with 2" tape and again when everything went digital. It was actually surprising how well those projects prepared me for editing in the digital domain.

Q6: Tell us about your career in the beginning, was it tough starting off?

A: I started working as a tape op in Pulse with Jeremy Ross and Maeve Buckley (who's now Maeve Lynch) the year I finished the course. We had great fun working there and met a lot of amazing people coming through the studio. I moved to Windmill Lane in 1999 and worked there for a further three and a half years as the tape op in studio 1. All this time we were working 80-100 hours a week for little money. We didn't care though the experience was fantastic and far outweighed the monetary rewards. Besides, we were having the time of our lives!

Q7: You have worked with some high profile artists from REM to The Beautiful South. How did you manage to create a name for yourself within the industry, was it by word of mouth and perseverance or good luck?

A: I know people who have been lucky in this business or been in the right place at the right time and their careers have taken off. I've just had to work hard. When I left Windmill Lane in 2002 it was pretty scary as a freelance engineer. The industry was changing fast and I was starting from scratch, trying to build up a client base. Windmill Lane were good to me; when I left they put work my way as an engineer, helping me get somewhat established. I just went from job to job through recommendations and word of mouth, that way you're really only as good as your last gig.

Q8: REM, The Beautiful South, U2 and Damien Dempsey quite diverse sounds. How do you decide what approach to take when producing their albums?

A: Engineering and producing are two very different disciplines, When I'm engineering for a producer I'm only concentrating on the sound, trying to capture the performances as truthfully as possible, based on what the band and producer are looking for. Of course you need to be able to record things in a more specific way if someone says "can you make the drums sound like Fleetwood Mac" or "can you get me a Marquee Moon guitar sound". When I'm producing I'd rarely have an engineer there so I'll have to do both jobs. Producing, for me, is not about moulding an artist or band to sound a certain way but more an attempt to realize their music in an honest and interesting way. I always try to get the artist or band to perform in as live a situation as possible. This usually results in a recording that sound more cohesive and definitely more believable.

Q9: You worked on U2 album "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb". That must have been an amazing experience, can you tell us a bit about it?

A: It was. I was working with producer Flood for three months during the mixing of the album. When I say mixing it also involved a lot of recording and editing. The bands are great to work with and their studio is a very inspiring place. They work really hard and don't stop until the songs are right. Anyone can pick up an instrument or microphone at any time and you need to be recording the performance in a matter of seconds. We were working in the main studio on the old Neve and the work involved sifting through the many different interpretations of songs on their Radar system and compiling and mixing the final version. We mixed four or five of the songs while Steve Lillywhite and Jackknife Lee were working on the rest in studios elsewhere in the building. The atmosphere on a U2 record is always electric; every day has different and challenging moments and you need to be on top of your game to stay ahead of the band.

Q10: You coproduced Elvis Costello's Grammy award winning album what an achievement, how did it feel?

A: Yeah, it was strange really. Again, I was working as a tape op in Windmill Lane at the time and I was told Elvis was coming in to record an album. Then I discovered two of my friend, Ciarán Cahill and Leo Pearson were going to be engineering and producing the album. I guess because I knew these guys so well I ended up doing a bit more than the average tape op gig. The album was amazing, the band just played the songs down two or three times onto tape, they came in, had a listen and picked the take. It all happened very quickly with overdubs recorded shortly after the band were tracked. Elvis sang the majority of the vocals in the control room with a beta 58, again, three or four takes and it was done. We all worked so well as a team that Elvis decided to split the production credits equally. It did feel great when the album got the Grammy nominations.

Q11: You work in both Post Production as well as Studio Mixing two quite different disciplines, Can you talk us through the differences in the skills you need?

A: At the moment I'm working on the sound post for a feature film. The disciplines are quite different; post work is more of a technical field and not so performance driven, bar the mixing. In film and TV the dialogue is king. It's all about making it clear and present, the FX are usually second and the music generally a background thing unless of course it's a music programme or a montage section in a film. The technical standards for operation and calibration are quite strict in both TV and film. You need to learn how to work within these standards when mixing to ensure your mix transfers correctly to cinema and broadcast.

Q12: Do you have a preference?

A: My thing is music. I love recording bands and artist in the studio. This also goes for soundtracks which are different but also very rewarding in terms of production and results.

Q13: You have also been involved in producing many sound tracks for some of Hollywood Blockbusters, Ella Enchanted for example. Is that very different from producing albums?

A: The approach is quite different. With albums you're generally presented with a set of songs. You develop them, record them and mix them but rarely are you presented with a blank canvas in the studio. With a soundtrack you start with a cut of the film and spot the music cues with the director and composer. Once all the parts of the film that need music have been identified, you go to work with the composer creating the sound scape that best realizes the vision of the director. It's important to understand that you're there to facilitate the director’s needs and not your own musical ego. The best soundtracks are those that don't distract, but subtly enhance what's happening on screen. I think it's always better to score for the secondary emotion in a scene as opposed to the obvious events that are happening.

Q14: What has been you career highlight to date?

A: Of course I've enjoyed working with a lot of really great musicians from all around the world. I'm also very proud of a number of albums I've produced for artists such as Larla O'Lionaird, O Emperor and Star Little Thing.

Q15: Any future plans in the pipe line that you can disclose?

A: I've just finished production of the soundtrack for a new film called The Good Doctor, directed by Lance Daly and starring Orlando Bloom. I should be working on new material with O Emperor in the new year.

Q16: What advice would you give to students starting their career in such a competitive Industry?

A: Be dedicated and look after you ears!