Brighton-based Royal Blood consist of bassist & vocalist Mike Kerr and drummer Ben Thatcher. Jones started off playing the drums himself and so has a fine appreciation of the amount of spirited abuse Thatcher gives his kit.
"Honestly, I didn't think the d:vote
™ 4099s would survive with the way Ben plays drums," Jones says. "A couple of times in the summer he pushed the whole drum kit over and I was mildly terrified what I would find when the risers got pushed round. But, fingers crossed, no problems so far. The d:vote
™ 4099s are so small and discreet they just stay out of the way, which is extremely important. They sound very natural; they sound like the drums! I do very minimal EQ work and that’s what we like — natural sound."
Working with a duo, even one as energetic and sonically bombastic as Royal Blood, brings a certain degree of precision to Jones' work. "With only 17 channels to work with, it has to be perfect," he says. "You’re not going to get away with losing the third keyboard or second backing vocal in a mix. If something is slightly off, you're in big trouble; there’s nowhere for anything to hide. I'm constantly on my toes, but it does leave quite a bit of room for interesting FX and creativity."
As part of that creative experimentation Jones has been using a DPA
d:dicate™ 4091 Omnidirectional Miniature Microphone on Thatcher's kick for a couple of months now and says that it has been an eye-opening experience.