Peter Katis (Producer/engineer)

Both of Thermionic Culture’s new products, The Culture Vulture and The Phoenix, have seen a lot of use in my recent tracking and mixing sessions. Both units can be used for subtle coloring or extremely dramatic effects.

In addition to its obvious uses as an overdrive unit, the Culture Vulture is a secret weapon on drum room mics. I used it extensively as such on the last two projects I mixed, the new Longwave EP and the new Interpol LP. Like extreme limiting, it can draw ambience and character out of very modest tracks.

The Phoenix is the kind of compressor that I’ve been waiting for a new company to make for a long time. When people talk about running sounds through gear just to “fatten it up”, this is the unit. I’ll often run things through The Phoenix with almost no compression just for the sound of the input gain. And although, I often avoid tube gear for drums, I can’t resist The Phoenix. It was across the drum buss on the entire new Interpol record. I hate to use words like this, but it is just so FAT! It is hard to overstate this.

I've been mixing a record for the last ten days, and I finally had the guts to try THE PHOENIX on the mix buss. Holy Sh********t!!! I realized that I could hit my A to D converter a few db hotter than I have been lately(mixing to ProTools from my analog console)...so I cranked up the INPUT gain on THE PHOENIX and have been enjoying some of the most exciting mixes I've ever made. I hate to use this kind of language, but they sound slammin' ...not slammed. Huge. It really is becoming a piece of gear that changes the way I work.

CLIENT LIST: Interpol, Longwave, The Get Up Kids, Oneida, Mercury Rev, Guster, Clem Snide, Denali, Rainer Maria, Mice Parade, Sea Ray, The National, Robbers On High Street, Prosaics, The Golden Republic, The Mobius Band, The Philistines Jr., The Zambonis, The Dylan Group, Him, Alex Blake, The Raymond Scott Orchestrette, Brian Dewan, David Garland, Franklin Bruno, Michael Shelley, Little T & One Track Mike, Nurse & Soldier, Men, Hopewell, Satanicide, Adam Elk, The Mommyheads, Les Baton Rouge, The Pants, James Kochalka Superstar, The Happiest Guys In The World, The Benjamin Cartel, The Heartdrops, The Put-Outs, Weston, Threewheeler(formerly PEE SHY), The Caufield Sisters, Absolute Zeros, Tower Recordings, Stanley, Killing Time, Drip, Necrodestructicon, The Pork Guys, Schaumgummi, Thumper, Stupid Club, Sweet Potato Pie, Big Train, Rob Schwimmer, Teddy Goldstein, Katie McMahon (Riverdance), Kurt Wilson, Elyse Spies, Elza, The Barry White Boys, Bradford Robinson, The Defenders, Iris, Crayola, Hipripper, Fab6YM, Nerdreich, Vue Marlon, Shake, Helium Angel, U.S. Hairforce, The Monitors, Rocket Frog, Auto Wow, Angel Carver Blues, Choobie & The Bubbles...(producers)Scott Litt, Eric Drew Feldman, Tim Kerr, Gareth Jones...(labels)Warner Bros. Records, Polygram, Geffen Records, Outpost Recordings, V2 Records, Dreamworks, RCA Records, Astralwerks, Jade Tree Records, Mercury Records, Matador Records, Vagrant Records, Bar None Records, Big Deal Records, Bubblecore Records, Turnbuckle Records, Dot Dot Dash Records, Melted Records, Nickelodeon, ESPN.