Tony Visconti Is Developing a Bowie-Inspired Mic Plug-in

Photo: Stephen McGill Photo: Stephen McGill

Published Mar 15, 2016

Longtime producer and collaborator Tony Visconti helped David Bowie capture the unique sounds on many of his most lauded records, and now he's paired up with audio software company Eventide to help other musicians achieve a Bowie-esque quality to their work. Music Radar reports that the team has been working on an "innovative plug-in" over the last two years that aims to "mimic and build upon the real world effects that Visconti had created."Visconti experimented with digital plug-in effects early on, implementing Eventide's Digidesign delay software back in 1974 on Bowie's Diamond Dogs, but the idea for the new plug-in came about during a conversation with the company in which Visconti discussed the recording process behind Bowie's 1977 album "Heroes."Treating Bowie's powerful voice as an instrument, the producer dubbed the singing style "Bowie histrionics," then described how utilizing a variety of microphone techniques allowed him to harness that power into what ended up on the record.Collaborating with Eventide's Adrienne Humblet, Joe Waltz and Tony Agnello, Visconti has now helped develop a microphone plug-in that aims to bring that sound to other artists.And while official plans for public release are still "approaching," the plug-in has already been used commercially — producer Stewart Lerman used it on a track that is slated to appear in an upcoming episode of HBO's Vinyl