LAS VEGAS – Sifting, a band led by Venezuela-born frontman and guitarist Carlos Eduardo Osuna Gil (Eduardo to his fans), has been performing with Audix microphones including the OM11 handheld vocal mic and i5 instrument mic.
More details from Audix (www.audixusa.com):
Sifting is one of the most exciting arrivals on the progressive metal scene in the past decade. In his hometown of Caracas, Venezuela, frontman and guitarist Carlos Eduardo Osuna Gil (Eduardo to his fans) began writing music as an outlet after losing his mother and grandmother in a plane crash. Sifting’s first big break came in 2011, opening for Bullet for my Valentine during their Latin American tour. Playing at Austin’s South by Southwest festival in 2013 would inspire the band to move to the U.S., where their following blossomed. Along with Eduardo, Sifting includes: Winston Jarquin, Bassist/Backup Vocals, Joey Aguirre, Drummer and Mo LaMastro on guitars. Their latest single “Silent Acquiescence” is on major streaming platforms. Eduardo has also won 2023 Emmy Awards for music composition and cinematography. In an interview with Audix, he speaks about his remarkable creative journey and his Audix microphones, especially the OM11 handheld vocal mic and i5 instrument mic.
Asked about the meaning behind the band name, Eduardo reflects, “The four of us have such different backgrounds. I listen to so much different music from Venezuela and Latin America. I could name all the genres, but it would be a long list! So, the name refers to us sifting through all this rich material to find inspiration for a sound that’s still metal at its core.”
To achieve that sound, Eduardo’s Audix OM11 handheld dynamic mic is the go-to mining tool for great vocals. “The frequency response is just huge,” he says. “Live, I used to sing into a certain mic that nearly everybody uses, and the difference is night and day. The OM11 also has this dynamic response, this immediacy, that I just love. I pair it with a processor that’s like a pedalboard for vocals — reverb, delay, compression. The OM11 really gives that processor the input it needs. Everyone is always asking me about my vocal sound, and that wasn’t happening with my previous mic. The result is that nothing is left to chance with the sound engineer. They basically need to turn up a fader and they’re happy.”
Though designed for the stage, Eduardo has found the OM11 to be just as useful in the studio. “I just used it to record ‘Silent Acquiescence,’ our most recent single. I thought the guys were going to be like, “No, that’s a live mic! You can’t do that!” But I’m screaming a lot in that song, and I’d heard a dynamic mic might be better for loud, screamer, metal vocals. The results were perfect — a very different vibe than a studio condenser, but the right vibe for the song. We also did this on ‘Nemesis,’ a cover of a song by Arch Enemy. I played the tracks and everyone was like, ‘Hell, yeah!’”
The i5 instrument mic does for Gil’s guitar what the OM11 does for his voice. “Front-of-house people are always going, ‘Dude what’s up with that guitar sound of yours?’ It’s just my mic and my amp. I play a lot of one-off gigs around Las Vegas, where I now live, and sound guys are always like, ‘This sounds so good! I really miss the punch of this kind of thing.’ They mean, compared to someone coming in with a digital setup like an amp modeler. I should mention that Audix turned me on to the CabGrabber clamp, so I don’t even ask for a mic stand or bother anyone. They just plug in an XLR cable and go.”
With metal sound comes metal touring conditions, and Gil praises Audix for taking the heat — and the cold. “Drummer Joey Aguirre has a huge set of Audix mics, and we’ve been touring with them since 2018. In all seasons, from desert festivals with triple-digit heat to rain to freezing weather. They have never failed. Neither have mine.”
