Many of you know Eric VanLandingham as Acoustica's Mixcraft Product Specialist offering support to thousands of Mixcraft users for over a decade. Meet the real Eric VanLandingham; producer, guitar and bass phenom, singer/songwriter, and power-rocker for Infamous Quick.
Humble, soft-spoken, considerate, caring father and husband are words not often associated with heavy metal rockers and mosh-pit brewers. However, in this case, Eric not only fits into both worlds, he excels in them. With an encyclopedic knowledge about all aspects of music recording and production, Eric shares with us tips and tricks, talks about his studio set-up, favorite gear, his band Infamous Quick, new music and more.
Tell us about the band.
Infamous Quick is Terri Tomlinson (Vocals), Eric VanLandingham (Bass, Vocals), Tim Beckett (Guitar, Vocals), Brad Krug (Guitar), Greg Diegel (Drums). The band was created in 2016 from the demise of the previous incarnation called "Bottom Feeders", and plays a lot of Michigan clubs and festivals. We've got a full album which was distributed by Sony Records in 2018 called "Tequila Rose". The Way We Burn is our first single since the release of Tequila Rose and is our first fully featured music video.
How did you first get started with Mixcraft?
I bought Internet Audio Mixer in 1999 and every upgrade since!
How long have you worked with Acoustica?
Since 2006 when I first started doing part time support.
What's your favorite feature of Mixcraft?
Oh wow, there are way too many to list. I would have to sum it up and just say "ease of use". Mixcraft is so much easier to use than other DAWs I've tried. My workflow is like ice skating. When I use Mixcraft, I can effortlessly and smoothly move my project forward!
'The Way We Burn' has some great tones on guitars and bass, how did you create that?
The bass is meant to mimic the Ampeg SVT4 Pro bass head, which I believe it does nicely. This is accomplished using the Cerberus Bass Amp VSTi from Kuassa, and some heavy compression from the FabFilter Pro-C2. One of the guitars uses a Fender sim within Amplitube 4. The other guitar is a live recorded Blackstar tube amp.
The track features powerful vocals - how were they recorded and edited?
Well, Terri is a powerhouse on her own. It was a matter of capturing her natural sound and applying it to the recording. I use an AKG C214 for recording vocals in my fully dampened studio here in Michigan (Michigan Audio Lab). Aggressive compression on the incoming signal, then VST compression, reverb, delay when needed, and a good stereo spread.
How long have you been producing?
Professionally, I released my first commercially available physical disk in 2008. Before that I was learning and have been mixing in live clubs for many years.
Tell us about your studio setup.
It's made up of three rooms, the Control Room, about 10x10 and fully padded, the Musicians' Room, which is 15x25, and, the "Hang out and listen to your recording while drinking beer" Room, which is huge. I've got the walls all covered in spray-on truck bed liner to kill the booming (you're welcome, neighbors), and sound dampening material all around. Black carpeted floors of course. Running Mixcraft 9 Pro Studio on an AMD FX8350 8 Core at 4Ghz with 16GB ram and dual display. My main interface is a Presonus Studiolive 16.0.2.
What's your favorite piece of gear?
Hardware gear, after my guitars, hmm... Probably my Ampeg SVT4 Pro. It'll tear down walls with 1200 watts per channel, paired with my 4x10 and 2x15 cabinets.
Any favorite production tips or techniques for others?
Compression, it is what you are missing.
What's your best piece of advice for others in the industry?
Surround yourself with people who do what you want to do.
Any artists you think others should check out?
Well personally I love bands like Nightwish and TSO. Not a lot of regular rock guys relate to my musical tastes.
Where can we find your music?
Infamous Quick is on every streaming media platform out there. Open up Spotify and search Infamous Quick.
What's next for Infamous Quick?
Likely another video, we would like to have one set in the 1940's for the song "Tequila Rose" which is about a 40's showgirl who had men falling at her feet everywhere she went. We think the video would be very cool, like a non-cartoon Jessica Rabbit sorta thing :-)
Where can people connect with you?
Infamous Quick Website / Facebook / Twitter / Soundcloud / Instagram / Reverb Nation / YouTube
Editor's note: Thank you Eric for the interview and for sharing Infamous Quick music with our readers. Keep an eye out for new music from the band in the coming months. A long-time employee of Acoustica, we look forward to Eric's continued contributions to our company. We're lucky to have him.
Aug 12, 2020