With the sounds dialed in for all of the players, it's time to start laying down some takes for the first song.
In this episode, you'll watch as Matt and the band:
Work out the song structure for the first song, creating interesting suprises throughout the track.
Compare a few different RCA 77 microphones on Eli "Paperboy" Reed, showing how microphones this special can sound different, even though they are the same model.
Work to get the perfect blend on the Masqueraders with just one microphone
Adjust the snare microphone for the perfect tone, instead of resorting to eq
Discusses microphone placement on Eli's vocal mic
Dials in a Fairchild 670 on the lead vocal and background vocal mics
Explain the importance of always being in record
Work out the tempo and feel of the song
Tune the snare to get the perfect amount of thump
Blend in the gorgeous sounding reverb chambers at Sam Phillips Recording
Listen back to the takes in the control and create a plan for overdubs
Join Matt Ross-Spang, Eli "Paperboy" Reed, The Hodges Brothers, Ken Coomer, and The Masqueraders inside the legendary Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis, TN for an incredible recording event, from Start To Finish.
00:00:23 - From the top of the tune, right?
It only goes one time
through those chords.
00:00:29 - Is it Send 4 for the plate?
- Yeah.
00:00:31 - Matt, can you turn this guitar up
in the headphones?
- Yep.
00:00:39 Did we lose the guitar?
- A little bit more.
00:00:54 That's great. All right, here we go.
00:00:56 - 1, 2, ready, play.
00:01:16 So that's... Yeah, right there.
00:01:21 The intro is just the...
00:01:35 - Powell may have patched the chambers
back to my room thinking I needed them
because I'm not getting the chambers.
I get the plate but not the chamber.
00:02:05 - We go to the G?
- Yeah, to the G.
00:02:10 - After the intro?
- Right.
00:02:23 For that second chord,
it's like... half diminished.
00:02:30 It's B flat, and then...
00:02:35 It's like... Yeah.
00:02:43 The second chord of the intro
and the chorus, I mean.
00:02:53 It's just like a minor chord with...
00:02:58 Oh, no, I'm sorry.
00:02:59 Yeah, that's right.
00:03:02 But with... Yeah, that's it. There it is.
00:03:06 Yeah, exactly.
00:03:08 - Same thing?
- Same thing.
00:03:09 - Here we go.
- 1, 2, ready...
00:04:00 That stays on the C.
00:04:15 The walk-up.
00:05:03 That's right here.
00:05:08 Whoa! That's a lot of reverb!
Yeah.
00:05:13 Hey, Matt.
00:05:15 I kind of want to try... Once we get
the form, I'd rather just sing.
00:05:19 - Yeah, that's totally cool.
- If that's all right.
00:05:21 - You're in the booth so you'll be fine
if you want to do a little rhythm,
you won't be bleeding into anything.
00:05:26 - Oh, you mean the guitar
is in the booth?
- Yeah, the guitar.
- Okay. Ugh!
- 1, 2,
1, 2, ready, play.
00:06:13 Oh, I'm sorry.
00:06:15 The D in the verse is minor there.
00:06:19 - They're just running through that.
Can you grab my other 77?
This one sounds a little weird.
00:06:26 I have three 77s, they are all Ds,
they all sound different,
and they're all weird. I don't know,
it's one of my favorite microphones
but it's one of the weirdest microphones.
00:06:39 They're all different from 77 to 77.
00:06:41 And I've worked with Eli before
and I know what his voice sounds like,
and I pulled up the vocal mic
and it sounds good,
but there's just something
in the upper midrange I don't like
so I'll switch the microphone.
00:06:52 And also, I want him to sing
right on it,
so if he's getting off the mic, off-axis,
that'll be part of it too,
so I need to talk to him about that.
00:09:08 I'm going to stop them after this
and change a few things,
I need to move the background vocalists
to be more balanced between the 3 of them,
I need to talk to Eli about the vocal
placement on the microphone,
we're going to switch
the vocal microphone and see,
and I'll move that snare mic
like I talked about.
00:09:24 Right now it sounds a little papery to me
so I think if I angle it down
I'll get more of that
low end thump that I'm looking for.
00:09:31 And I may ask him to deepen the snare
by tuning it a little bit.
00:09:34 Other than that I think
we're really, really close.
00:09:36 We might need to move you around the
three of you, I'm not getting much of you.
00:09:40 - Do I need to be over here?
- Yeah, maybe you go in the middle.
00:09:44 I'm losing you just a hair.
00:09:46 - All right.
00:09:49 - Do the headphones have a good volume?
- Yeah, I'm fine.
00:09:52 - They're not too hot?
This snare sounds a little papery to me,
I wonder if we can deepen it a little bit.
00:10:07 - Oh yeah! Totally. We'll detune it.
00:10:09 - Lower the pitch.
- Yeah, right on.
00:10:11 - How cool are The Masqueraders?
- I know.
00:10:21 - Just a little of that.
00:10:31 - Yeah!
- Yeah! A little fatter.
00:10:36 - Yeah, yeah.
00:10:38 - Too far?
- No. That can be fat.
00:10:41 - Right on, all right.
00:10:45 - Let's try that. You're a bad man,
Ken Coomer!
- You're a bad man!
- Charles!
It sounds great.
Are your headphones okay?
Cool.
00:10:55 Can I just check your vocal mic
real quick, Eli?
Gimme a lil' bit more of that sweet vocal.
00:11:34 Thank you. Can I hear you
and The Masqueraders?
I'll make sure our blend is fine.
00:12:01 Awesome, thank you! Stand by
for one second and we'll try it.
00:12:04 Okay, we're good.
00:12:05 He's going to make a quick session
and then we'll hit Record for you.
00:12:09 You all sound so good together!
- "Anytime You Need Me"?
- "Just As Long As You Want Me."
That's probably not right either
but it will work.
00:12:24 We changed the vocal mic, I think
this vocal mic is a little bit warmer
which is what I was looking for.
00:12:28 Eli naturally can almost
distort his voice,
so my levels are good to tape
and so I think the distortion
is just his natural voice.
00:12:36 Some guys can manipulate their voice
kind of like if you think Elvis
on "Jailhouse Rock,"
"I'm a Ram" by Al Green,
they can control the tone and I think
that's what we've got going on now.
00:12:45 We moved the high vocalist of The
Masqueraders, Harold, to the middle,
and I think we got a much better
blend now of the three of them.
00:12:55 And I'm always in Record.
They're running it down,
and even though they're going to
just practice
I'm always in Record because you never
know when you'll get the take.
00:13:02 So, always be in Record.
00:13:07 - Let's take it from the top
and learn this puppy.
00:13:09 - Let's do it.
00:13:13 - 1, 2,
1, 2, ready, play.
00:15:07 - That's where the riff is.
00:15:17 Yeah.
00:15:20 - Eli, you want me playing through that,
right? I don't stop.
00:15:22 - I like you playing through that.
- Yeah, me too.
00:15:25 - And I think in the pre-chorus,
just, like, real subtle on the...
00:15:31 - Okay, right on.
- You don't have to make it a big thing,
- maybe just a little kick drum.
- Right on, okay.
00:15:38 - Does the tempo feel good?
- That's what I was going to ask.
00:15:42 - You sped up just a hair.
- You sped up a little bit.
00:15:45 - Ken, can you deaden that snare
a little bit more?
- Yeah, absolutely. Hang on a sec.
00:15:53 - A little less Al Jackson, a little more
Howard Grimes, I think.
00:15:56 - All right.
00:16:03 - There you go.
00:16:05 - How is that?
- Yeah.
00:16:08 1, 2,
1, 2, ready, play.
00:19:40 Stay on the C.
00:21:26 - Yeah, I think two times is enough
and we'll have the fade.
00:21:29 - Yeah.
00:21:30 Can I say how cool it is to have
the Hodges and The Masqueraders
in here together?
Damn!
We changed the vocal mic,
I like this vocal mic better.
00:21:41 There's a trick with RCA 77s
and mics in general
where if you angle them a little bit
on the vocalist
you will not need a pop filter,
you will help naturally de-ess it
if it's not a straight shot at it.
00:21:53 Eli also is very plosive with his vocal
so I kind of angled the mic a little bit,
and I actually move it up or down his face
to get the right tone.
00:22:02 It's cool for him on the 77,
he's got a higher voice
so when he gets closer to the 77
he kind of beefs it up a little bit
without being too boomy.
00:22:10 So I did that a little bit
and maybe he can see his lyrics
a little easier if he needed.
00:22:14 And then just double checked
The Masqueraders out there,
but the blend I'm hearing in the room
is the blend I'm getting in here
so I feel good about that.
00:22:21 I changed a couple of quick
gain structure things
where they were playing quiet
at soundcheck
and now they're digging in, so I turned
some pads on and adjusted some levels.
00:22:29 But right now we've got most
of the faders at right about 0,
which is what I like, and it sounds
like a record which is good.
00:22:36 Should we give this song a go, fellas?
- Let's boogie!
- Let's try a take, see what happens.
00:22:41 - We're rolling.
00:22:42 - Here we go. 1, 2,
1, 2, ready, play.
00:24:58 One of my favorite parts about
Sam Phillips Recording
is that they have three amazing echo
chambers that Sam Phillips designed.
00:25:06 Obviously echo chambers
are kind of a lost art
and they're not in many studios anymore,
and they have a fantastic plate reverb.
00:25:14 I've got some of that going on the vocals,
I'm playing with which one I like.
00:25:17 The main chamber is about
six seconds long,
the second chamber is about three seconds,
the last chamber is about a second,
and the plate we've got now
is about two seconds.
00:25:27 So I'm kind of playing with those.
I love the dry drums,
we're kind of getting the Al Green vibe,
so I like that.
00:25:32 And to me, having that
and a really wet vocal
is too contrasting,
so I'm trying to find the right balance
of dry and wet
where I feel like the whole track
will come together.
00:25:43 It's interesting adding more chamber,
it almost helps the background vocals
cut through more the wetter they are,
it kind of brightens them up and gives
them more of a space, which I like.
00:25:51 So I'm kind of finding the right balance
between the 1960s and 1970s
for me at this point.
00:27:20 - We got to do it again anyway,
but that's cool.
00:27:22 - All right.
- Yeah, we are close.
00:27:25 - Let's do one more and then we'll listen.
00:27:27 - Hey, Ken.
- Yeah, yeah.
00:27:29 - On that two-bar count before the riff,
what if it gets a little bell?
- Yeah, we can do that.
00:27:37 Just a little signal bell.
00:27:41 - Can you do half of that, Ken?
- Yeah.
00:27:47 Mr. Masqueraders, can I throw
something at you all?
Could you try and sing this
a little softer, a little smoother?
- Okay.
- Yeah.
00:27:54 - I'd be curious just to try that.
Yeah, a little prettier.
00:27:57 - Hey Matt, I feel like I want to
bring this up to... to here.
00:28:02 Are you getting enough of me?
- Yeah, raise it up,
I'll let you raise it just a hair.
00:28:07 Do you need more in the headphones?
- I mean, I can always have more.
- I'll give you some more.
00:28:12 - That's better! There we go.
- Yeah.
00:28:14 - As long as you stay on the...
Do you hear how it gets beefier?
- Yeah, I know. I'll try to do
a little less of this.
00:28:20 - Yeah, a little less Stevie Wonder.
00:28:22 - A little less Stevie Wonder!
I can't help myself.
00:28:25 Stevie Wonder.
00:28:28 All right! You got it?
- Gentleman, you all sound so good.
We are rolling.
00:28:32 - 1, 2,
1, 2, ready, play.
00:28:48 - There's a hit right there.
00:28:49 - You want me to give you
a snare hit to come in?
- Yeah, you can do a snare hit.
00:28:56 - You got it.
- Do you want to do a little...
00:28:59 ...snare pickup at the top of the tune?
- Sure, we can.
- Like... you know?
- Everybody good?
- Yeah.
00:29:08 - 1, 2,
1, 2, 3...
00:32:14 I asked the background vocals
to sing softer
because I felt it fit the vibe
of the track more
and you can hear the difference now,
that sitting in the track
it balances itself
perfectly in the track, I feel.
00:32:25 When they sang more
aggressively in the track,
it kind of poked out too much and felt
not right with the...
00:32:33 I hate to use the word 'vibe',
but the vibe that we're going for.
00:34:25 Yeah, I think we're, like, one away
but come in and let's listen a little bit,
and I might have a sweet one thing.
00:34:30 Thank you. We'll listen to that on Repro.
00:34:41 - Gentleman! You all sound
so good, so good!
I think that smoothness really works.
00:34:46 - Yeah, I think it's getting real close.
- It really, really works.
00:34:49 - All right man, all right.
00:34:51 - Thank you, thank you Reverend Charles.
- All right!
- Kenny!
- My hands sweat when I play.
00:34:57 - I think we're, like, one away from it.
00:34:59 There's one drum idea
that we might want to try,
but I want to see what Leroy
and Ken think.
00:35:07 Because I think that we will add
that kind of, like, Howard Grimes...
00:35:11 - We got to do the bongos.
- The bongo.
00:35:13 - We call it the hillbilly bongo.
00:35:15 We use the back of a guitar
because we don't have bongos here.
00:35:19 But I wonder, knowing
that we're going to do that,
if we change just one drum part
on the bridge is all...
00:35:24 - Straighten that out?
- I wonder if we do it like...
00:35:27 let's say an Al Green track
where he's like...
00:35:30 where he does the little rack tom.
00:35:32 I wonder if you just go to the rack tom
instead of the stomp thing,
but I don't know if we need to do that
if we're going to do the bongo,
so that's my question to you.
Let's hear it.
00:35:42 - And I can totally straighten it out
so it won't clash.
00:35:44 - Yeah, let's see.
00:35:46 - You mean a little less hi-hat?
- A little less and more tom.
- Right.
00:36:08 - I have another part... [unintelligible]
- Yeah, I just want to put...
[unintelligible].
00:36:13 - We can overdub it.
- Yeah.
00:36:33 - Amazing song, my friends.
00:37:43 - The bell sounds good.
00:37:45 - Yes.
00:37:49 - If we use the live vocal,
would I be able to punch some pieces?
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
00:38:06 - I think... let's stick with the part
that you've been doing
and we might overdub a new part.
00:38:11 - Yeah, we can do another part.
All right.
00:38:19 - We can double that.
00:39:24 - Maybe a rack tom thing.
00:39:26 - [Unintelligible]
- Can you rewind a little bit for this?
- Yeah.
00:39:34 - I just want to hear that bridge again.
00:39:38 - And mute the lead vocal for a second.
00:39:55 - Who is that guy in the background?!
- That's it, yeah.
00:40:24 - Two times?
- I think it's two or three.
00:40:28 - And that's it.
- So...
00:40:31 The only thing I wonder is,
on the drums, if we didn't do the...
00:40:37 on the pre-choruses and the bridge.
00:40:39 I wonder if
with the way Charles is doing the cool...
00:40:43 with Leroy and the horns,
that might build the tension
where we don't just do
a stomp kind of drum beat.
00:40:49 I wonder if you do, like,
a rack tom thing or...
00:40:52 - You know what I'm saying?
- Okay, that might be cool.
00:40:54 - Because I feel like that's...
- Everybody else is doing that, so, yeah.
00:40:56 - Everybody is doing that and that's
kind of like the standard soul...
00:40:59 - We could also just do it in the bridge
and not in the pre-choruses.
00:41:03 - Yeah, I feel we can build the tension
with what Charles and Leroy
and the horns are doing.
00:41:08 - Yeah, let me try some stuff.
- And have The Masqueraders do "oohs",
and behind them you can do
a pretty Al Jackson kind of thing.
00:41:13 - Okay.
- You know what I mean?
- Just not do the standard stomp.
- Right.
00:41:19 - Shall we do it again?
- Yeah.
00:41:20 - Yeah, that's cool.
- Yeah, I think it's better right now.
00:41:23 - Awesome.
Once logged in, you will be able to read all the transcripts jump around in the video.
Matt Ross-Spang is a Multi award-winning engineer, mixer, and producer. His first brush with greatness began at only 14 years old when he received 2 hours of studio time at Sun Studios in Memphis, TN, for his birthday.
He went on to intern at Sun Studios when he was 16 and learned what it meant to bring recording back to its roots. Matt now operates out of the newly renovated Studio B at Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis, TN, which he now calls “Southern Groove.”
Among the many incredible entries in his discography, Ross-Spang was hired in 2016 by Sony Records to mix 18 previously unreleased songs by Elvis Presley from his historic 1976 sessions from the Jungle Room at Graceland.
Known for his unique taste and ability to preserve old school recording techniques and bring them into today’s music, Matt Ross-Spang has worked with some of the world’s most cherished artists from the most legendary studios in recording history.
i wonder how he's going to tune those three guys altogeter
Lebstaler
2020 Jul 14
So whats he putting on that snare? worked like magic for the sound they wanted
mrgkeys
2020 Jul 11
Wesley cameo!
BoThomas
2020 Jul 11
Besides the equipment and techniques used, it’s like the talk and respectful manors also comes from a kinder more pleasant time.
Y’all sound so good, gentlemen
I love it
Pearlpassionstudio
2020 Jul 11
Wow...this is a winner song....Fantastic tutorial...
Delinquent Noise
2020 Jul 11
Real. This is, at least for me, the most inspirational lesson of all. It is all about the relationship between people, song and sound. I love the vibe. There´s no place for autotune in real life. Thanks for this!
