00:00:10 Hi everybody!
We have the illustrious
George Massenburg here,
who's gonna show us how it's done,
and then we have Will Knox over there,
who's also gonna show us how it's done,
but in a different discipline.
00:00:21 The point is we have
a bunch of microphones over there,
and some cables and some mic stands,
and a sound source,
and a mind that knows how to combine
the sound source,
the mic stands, the cables,
and the microphones.
00:00:34 I'm very curious to know
how you would do this.
00:00:36 - I'm hoping that you'll have another
idea of how to go about this,
and we can find a hybrid...
00:00:44 or find a conversation,
and ultimately, what we are here for
is to make your ideas come to life.
00:00:51 As I was saying,
I'm not much for just "good enough."
If I don't get ecstasy from it,
if I can't get some ecstasy...
Not your kind of ecstasy!
- Hey, you're making assumptions here!
- If I can't get ecstasy,
then I don't know what I'm doing
in the business!
I really want to understand
what you're trying to say,
and understand that conversation
that comes from your song.
00:01:13 Let's get the microphones up,
and then we can move back and forth.
00:01:17 Ok, this is something that we did
with Will several years ago,
we're gonna do this in a kind of
a funny looking configuration.
00:01:25 But it sounds big.
We're gonna do one up, one down.
00:01:29 Here's the front of the mic. We're gonna
rotate them a little more than 90°,
and put them somewhere between
the hole and the 12th fret.
00:01:35 Right about there.
I'm gonna use them in stereo,
and I'm gonna adjust the stereo
by opening and closing
the angle of the patterns.
- Uh-huh!
- What we're gonna ask Will to do is
to play as close to this as he can.
00:01:53 - It's really nice.
00:01:59 - Alright, let's do this. Let's see
how it sounds, just as a first pass.
00:02:05 It sounds really good in here!
- Uh... Will sings.
00:02:08 - I'm not gonna listen the singing now.
- Ok!
- But we're gonna see
how much we like the guitar sound.
00:02:13 If we like it so much, then we don't care
about the vocal leaking into these mics.
00:02:18 Then we're ok.
- Alright! Let's rock on.
00:02:30 - I just don't think
it's what he was asking for.
00:02:32 He said it was gonna be warm,
and it's too warm.
00:02:35 We're gonna go change the mic position.
- Let's do that.
00:02:39 - So what we really want to do,
I think Will,
is go back to your original idea
of getting the mics
a little closer to the 12th fret.
We were a little too close to the hole.
00:02:47 We'll do that just by having you move
just a scooch to your right.
00:02:52 What I want to try is,
instead of controlling it that way,
I want to try going for size,
and using an electrical instrument
to control the low frequencies.
00:03:04 - Ok! We started where you just aimed.
00:03:07 - Yeah! I made it a little lower,
I took them down a little bit,
just trying to balance the stage,
and we decided
to move it closer to the 12th fret.
00:03:15 I never do it the same way twice.
Let's try it one more time, pal.
00:03:20 - Let's listen...
- Let's listen!
- Will, if you will...
- Will, can you play?
So here's where we are. We went out
and listened to our initial take
on where the mics would sound good.
- Yeah.
00:03:44 - And they sounded pretty good,
but they were... muddy.
00:03:49 We tried another position
that got rid of the mud,
but it wasn't very convincing,
it didn't have much presence.
00:03:57 And I wasn't sure
how we were going to bring it back,
but that thing you said
got me interested:
Why not go for the best mic position?
For a dramatic effect.
And you were right!
We're gonna have to control
the low end somehow,
because I don't want to change
the mic. I love this mic!
I love the high end of this mic.
00:04:16 And I think we can
take control of the low end.
00:04:19 So we're gonna try that a different way.
00:04:22 We're gonna use this marvelous device
called a parametric equalizer...
00:04:25 - Fantastic!
- To reach into the things on the guitar
in the low end that are ringing.
Because not the whole low end is the same.
00:04:35 The fundamentals of the Helmholtz
resonator are such that they are...
00:04:41 resonant in a particular fashion,
which is in theory inharmonic,
they're not tuned to the song,
they have nothing to do with the song.
00:04:48 It all depends on
the guitar manufacturer,
and the way the guitar manufacturer
has decided to tune the guitar.
00:04:55 - So every guitar is
a Helmholtz resonator?
- Every guitar in a certain type
is a little different.
00:05:03 - Is that the kind of EQ where you can
change the frequency you're touching?
- You can do some real visionary take on...
- Who came up with this stuff?
- I can't remember!
But the thing is you can change
the frequency, the level,
and the width of the peak,
so you can make a very sharp, musical...
- What a concept!
- Dear boy!
Could we hear some guitar? Then we're
gonna go to work and hack away at it?
- One thing...
00:05:39 - It's got a lot more presence
when we listen to it that way.
00:05:45 So, we're gonna try to find...
00:06:04 I think it's somewhere around there.
And we're gonna take that out.
00:06:09 That's taking out too much.
It's very thin.
00:06:22 I'm liking that sound.
00:06:24 But notice how we've lost all the warmth.
- Correct!
- I had mentioned this earlier.
So what we're gonna do is...
00:06:33 we're gonna bring up a shelf
to get the warmth back,
without that resonance,
because most of what we hear
in the low-end mud is
that particular resonance.
00:06:42 We take out a very narrow band,
et voilà!
It's not resonant and boomy anymore.
00:06:47 But it's not warm either.
00:06:49 So let's see if we can
recapture some of the magic.
00:07:02 Let's turn the EQ off.
00:07:10 Now let's turn the EQ on.
00:07:14 - Fantastic!
- It's a warm guitar, a little too warm...
00:07:17 I'm gonna pull the shelf back.
00:07:21 And raise the frequency a little bit.
00:07:26 Ok. This is EQ out.
00:07:31 And this inharmonic stuff
in the low end...
00:07:37 is what goes away
when we turn the EQ on.
00:07:42 Beautiful! Thank you Will,
hang on one second.
00:07:45 - Ok, that sounds great.
- The other thing that's happening
is this is gonna clean up our track,
because that inharmonic stuff
is what gets in the way
of everything else in the low end.
It gets in the way of the bass,
it gets in the way of
left-hand piano,
it's just there
like a giant, lurking slug in your mix.
00:08:04 - Absolutely! Shall we try some vocals?
- I think we should.
Let's set up the vocal mic.
00:08:09 - In the old days, we would have put
a mic up right about there and do it all.
00:08:16 - What has changed?
- Everything!
- Explain to me, why not do that?
It's so much simpler, just one mic.
00:08:22 - Because we want to get closer,
we want to hear
every little ounce of his emotion.
00:08:29 We want to feel his breath,
we want to...
00:08:36 - Let's get another 55 set up.
- Oh yeah.
00:08:40 - Sing me something.
- Sure!
- So we're gonna go right
where he's singing.
00:08:54 We don't want to have to have him
adapt to us, we're gonna adapt to him.
00:08:59 - Alright. So, you're ready?
- So let's go listen!
- I'm not hearing the kind of presence
I would expect to hear.
00:09:13 I want to try a different mic.
- Ok!
- So, we're gonna switch microphones.
- I think we should switch mics.
00:09:20 - I'm missing two things on the vocal.
I'm missing... presence,
and, I don't know whether it's always
the mic's job to deliver that,
but an opportunity for presence.
If I hear some things
that I know I can reach for later,
you know, reach for EQ first,
but I want to make sure it's there,
I want to hear that.
00:09:39 And I want to hear a little bit
more size to the vocal.
00:09:42 With a slightly larger diaphragm,
we should get a little bit more size.
00:09:47 - Let's try that.
- Alright! Good idea.
00:09:51 - We ran into a phase problem
where neither of the 2 microphones were
actually sounding good,
even with flipping the phase
in that position.
00:10:00 The CU-55, it was great,
it sounded good,
but it didn't have the presence.
00:10:06 And then the 44 sounded great by itself,
but it didn't marry well with the other
one, even when flipping the phase.
00:10:12 The problem was not a polarity problem,
it was more like... just a bad marriage.
00:10:22 - Why don't we ask the fantastic
performer if he can stand up?
- Let's try this.
I'm gonna try to get closer to it.
00:10:32 - How close can you get to that
before it really gets uncomfortable?
- If I'm over here, I'm real close.
- Let's do that.
00:10:39 We're leaving some distance there.
00:10:41 Let's get the vocal mic in.
00:10:43 Like that... Let's try that.
00:10:46 Let's try that. Ok!
So... Will, let's hear the tune
with this new setup.
00:11:08 - It's a much better vocal sound.
- Yeah.
00:11:15 - That mic has got a great high end.
00:11:22 We're getting very close to
something that is warm and intimate,
and has great high frequency reveal
and a lot of breath and air.
00:11:32 Let's hear one more, Will!
- So I'd might as well talk about it
while he's... while he's playing.
00:12:02 What I've selected to do is to...
00:12:06 on the guitar,
to scoop out a little bit of...
00:12:12 320, 318-320 Hz.
00:12:18 Because that's where we're hearing
the vocal in the guitar mic.
00:12:22 There's an up and a down mic,
and this is in the up mic.
00:12:27 But by scooping that out...
00:12:32 and here's the frequency
we're scooping out...
00:12:45 And I'm picking a compromise
between reducing the vocal,
trying to keep the vocal centered, and
not taking too much out of the guitar.
00:12:56 So it's not a single solution.
00:13:02 Let's try something higher for a second.
00:13:05 Well that will be better.
This is better.
00:13:09 So here's 500 Hz.
00:13:13 Let's listen to that.
00:13:18 That's with the vocal out. It's a little
more centered with the vocal out.
00:13:21 So let's turn the vocal on.
00:13:26 It's better.
00:13:41 This is without guitar EQ.
00:13:52 With guitar EQ.
00:13:56 Ok, the vocal's centered.
00:14:00 Too late!
- One last time please, thank you.
00:14:05 - We're really getting there,
it really sounds great.
00:14:13 - We have one more thing to do.
00:14:18 So when he starts singing...
00:14:22 Here's with the guitar EQ out.
00:14:29 Vocal peaks are wider and spread out.
00:14:34 This is with the guitar EQ in.
00:14:37 Everything focuses.
00:14:40 We're gonna add the voice EQ.
00:14:46 Vocal EQ in.
00:14:48 Vocal EQ out.
00:14:54 Vocal EQ in.
00:14:58 That's not bad!
And it fits where the microphones are
just a little scooped out,
it feels like it's a little scooped out.
00:15:06 - This is fantastic.
- So there you go!
- Good!
- Thank you!
- Beautiful!
- Fantastic.
00:15:12 - Thanks George!
- Thank you so much Will.
00:15:14 Thanks for your patience
and the great performances. Perfect!
Once logged in, you will be able to read all the transcripts jump around in the video.
Featured Music
If you would like to know more about the amazing Will Knox, please visit his website.
George Massenburg has participated in over four hundred records over the past 45 years. His studio work has gained him international recognition and four Grammys.
In 1982, he founded George Massenburg Labs, a pioneering audio electronics company that has released an extensive range of innovative recording technologies, all based on his original designs.
Wow… I say it again, this site is a pot of gold; thx guys!
Zavala
2019 Jan 17
This is pretty much a Sanken Mic commercial. Do it, but teach science, yes, if OVER again, instead of teaching " I love this mic"..
Juan J. Bermúdez
2018 Oct 18
Hi Fab, I loved the video and I was very surprised. What happens is that I see that in the video George uses the EQ to reach that sound that he has in his head and that sounds very good, as if he was already mixed. Then I find another video where Al Schmitt does not use eq when recording and looking for another microphone or another position. Honestly what is your opinion about it? Thanks Juan
cjperez
2016 Nov 29
Just wow... it's an inspiration to watch these guys work... Great Information.
richieconwaymusic
2016 Nov 29
Wow. That is the acoustic sound I've been looking for. So warm, full, 3D and clear. My mouth is watering.
darrendrums
2016 Mar 23
Fantastic insight into the process, thank you for sharing. Are there any plans to do more videos with Mr Massenburg?
RemyAnnDavid
2015 Nov 25
It's always great to see this kind of instructional video with George Massenburg and Fab DuPont. They are the best! And I love the sound of that vintage Neve console! Where can I get one of those? I used to have one, just like that but then... I needed the money so, I sold it. This looks a little like it. Wish I had four limiters built into my console like that? I've heard those are real nice sounding.
So why isn't George Massenburg using GML equipment? Why is he using that old Neve? Doesn't his equipment sound better? Couldn't he find a better studio control room than this?
lematrix
2015 Sep 07
Great Video
Fabulous Fab
2015 Jul 23
@PSW: pureMix on the treadmill. Amazing. I wish I had that kind of willpower. We'll make sure we pick enough songs @120bpm to support your routine.
PSW
2015 Jul 14
Awesome stuff, Fab.
I watch the vids early in the morning while I'm on the treadmill at the gym, sometimes.
Very often, your sense of humor has me, literally, laughing out loud.
People look at me kinda funny, but I just tell 'em, "yo, back off; I'm watchin' Fab Dupont!!!...".
They scurry away mumbling desperate apologies!
Love this site. Money well spent!
THANK YOU!
bdunn315
2015 Apr 01
watching the patience and meticulous nature in which he created space for the vocal be starting at the guitar EQ first is a great lesson. I love watching these old school guys.
Pomper
2015 Mar 09
Hi! I was wondering if there is a way to get rid of some of that guitar string scratching noise ,other than eq-ing it out later? Thanks.
P.S. Great song Will!Looking forward to new album
iann72
2015 Jan 08
Génial Fab de voir George a l'oeuvre. Je suis l'un de c plus grand fan, Un génie dans la constance de son travail , rien n'est laisser au hasard avec lui. On sais que l'on est dans la cour des grands lorsque que l'on peu compter George Massenburg dans ses amis :) Bravo Fab et merci de nous avoir fait partager et longue vie à Flux Studio.
Fabulous Fab
2015 Jan 06
@Wiz: I think that you got the point actually. That's how George worked on that session. He did not really intellectualize about that stuff. He listened to the song and did what he did. To me, that's the most interesting part. He puts the mics up, switches the mics, eqs what he does not like. It's gut engineering. To be able to see that, which is basically impossible to witness otherwise, felt like a privilege to us, so we thought we'd share.
Ten20SevenAudio
2015 Jan 02
* info on sanken mics aren't impossible to come by (correction from below)
Ten20SevenAudio
2015 Jan 02
@wiz,
If you honestly can't pickup anything of value from the entire rest of the cache of videos here on puremix, maybe you should be teaching them instead. It could just be me , but it's not hard to figure out what he's using in terms of patterns and info on sankens mics are impossible to come by. As for phase correlation, if you're watching on studio monitors or good head phones, you'll see that the techniques he used weren't suffering from any discernible phase issues, so you could start by emulating this technique. Also, as you can see, Fab reads these comments and responds. Try asking?
AdRi__Forn
2014 Dec 24
beautiful song.
joosoohan
2014 Dec 05
George!!
Wiz
2014 Dec 03
Honestly, I was a little disappointed. Felt a little bit like it wasn't in depth enough. Phase always seems to be the biggest hurdle when doing this type of set up (singer guitarist) and there was nothing about mic pattern, rejection, phase adjustment. etc. i actually bought a 3 month subscription to watch just this video.. feel flat about it.
Pale Pyramid
2014 Dec 01
Dude knows a thing or two about frequencies, phase and Mic placement. More Massenburg please!
Fabulous Fab
2014 Dec 01
I'm getting a lot of questions about where to find more info on the Sanken mics. Here you go: http://www.sankenstudio.com
Fabulous Fab
2014 Dec 01
@ravian: that's pretty much where you should record to have headroom. I preach -18. George keeps even more conservative.
Fabulous Fab
2014 Dec 01
@White Cat Studio: all mics in this video are cardio. The microphone position is pretty much what you see in the video. A picture is worth a thousand words.
ravian
2014 Nov 30
That was very inspirational.
Loved how he encouraged and had contact with Will.
What i also noticed that the levels of the recording where pretty low.
-22 or so. usually i aim for the top of the green of the meter in pro-tools.
Did mister Massenbug explain to you Fab why he tracked so low?
Thank you.. Fab & George
PS: Fab, Please bring mister Massenburg back for more videos...
Greets , Ravian
mikeyed
2014 Nov 29
Edmunds Studio
This was a very informative video, its great to see the pro's in action great work Mr Massenburg and Fab.
mikeyed
chris_65
2014 Nov 28
Whaouh, I am voice less, amazing!
Thanks for sharing with us this session.
Mr Massenburg, Will and Fab you are all great.
Regards from France.
jeromewauk
2014 Nov 27
Watching a master at his craft is amazing. Would love to see this done with mics that cost less than my car however. Great video.
curt
2014 Nov 27
Love that you offer so many various ways to help teach the art of recording/mixing. Thanks and look forward to many more!
egross
2014 Nov 26
Just plain fantastic inspiration
The perfect continuation of Fab's videos on getting it at the source inspired by George inspired by Fab :)
Thank you !
White Cat Studio
2014 Nov 26
Another great video from Fab and of course Mr Massenburg.... And what a great song from Will, really love it ;-)...
Fab can you describe the pattern and the microphones position a little? Thanks..
We want more :D