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.
RCA 10001 spot mic and SF-24 room mic on Malcom McNab’s Solo trumpet (RCA 60%, SF-24 40% in the mix).
Brass, French Horn and Bass Trombone recorded on R-122’s with an SF-24 as room mic.
Recording chain: RCA 10001 into a UA 2-610 tube preamp, SF-24 and R-122’s into a Millennia HV-3D preamp. Recorded to Digital Performer HD 192 (at 88.2/192), using the HD 192 converters. TC Electronics M-6000 and Lexicon 960 and 480 reverbs used in the mix. No compression, limiting or EQ used.
“Saloon Music for Bb Cornet and Pit Orchestra” (Bruce Broughton)
Engineer: Al Schmitt, Producer: Gary Grant
Recorded at Capitol Studios (Studio A), Hollywood, CA.
Recording chain: All mics routed through an assortment of Mastering Lab, Neve and Studer tube mic preamps. Recorded to Pro Tools
One R-122 on Arturo Sandoval’s solo trumpet
Four R-121’s on the trumpets
Four R-121’s on the trombones
SF-12 overall big band room mic
SF-12 drum overhead
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.
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.
