In this video, the ever-amazing Al Schmitt records the singer-songwriter Will Knox, while sharing his life-long experience in the music industry.
He experiments with various microphones and mic placements to achieve a sound that's worthy of his sky-high expectations.
Al also tells us about his idea of mixing a record and how much treatment should be applied, as well as his own philosophy regarding sound engineering.
If you would like to know more about Al Schmitt please visit his website.
00:00:10 Hi everybody.
We're here with Al Schmitt
and we're gonna do a little bit of
miking of a singer-songwriter.
00:00:18 - Let's put one of these on the guitar.
- Alright!
- So we need a...
- You mean a mic stand would be useful?
- It's a CU-55 that
we're gonna put on the guitar.
00:00:29 - We'll use one of these on the vocal.
00:00:34 - You get comfortable, I'll move
around you. Don't worry about that.
00:00:39 - So you're aiming for
the sound hole of the guitar.
00:00:42 - Yeah.
- Cool!
- Are you worried about phase or distance?
- No, not at this point, I'm not.
00:00:49 - We'll see what happen.
00:00:51 - Just vocals or guitar as well?
- Both! Yeah, do both.
00:01:17 - What did you think about this?
- I'm gonna take this mic off
and put the 100K up.
00:01:22 I just didn't like the way
it sounded on the guitar.
00:01:26 It sounded a little... muffled.
00:01:29 - Muffled? So you want a more open...
- I didn't hear the clarity
of what I heard in here
when he was playing before,
so we're gonna change this.
00:01:38 Normally I don't do this. Normally
my assistant does all this stuff.
00:01:42 - Yeah, but today I'm the assistant,
and I'm not the best assistant!
- Did you put a windscreen on here?
- No. Let's do that!
Your popper... Monsieur Knox.
00:01:56 - You don't have anything to do
until Saturday, right?
Since it can take a while...
- It's all good!
- It's basically the same position.
- Pretty much the same, yes.
00:02:08 - You're just trying
a different mic color.
00:02:11 To summarize:
Al switched the CU-55 for the 100K,
it was a cardio, now it's an omni,
and this mic is supposed to have
a very wide, super broad high-end.
00:02:55 Amazing!
What are you hearing here
that you like or don't like?
- Well I like
what I'm hearing pretty much.
00:03:08 I don't think there's
too much voice in the guitar mic.
00:03:12 And there's certainly not too much
guitar going into the vocal mic.
00:03:19 The things I would do, you know,
is add a little echo to it,
to his vocal maybe, at some point.
00:03:27 And that's it! I never use EQ.
00:03:30 - You don't use EQ at all?
- Ever!
- When I learned, none of the boards had EQ.
00:03:35 We had one equalizer, and if you used it,
it equalized everything.
00:03:42 - On or Off!
Make you selection, at any time.
00:03:44 - So we learned not to use it,
and the same with compression,
we used
very little compression back then.
00:03:52 - I think that's wonderful.
00:03:54 So basically, say if you didn't like
the sound of what you heard right now,
we're lucky you do,
if you didn't, what would you do?
- I would change the mics.
- You would change the mics?
- Yeah, absolutely.
00:04:05 - You also mix a lot of records,
you don't just track.
00:04:08 So, what I'm getting from you,
when you mix a record,
you also avoid using EQs?
- Yes!
The only time I use EQ is if I've got
something that someone else recorded.
00:04:20 If it's something I recorded,
I never use EQ.
00:04:25 In rare occasions.
00:04:26 - So your mixing process must be
incredibly fast.
00:04:29 - It is fast!
- For example, what's the record
you've done recently
that you like the sound of,
that you're proud of?
- I like the sound almost of everything.
00:04:38 The last things I did are Gloria Estefan,
her new "Standards" album,
the Paul McCartney album...
00:04:45 - So in the context of a record,
and I know you do,
where there's backbeat,
and a drummer hitting hard,
you're still able to do it
without EQ and compression.
00:04:54 - Yeah, I do, yeah.
00:04:56 Well I use... like on the drums, I use...
00:05:00 I use a 452 on the snare,
and I have a 57 under the snare,
out of phase.
00:05:07 And that's it.
And it's just the blend of those two...
00:05:09 that gives me all the pop I need.
00:05:12 - I think that's the most refreshing
thing I heard in a long time.
00:05:15 - Well, you know...
Tommy Dowd was my mentor...
00:05:19 - Tom Dowd.
- Yes, for eight years.
00:05:22 That's just the way I learned.
00:05:24 I've been around it
since I'm 7 or 8 years old,
and, you know, I watched
when they had to take their shoes off
while they were recording,
so you couldn't hear the stomping.
00:05:35 - Great! Do you want to try
a different mic on the vocal?
- Let's try the 100K on the vocal...
- Let's do that!
- To see where that goes...
00:05:45 So we're gonna take this off.
00:05:49 Not that we didn't like it. We liked it.
00:05:52 But we're gonna change it to see...
- Just to see how it feels.
00:05:56 - There's a lot of fear
about omni microphones.
00:05:58 A lot of people
don't know how to use them.
00:06:01 Because they feel that
they're gonna get a lot of bleed...
00:06:03 - No, no! Leakage is your friend.
- Leakage is your friend!
Why?
- It makes things sound much better.
00:06:10 If you have a cheap mic
and something's leaking into it,
it's gonna sound that cheap sound.
00:06:18 But if you have a great microphone,
and you got leakage coming into it,
it just opens everything up even more,
it makes things sound so much bigger.
00:06:27 That's why on all my string dates,
and all my big band dates,
almost all of the mics are in omni.
Almost all of them.
00:06:35 And we don't worry.
The leakage is what makes it swell!
- Great.
- Swell!
- So, Will, how are you feeling,
having played that song
about 800 times in 24 hours?
- Do you know anything else?
- It's the only one!
- Here we go.
00:06:57 - Back it off a touch. Are you okay?
- Yeah!
- Ok!
- Would you like to perform for us,
your Highness?
- That's nice...
00:07:36 - That's nice!
- It's very nice.
- Yeah. I love all that really nice...
00:07:49 - Very nice.
00:08:06 - I could use a little more like...
00:08:09 chest on this mic, you know.
00:08:14 If I was recording him for a record
right now,
I would probably change his mic
and add something else
that had a little more of a chest.
00:08:24 - Do you ever use 2 mics on the vocal?
- Not really, no.
00:08:28 - So you find a mic that works.
- I find one that works.
00:08:32 And sometimes it can be
a 50 year-old mic.
00:08:36 - I think this change was fantastic.
I liked the tone of it before,
but changing this mic
opened up the top.
00:08:42 - Yeah, I agree.
- Great!
We're gonna record a whole pass
with this. Are you happy with this?
- Yeah, fine!
- Ok, let's record this song. Here we go!
- The guitar mic is giving
a little of warmth to the...
00:09:18 - To the lead.
Isn't it a wonderful song?
- Yeah! He's terrific.
00:10:15 - When we...
00:10:17 When we learned, on vocals...
00:10:20 What happened is we...
00:10:24 we learned the song
as quickly as possible,
and then we would
ride the gain on the vocal.
Al Schmitt is a mixing ang and recording engineer whose talent has been showcased over more than 150 gold and platinum albums. Al has been around since the beginning of the music recording industry and has witnessed all technological changes that occured in the past decades.
His is the proud owner of 24 Grammy Awards (no less) and has worked with the biggest artists and producers in pop, jazz, classical, and country musics.
Everybody who has attented a recording / mixing session with Al says there is something magical about the way he does things. His intuition and years of experience allow him to position microphones faster than anyone else. He just knows how it is going to sound. Then pushes the faders on his Neve console and that's the sound everybody was waiting for.
Al Schmit's love for minimalistic eq and compression moves (if at all) makes for a very natural and unprocessed signature sound. He would rather record it right... than fix it in the mix later.
You can witness Al's amazing skills by watching him record and mix Cyrille Aimée on pureMix.
This is awesome! I've always known this, never touch what sounds good but still going against my own gut feeling. I'm always eq and compressing only because of lack of choices like rooms, mic, interface, preamp, amateurs, etc etc. Great facility, equipment, and talent theres no excuses.
danielteo
2018 Nov 22
more Al Schmitt videos, what a legend!
mike.p
2018 Jan 15
I would love more of these videos!
I learn much from seeing how people approach the same task differently, and also having fab there, react to their different methods to his
Jazzforano
2017 Jan 12
Amazing!
cjperez
2016 Nov 29
Awesome information
bennetthughes
2016 Oct 25
I almost fell off the couch. No eq. Brilliant mic placement and selection. Lovely song lads.
Ben
courtlaw
2016 Oct 12
Had to watch this a second time. Would love to see more videos of Al Schmitt
Guillermo
2016 Aug 08
interesting , that soft , that clean, free .
tutorial incredible , thanks
robertgmartin
2016 Jul 03
That was extremely refreshing and insightful. Wow, no compression or eq ever material he records. I'm going to try to incorporate that in my recording and mixing too. It will make me work harder to get a better recording.
courtlaw
2016 Jun 24
Would love to see another video of Al !!!!
danielteo
2016 Feb 29
Great video, what a class!
miloreason833
2016 Feb 02
Just listen....
Fergie77
2016 Jan 17
I would have loved to have seen him do Toto IV.
HANSON MICHAEL
2016 Jan 02
Thank you!
rush444
2015 Dec 09
Brilliant insight.
creaktor
2015 Nov 29
by far the most inspiring I've seen. I love to see video's where it comes down to autodidact style and some common sense with natural approach. Why EQ when you can change the mic. It gives so much more.
RemyAnnDavid
2015 Nov 25
Totally fabulous to see and listen to Al Schmitt. Creating his sound through his microphone selection. Dispensing with phase altering EQ. In comparison to the completely different technique that George Massenburg is so well known for. Which involves careful manipulation of parametric equalization. So what does Al do? If he gets a recording track by George? What does George do? If he gets a recording from Al? Will George then EQ Al's recording? And will Al try to undo the EQ that Massenburg added? Or do they both just growl and snort and Say nasty things under their breath about each other?
Spudmuffin
2015 Aug 06
Kudos! As you said, that's "the most refreshing thing I've heard in a long time". I've heard about using mics as the only EQ before, from other people, but to hear it directly from Al Schmitt gives it a certain Je ne sais quoi.
This brings it back to basics. A truly FABulous way to learn recording. :) It would be an EQually powerful discipline to practice tracking to a limit of 4-tracks, bouncing as needed – like old school. No "fixing it in the mix". Just laying it down straight, brick by brick, so to speak. Seriously: imagine trying to straighten bricks after the concrete had set...
PSW
2015 Jul 14
On Fleek!
RobbyD
2015 Feb 26
"LEAKAGE is your FRIEND"!" (When you use good mics.) I love it. The name Al Schmitt has appeared on records I've loved since before I read album credits. I could spend days hangin' in a studio just to watch and listen to this master. THANKS so much for this video.
bgrichting
2015 Feb 11
Amazing stuff, could have watched way longer as Al was doing his magic :-)
Ten20SevenAudio
2015 Feb 10
Incredible.... To be half the engineer that man is would be the highest aspiration I can imagine in my career. We can all learn from his approach... Am I going to never use EQ again? Doubtful. Though, it really does challenge the ubiquitously popular notions of fledgling engineers, twisting knobs just for twisting's sake, or putting their "touch" on everything. Trying to process EVERY track was a mistake I had to unlearn when I became serious about my craft. But to see someone like Al work is simply nothing short of amazing, for every intent and purpose of the word.
Nappe
2015 Feb 08
Awesome video... back to basics and back to the true Craftsmanship of our artform!
jmr
2015 Feb 02
Great stuff, Fab! I'd love to see you step up the challenge and get a strummer/basher type
player and record that simutaniously with the vocal. I've battled that type of singer songwriter for 25 years
and it's always a struggle. In fact, I most often end up using 1 mic because phase is such a problem when either
the vocal or guitar are out of balance volume wise.
I'd love to see what Al or George or yourself would do with talent less than Will or Diana Krall.
Thanks!
Fabulous Fab
2015 Feb 02
@mer: we did not discuss his reverb techniques. this was solely focused on mic placement. He does mean reverb when he says echo.
mer
2015 Feb 02
Hey Fab, did Al talk to you about panning 3-5 reverb returns a certain way on the vocal track? I assume he meant reverb when he says echo in the video but I want to know his effects techniques since he doesn't eq anything. Thanks!
aten
2015 Jan 31
Wow. I didnt know some engineers use different mics as EQs.
morgot21
2015 Jan 31
Al Fab and Will: Masters!
jwelshman
2015 Jan 31
Awesome video, Al is the man
audio.geek
2015 Jan 31
I did really enjoy watching George in previous recording video and now watching Al to work his magic just puts a smile on my face. Thumbs up to Will, on every video he always puts in emotion into performance which is pleasure to listen.
