by ericdano
August 13, 2003 in Articles
zappa_zeppelin writes “I would like to know how can I get a good wha wha effect on the sax. I play tenor sax and I have a cry baby pedal but I can’t get a powerfull wha effect on the sax. You know like Brecker’s some skunk funk sound.”
I believe that is an echoplexer that he is hooked into, but I’ll check my Brecker Brothers Albums to see if that is what it is.
by ericdano
June 13, 2003 in Articles
Most people don’t know about alternate tunings. Hell, most people don’t even know why they should be in tune. I came across this article which I thought was an excellent in introducing and telling the history of alternate tunings. Probably one of the best examples of alternate tunings is guitarist Nick Drake. His music was used in some Volkswagen commercials for a while. He had alternate tunings for his guitar that sound great to me.
by ericdano
May 19, 2003 in Articles
Bopfanatic writes “Hello! I’m a huge fan of vintage sax styles, and I love the huge sound of people like Coleman Hawkins and Lucky Thompson. The problem is that there are very few resources about what setups these players used (everybody seems to be into Mike Brecker and all that malarkey), and since I’m only 17, most people assume I’m into funk and stuff, not 1940′s bop. If anyone has dredged up some stuff about Hawk and the like, or happens to play with that kind of tone, can they give me a few pointers? Ta!”
Well, Michael Brecker and Malarkey should never be in the same sentance together. As for getting a Coleman Hawkins type sound, part of it has to do with his mouthpiece setup (which makes it easier to get his type of sound), the other part is his general sound concept and how he played. You can get a Hawkins sound out of any horn/mouthpiece combination. I saw Don Menza do it at a clinic years ago….
by ericdano
May 10, 2003 in Reviews
&Since I started recording my students, I have become fascinated with microphones. I never paid much attention to them before, they were the thing you needed close when in a recording session, or the thing you needed close during a gig.
It’s very interesting stuff to me how they work, and why they sound a certain way. I started off my “collection” with a Nady SCM1000 microphone, then progressed to a Shure 57, then a Shure Beta 57, then an AKG C1000, then a Sennheiser 421. All of them sound different. Not bad, but different.
The Nady was just too noisy (self noise), but I liked the detail it could capture. The Shure 57s sound ok, but they don’t seem to do justice to the overtones that one can get when playing saxophone. ..
The Beta 57 was a little better. The tighter pickup pattern (hypercardiod) was good, as bleed-over from the neighboring drum studio sometimes happens with a regular cardiod pattern. But the Beta 57 seems a little too unnatural sounding to me. The AKG C1000 captures a full spectrum (up to 20Khz. Shure 57s go to 16Khz I believe, and Betas go to 17Khz), but after using one for a couple of months, it seems to me to fall into the Beta 57 category. It doesn’t sound natural. Not that it sounds bad. None of the mics sound bad. They all do a great job capturing sound. The Nady would be excellent if it didn’t have such a high self noise issue (well, for $100, what do you expect?). It’s just that I wanted something that sounded like what I heard when we laid down a track.
Perhaps after doing a lot of student recordings, and recordings in “professional” studios, I was developing an ear for it. Anyhow, this quest brought me to a Sennheiser 421. It’s the mic that you see Lenny Pickett from Saturday Night Live use (I dunno about currently, but in the 90s he used it). Great sax mic, I think it does an excellent job capturing a sax sound. But, it seems to lack in the higher overtones. I mean, I’m one of those people who can hear those high pitched noises that like most everyone else cannot hear. In fact, there is a neighbor down the street who has this insect or animal repeller thing that I can hear when I drive by.
ANYHOW, back to the topic. Mics. So, my arsenal had grown to consist of Shure 57s, Beta 57s, AKGC1000s, a Nady SCM1000, and a Sennheiser 421. Generally, I’ve been using the Sennheiser on saxophone, and the AKGC1000s on flute and clarinet (mainly cause of the higher frequency pickups). But, I wanted more. Should I invest in a Neumann 87 which is the “studio standard” mic? That would be a huge investment, probably at least $2,000. I couldn’t justify it.
Which brings me to the AKG C414B-ULS. I have known about it, and it’s advertised as “the most well-known studio condenser microphone in the world”. Yeah yeah. Advertising. But, after watching a DVD about the making of the producers, and seeing that the mic used to record the 1st reed player was indeed an AKG C414 (at least it sure looks like one), I decided to investigate more. AKG sent me a multimedia CD called “AKG Mic Test”. On the CD there are tracks were they compare 5 mics on saxophone. The C414 is one of them, but it doesn’t sound the “best” to me compared to some of the others (C12VR and C451B). But I’m not sure if that is because of the mic “adding” something or not.
After some debating, and figuring out how much I owed the IRS this year, I decided to invest in an AKG C414B-ULS. Luckily AMS has this addicting 3 payment plan. The mic came, and I must say, it is what I was looking for. It sounds great on sax. I’d say better than my Sennheiser 421. It sounds great on flute, and on clarinet. The difference between the AKGC1000 and the 414 on flute is subtle but noticeable. I think the biggest difference is recording clarinet. I finally am happy with clarinet recordings using this mic.
Ok, to sum up, since this seems to have become a rather long rant and history session about Eric’s microphone experiences, the AKG C414B-ULS is a great mic. If you’re going to do some home/small studio recording, this would be a great investment. If you plan on recording flute, clarinet, and saxophone, this mic is the one. Yeah, other mics will work too. But if you want one mic that can do it all, I think I’ve found it. It’s the AKG C414B-ULS. Unless you want to spend $2,000+. Then you’d want a Neumann U87.
Update: 05/11 20:23 GMT by E :Oh, these “tests” were done on a Mac G4 cube with a MOTU 828. All the recordings were done at 48Khz. Yes, I can hear a difference between 44.1 and 48Khz.
by ericdano
May 2, 2003 in Articles
Rolling Stone has an interesting article about how a lot of guys are using Pro Tools to record professional albums. You still need creative genius, but at least studio time won’t put you in the poor house. The article didn’t cover some of the other costs in setting up a Pro Tools (or other) type of studio. There is the midi gear, the microphones, the preamps, the monitors. The stuff adds up. Still, a good short article.
Update: 05/02 19:56 GMT by E :Slashdot seems to have a discussion about this too. They are discussing the costs savings to the artists, but not to the consumer.
by ericdano
April 22, 2003 in Articles
I came across this article which describes how the University of Michigan went about recording the Count Basie orchestra in 5.1 surround sound. Very interesting stuff. Of course, you have to start with a good concert hall, which it looks like they have. Next, you need a beve of good mics. Nuemanns (M150s, TLM170s, KU100, KMS184 and KMS183), and a few Sennheiser Shotgun mics (MKH800, MKH50). That right there is a good $60K+ of mics, plus all that new recording equipment, and probably a few Nuemann U87s in there, we are talking major bucks.
The resulting SACD should be available in the fall. It will be interesting to see how it comes out.
by ericdano
April 3, 2003 in Articles
Ok, the saxophone has been around for a while now. There are all kinds of mouthpieces made of various materials that you can get. There are necks that you can have made of different metals, but this is the strangest add-on yet. A wooden neck.
Saxophonist Tim Price seems to be using one now. Anyone know more about these strange beasts?
by ericdano
March 12, 2003 in Articles
by ericdano
February 27, 2003 in Articles
In my never ending quest for information on microphones, and recording, I came across this site which has some great clips. It’s German, but the guys did a nice job with playing the same thing into a bunch of different mics. They however seemed to like the Russian mics (which I’ve never heard of) over even Nuemann mics. The Mics I was interested in hearing, the AKG 414 and Rode NTK, are on the page and sound great. Anyone else have any good sites for comparison of mics and sound clips?
by ericdano
February 25, 2003 in Reviews
Last weekend, one of my local channels aired The Recording of the Producers. It is a great almost 2 hours of the recording session of the hit Broadway Musical, The Producers. Great music, and great songs. I found it very interesting as it is totally like how recording sessions go, except this studio had a lot of great equipment. Looks like the Reed One player was mic’ed with an AKG C414 (at least that is what it looks like), and some of the others are mic’ed with what looks like a Nuemann. Anyhow, the commentary with Mel Brooks is great, and seeing these guys in action is great. Highly recommended!
by ericdano
January 24, 2003 in Articles
Justin Weaver writes “I have been using recording software at home for about a year now. I’ve been using it off and on and only know a little bit more than the basics. I was wondering if anyone knew how to take a song and specifically take out on instrument. E.g. A song that has a saxophone leading throughout the song. After taking out leading part I just want the background instruments left. E.g. the bass, piano and drums. Please help me out if you can.”
As far as I know, there is no way to do that. There are various software things that will supposedly remove vocals, but they really mess up the recording. It would be easier I think to recreate a song using something like Band in a Box or searching for Midi’s of the song on the net.
by ericdano
January 22, 2003 in Articles
saxtyrant writes “I’m starting to have a problem…I just got this new meyer mouthpeice…i switched from a 5M to an 8M. I’ve had the mouthpeice for about 2 weeks and i think i’ve gotton used to it. The problem is i started to have a nice round sound on it waaaay better than the 5 (the reason i went and got the 
and then the next day my sound was nasty thin with no depth to the sound…then later on the nice sound came back the sound seems to jump back and forth everytime i have a practice session, its annoying and i cannot figure why this is happening. I was thinking maybe my embouchure isn’t consistent or something like that…any suggestions??
Thanks alot,
Aaron”
First thing you didn’t mention is reeds. Sounds like a reed problem. Some reeds work better on a Meyer than others. I like the Rico Jazz Select reeds right now. They really play great! Also, the tip open is quite a bit bigger than what you had, and you might be squeezing your lips, there by dampening the reed vibrations.
by ericdano
December 15, 2002 in Articles
The History Channel has a program on December 26th about Saving Our Recorded History. The Library of Congress has thousands of recordings that are endanger of being lost these include:
"Lead Belly's last sessions recorded in 1949; radio broadcasts from the bombing of Pearl Harbor; and one of the most precious American recordings - Woody Guthrie's 1944 acetate disk of his song This Land is Your Land, complete with extra verses it was thought he had never recorded."
Wonder what early Jazz tresures exist and are endanger of being lost? There is also a Website dedicated to this.
And, via a Slashdot.org article:
"A company by the name of Bandlink is providing technology to record companies that allows a cd played in a personal computer to contact their server and relate statistics such as what track you're listening to and when you're listening to them. This information is then compiled into customizable reports that allow the record company to develop user profiles."
Great, like we need more of this…..
by ericdano
November 18, 2002 in Articles
I am always interested in different microphone and technologies for capturing sound. That could be some of the reason for the growing inventory of mics I have.
AKG has released a FREE enhanced CD that lets you hear the differences between it’s microphones.
"The main goal of this enhanced audio CD is to provide the reference points that are needed for the consumer to make a more informed and, ultimately, better purchasing decision. Listeners can hear for themselves the uncolored difference between microphones on many different instruments.
On saxophone they used the C2000B, C3000B, C414B-ULS, C12VR and C451B. Needless to say that the more expensive the mic, the better it sounded. However, the difference between the C2000B (which sounds good to me) and the C3000B is quite apparent. I was a little disappointed that they did not use a C1000S on saxophone. In order, I like the C451B the best, followed by the C414-ULS, C2000B, C12VR (that and the 2000 are pretty damn close) and then the C3000B. The C3000B sounds bad on saxophone.
The CD does not include any flute tests, and just two clarinet tests (C2000B and SolidTube). It is an interesting CD and very well done.
M-Audio also has a very informative PDF about choosing Mics and recording.
by ericdano
August 18, 2002 in Articles
saxophan writes “At my sax lesson today, my teacher told me that my current mpc (vandoren jumbo java A45) is to bright. I play on a yamaha 23 alto with the above mpc and legere reeds. My teacher had a bunch of mouthpieces, and we went through them and found the Bari Richie Cole 6 to be the best fit. What do you know about these mouthpieces? Are they any good? Is there a mouthpiece that may better suit my needs (junior high jazz band and combo) Thanks a lot!”
Well, they are made by Bari. I’m not sure what the current ones are like, but the older ones were nice. There is also a Meyer mouthpiece out that has a “Richie Cole” facing. Some things to check with the mouthpiece would be to see how well it plays in tune with your sax. You can get a awesome sounding mouthpiece, but if you can’t play it in tune then…..
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