This extraordinary session was held in Ray Charles’ Los Angeles studio in November 2003. I was privileged to attend and was given permission to take photographs with a small pocket camera. The musicianship was incredible, with most parts of the song being done in one or two takes.
-John Jennings, Royer Labs
B-3: Billy Preston’s Leslie cabinet was miked with two R-122’s, one positioned on the top horn and one on the bottom.
Piano: An SF-12 was positioned inside Ray’s piano alongside a couple of condenser mics. The SF-12 was the main mic used in the final mix.
Electric Guitar: The electric guitar amp was miked with an SM-57 up close and an R-122 further back, blended in the mix.
Recorded by Stephen Schauer
Recorded at Deep End Ranch, Santa Paula, CA.
Recording chain: All mics recorded straight into a Tascam HS-p82, at 96/24.
Recording notes:
One R-122 off the front of the cello, tipped up to bring the vocal into the mix.
For ambience, a spaced pair of Mojave Audio MA-101fets were positioned 5 feet back from the cello and above the frame of the A cam, set for omni and mixed back 6-7db, panned hard left and right.
Producer: Stephen Schauer
Camera: Jonathan Saunders, Lane Stroud, Stephen Schauer
Audio: Stephen Schauer
Recorded by Stephen Schauer
Recorded at Deep End Ranch, Santa Paula, CA.
Recording chain: R-122 and MA-101fet’s recorded straight into a Tascam HS-p82 portable multi track recorder at 96/24.
Recording Notes:
One R-122 off the front of the acoustic guitar, positioned to balance the guitar and vocal.
For ambience, a spaced pair of Mojave Audio MA-101fets were positioned 5 feet back from the guitar, set for omni and mixed back 6-7db, panned hard left and right.
Recorded by Stephen Schauer
Recorded at Deep End Ranch, Santa Paula, CA.
Cellist Ben Sollee and guitarist Marshall Ruffin perform an impromptu duet during their visit to Deep End Ranch, Santa Paula, CA.
Recording chain: R-122 and MA-101fet’s recorded straight into a Tascam HS-p82 portable multi track recorder at 96/24.
Recording Notes:
The R122 is a great, rich, versatile mic. It’s the main pickup, positioned between Ben and Marshall. I used a pair of Mojave Audio MA-101fets in omni as a spaced pair just out of frame, mixed back 7 or 8db to give a sense of space. The room sounded a bit boxy, so I did everything I could by positioning the 122 so as to not wrestle with the room.
-Stephen Schauer
Grammy winning Engineer/Producer Ross Hogarth and session guitarist extraordinare Tim Pierce joined us to create an 8-part video series featuring an in-depth look at Hogarth’s electric guitar miking techniques. These videos are an excellent opportunity for recording engineers at all levels to learn new methods or brush up on some great guitar miking techniques.
Two microphone blends are compared; a Royer Labs R-101 ribbon microphone and Shure SM57 dynamic mic, and a Royer R-121 ribbon microphone and Shure SM57 dynamic mic.
In this video, Ross demonstrates his dual microphone positioning techniques on a guitar cabinet, then uses an open speaker to clearly show where to put mics and why he likes these positions.
Another example of blending a Royer Labs R-121 ribbon microphone and a Shure SM57 dynamic mic, this time on a beautiful Supro combo amp with a 15-inch speaker. Very nice, warm vibrato on this amp.
In this video with Tim playing drop-tuned guitar, we compare an R-121 & 57 blend and an R-101 & 57 blend on a cranked up Diezel head through a 4-12 Marshall cabinet.
Ross uses the R-121 & 57 blend on a great old Magnatone stereo combo amp, with an SF-24 stereo ribbon microphone centered 1-ft back from the amp to capture excellent stereo guitar tones.
Recording Engineer: Christy.
Recorded at Park Studios, Stockholm, Sweden.
Spaced R-121’s on an acoustic band.
Two R-121’s placed 5 feet apart on an acoustic band (guitar, accordion and electric bass) playing live in the studio. Acoustic guitar has slight amount of condenser mic blended in. No EQ or effects. Slight compression on final mix.
Recorded by Dusty Wakeman
Recorded at Mad Dog Studios – Burbank, CA.
First rhythm track recorded on an SF-12 stereo ribbon mic (in mixing, one side was centered and the other was panned to left). Harmony/solo track was recorded on a backward R-121, panned toward the right.
The guitar is a Taylor 512 cutaway.
Recorded to 20-bit ADAT. No EQ, compression or effects.
