The foundation of the song is solid, the Masqueraders have layered the backgrounds beautifully, and some of Memphis' finest have laid down some incredible horns on "Just As Long As You Want Me."
It's time to lay down some acoustic guitar overdubs with Eli "Paperboy" Reed.
In this episode, Matt will show you how he approaches recording acoustic guitars, and give you plenty of tips and tricks to apply to your next session.
See how Matt Ross-Spang:
Mics the acoustic guitar with a Sony 37a
Explains how to get an acoustic guitar player to realize their role in the tone of the guitar
Breaks down the signal chain for the acoustic guitar
Explains the importance of listening to the source and fixing issues in the live room before addressing them in the control room
Discusses how to balance overdubs in the mix to determine if the part, mic selection, or eq is correct for the song
Breaks down the cue system at Sam Phillips Recording, and explains why he likes giving everyone the same mix that he has to all of the players, as opposed to the players having their own control over the cue system
Dials in the Fairchild 660 on the acoustic guitar
Adjusts the microphone to get the perfect balance of attack and body
Work out parts to increase the tension of the bridge
Talks about different ways to communicate with a variety of artists
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. Only on pureMix.net
00:00:25 What you got in this fancy box?
Sony C37A.
00:00:56 I used one of those
for vocals before.
00:00:58 Yeah, they’re great on vocals.
00:01:01 This is just amazing on gut string.
00:01:04 This is a really cool mic.
00:01:06 Yeah, it looks cool.
00:01:09 - That's the important part.
- Exactly.
00:01:13 Did you use the 77 on Al Green?
I ended up using the 47 but
going back I would go back to the 77.
00:01:22 I learned a lot like,
Willie said he tried
all the mics on him
and always went to the 77
he does have a higher
kind of peaky voice
but part of the 77 is
dig in that bass boost
that gets upon it and
that's how it gets that
falsetto to be thicker
and really intimate
and after we cut it I was like:
"OK!"
Learned a lot. Learned that real quick.
00:01:54 Let's see.
00:01:56 But next time.
00:01:57 There will be a next time.
00:01:59 Hopefully.
00:02:21 Alright Eli.
00:02:25 - Get that in there.
- We will.
00:02:29 Gotta pick up all the goodness.
00:02:33 So,
we got a Sony C-37A,
it's a Japanese tube microphone.
00:02:39 It's a
low gain, it's more like a ribbon
in terms of how
much gain it needs.
00:02:44 It's one of the weirder
condenser microphones,
I don't know how to explain,
it's really warm
with an extended top end
and my has kind of a dip around
5 kHz so it's really interesting
what it does on stuff,
it's great on female vocals.
00:02:56 I love it on kind of gut string guitars.
00:02:58 He's playing with a thumbpick
so I'm kind of putting that in the
plane where I put the microphone
I'm gonna go in there and hear it obviously
and see if it all fits in the track.
00:03:07 And I'll actually move the
mic forward or back
and I might have him
move left to right with
his headphones on
and he kind of becomes his own EQ.
00:03:13 And he can hear how the acoustic
changes just by him wiggling.
00:03:16 There's a couple reasons to do that:
A - You get the best
acoustic sound there is
and it also puts in the artist's mind
that they are a tone control.
00:03:25 So it helps them realize,
when they move around the mic
that it changes,
so it kind of puts it in their head
without you asking
not to stay put.
00:03:33 You know, just don't move,
stay right there,
it kind of puts in their head,
psychologically that
I'm controlling my sound
so I need to stay still or move.
00:03:41 It's kind of twofold why you do that.
00:03:43 So I've given away my secret,
Eli is gonna move
all over the place.
00:03:47 No, I'm just gonna blow it.
00:03:49 So we'll just play the track,
he will play along, kind of find his part
and I'll hear how it balances in the
track and adjust this microphone around.
00:03:57 So let's see what it does.
00:04:23 What I just did was,
we've already got mics up there,
we've already got lines up there,
I thought, while I'm setting the acoustic,
I'm also thinking what my
signal-chain in here will be,
what I'm gonna use
and I have a vocal chain
that's going to a
Fairchild 670 copy
through the Spectra.
00:04:40 It's going to the pre
I kind of was envisioning
and it's got a nice Fairchild,
even without the compressor on,
it's a great little tube
thing I warm up the acoustic on.
00:04:49 And it's a low gain
so the Fairchild gives me some more gain
to turn up if the pre is not enough.
00:04:54 So I just moved the vocal line
to the Sony C-37, essentially,
the vocal chain in here.
00:05:00 And I'm gonna see what that does
and go from there.
00:05:03 So, you know,
I'll say, a lot of times,
while they're up there
doing overdubs and stuff,
it's easy to just grab,
like with the horns,
we just use the vocal mic out there.
00:05:12 So grabbing what you
already have up there
a lot of times is perfect
for what you're doing
and just thinking,
while while you're out there,
what your chain is gonna be in here
so you're really fast.
00:05:21 While I was putting the acoustic
on I was already thinking,
I should use the vocal line
because I got the
Spectra pre and the 670.
00:05:28 So hopefully those are good
calls when I work in the mix.
00:05:37 And we're gonna come out... 11.
00:05:43 So,
Marker.
00:05:50 Alright Eli,
let's see how this sits in the track.
00:05:54 Sounds good.
00:06:04 I think we've got your button
maybe on your shirt,
I'm getting a little
buzz going on there.
00:06:12 Like what?
Maybe a button on your sleeve or...
00:06:17 Let's see.
00:06:24 Better?
I do hear it.
00:06:36 That's probably not your button
because it's pretty high.
00:06:39 It's pretty high,
it might be...
00:06:44 let me see,
I don't know what's doing that.
00:06:56 Let me come out
there for a second.
00:06:58 I wanna see if we
hear it at the source.
00:07:01 Play Eli,
it sounds to high to be your shirt.
00:07:04 I don't think it is.
00:07:05 Let's see if something else
is buzzing.
00:07:08 Yeah, I hear it.
00:07:10 - This?
- Maybe.
00:07:15 I can cut this down.
00:07:20 - It's gone now.
- Yeah, I think that's it.
00:07:22 Those were touching.
00:07:24 - I think they were hitting each other.
- Cool.
00:07:29 - Yeah.
- Awesome.
00:07:32 So it's always important, I think,
as an engineer/producer,
to always be in the room,
just as much or even more
than in the control room
because you wanna hear
what's going on out there to know
what it should sound like in here.
That buzz could be multiple things
but quickly going up there and finding it,
at the source,
eliminates all the checking and
stuff here that could take longer.
00:07:54 It's always important
to go out there
and make sure it
sounds good out there
before you hear it in here.
00:07:58 Cool.
00:08:00 Yeah, play a little bit of the tune.
00:08:21 Just for fun, can we here
the thumbpick one more time?
- It's better.
- Yeah, we get a little more definition.
00:08:35 I think that's nice.
00:08:40 Cool.
00:08:43 So we wound up with the thumbpick to
get a little more definition on the note.
00:08:49 Here we go.
00:09:25 Sorry.
00:09:26 The headphones is OK?
Yeah, I'm gonna put them back on.
00:09:29 I had it off one ear,
I needed the rhythm.
00:10:22 Can we do one thing Eli?
Can you move more to your left?
I wanna see if I get a little
more body out of that.
00:10:30 Yeah, that kind of balances
the attack and the...
00:10:32 Yep.
00:10:33 Let's try that.
00:10:34 So just by having Eli move on
the acoustic
I'm getting less of the attack
of the strings and more of the body
which I think we'll sit in the mix more
and without doing any EQ
I can just EQ by
moving him an inch or two.
00:10:45 Also, when it comes to
overdubs and stuff I think a lot of people,
and I struggled with this
when I first starting out,
with producers and stuff,
whatever overdub,
I would have that as the
loudest thing in the mix
so you could hear
everything they're doing.
00:10:59 You can't really tell
how EQ wise or mic wise,
if it's working in the mix
when it's the loudest thing,
you need to kind of balance it
in the mix like you would
have it in the final.
00:11:08 And that will tell you if
you need to EQ more or less,
or if that's the right mic,
or even if the part is right.
00:11:14 The part will tell you most about it.
00:11:16 And by having him kind
of balanced in there
I can tell
whether it's working or not.
Do I need to change things,
is the part correct,
is it working around the vocal?
And then also,
by having it down there,
he's locking in with the groove better.
00:11:30 When he hears himself the loudest
it's hard to get back in that pocket.
00:11:33 So, by having him in there,
and he can't hear himself
incredibly well, he's playing more relaxed
and he's playing back in the pocket.
00:11:40 So it will help
his timing as well.
00:11:42 To give you guys kind of a clue,
we're at Sam Phillips Recording,
it's a vintage studio,
vintage in more ways
on the gear and stuff like that
and the headphones is one thing.
00:11:51 What I love about this place
is that the headphones
are the old-school headphones
in the sense that everyone gets
the same 2-Mix.
00:11:58 And the same volume.
00:11:59 If you look at the headphone boxes
out there it's just the headphone jack.
00:12:03 So I send them exactly what
I'm balancing in here.
00:12:06 They get the same 2-Mix.
I can send them
via how I route it,
I can send them a slightly
different mix from what I have
and I can send two different cues,
there's a Headphone A and a
Headphone B amp that I can send.
00:12:18 Like a singer with a
slightly different vocal.
00:12:20 But I give everyone the same 2-Mix.
00:12:22 And that's pretty amazing cause that's
kind of like playing without headphones
in that everyone is locked in
with each other.
00:12:28 They can't turn themselves up,
they can't turn the volume up,
as you saw during our tracking session,
no one complained about the headphones,
if someone needed a little
bit more I gave it to them.
00:12:37 And we're ready to rock.
00:12:38 I think it helps the performance,
I think it helps them get faster.
00:12:42 If you listen to artist's headphones
a lot of times they have
themselves turned way up
and not locking into the band.
00:12:48 By playing with the same 2-Mix,
the same volume,
everyone is focused to
listen to each other
and it affects the dynamics,
affects the playing,
and affects them
playing around the vocal,
so that's pretty amazing.
00:12:59 We tracked the song to tape.
00:13:01 Once I get the song and the
whole band feel that I like
I dump it into Pro Tools,
I'll do any editing
I need in Pro Tools.
00:13:07 Budgets, the way they are,
you don't get 10 reels of
tape anymore to make a record,
you get one or two.
00:13:14 So, by getting the main take on tape,
I'm getting the sound and
performance I'm looking for.
00:13:19 Everyone knows that we're going to tape
so there's not a whole lot of
thinking, "I can edit
and punch this or that".
00:13:26 So you get the feel, the sound, there's
a lot of reasons to go to tape, for me.
00:13:30 So, I get the main take to tape,
after that I'll dump it
because that's when it sounds the best
off tape, is that first pass through.
00:13:36 So I'll dump to
tape, to Pro Tools,
and then I'll work in Pro Tools from there.
00:13:41 It's pretty amazing what
you can punch or fix
after tape, in Pro Tools,
and not necessarily hear the difference,
we're gonna record
the acoustic right now
through Pro Tools, after the tape.
00:13:53 And you'll see, it will fit in the track,
you won't feel like
you notice that
that was digital and
the other one wasn't.
00:13:58 Also, we have Burl converters,
they have a very analog sound,
they have big transformers in them,
so how you hit them you can get
a more analog sound,
not necessarily a tape sound
but just a more analog.
00:14:10 You can get some warmth,
some transformer saturation
and stuff like that.
00:14:15 We're now in the Pro Tools world adding
tracks to what we tracked to tape.
00:19:32 It felt like halfway through you
really found a part and locked in.
00:19:36 Let's do it one more time,
I wanna move the mic just a hair.
00:19:41 I play with the Fairchild,
I play with the acoustic in the mix.
00:19:46 He's playing with a thumbpick,
which I like, it gives me more definition
but also adds kind of a zing
onto some of the higher strings.
00:19:53 We decided to go with a gut string
acoustic or a classical guitar.
00:19:57 It's got nylon strings, it's a little
more mellower, I think like, Willie Nelson,
and it felt more like of the vibe
of the track, kind of the 60's cool.
00:20:05 Instead of doing like
a big zingy acoustics,
so I wanna move the mic
and try to get less of the
high pick sound out
of the thumbpick
and get more of the mellow kind
of mid-range of the acoustic.
00:20:17 So, I'm gonna move the mic
probably back into the left a little bit
and I think I'll get the Fairchild
right where I got it.
00:20:22 I'm not compressing, I'm just
grabbing bigger peaks on the acoustic
when he digs in and then,
my Fairchild copy has a cool
side-chain filter
so I can put where I want
the compressor to grab.
00:20:34 I don't want to really
grab the bottom end
because I'm trying
to get more of that
so I have it going mid-range,
which is 500 Hz.
00:20:40 I'm really just trying to get that to
grab some of the big attacks
and not just the whole big chord,
just more the top part of the chord.
00:20:47 So we'll see what happens,
hopefully I won't screw it up.
00:20:50 This fits perfectly.
00:20:52 Can I get you back in there?
I'm gonna get a little
less of the thumbpick.
00:20:56 Yeah, that's the only thing
I was concerned about,
there's too much attack.
00:20:59 Yeah, that's why I just
want to move it back...
00:21:02 I'm a heavy picker.
00:21:04 No, it's all good.
00:21:05 The thumbpick with the
gut strings it gets ...
00:21:08 You get a lot of attack.
00:21:10 So by moving it back I hopefully
let the acoustic sound develop more
and not just the quick
sharp attack sound.
00:21:17 So I'll start here,
if I need more I'll actually mic it
somewhere around here
and get more body.
00:21:22 So, we'll quickly do a verse
and see how this is.
00:21:24 Cool.
00:21:24 And then adjust.
00:21:26 - Thank you Eli.
- No problem.
00:21:28 Here we go.
00:21:56 I think we should tune,
just check your tuning.
00:22:00 So, I moved the microphone back,
it's probably about two feet back now.
00:22:05 And by having the mic closer
I'm hearing more of the zing,
which I don't want, on the pick sound.
00:22:12 So by moving it back it gives,
lower frequencies
are longer waveforms so they
take a little longer to develop
so by moving the microphone back
I'm trying to get more of a balanced
sound out of the classical guitar.
00:22:24 Because when I'm out there,
standing farther away,
I hear it all
balanced perfectly,
so like I said before on the horns
and other things,
I'm letting the air
balance the guitar itself
as opposed to me trying to EQ
or do things like that later.
00:22:37 I think this sounded way better.
00:22:40 We'll go from the top.
00:24:19 So as the mix is building,
as I showed you when I was tracking,
I like to keep as many faders
around zero as I can.
00:24:26 So, if I ever go to Pro Tools
or somewhere else
I've got maximum fader reach
for riding and stuff like that.
00:24:32 And it's
it's awesome when you build your mix
and you have your faders at zero
and everything is kind of playing itself.
00:24:39 That's why ride the
faders and stuff as I go.
00:24:42 And I try and keep
my gain structure
where I've got
maximum resolution.
00:24:47 When you have your
fader down here
it's much harder to do rides,
minuscule rides and stuff,
so I try and keep my mix
where everything here
is about zero
and it really helps
later on down the road
gain structure wise and so forth.
00:25:01 Just put me on the top of that verse.
00:25:03 Oh, yeah,
let me get you right to that break.
00:25:51 That was awesome.
Can we try two little things Eli?
The same punch we just did,
those first two chords you're
doing in the next verse,
can you strum up instead of down
and just see what that does.
00:26:15 Yeah.
00:26:29 Yeah, maybe that first half all up stroke
and then the next half
will be down stroke.
00:26:51 Awesome, and the only
other thing I thought was,
on the pre-choruses,
the 'pahn pahn', those are cool,
the last chord you're
staying for a second,
it kind of gets lost as
it's in the same range as the...
00:27:02 Yeah, I know,
I wasn't sure what to do.
00:27:04 Maybe we can try like a Reggie Young
thing or something to give it some...
00:27:08 You mean, just like...
Can you hear me?
Yeah.
00:27:15 I mean, on acoustic it sounds weird.
00:27:18 The...
sounds good because it's chunky.
00:27:21 - Maybe we can do a higher...
- I could do like...
00:27:25 Or...
00:27:28 The first two are cool, low.
00:27:31 Yeah.
00:27:33 Yeah, I'll just strum it out
and let it hang.
00:27:36 I think you could do maybe like...
00:27:38 Can you do like a Reggie Young thing?
Yeah, maybe the whole chord though.
00:27:45 Or give it like a little bit more...
00:27:49 Yeah, let's try that.
00:27:50 I think it might help build a tension.
00:27:53 I could also do that
on the electric.
00:27:54 You wanna try right here right now
and just listen?
And maybe we'll do the higher chord
ringing out and have the tension...
00:28:30 I like the idea, maybe the electric
will be buried with some reverb
so just do the...
then the high.
00:28:38 Yeah, let's check the tuning one more time.
00:28:40 He's part is great,
I noticed two parts in the song
where I thought we could
do something more dramatic
or change it just a little bit.
It's cool when...
00:28:48 You'll see as I track, sometimes
I change the gain or change something
as we go through the song
because I want each part
to stand out.
00:28:56 So, having him switch
pickups on the electric
or changing something
or changing a part like the tambourine,
how he swings the first chorus,
swings and hits on
the second chorus.
00:29:06 So I like to make things cinematic
and having it grow and things change.
00:29:10 And just from a
listening standpoint,
his part is great,
on the Pre-Choruses
I wasn't getting his chord
because it's the same range as
the B3.
00:29:20 That's not an EQ thing,
that's not changing something,
if he just plays it in
a different range
it will shine through more
and it will speak for itself
without me having to ride
or compress or do EQ.
00:29:32 It's not fixing in the mix
it's really just changing the part there
and it will speak for itself.
00:29:40 It helps me later if
I try and make something grow
or be me more cinematic if we do
it all here right now.
00:29:45 And it gives him something
to hear in his head
that the song is taking shape
and really happening as it's
going as opposed to thinking:
"Oh later,
hopefully he'll make this Chorus big"
or "he'll make this Verse small".
00:29:57 So it's kind of just doing it
all here and now as we hear it.
00:30:01 - Alright brother Eli.
- Let's do it.
00:30:03 Let's get this 'Pre-Chorus' down.
00:31:32 I think that was it.
00:31:33 Should we try electric?
By just having the chord
ringing out we have a space now
on the 'Pre-Chorus' where
he can do a little electric
with some reverb,
kind of old-school.
00:31:42 Reggie Young would do it in
a lot of classic soul records.
00:31:45 It's really helpful...
00:31:48 With Eli, I know Eli is coming
from his massive
old-school Soul/R&B fan
and I am too.
00:31:55 So when we first talked
in types of making records
we could both make references
of more obscure references
just sonic references, you know,
that I knew what sound
he and I were talking about.
00:32:07 So it's pretty cool that being
so connected like that
I can reference an early Fame demo
or early Stax thing or something
and he knows who
I'm talking about, or a player.
00:32:16 And so it really makes communication easy
without having to be technical
or talking about
music theory stuff.
It's just saying:
"Man what if you did like
a Steve Cropper or a Reggie Young thing?"
He knows exactly what I'm talking about.
He can tell me:
"I want to sound like
Stax versus Motown..."
Cause those are all things.
It's fun...
00:32:36 With artists you don't
have that kind of...
00:32:39 you know, the connection,
it's fun to do references.
00:32:41 So play a track,
have them play you a
track that inspires them
or have you play a song that you love
and inspires you
and you have something
that you can both connect to
because so many artists I know,
and for me personally,
I don't speak in terms of legato
or music theory,
I speak more of just feel
and weird references.
And a lot of artists hear in color,
they think in different
ways so you, you know,
it's fun...
to me I like that because
it makes me think differently than
when someone just says
"Play middle C and then go to legato
here and blah blah blah there".
00:33:16 It's fun to
one of the fun parts is communicating
with each artist differently
and finding that thing
that connects you with them.
00:33:23 With Eli it's super easy because we
both kind of come from the same place.
00:33:27 We're gonna do electric electric guitar
in some of the holes here
and then we'll check vocals
and move on to the next song.
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.
This is a great series, having him back up 2 ft from the mic and hearing the difference I agree it really was an improvement.
L Pass
2020 Aug 16
Eli was playing, playing the intro to Paul McCartney's Great Day! This series is so great. I am so loving being there. Thank you.
Michaeltn86
2020 Aug 15
very interesting video and approach to acoustic guitar. I'd have definitely have asked to "play with less attack" instead of moving the mic a little. awesome lesson because just seconds later the artist says he's a heavy picker. great learning experience.
stefan.l
2020 Aug 15
Awesome video! I met Eli in 2009 at Falls Festival, Australia. I was blown away by his live performance. He's a nice guy. I still feel bad for not buying his CD at the time, I had no money on me.
