The Abbey Road Microphone Collection with Sylvia Massy
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- Опубліковано 27 тра 2024
- This month's video, in association with Focusrite, sees Grammy-winning engineer, producer and author Sylvia Massy (Johnny Cash, Tool) visit Abbey Road, home to one of the most historic microphone collections in the world. With exclusive access, she meets Lester Smith, the custodian and maintenance engineer for their astonishing microphone collection and finds out about his favourite pieces from the iconic studios' collection.
0:00 - Introduction
3:39 - Testing Mics with the Noise Gun
6:29 - AKG D19 dynamic - Ringo’s hi-hat mic
8:22 - The Olympic AKG D30 - the Hendrix and Clapton guitar mic
10:18 - EMI RM-1B ribbon
11:35 - STC/Coles EMI RM-1B
13:14 - STC 4033 compared to the STC 4038
13:54 - Neumann U47 and Telefunken U48
16:51 - Alan Blumlein and the EMI HB-1B
19:41 - EMI custom-designed stereo recording frame for Neumann M49 and MK56
21:12 - New mics in the collection
22:05 - Sontronics Apollo stereo ribbon mic
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CREDITS
SPECIAL THANKS
Lester Smith
Abbey Road Studios team
Hannah Fitzgerald
Curtis Sharkey
Carlos Lellis
INTERVIEWER
Sylvia Massy
www.sylviamassy.com/
ABBEY ROAD LIAISONS
Conor Mallon
www.ldcommunications.co.uk/
PRODUCER
Will Betts, Sound On Sound
www.soundonsound.com/
CAMERA, DIRECTION & POST-PRODUCTION
Harding & Brookes Ltd.
hardingandbrookes.com/
#microphone #collection #abbeyroad
Lester is probably the kind guy that would say, "No one is really interested in hearing about what I do".
You're absolutely right. I love him! I just adore the fact that people like him, Sylvia and the SOS crew make this information and expertise accessible to us.
He'd be soooooooooooo wrong!
Some day Lester's recording keeping book should be in the National Archive. Quite an amazing document.
ive got two books....one from 1943, the other from April 45
both are on railroading..... think off it like the owners manual of your car....
but for an oil fired 4-8-4 steam engine making 5000+ horsepower
fold out blueprints for EVERYTHING...... how to start it up, shut it down, operate it.... everything
the 2nd book is full of the signal patterns of all the different rail roads.
basically "the laws of the highway"
"rules and operating codes" or something like that, IIRC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
anyway..... point is
their are pages glued in to "up-date" the books
dudes name is in one....
they dont give you a manual worth a shit now days......
and everything is so damn secret, its hard to get them
and most of this stuff just gets tossed in the trash when grandma dies.....
shame really
Yes though this book will still be needed at the studios for a long time I reckon
Noise gun looks like this
There is only 3 in The World...
and I got all 3
Legend !
Right!!
Thats wh
en I became hooked on the interview.
I hope Lester publishes a mic history book before he retires. That would be fascinating.
Hope his mic journal gets published as well someday. Probably contains lots of info that can't be found anywhere else
"I'm happy here." Lester, I don't think anyone would want you to be anywhere else 😊 what an absolute legend!
My band recorded at Abbey Road Studio(studio 2) for 3 days in July of '08. We met Lester and he recommended many of the old mics. I had over $25k worth of mics on my drum kit. Also used the same cans(headphones) that have been there since the 60's. I'm glad to see Lester is still there. Thanks again mate.
deucesolo if you don't mind me asking, what was the approximate cost to record for 3 days at Abbey Road?
@@MultiFreddy34 I really can't say, my producer paid for everything including airfare and hotel. It's an hourly rate at the studio, we were there for 3-12hr days. I can tell you w/mastering, airfare, hotel, studio time, engineer's fee and disc printing the bill exceeded 50K!
deucesolo That’s really not bad considering the pedigree of the studio. Albums at top studios can regularly run hundreds of thousands of dollars, or at least they used to. 50K all in sounds like a great deal.
Anyhow glad you got to do it.
@Walter B You wish. hahahaha
What’s the name of your band?
Lester shows us what civility is about. Something we could all learn from. What a knowledge base this guy has. He needs to publish a book. He is a microphone master. I have heard of him for years. His microphone knowledge is unprecedented
Man with passion and respect
I want a copy of that book!
So do we!
Sound On Sound magazine let me know if I can do anything to motivate someone to make a published book out of it.
yeah and what happens if they lose it or it gets damaged ?
@@joe2grand What happens if....a lot of things? Nothing's guaranteed in life. Might as well live it...while being careful.
This is you in 40 years lad! 😂
Lester Smith is a quiet legend, probably the longest-lasting employee at Abbey Road at this point. His knowledge is immense and rarely shared - there is simply no one else who could do his job...
OFR It’s amazing to me that no knowledge was carried over by his predecessors! Hands-on knowledge learned on-the-job is always best, IMO. It is how I’ve always learned. But learning secrets from someone like him would also be so beneficial.
Ken Townsend
He takes a while to warm up and she's very patient, you can tell he's totally into his subject. I loved this!
I would say he hasn't been interviewed very often, so he is not used to it. Backroom guys like him seldom are. The sound engineer is the "glamorous" side of the business. Having said that, I loved this interview and would love to see a book on the subject.
It's so fascinating how something built in the 60's still blows everything away that's built in modern times. Those old mics need a lot of attention. I just did a vocal session with a vintage Neumann U67, and that thing broke. Thank God that the studio had a resident tech that was able to fix the broken pin. Old stuff breaks, but sounds incredible when it's working.
PO G Definitely. There are some very good modern pieces, but they’ll be expensive. Just as good vintage technology usually is. But they won’t have the sound that a decades-old device has.
I think the problem is that things got cheaper and simpler but not better... These days everything needs to be cheap, mobile and easy to use. But trade offs are inevitable.
@@clouds5 Everything needs to be cheap? Really? everything?
@@Syklonus Yeah. Wasn't clear enough but let me explain. I don't necessarily mean cheap for us, the customer. But running a profitable company is hard. So they need to produce as cheap as possible to make a profit. Even "luxury" products are made as cheap as possible to increase profit margins.
Secondly, most products are not built to last, by design. The strategy is not to sell you ONE product that lasts forever, they need you to buy a new one every few years. That's the business strategy, especially with electronics and tech. And that's my point. I'm no expert but i think the whole approach to engineering in the 50ies-70ies was different. It was a goal in engineering to create things that last as long as possible (not saying that this approach doesn't exist at all but it's rarer).
So yeah, pretty much everything needs to be cheap, even though that is not always reflected in the consumer price... Apple devices for example are in no way more expensive to build than other brands, but they spend crazy amounts of money on marketing and that is reflected in the price.
This is incredible. My only criticism is . . . more . . . I could listen to Lester and Sylvia for a couple of hours. Fascinating.
This guy is amazing. Good thing Sylvia is interviewing him, he seems a bit shy. I couldn’t imagine CLA being as patient.
Shy, poss. But the man is stud. A microphone stud. And prob isn’t called a stud much, but he is. And needs to publish a stud book on mics.
I got here by complete accident, having no interest in the topic other than I love music. I thought "Who could possibly want to watch a video about microphones?" I was about to click away, but by then I was already becoming interested, due in no small part to the passion of this man for his work. By the time it was over, I was very interested, and wanted more.
That log book and Lester's knowledge are *literally* worth their weight in gold. Vintage audio is a field that's disintegrating fast, as all the companies that made vintage components and circuits have gone under or changed and all the engineers have retired or passed away. Knowledge like this is hard to come by, and I hope we get a digital archive of that book someday.
25x U47 original 50s microphones, spitting chips mate!
This guy is an encyclopedia of microphones . Really amazed to see how humble and kind he is .
So, Lester is literally a gate keeper.
Sool Noedig Good one. I can respect a good Engineer pun
Did he not play the Knight guarding Thr Grail in the Indiana Jones movie?!?!
Lol
“He chose poorly”
dropped my jaw on the D30 and the RM1B. What a part of history Lester has in his book and mind. What a man.
I like the way at 15:58 Mr Smith confidently says "That was something you didn't know". He knows he is the only keeper of 'The Holy Grille'. BRAVO... truly great interview. It feels good to be out-geeked, and I am man enough to admit it. 🏆
This video needs to be at least 2 hours long instead of 20 minutes
Henrik Veeäär Agreed!
YESSS
Totally agree ;) Would listen to it to the last mike :)
I wish the STC/Coles 4038 was still available for £17 !! :D
I got 2 for £50 at an auction 30 odd years ago :)
Lester is a musical and historical gem. Thank you Sylvia for such a wonderful and informative interview. Thx SOS for bringing this to us.
Eddie Kramer actually mainly used a Beyer M160 ribbon microphone to record Hendrix's guitar and vocals at Olympic Studios (though the vocals were re-recorded in the US using a different M160).
I bought the pair that they had at a sale of stock when Olympic was taken over by Virgin in 1987 - though I didn't know at the time what they had been used for.
I still have one of them today and use it frequently.
Hendrix also loved Sony C37a mics
I also think I’ve seen some pics with them over Mitch’s kit
That Mic journal might be the coolest thing I've ever seen!!
Mr. Lester and i were in contact when he was helping me finish my studies. He is a great guy, very kind and helpful, without a doubt knows audio electronics very well and doesn't limit himself to microphones only. Anyway, we worked on one of EMI's high quality microphone preamplifiers i somehow managed to find full documentation for it. I chose another for studies but we both made the one i'm mentioning here, some other people from Abbey Road joined at making it for them self too. We agreed it is a bit too clean for tube preamp, although it is very well designed. I made two more and then focused on another model from Redd because sound engineers prefer it. This was great experience, i would never thought person of this calibre would take hours to help me and fulfil his curiosity.
Btw, he presented himself as "technical engineer" who takes care of old gear. Microphones are tiny part of what he does because there is a lot of other stuff using tubes and what not. He made that preamp by wiring it point to point, a lot like it is described in famous Mullard's book "Tube circuit for audio amplifiers" he pointed me to.
Awww. Lester is a gentle chap. I've got an AKG D190 .....not very special, I know...but I am fond of it.
Totally love Sylvia Massy. Crazy smart and talented and even beautiful too. I met her at NAMM in 2018 - very personable, friendly and approachable. You'd never know you were talking to one of the honest to God genuine geniuses in the industry.
I found this interview very moving. A man’s lifetime commitment to sober, serious, thorough meticulous professionalism with no desire for glory or recognition. Sylvia interviewed him beautifully, she was modest, courteous, intelligent & attentive.
Great interview. Sylvia is a fabulous interviewer. You can see Lester is much more relaxed here than in the Abbey Road interview.
An engineer, meticulous, methodical, intense, passionate, has a sense of humor but shy and introspective. Probably very much like the EMi crowd the Beatles first encountered. Who else to task with keeping those inventory records and quality control.
Loving this! Well done Sylvia and thanks Lester!
6:03 Sylvia catches the nerdstream and the interview warms up.
You’re right, it’s the moment Lester understands that she is a a peer. You can see him relax.
These people are rare. I also love how he always says 'We' in relation to the studio. Totally dedicated to his craft.
they should be recording him with each mic he handles.
Why?
He totally didn’t go for Sylvia’s “don’t point it at me,” joke!
I was dying, I would've said the same thing!
@@treguzzardo I thought he was really sweet and excited about his life at Abbey Road and she was sort of sterile in personality. Don't think I'd have it either
That wasn't a joke, man
well, Sylvia comes from the land of guns so she was probably dead serious..
Alexander Jung-Grennan Sylvia is awesome, even if she sounds somewhat sterile. She has a lot of passion for what she does, but she’s not as much of a gear nerd as he is.
Great interview Sylvia with the amazing Lester Smith. Spending time with Lester at Abbey Road is always a wonderful experience.
Any relation, to Mr Blumlein mentioned ?
@@Graiskye This Alan is a grandson of that Alan. :)
Thanks for posting
I could watch this for days! So much knowledge paired with passion is so inspiring and makes me happy! Thank you so much, SOS, Sylvia and Lester!
It's almost like he becomes a different person when he starts talking shop.
Incredible man. 🙏🏻
I enjoyed every moment of it! thank you
Wonderful interview, both insightful and informative. Class acts all the way.
This is seriously excellent. Thank you to Sylvia, Lester, and SOS.
Everything Mr. Smith says is precise & considered. He never says err, umm or like. You know his work would be just as precise and flawless.
Great video. Really nice to see someone with so much knowledge and experience talk microphones. Amazing depth. truly historical video.
Great interview, great pacing, two knowledgable experts discussing the craft. Thanks for this.
This gentleman strangely looks like a 20 year old who's suddenly got older overnight. Still looks like a kid both
and in terms of passion. Respect !
what a lovely man
My first time ever seeing or hearing about this guy. But what a treat to listen to him, sense his passion, appreciate his art, and experience his wisdom. Good man I can tell!
A very good interview full of information. Lester is a wonderful person who loves music and his job. No one could ever replace him.
Amazing, so much history and knowledge!
Amazing inside stories! Lester is a very nice gentleman. Sylvia Massy makes a very good job! Thanx
What a font of knowledge and experience Lester is! I do hope that his dedication and knowledge won’t be lost after studio days are over. He’s also a shining example of dedication to a task, proving that some of the most valuable people like him are not the type to let ambition cloud their aspirations. He’s a real treasure.
That was a great interview.
What an amazing interview
Thanks. That was very interesting. Lester was not quite right when he said about Abbey Road, "We don't sell anything" - in the 80s the studio sold off a lot of 'old' recording equipment, and instruments. That is why Macca has quite a few pieces of it now. Steve Earle also has a few things, and Lenny Kravitz recently got rid of an EMI REDD desk which he had for quite a long time.
well, theres even a EMI desk in cordoba argentina, its been said that the beatles recorded something with it...
I think he meant commercially. Like their EMI designed mics, desks, etc.
They sold the TG12345 to Mike Hedges I believe. So yeah, they sell stuff.
He did say never sold commercially.
Absolutely fascinating!
Amaaaazing video and interview Thanks to SOS for making this happen. I mean this is history learning 101 must watch. Delight to have watched and learn so much about these mic. Thank you Mr Lester Smith, long life to you for keeping these great microphones. Just made my friday ;-) Cheers
Thanks Sylvia, Lester & SOS; interesting insight into Abbey Road's untold history. Love the dents :D
Fantastic!
very interesting interview, keep going Lester
very professional, curious and calm journalist. Thanks for that
Amazing. The history is outstanding. There is a place here in Wisconsin, Full Compass Audio, that has "Archive Cases" filled with historical recording gear (mics, mixers, outboard gear, tape machines, etc.) that are a joy to observe. I'm sure they are only a small percentage of what Abbey Road contains, but a great historical archive as well. If you ever get the chance, look the place up and go there.
Lovely! And what a great interviewer in Sylvia.
Thank you for this enlightening interview. I love the tradition of Abbey Road as exemplified by Lester's hand-written notebook. I currently own a
Chandler/EMI REDD 47 microphone (which is awesome) - so they do sell some items - but not their mic collection. I would love that job.
I could listen to Lester talk for ages. Lovely video
Such and amazing video. Love those mics and the record keeping book was incredible :D. I couldn't believe how big those mics were, they looked fairly large in the close-ups but when Lester held them, my brain went 'daaaayyyyyuuuuummmm" :P
Awesome history lesson here. Thank you SOS for producing this.
An interesting man totally into his microphones. Even a microphone tour of Abbey Road would be cool with an interesting guy like Lester.
Neat stuff. I always enjoy microphone discussions............ and I love to explore options outside of the "main ones" that everyone talks about.
That notebook is amazing! Wonderful interview ♥️
very valuable video. thanks aunt Massy
super interestin! love the custom built cradle thing for the Neumann mid-side...need that in my life :)
What a great and humbled guy, really enjoyed this 🙂
What an amazing video!!
Interestingly enough, he never ONCE abbreviates the word 'microphone' - which, given how often he uses the word, has probably added hundreds of thousands of syllables to his lifetime syllable 'budget'. Maybe a sign of respect for the objects he curates...
he does about 20 minutes in
20:13 Good catch. I missed that, although I mostly think he was replying 'in kind' to Sylvia's question. I don't think he would ever use the abbreviated form of his own volition.
He wrote "mics" on his record book
He’s British. As curators of the English language, they don’t abbreviate. They leave that to the Americans. 😉
13:48 - twice! 😜
What a treat! Thanks 👍
Sylvia Massey is an American record producer, mixer and engineer and author. She knows about mics. Her favorite expression is, "Don't point that thing at me!" @4:29
Impressionante!
Maravilhosa entrevista!
Parabéns a Sound and Sound
E a Abbey Road Studios por sua linda e heroica jornada no universo do áudio profissional.
The best regards
Cheers from São Paulo- Brasil :)
I have to agree, Lester has a fantastic job!
exceptionally impressive!
What a lovely treat this video is ♥♥♥
OMG this is lovely !!!
ThxU so much for this. Back in the 80s I had a 24tk studio. Some where along the line I stumbled on a cache of mics up for sale. It was 2 U47s, that said Made in Germany. As opposed to W.Germany. Not sure if that dates them or not. But also included were 2 pair of sequentially ser numbered "Neumann" U48s with only Fig8 capsules, that I always thought sounded better than the U47. I had no ideal that they came with omni Capsules as well. If I'm remembering correctly, their box was the same as the U47. No place for a 2nd capsule.
In any case, we could never find definitive info or the story behind the U48s. Until now... So thank u for that.
Interestingly enough, if memory serves, Paul McCartney bought the U47s but I can't remember where the 48s landed.
Wow ! That mic book!! That’s as much a relic as some of the mics 🎯
Amazing,.. wow,. what a history ,. and what a humble man,. probably the sign of a real master in his field,. thank you very much,. it touched me ❤
Wonderful.
Wow this was amazing. Lester is just incredible, just amazing how much stuff he’s done and all that knowledge! And silvia’s passion for the topic is contagious. I hope my wallet survives my budding interest in mics. Oh man those telefunkens look soooo nice.
This was incredible.
I feel like he is the sort of bloke who deserves a very white lab coat!
Very cool vid!
Hahah. I wear one in my studio. I figure it’s either that, or a Phil Spector cape. Still might go that cape/pistol route soon tho
I'm with Podcastage, I would love to see a book on this. Really loved the interview and having Sylvia conduct the interview was a stroke of genius.
what a great inside scoop
Jolly good show.
That IS literally my dream job, since I was a child, managing & repairing microphones, really at any larger studio. There’s so much to that area that isn’t common knowledge, that isn’t in books or on the internet that would make working with Lester for a while truly amazing.
Somehow I got into IT and that has been my career for 25 years but I’m slowly integrating my studio equipment passion into it. Especially with today’s studios using computers so extensively. Hopefully someday I’ll be doing my thing, making custom cables and managing IT infrastructure in a studio environment vs a typical business environment. Even if the pay is likely a lot less, that would so be worth it.
I really worry about knowledge loss from older folks like Lester and engineers & technicians around the world who have specific knowledge sets that aren’t getting recorded somewhere or learned by a new generation. Much has been lost already. It would be cool if programs were set up to train younger people who are just as passionate to eventually take over these roles. I learned on my own, but I’ll never know all the little things someone like Lester would have. Just amazing to be at it for almost fifty years.
Thanks for the great video.
That was cool and fascinating. Sylvia rocks.
Mikes are a passion of mine, though I own... uh... none. But still -- without mikes, there is no recording. I had never heard of this gentleman but I am bowled over. He's got one of the coolest jobs in the world! The only mike I've used is C-414 from AKG, and that stole my heart. I have constant "fights" with my music teacher. He likes the modern shotgun closed-mike thing. I like 3 U-47s dangling from the ceiling over the orchestra, fed into a 3-channel 1/2 inch tape monster nomming 30 inches a second. That's the sound I like. Every time he gets smug about new-school sound, I pull out a Fritz Reiner Living Stereo (3 mikes into a 3-track tape machine) and he just goes *bliss*.
AMAZING!!
that noise gun reminds me of something garth from waynes world would have!
right! . . . Skeletor, maybe? :)
thanx for this