Recording - August 2016 - 19

At the extreme end of the equation, I
was once working with a songwriter
who was having a very difficult time getting a bed track of a particular song.
The band he put together was struggling
with the groove. After several less-thanideal takes, the frustrated drummer
offered a very surprising suggestion. He
asked for everyone but himself to be
locked out of the studio. Tape rolled and
he counted himself in and played the
drum track of the song in perfect time
and with the perfect feel with no one
else playing. This guy was a real listener! He understood the song inside out-
better than the songwriter, as it turns out.
The band came back and overdubbed
their parts to the drum track, and the
completed track rocked!
Let it swing
I've recored a lot of jazz in my career.
Free-flowing improvised jazz depends
on an organic, almost telepathic, melding of the musical minds. I may use a
few gobos and baffles, but I tend to do
jazz in an open room with everyone,
including the drummer, set up together.
Good lines of sight are essential, and so
is the ability for the musicians to hear
themselves pristinely. Again, to a
degree, a little bleed across the microphones enhances the cohesive vibe that
you should be going for.
I'm very particular about my microphone selection for this type of recording. More often than not, it's all acoustic
instruments, often very good, expensive,
great-sounding instruments. Obviously
you have to work with what microphones you have on hand, but largecapsule condenser microphones should
be your first choice.
Spend a lot of time matching the mic
to the instrument and don't be afraid to
experiment with various mic patterns.
They can be used to both aid separation
or to accommodate it in a musically satisfying and organic manner. I have a
particular fondness for jazz sessions
because of the microphone skills you
need to bring to the gig. There is something very satisfying about getting down
to fundamentals.
I often go with a four microphone
setup for the drum kit on jazz sessions.
Those well chosen overhead mics, again
meticulously placed with pickup pattern
selected to maximize the sonics of the
room, combine with a snare and kick
mic. For jazz I usually move the kick
drum mic out a little farther from the
beater than I do on a rock session.
Tastes vary, so don't be afraid to experiment with the mic placement.
Know what you don't know
You may get a gig that takes you out of
your comfort zone. It may be a different

kind of music than you've ever had experience recording. It may be a band that
presents a format that you haven't had
experience with. This is when you really
need to put your head down, turn your
ears on, and do some research.
When presented with a new format or
a new sound, learn everything you can
about it. Listen to recordings, watch
rehearsals, and keep an open mind and
a well-tuned ear. There are a wealth of
resources out there for you to tap into.
The worst thing you can do is assume
you'll be able to wing it. That approach
very rarely works. Trust me. I've tried it.
Recently I've been asked to record a
traditional brass band. That gig is coming up. I've never recorded this kind of a
band or this music before. I'm just starting to get my head around it, but I'm
already convinced that I will be using a
small number of multi-pattern microphones in a very good acoustic environment, a lovely old church. I'll be worrying more about bleed from outside the
recording space than bleed between the
various instruments, since I want everything to blend. (My checklist for this
recording is full of notes about microphones and pickup patterns!)
It's a whole new world out there
Lastly I want to comment on a trend
I've started to notice and to some extent
follow. It's no secret that the paradigm
for recorded music has shifted in the
past couple of decades. The old formula
of getting signed to a label and putting
out an album every year or so really
doesn't exist any more. Well, it exists for
a handful of pop artists, but it doesn't
work for the average working musician.
Lots of artists are now breaking on
YouTube by creating unique video performances of their own music or, quite
often, by creating a very clever cover
version of someone else's tune... usually
one of those lucky mega-selling pop
artists' tunes.
Check out artists like Scott Bradlee's
Post Modern Jukebox, Walk of the Earth,
or Lennon and Maisy. They do versions
of pop songs, live in one take with real
musicians playing acoustic instruments.
The ones I've seen are minimally miked.
They are arresting and interesting. I love
the sound of these artists, as they harken
back to the days of more ambient
recordings when the gig was to "capture" a performance. Some of these techniques can and maybe should make
their way into your next project when
you go off to record on the go!
Bill Stunt (stunt@recordingmag.com)
is a recording engineer, musician, and
broadcaster for the Canadian
Broadcasting Company, living and
working in Ottawa, ON.
RECORDING AUGUST 2016

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