Archives
July 2009
July is hot, and this month's RECORDING is even hotter! This month, we bring you the centerpiece of the modern recorded song... according to many, the most temperamental and difficult and rewarding track you can record... the human voice. In July, Vocals take their rightful place at center stage!
What does a recording session look like from the vocalist's point of view? What happens when a seasoned singer meets an engineer who wants to change how she records her voice -- Magic, or mayhem? Jazz chanteuse Kendra Shank discusses her latest album, Mosaic, and how a new vocal mic wandered into her studio and shook things up.
Joe Albano brings us a great look at how to mingle tracks from a highly proficient lead vocalist with backing vocals from band members who are... shall we say... not so proficient? Rick Barrio Dill talks about coast-to-coast recording sessions with a vocalist hundreds of miles from his band. And we review a lovely vocal mic from MXL and a fun new vocal processor from Electro-Harmonix, too.
And if you want something that's not vocal, we have you covered. In July, we bring you a look at the guitar tone of Stevie Ray Vaughan, a classic bass recording with Carol Kaye, a Mix Workshop on guitar effects, and a hefty helping of in-depth reviews, from the instant satisfaction of the Alesis MasterControl to the deep and detailed perfectionism of Focal's CMS65 monitors, from the portable power of the Audio-Technica ATH-M35 headphone to the widespread wonder and weirdness of Urs Heckman's latest plug-in masterpiece, the enigmatic Uhbik. All this and more, from the voice to the tracks surrounding it... all in the July Recording!
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The Vocalist's Point of View
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Interviewed by
Lorenz Rychner
The Vocalist's Point of View |
Interviewed by
Lorenz Rychner
What goes into a great vocal performance? We ask Jazz singer Kendra Shank and engineer Manfred Knoop about the magic of her new album Mosaic.
We brought you a detailed report on the making of Kendra Shank’s CD A Spirit Free—......Expand
What goes into a great vocal performance? We ask Jazz singer Kendra Shank and engineer Manfred Knoop about the magic of her new album Mosaic.
We brought you a detailed report on the making of Kendra Shank’s CD A Spirit Free—Abbey Lincoln Songbook in the August 2007 issue. Two years hence she is touring in support of a new CD, Mosaic. In the true spirit of an independent Jazz artist she took an entirely different approach with this latest work, mixing standards with lesser-known tunes by Jazz musicians, adding a tune of her own, and opening with Carole King’s “So Far Away”....
The label is again Challenge Records, but this CD was recorded at Manfred Knoop’s studio connected to his Twinz Records label. Let’s see what Kendra and Manfred can tell us about this latest venture....
Read more in the July 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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Alesis MasterControl Studio Interface
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Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Alesis MasterControl Studio Interface |
Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
High-quality audio interfacing, a control surface, and much more... and it practically sets itself up for you.
When you want to record and mix music on your computer, you have a fair number of options, in the form of a fair ......Expand
High-quality audio interfacing, a control surface, and much more... and it practically sets itself up for you.
When you want to record and mix music on your computer, you have a fair number of options, in the form of a fair number of different boxes you can attach to your computer. If you want to record audio, you need some form of audio interface. If you want to control your computer in a more seamless manner than using the mouse, you need a control surface. If you want to control external music gear or automate its functions, you need a MIDI interface. If you want to work with more than one monitor system or share a mix with a partner or with talent in a tracking room, you need a monitor control rig. And if you want to communicate easily with said tracking room, you need a talkback system....
Read more in the July 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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Focal CMS 65 Monitors
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Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Focal CMS 65 Monitors |
Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Unflinching sonic accuracy in a small-format active speaker.
French speaker maker Focal’s Twin6 Be studio monitors made an impression in our July 2008 issue, when reviewer Justin Peacock called them a “kick in the pants” tha......Expand
Unflinching sonic accuracy in a small-format active speaker.
French speaker maker Focal’s Twin6 Be studio monitors made an impression in our July 2008 issue, when reviewer Justin Peacock called them a “kick in the pants” that forced him to work harder than ever to make his mixes the best they could be. He ended up purchasing a pair. At well over $3000 per pair, that wasn’t a decision to be taken lightly, but it’s one he hasn’t regretted.
Not long after the Twin6 Be review period, we got word that Focal was putting out a new series of speakers called the CMS line, designed for smaller rooms and smaller budgets. These still aren’t inexpensive speakers by any means: the smaller CMS 50 streets for $1100 a pair, and the larger CMS 65 for $1700/pair. There are many very good speakers available in this price range, so I was eager to see how much of the magic Focal accuracy was delivered by the CMS speakers....
Read more in the July 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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Reviewed and Revisited: Audio-Technica ATH-M35 Headphones
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Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Reviewed and Revisited: Audio-Technica ATH-M35 Headphones |
Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Audio-Technica’s updated headphone design, the ATH-M35, adds portability to power.
Way back in November 2002, I reviewed the ATH-M30 by Audio-Technica, a model that’s still on the market and still well-liked for its excellen......Expand
Audio-Technica’s updated headphone design, the ATH-M35, adds portability to power.
Way back in November 2002, I reviewed the ATH-M30 by Audio-Technica, a model that’s still on the market and still well-liked for its excellent isolation and hard-rocking sound. Intended for tracking rooms or for monitoring in noisy or non-studio environments, the ATH-M30 fills a very useful niche in many studios, and the ATH-M35 looks to extend that reach with a few nicely tweaked features....
Read more in the July 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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MXL V87 Microphone
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Reviewed by
Fernando Curiel
MXL V87 Microphone |
Reviewed by
Fernando Curiel
This new solid-state mic combines vintage looks with a useful modern sound.
Headquartered in El Segundo, California, Marshall Electronics, the company behind the MXL brand, is known as a manufacturer of, among many other pro......Expand
This new solid-state mic combines vintage looks with a useful modern sound.
Headquartered in El Segundo, California, Marshall Electronics, the company behind the MXL brand, is known as a manufacturer of, among many other product lines, good sounding and very reasonably priced microphones. Marshall Electronics is able to maintain low production costs due to the fact that the company operates manufacturing facilities in the US, China, Japan, Korea and Russia, along with an additional R&D Center in Portland, Oregon—all the designs and prototypes are created here in the U.S.
The V87 microphone is a large-diaphragm condenser FET mic with a fixed cardioid polar pattern. It was designed to offer some color and character reminiscent of the warmth of vintage mics, but with a more modern sound to it....
Read more in the July 2009 issue of RECORDING -- this review is also available for free reading online!
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Plug-in Outlet
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Reviewed by
Devon Brent
Plug-in Outlet |
Reviewed by
Devon Brent
U-He Uhbik multieffects bundle.
Mr. Urs Heckmann is at it again, with a plug-in package named for the science fiction novel Ubik by Philip J. Dick. Uhbik may not be “a universe in a spray can” like the original Ubik was, but......Expand
U-He Uhbik multieffects bundle.
Mr. Urs Heckmann is at it again, with a plug-in package named for the science fiction novel Ubik by Philip J. Dick. Uhbik may not be “a universe in a spray can” like the original Ubik was, but it covers a universe of useful audio effects...
Read more in the July 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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RECORDING's Showcase of Sounds
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Reviewed by
Michael Nickolas
RECORDING's Showcase of Sounds |
Reviewed by
Michael Nickolas
Big Fish Audio Jazz City and Jazz Drums
Big Fish Audio’s Jazz City is a construction kit whereas Jazz Drums is a drum loop collection. Both seek to capture a traditional jazz sound...
Read more in the July 200......Expand
Big Fish Audio Jazz City and Jazz Drums
Big Fish Audio’s Jazz City is a construction kit whereas Jazz Drums is a drum loop collection. Both seek to capture a traditional jazz sound...
Read more in the July 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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Electro-Harmonix Voice Box
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Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Electro-Harmonix Voice Box |
Reviewed by
Mike Metlay
Easy harmony generation and vocoding in a fun and funky stomp box.
It never fails... at every NAMM show, no matter how many times I circle the convention halls trying to make sure I’ve at least seen everything once, I always......Expand
Easy harmony generation and vocoding in a fun and funky stomp box.
It never fails... at every NAMM show, no matter how many times I circle the convention halls trying to make sure I’ve at least seen everything once, I always get home and find an email from a friend asking to check out this one cool box that’s the talk of the show and that I somehow managed to miss. This year it was the Voice Box, a floor/desktop pedal from Electro-Harmonix offering funky vocal processing tools.
Fortunately, the folks next door at Músico Pro, Recording’s Spanish-language sister publication, had been lucky enough to see it at the show and ask for a review unit, and when it showed up... away I went!
Read more in the July 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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Vocal Recording—Notes From The Studio
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Written by
Joe Albano
Vocal Recording—Notes From The Studio |
Written by
Joe Albano
Learn how to deal with blending vocal tracks from the lead singer and his backing guys who are not on the same level of vocal proficiency—create a magic blend against all odds.
Vocals are typically the most up-front element ......Expand
Learn how to deal with blending vocal tracks from the lead singer and his backing guys who are not on the same level of vocal proficiency—create a magic blend against all odds.
Vocals are typically the most up-front element of a song, usually getting maximum attention during every phase of recording. Sometimes getting a great vocal requires nothing more than a great singer and a good mic—other times, all the various tricks of the recordist’s trade must be brought to bear to present the voice in the best possible light. For the last several weeks I’ve been recording a local band at RPM Recording (my new production company), and the various approaches I’ve had to employ in capturing and tweaking their vocal efforts are a perfect example of the range of techniques in the recordist’s toolbox....
Read more in the July 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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Recording's Vocal Column
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Written by
Rick Barrio Dill
Recording's Vocal Column |
Written by
Rick Barrio Dill
Recording vocals in an Internet world—putting together voices with an engineer on one coast and a singer on the other.
I love technology—it never sits still. It is no longer difficult to work on recording projects with peopl......Expand
Recording vocals in an Internet world—putting together voices with an engineer on one coast and a singer on the other.
I love technology—it never sits still. It is no longer difficult to work on recording projects with people not in the same zip code—and do it fast!
Having artists and producers in the same room at the same time, or all the musicians present for tracking, may be preferable but is often unrealistic. Sure, for years now there have been solutions like FTP up- and downloads, or the old “DVD or CD-R in the mail” trick, but that didn’t work well when time was of the essence. Now, progress in both internet bandwidth and accessibility allows sharing large audio files across the internet and can lead to much greater productivity. I’ll give you my most recent example....
Read more in the July 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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The Mixing Workshop, Part 3: Guitars—Reverb, Delay, Compression.
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Written by
Sean Shannon
The Mixing Workshop, Part 3: Guitars—Reverb, Delay, Compression. |
Written by
Sean Shannon
In the final instalment of our look at creating great guitar mixes, we lay down rules and guidelines for mixing guitars with effects.
It has been a few months since the first two instalments in this series—time to catch up a......Expand
In the final instalment of our look at creating great guitar mixes, we lay down rules and guidelines for mixing guitars with effects.
It has been a few months since the first two instalments in this series—time to catch up and move on. In December 2008 we addressed good practices mixing like miking and tracking with an eye to the future mix, learning to discern frequency ranges and problem areas, practicing “hand-to-ear” moves—the stuff a good mixer does by rote and instinct. In February 2009 we began talking about mixing guitars, emphasizing the four ingredients that must go into a good guitar mix: clarity, tone, size, and space. Today let’s continue with the space theme, and also examine what compression can do for our guitars....
Read more in the July 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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Recording's Guitar Column
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Written by
Joe Albano
Recording's Guitar Column |
Written by
Joe Albano
In Part 2 of our new series on famous guitar players and their tones, we learn about the strong hands and golden ears of Stevie Ray Vaughan.
To continue our look at classic guitar tones, let’s turn to a player with a distinc......Expand
In Part 2 of our new series on famous guitar players and their tones, we learn about the strong hands and golden ears of Stevie Ray Vaughan.
To continue our look at classic guitar tones, let’s turn to a player with a distinctive sound and somewhat unusual setup—premier modern-day bluesman Stevie Ray Vaughan. When SRV burst onto the scene in 1983 with Texas Flood, music fans immediately noticed the influences of Jimi Hendrix in Vaughan’s playing, but with his band Double Trouble, Vaughan quickly established his own distinctive style which ranged from aggressive blues riffing (“Cold Shot”, “Say What”, “Crossfire”) to more delicate, even jazzier, performances (“Lenny”)....
Read more in the July 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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Recording's Bass Column
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Written by
Dave Martin
Recording's Bass Column |
Written by
Dave Martin
Studio ace Carol Kaye made a decision to risk never working with a top-flight arranger again, in order to put magic into a classic pop tune. Learn about “The Way We Were”...
With so many great bassists and so many great song......Expand
Studio ace Carol Kaye made a decision to risk never working with a top-flight arranger again, in order to put magic into a classic pop tune. Learn about “The Way We Were”...
With so many great bassists and so many great songs to talk about, it will be a rarity to discuss any one bassist for two consecutive columns. But Carol Kaye’s contributions to pop music—and the wide range of genres in which she worked—are so large that she deserves a second column. Last time, we discussed Kaye’s bass track on Joe Cocker’s “Feelin’ Alright”; this month we’ll discuss the recording of Barbra Streisand’s classic single, “The Way We Were”....
Read more in the July 2009 issue of RECORDING!
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Fade Out
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Written by
Scott Dorsey
Fade Out |
Written by
Scott Dorsey
The Wireless World Is Changing.
The Wireless World Is Changing.
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