The Mission of Wayne Hussey
The Mission were and continue to be one of the most influential bands the UK has ever produced. Formed in 1986 by singer Wayne Hussey and bassist Craig Brown, The Mission were one of the brightest lights of the cultural movement that quickly became known as Goth, and were one of the most commercially successful bands of that genre in music history. Long-time Steinberg user Wayne Hussey took his Nuendo system through its paces on the latest Mission CD/DVD release 'Lighting The Candles', taking time to answer a couple of questions about The Mission's past and present and his mixing technique along the way.
Wayne back in 1986
Early Mission press photo
Wayne in 2005
Wayne in his studio 2002
Tell us a bit about the birth of The Mission. You and Craig Adams left Sisters Of Mercy to form your own band in 1986...
Yeah, Craig and I left SOM and we formed The Mission. Before SOM I was in a band called ‘Dead Or Alive’ for a couple of years, too. We had a couple of minor hits but about 3 months after I left they had their big one ‘You Spin Me ‘Round’, which was ok for me because they put one of the songs I’d co-written with them on the ‘b’ side. It was the royalties from this song that enabled me to be able to afford to pay for the recording of the first two Mission singles which, fortunately for me, both went straight to No. 1 in the UK independent chart, ‘Serpent’s Kiss’, the Mission’s first single, being the highest selling independent single of that year, 1986. Craig and I had not seen eye to eye with Eldritch over idea’s for the next SOM album, the first being ‘First And Last And Always’, so we decided to go our own way and pursue what we wanted to do which was essentially a heavy diet of touring and so on. Things took off for The Mission pretty quickly so we felt vindicated by our decision.
What were the highlights over your long career that particularly stand out - the release of your first album as The Mission “God's Own Medicine”?
We headlined Reading Festival twice, in 1987 and 1989. We also headlined at Finsbury Park in 1991 and a whole host of mainland European festivals including Pink Pop in Holland, Roskilde in Denmark, and both Mera Luna and Zillo in Germany over the years. All of these occasions are vaguely remembered as some kind of milestone but I would probably have to say my absolute most memorable moment was when we played a benefit show at the Liverpool Royal Court Theatre in late April 1989. The benefit was for the families of the victims of the Hillsborough football disaster where 96 Liverpool supporters needlessly lost their lives. Now, I am and have been a life long Liverpool supporter myself so playing this particular show meant an awful lot to me. Anyway, during our performance we lost all the power in the venue and the place was plunged into pitch black. But within 30 seconds a chorus from the audience started of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ with cigarette lighters being held aloft. I tell you, there wasn’t a dry eye in the place.
Your 2001 album, Aura, received an incredible reception on its release, unusual for a ‘comeback’ record.
Yeah, it was nice to make a new album after a gap of 5 or 6 years and for it to receive probably the most consistently good reviews we’d ever received in the media for any album. But more than that, most every Mission fan that heard that album loved it.
Many of the aesthetics of the whole Goth scene from back then have been adopted by large parts of the metal community - many of the fans have never heard of the bands like The Mission who invented and made that whole style and aesthetic popular. Does that disappoint you or is that a compliment?
Well, for me, I have to say I am not and have never been a fan of metal, maybe Metallica aside. Too much posturing and machismo for me. And if that is part of the aesthetic of Goth that has been adopted then I think the original concept of Goth, if there ever really was one, has been misunderstood and misconstrued. To be fair, I also see the same misconceptions and theatricality in new Goth also. For me, it was always more about the music rather than the scene. I would always rather have substance over style. Maybe that is one of the reasons The Mission has endured.
Moving to the music production side of things, what have been in your view the most important technical developments in the last 20 years as far as studio technology is concerned?
Well, the obvious and first answer has to be computers. Everything else has been dictated by that development. Sequencers and hard disk recording wouldn’t be what they are without computers becoming more accessible and user friendly.
Give us a quick run down on some of the equipment in your studio.
Well, the hub of the studio is an Apple Mac G4 (dual 1.42 Mhz processor, with 1.5 Gb ram, OSX 10.3.8) and Apple Mac G3 (450 Mhz with 512 Mb ram and OS 9.1). Both computers are fitted with a Nuendo (RME) 9652 HDSP PCI card which gives me both my audio and MIDI I/O. I use Nuendo v3.1.1 on the G4 and Nuendo v1.6 on the G3 and the two computers communicate via VST System Link. The G4 is obviously the main workhorse but I still use the G3 because I have some Waves and Arborteum plug-ins that I like that only work on OS 9.1. I also have NI’s Absynth installed on the G3. On the G4, as well as a fully loaded TC Electronic Powercore, I have an arsenal of software plug-ins etc, my favourites for drums being Steinberg’s Groove Agent, FXpansion’s BFD, and, being primarily a guitar player, both NI’s Guitar Rig and IK Multimedia’s Amplitube for guitar. I also use Steinberg’s HALion sampler, HALion String Edition, The Grand, LM4 MkII, PLEX, Warp VST, Waldorf’s D-Pole, Reason V2.5, Recycle, Spectrasonics Stylus RMX & Atmosphere, Bias Peak, and a few of the Computer Music freebies like CM505, which I like a lot. For FX I really like Ohmforce effects. I use Mobilohm and Ohmboyz, and the freebie Frohmage. And another great piece of freeware is the KTDrumtrigger, which I used extensively during the mixing of The Mission DVD ‘Lighting The Candles’.
I put all of this through a Yamaha 02R96 v2 mixing desk and monitor through Genelec 1031A’s with a 7070A subwoofer, and alternative monitoring through Yamaha MSP10’s and Fostex 6301B’s. I have a bunch of outboard FX and processors including Lexicon, Sony, Yamaha, Roland, SPL, Drawmer, Urei, BBE, DBX, and a beautifully warm Summit Audio mic pre-amp. Various mics including an old Neumann U87 that I use pretty exclusively for my vocals.
As far as guitar stuff is concerned, I have an old Fender twin reverb guitar amp, a Peavey Classic, a load of guitars and basses that I’ve accumulated over the years, with my favourites being an old Gretsch White Falcon, a 1966 Fender electric 12 string, and an early 1970’s Fender Starcaster. I have become very fond of the Line 6 Variax 500 guitars which I use exclusively live now but are also eminently usable in the studio also. A load of stomp boxes, my favourite being the Roger Meyer Voodoo Vibe, and an original Memory Man. I also have a rack full of guitar and bass pre-amps and FX, with the Line 6 Pod Pro’s (for both guitar and bass) being the ones that I tend to use the most these days. I also have an old Groove Tube Trio pre-amp which is like the Rolls Royce of my guitar pre-amps that I only get out for long Sunday afternoon drives.
In my MIDI rack I have an EMU E4XT sampler, a bunch of EMU proteus’s, a Roland GR30 guitar synth, an Alesis DM5, a Kurzweil KMP1, a Roland JP8080, and my favourite, a Nord Lead. But I am finding that I’m using outboard midi gear less and less. And as controllers I use a Yamaha P80 (for the 88 weighted key piano ’feel’), an Evolution MK249C, and a M-Audio Trigger Finger. I think that’s about it but it is an ever expanding list…
Your last project was a live DVD and CD boxed set - Lighting Candles - which you mixed and produced yourself. What attracted you to moving from stereo CD production to DVD and surround?
Well, most music DVD’s these days are released with a 5.1 audio option and I wanted ours to be comparative. It was a new medium for me and one that still excites me. With a live show I think mixing in 5.1 has to be pretty static. By that I mean you decide where to place the instruments, and for me that was determined by the position of the musicians onstage, and then the instruments pretty much stay where they are during the mix of the show. What does excite me about 5.1 mixing is the creative possibilities it potentially offers for studio recordings. I am looking forward to mixing the next Mission studio album in 5.1, as well as ‘normal’ stereo of course.
What were the biggest challenges you faced during the surround production?
I made the mistake of mixing in stereo first and then trying to adapt the mixes to 5.1 which meant that I had to totally reconfigure my desk and its bus outputs, which caused me a couple of days of serious ‘brainache’. Once I got past that though it was fairly straight forward because, as I said before, the mixes were pretty static. We’d recorded the show using a mobile recording unit onto an Alesis HD24 which I own. I then took the HD24 home to my studio in Brazil and imported the audio files into Nuendo. There were 10 or 11 tracks of drums and overheads, 1 track each for the 2 guitars, a stereo keyboard (only on one song), 2 tracks of bass - 1 DI and the other a mic on the cab, a stereo backing track we use for 4 or 5 songs, and 3 vocals, my lead and 2 BV’s. Oh, and 6 tracks of audience ambience, the 6 audience mics being set up at different distances from the stage.
The way I mixed was by putting the drums in the middle of the 5.1 listening position. My guitar was on the left, front to back, with Rob Holliday’s guitar parallel on the right. Rich’s bass guitar I put in centre front. The BV’s, left and right, with the lead vocal in the middle of the room, along with the drums. Vocal fx were placed at the back. The audience ambience was spread out from front to back. I think it works pretty well for a live mix actually and I’m well pleased with the end result.
How much of your mixing gets done “in the box”?
Some of the processing and FX gets done ‘in the box’ but I do use all 24 audio outs to the 02R96, obviously with some grouping where necessary. I prefer to mix with separate hardware faders for each channel.
How did Nuendo perform on the project as a whole?
Great. Very reliable, flexible, and very good sounding. I love Nuendo. I’ve been using Steinberg software since 1991 when I progressed from C-Lab on my Atari 1040 to Cubase on my first Mac, a Quadra 700 I seem to remember. I think it’s a great program, for composing, recording, mixing, and post production.
What advantages led you to use Nuendo over other systems?
Well, principally because I know Nuendo very well having worked with Cubase for years and my knowledge of working on computers and with software sequencers and audio has grown with the developments made by Steinberg. Firstly, Cubase, then Cubase Audio, then VST, and now Nuendo. I did try Logic in the mid 90’s because a producer friend of mine was raving about it but I didn’t get on with it and reverted back to Cubase within 6 weeks. I’m a musician first and my first priority is to be able to spend my time creatively rather than having to spend a long time on a learning curve. That’s why with each new Steinberg software upgrade there isn’t a massive amount of time needed to get my head around the program. Mostly the developments are logical, practical, and easy to fathom. Of course, like the rest of the world, I have used other systems pretty extensively over the years but I prefer the sound and the way of working and the flexibility that I have with Nuendo. Plus a certain other systems that can only begin to compete with Nuendo are about 10 times more expensive. And I think certain other companies have rested on their laurels a little and have gotten a little lazy.
Are you using Studio Connections with your Yamaha digital mixers?
Yeah, it’s great. I had to upgrade the software inside the 02R96 to v2 but once I did that it’s seamless.
What are you currently working on - is there a new Mission album in the offing?
Yeah, it’s a new Mission album that I am just starting on now. Hopefully I will have it finished and released before the end of the year.
Find out more on the latest Mission release and tour news at the 
official website.