Vocal Ensemble – SF-12
Recorded and mixed by Russell Dawkins
Recorded in The Belfry theatre in Victoria, BC, Canada.
12 piece vocal ensemble: One SF-12 positioned in the center of the group. Singers at the front and back of the mic, 6 ft from the microphone.
Recording chain: SF-12 into True Systems preamp (45 dB gain), into Metric Halo Mobile I/O 2.8.8.2 +DSP into Mac Powerbook G4.
“More, Moma Bega, Lele” (Traditional from Macedonia)
Vocal/Instrumental Group – SF-24
Vocals – SF-24
Acoustic Guitar – SF-24
Bodhran – R-122
Engineers: Steve Barker and Peter Cutler
Recorded live at the studios of the FolkScene radio show.
These three exceptional recordings were made during a live performance for radio broadcast on FolkScene in Los Angeles.
While listening to The Wailin’ Jennys rehearsing, the engineers decided that the best performance would come from letting the group play live with no headphones, essentially mixing themselves in the process. One SF-24 stereo ribbon microphone was placed in the center of the room. Two singers were positioned left and right of the front side of the mic at a distance of 24-inches, and the third singer was positioned at the center of the back side of the mic at a distance of 18-inches. An R-122 was added to the Bodhran in “Saucy Sailor.”
An excellent stereo image was created by the left-center-right positioning of the musicians. No panning, mixing, or overdubs were done.
Recording chain: SF-24 and R-122 into VacRack tube preamps, to two VacRack limiters (3 dB limiting), to Mackie 1604 VLV Pro mixer. 1.5 dB of the Mackie’s high end EQ was added, the Mackie’s 75 Hz high pass filter was engaged, and some Lexicon reverb was added. The Mackie outputs were fed to the analog inputs of an HHB CD recorder.
1) “Saucy Sailor” (Traditional)
2) “Ten Mile Stilts” (Nicky Mehta)
3) “One Voice” (Ruth Moody)
Brass – R-121, R-122
Saxophone – R-121
Drums – SF-12
Percussion – SF-24
Vocals – SF-24
Sousaphone – R-122
Recorded and mixed by Clint Bennett. Produced by Anthony Marinelli & Shawn Amos.
Recorded at Westlake Studio D (Los Angeles, CA) and Bismeaux Studio (Austin, TX). Additional recording and all mixing at Music Forever.
Recording chain: All mics into Neve VR console preamps at Westlake and API console preamps at Bismeaux. Recorded to Pro Tools HD at 96k. Digi 192 converters at Westlake and Bismeaux, and Apogee converters at Music Forever.
Special thanks to Shout Factory for the use of these recordings.
“Flying High” (Gaye, Stover) – SONG INTRO
1a) Full Mix
1b) Isolated Saxophone: R-121 on saxophone
“Flying High” (Gaye, Stover) – SONG ENDING
2a) Mix
2b) Isolated Vocals, Claps, Percussion: One SF-24 with musicians gathered around it.
2c) Isolated Horn Stem: R-121’s and R-122 on various horns.
2d) Isolated Drums: SF-12 on drum overhead, low and towards the front of the kit.
2e) Isolated Sousaphone: R-122 on sousaphone.
Trumpet – R-121
Trombone – R-122
Electric Guitar – R-121
Drums – SF-12
Sousaphone – R-122
Recorded and mixed by Clint Bennett. Produced by Anthony Marinelli & Shawn Amos.
Recorded at Westlake Studio D, Los Angeles CA. Additional recording and all mixing at Music Forever.
Recording chain: All mics into Neve VR console preamps. Recorded to Pro Tools HD at 96k. Digi 192 converters at Westlake Studios and Apogee converters at Music Forever.
“What’s Going On” (Benson, Cleveland, Gaye)
a) Full Mix
b) Isolated Trumpet & Trombone: R-121 on trumpet and R-122 on trombone.
c) Isolated Electric Guitars: R-121 on electric guitars.
Brass – R-121, SF-24
Trumpet – R-121
Trombone – R-121
Recorded and mixed by Tommy Vicari
Recorded at Bill Schnee Studios, North Hollywood, CA.
Recording chain: All Royer mics through Millennia HV-3D preamps. SF-24 room mic through HV-3D preamp to GML EQ with 3 dB boost at 10K. Recorded to Pro Tools HD.
“Backrow Politics” (Gordon Goodwin) – Full mix from two sections of the same song, with isolated tracks
a) Full Mix
b) Isolated Trumpet solo: R-121 on soloist.
c) Full Mix 2.
d) Isolated Brass & Sax Section: Eight R-121’s on trumpets & trombones, with SF-24 room mic.
e) Isolated Brass & Sax Section: SF-24 room mic alone.
Piano – SF-24
Upright Bass – R-122V
Recorded and mixed by Kevin Killen. Producer, Joe Henry.
Recorded at Avatar Studios, New York, NY.
Recording Chain:
Piano – SF-24 positioned at the edge of the piano lid, center of the piano. SF-24 into Neve 8088 console preamps. 1 dB boost at 16K using Millennia NSEQ-2 stereo equalizer in tube setting. Recorded to ProTools.
Upright Bass – R-122V into Neve 8088 console preamp. 1/2 dB boost at 12K using a Pultec EQP-1A, and 1 dB compression. Recorded to ProTools.
“That’s My Home” (Sydney Robin)
a) Full Mix
b) Isolated Piano: SF-24 on piano
c) Isolated Upright Bass: R-122V on upright bass
Piano – SF-24
Acoustic Guitar – R-122
Recorded and Mixed by George Seara
Recorded at Phase One Studios, Toronto, Canada.
Record Label: Alert Music / Koch.
Recording chain & notes: See below
“Waters of March” (Jobim)
a) Full Mix
b) Piano: Isolated SF-24 at the curve of the piano pointed towards the middle.
Two U-87s (not heard in this isolated SF-24 track) were positioned close to the piano strings, spaced low and high over the strings. The final mix blend was 70% SF-24, 30% U-87.
Recording chain: SF-24 to API 212L mic preamps into Apogee AD16 A/D converter.
c) Acoustic Guitar: Isolated R-122 on the guitar neck.
A Calrec 1050C (not heard in this isolated acoustic guitar track) was also used on the body of the guitar, blended slightly.
Recording chain: DW Fearn VT-2 mic preamps into UA 2192 A/D converter.
Strings – SF-24, R-122, R-122V
Microphone Comparisons – SF-24, R-122, R-122V, Schoeps CMC6-U small diaphragm condensers.
Engineer: Ron Searles
Recorded at CBC Studios, Toronto, Canada
During an AES event in Toronto Canada, a cluster of microphones was set up over a string quartet for listening and making comparisons. The cluster included one SF-24, two R-122’s, two R-122V’s, and two Schoeps CMC6-U’s (set for omni), 6 ft high and 8 ft back from a string quartet.
Recording Chain: All mics fed into Universal Audio 8110 preamps. Recorded flat with no EQ or compression to ProTools at 96K.
Special thanks to Dave Dysart, HHB Canada for arranging the event.
a) Single SF-24
b) Pair of R-122’s
c) Pair of R-122V’s
d) Pair of Schoeps CMC6-U’s
Mandolin – SF-24 (one side of microphone only), R-122V
Fiddle – R-122V
1) “The Bridge of Cally” (Jamie Laval)
Engineer: Jay Manneschmidt
Instruments recorded live, within 6 ft of each other, with separation achieved by using microphone’s null points.
Recording chain: SF-24 and R-122V through Gordon preamps, into Lavry Gold A/D converters and recorded into Sequoia/Samplitude at 88.2 KHz. No EQ used.
1 a) Full Mix
1 b) Mandolin
Mandolin: SF-24 (only one side used, for a mono recording) twelve inches from mandolin, pointed at the 12th fret.
Violin
Violin: R-122V twenty-two inches away from violin, slightly above the strings and 45 degrees left of center from the “F” holes.
2) “Levantine’s Spinning Barrel” (Laval, Broder)
Engineer: Peter Cutler.
Recorded during live broadcast on the Los Angeles radio show FolkScene.
Mandolin & Fiddle: Two R-122V’s; one in front of the mandolin (pointing at neck/body joint) and one above the fiddle. The null points of each mic were positioned to reject bleed, giving each instrument isolation from the other while being played in close proximity. (See photos)
Violin – R-122V
Strings – R-122V
Recorded and mixed by Craig Schumacher
Recorded at Wavelab, Tucson, AZ.
Recording chain: R-122V’s into True Systems preamps. no compression or EQ. Recorded to Pro Tools.
“Transliterator” (Devotchka, Urata)
a) Full Mix
b) Isolated Violin: Stereo pair of R-122V’s over a violin
c) Isolated String Section: Stereo pair of R-122V’s over a string section.