New George Massenburg production online

[ripper]

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

The point, for me, it was recorded entirely live, all at once. He has a video tape of the session he showed yesterday. Seeing all the guitar players lined up, drums, Dawn standing behind a bunch of his sound diffusers. It was exciting. And listening to this session there on those speakers (whatever they were), directly from Sound Blade and his Orpheus was the shit. All the frequencies, the dimension, the song, the performance and the mix. That was the point. What else is there?

What, you don't like Massenburg? That's OK. To me he represents the ne plus ultra of audio engineering. He he's a GREAT guy willing to help anyone who asks.

These tracks excite me because it's done at once. I'm exciting that in some few places, probably mainly only in Nashville, sessions are done like the olden days, not cut and paste, with precious few overdubs. Man, it makes all the difference in the end to me.

That's the point, for me.

Yeah, that's cool that gm is doing this... though I'm sure it's nothing new to him.

I guess what surprises me is that it's blowing people away. I mean, if you CAN'T do a session live, especially w/ good musicians, and in MUCH less geared-up and designed rooms than his, are you really an engineer at all? (Not referring to you Henry, just the universal "you")

Check this out:
sights and sounds

listen particularly to the Spoonful cover of Hayes' "Thank You"
It's all live except BV's and lead gtr OD

First thing I did in the studio I'm in... before the big room was built.

No headphones (vibe killers!) for the musicians ... a small yamaha PA instead.
Four mics on the drum kit (pair of CMV 563a's in the Glynn Johns position)
D112 on kick, DX77 in front of kit, low.

No eq on any track during recording. No eq on any track in mix.
No tape. Massive Passive-STC8-Hedd mix chain.
All tracks posted are unmastered MP3's.

On the other more overdubbed tracks most of the bed instruments are still live.

Budget?
We did the 14 song Spoonful album in 30 hours total, including load-in, load out and mix.

It's great that gm is doing stuff live.

but fellas, if it's giving you such a woody, JUST DO IT YOURSELF!!!
It's the only approach that I find at all fun these days. Probably why gm is doing it!

Oh... forgot that many musicians are incapable of pulling it off live these days...
yeah... that's kind of a kink in this whole chain, innit?

[ToddP]

Originally Posted by bonne

Hi Henry

Was the Orpheus used for playback only or was it (they) used for recording as well? In that case what mic pre did George use on Dawn?

Thanks
JB

I'm pretty sure he used the GML pres

[Clueless]

Originally Posted by ToddP

I'm pretty sure he used the GML pres

...and 5 two-channel 8900s. (At least that's how many I counted in his roll-around racks.)

BTW, I'm very glad to see this model (of recording/archiving audio and video of a live studio session in an integrated acoustic environment) getting play here...it's the model I plan to use for Manifold Recording.

[henryrobinett]

I don't know what he used for recording. I assume he used his own pres and EQ. Someone else might know better than me.

[henryrobinett]

Originally Posted by ripper

Oh... forgot that many musicians are incapable of pulling it off live these days...
yeah... that's kind of a kink in this whole chain, innit?

THAT's the whole kink, yes. I love Massenburg, but FOR ME it was getting all those musicians together playing it at one time TODAY.

[johnbohn]

Did you see the pictures of her doing yoga. Man, I would ask her to that yoga elsewhere. Exercise on your own time. Why would someone even think that was okay. George is a nicer man than I, I guess.

As far as tracking live. Every session I've ever done in town (assisting or otherwise) has been done live. I guess I didn't realize that it was such a rare thing in other towns. I'd hate doing it any other way.

[henryrobinett]

Wow man. People hang out, listen, read. As long as they're quiet and respectful. Yoga is a quiet, doesn't get in the way type of thing. I don't see that it would bother me. Especially if there's a lot of setting up, wrangling going on.

[wildpark]

here in germany he used some pmc s from smm pro audio

Originally Posted by ToddP

The speakers were ATC SCM16s. I agree, it sounded very nice.

[andreªs]

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

Well her mother is Ann Murray. She has a big career herself. So I'm sure there's capital and friends in the business to help.

Ann Murray, the opera singer?

[Shaman]

Anne Murray

[TheMarqueeYears]

Originally Posted by johnbohn

Did you see the pictures of her doing yoga. Man, I would ask her to that yoga elsewhere. Exercise on your own time. Why would someone even think that was okay. George is a nicer man than I, I guess.

As far as tracking live. Every session I've ever done in town (assisting or otherwise) has been done live. I guess I didn't realize that it was such a rare thing in other towns. I'd hate doing it any other way.

Sting's to blame for all this yoga sh*t artist "have" to do ..... it's funny really.

Mind you - when you look at George and her in those shots makes you realise how unhealthy being a producer is - hours and hours and lifetimes of sitting, waiting for that heart attack to hit - just as you finally figure out that is really doesn't matter which pre you plug a U47 into.

OK back to my Sun Salutations. Ohmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

TMY

[Shaman]

Originally Posted by TheMarqueeYears

Mind you - when you look at George and her in those shots makes you realise how unhealthy being a producer is - hours and hours and lifetimes of sitting, waiting for that heart attack to hit - just as you finally figure out that is really doesn't matter which pre you plug a U47 into.

OK back to my Sun Salutations. Ohmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Hrhr

[henryrobinett]

Originally Posted by TheMarqueeYears

Sting's to blame for all this yoga sh*t artist "have" to do ..... it's funny really.

Sting's to blame. Sorry but yoga and artist have been connected long before Sting.

[OKden]

Stuart Duncan sure does get around in that video.

[oudplayer]

I can't believe anyone would ever knock a singer practicing yoga before a session. There's few other practices that are more effective at loosening up the body, increasing circulation, and (most importantly) clearing out the sinuses and the respiratory system. Unless you like the sound of amplified phlegm...

[Sieber]

Sorry but I'm confused here:

There are 2 diff. versions of "Elevator Music" available on iTunes (in Denmark anyway).

There is one version on the "Dawn Langstroth" album and there is one on the "No Mercy" album. Which of these has GM mixed ?

Who did the website version ?

Thx

[jindrich]

Incidentally, does anyone have some info about George's incoming 4 ch pre?

It's just the same as the old one, internally at least, but it finally sports individual phantom switches on the front, along with phase switches and leds for signal, overload and phantom on.

[SK1]

Originally Posted by jindrich

Incidentally, does anyone have some info about George's incoming 4 ch pre?

It's just the same as the old one, internally at least, but it finally sports individual phantom switches on the front, along with phase switches and leds for signal, overload and phantom on.

That sounds good to me! I never understood why he would put the phantom switches on the back

[jindrich]

it was on display at AES, much as a prototype I believe. It would be nice to know when it will go into full production. It's more an updated functional design than anything else, so it doesn't need to go thru many testing stages I guess.

HPF and DI would have been nice too, maybe for the mk3 version? (...in like just another 20 years more

-

[wildpark]

i hope he relase the gml 8900 software version shown in düsseldorf

soon !!

[soulviasound]

Originally Posted by Shaman

When gm was in munich - may 2007 he talked about his recent projects and played us some amazing demos from a new female artist he was producing at his new studio at blackbird.

He also mentioned his new internet promotion / distribution concept for young artists.

I wondered how the final mixes would sound + how his concepts work in the real world.

The production is now online:

Dawn Langstroth

amazing stuff with nice studio shots.

Very interesting is the song "elevator music" - which is available in 2 different arranged / mixed versions:

Version 1 is mixed by Al Schmitt
Version 2 is mixed by George Massenburg ( version 2 only available on apple itunes)

Happy listening !

Elevator Music rules - I love it, damn good recordings.