Steve Genewick explains Al Schmitt's mic preamp set up
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- Опубліковано 2 гру 2020
- Full video available exclusively on mwtm.org/as-monkestra
In this sneak peek Steve Genewick shows Al Schmitt's favorite preamps used during their recording process.
Step inside the world-famous Capitol Studios to witness the rare occurrence of a big-band recording session! Join the iconic Al Schmitt and renowned Capitol engineer Steve Genewick as they track MONK'estra, the band of jazz pianist and composer John Beasley. In the Studio A live room, the duo show where the musicians will be sat, explain how to achieve separation, and reveal their microphones of choice plus suitable alternatives. On the other side of the glass, you'll see what preamps are favoured depending on the source, and learn about the entire signal flow implemented for the session. Genewick discusses the sends for headphone mixes and effects, shares reverb settings, and gives a few useful tips for Pro Tools efficiency. Al & Steve proceed to record the sixteen musicians live through the Neve 88RS, the result of which sounds almost like a finished record!
Full video available exclusively on mwtm.org/as-monkestra
Steve is a really cool guy. Hopefully my assistant and I will grow to be an 'Al and Steve' some day. These guys are my heroes. Steve gave my assistant and I a private tour of the A and C rooms at Capitol. I will never forget the experience.
Just scored my first TLA-100 compressor today. Thanks Al. RIP.
So not a Garageband session then
According to Al he doesn’t use EQ or compression. He still goes to work? Is he 90 years old? Amazing!!
This is excellent. Thank you.
Nice walk-through of the setup.
A different pre amp for every instrument goddamn
every instrument has its own characteristics that make them different.
that's how he mixed and tracked w/ no eq, the mic/preamp combo was his eq.
🤯 Always wanted to be apart of a session like this😢 Been apart of a lot of amazing ones, but all the New Era of music is computers and keyboards. Not a lot of micing going on but I admire this technique. He doesn’t touch the Eqs because he’s using specific mics/mic techniques and mic chains (pre amps-compressor) to get his sound. Truly a lost art and very very hard to achieve this level of engineering👏
If you want some new music that has been released in the past few years that utilises traditional studio methods in a new and beautiful way, check out anything by:
blake mills
phoebe bridgers
big thief
aldous harding
sufjan stevens
mac demarco
andy shauf (some of my favourite modern drum and bass tones)
laura marling
fleet foxes (new album shore has possibly the most perfectly recorded drums I've ever heard)
christian lee hutson (beautiful acoustic playing and recording)
the milk carton kids (super stripped-back one-take goodness from 2 extremely talented musicians)
angel olsen
alabama shakes (Sound and colour is a masterclass in unique and colourful production)
fiona apple.
All of these artists/albums are worth checking out and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Please don't think that all modern music is somehow reducible to 'computers and keyboards'
@@joeboonmusic4004 I will definitely check those out. I didn't mean that no new music was being done like this but most labels aren't shelling out budgets for projects like this. Sad how spoiled record labels got and destroyed the studio industry. Al is the last of a certain breed of producer/engineer/sound/era. Cost a lot of money for a session like this though so a lot of new artists can't afford live musicians on their albums.
@@ryand4533 I totally appreciate what you're saying, for sure. I love learning as much as I can from Al's work. Super inspiring how he utilises microphones and instruments to 'mix' the record before even going to protools.
@@joeboonmusic4004 It’s damn hard to achieve this but yea he’s mixing with microphones. Like I said a lost art I’ve worked with some of the best engineers in the industry(learned a lot of awesome techniques) but even most of them weren’t capable of this level of engineering. Takes amazing ears and there are a 1000 different ways to skin a cat this is the most interesting to me.
@@ryand4533 Totally agree. It's why I've poured the most money I've earned into microphones! A great player, instrument, room and mic and you really can't go wrong at all.
Love that Remote 🤣🤣
3:38 is what my (mixing) teacher back in the 80's told me. The less EQ you (must) use, the better musicians and instruments are...true !
Good video👍
So much suffering from lack of good preamps. My personal favorite are Tube-Tech MP-1A. Everything I ever tracked with those 'sat' in the mix perfectly with very little effort.
@HPM Royale It's only as good as the source. You can do anything with a good one and are very limited with a bad one.
Patchbay!? That’s AT&T right there! 😂 I think Alexander Graham Bell was an engineer there!? LOL
What pres are in the 88R consoles at Capitol? I have not been able to find out.
88r has its own design Neve preamp designed for the console.
It's funny ;)
Mr. Schmitt endorse Neve for a long time and also their "kind of new" 88R BUT, and it's a big "BUT", in a sessions He doesn't use the new EQ but still and STILL the old ones. That shows You how big gap is between old PRE/EQ and the new one - even if "the same" company (minus Mr. Rupert Neve) is doin' them even acording to good old recepie.
Actually, as described in the video, Al Schmitt didn't use the EQs on those vintage pre-amps either, and the reason for him picking them probably has more to do with him being a lot more used to them than those in the 88R which are still excellent but probably a lot more transparent than the vintage ones.
What preamp was used for vocals?
No vocals on that session, big band jazz recording
Quick question why isn’t Al Schmitt explaining this?
Dude, the man is like 300 years old. Give him a break. Steve is more than capable of explaining all of this :)
@@michaelcaplin8969 i never said he wasn’t capable of explaining it. I’m just genuinely curious as to why he wasn’t explaining it.
It seems (from plenty of interviews hearing Genewick talk about his work at Capitol, and from having watched this full Mix With The Masters session) that Steve was the expert when it came to the technical inner workings of setting up the session and making sure Al could just focus on the more creative aspects of his engineering. So while surely Al would know a lot of the things that Steve explained here, Steve can explain everything in detail and give the perspective of how Al worked and highlight what's interesting about his approach (like not using EQs and barely any compression).
I think I rather use mouse and samples 😂
The nice salesman never tells us the price tho.
Why would he?
I am not buying unless I first negotiate a price.
@@HazeAnderson Dude, you don't have to buy anything. This man isn't a salesman, and this video isn't a salespitch. What are you even talking about? This is just showing what Al Schmitt uses when doing sessions.
@@michaelcaplin8969 Would have been nice if he told us the price that's all.
@@HazeAnderson Honestly, I actually don't think he knows the price of any of this. I've worked in this world on the highest level in one of the worlds finest recording facilities, and something I noticed was that no one ever paid for anything. If someone who had a famous name wanted something, they just sent an email to NEVE or any other company, and just got free stuff, even custom, one off, unique things they would never sell to anyone. I think its like that with anything. If you are successful enough, people will stop at nothing to give you as much free stuff as you want. Its all about exposure, and if people see that mr Schmitt uses a lot of NEVE for example, they will themselves buy NEVE. So I don't think this man has any idea of what any of this is worth, and probably not Al either.