Jan Erik Kongshaug tribute

[fossaree]

This thread is suposed to be a fair Tribute to engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug .

It's itended to share comments about his ECM recordings as well as his techniques .

Go further and serve yourself reading these selected links below .

discography @
Jan Erik Kongshaug Discography at Discogs

production tricks @
The ECM Story

Rainbow studio @
RainbowStudio

[RCM - Ronan]

He and Manfred Eicher have always been such an awesome combo. I am huge fan of the "new music" albums they did together.

[fossaree]

Hey Ronan , how's it goin' ?

That's true ;-) ECM new series , is an astonishing gift to our ears .

Arvo Paart is just marvelous .




How about that Harisson's console @ rainbow ? I want it chez moi

[mark mcg]

Tribute noted here ...

Here's a clip from NRK (Norwegian TV) of Kongshaug and Manfred Eicher recording Terje Rypdal at Rainbow Studio in Oslo sometime in the 80's?. Later it shows the graphic artist Barbara Wojirsch who did so many wonderful ECM album covers.

YouTube - Terje Rypdal in the studio

Snakker du norsk? :~)


Mark

[fossaree]

Hey Mark , amazing video , thanks for sharing ;-) .

I don't speak norwegian though LOL

The video was shoot on his former studio , great to watch !

[mark mcg]

The video was shoot on his former studio ...

Yes because it was from sometime in the 80's!

Hey, is your avatar like a ground sloth or something?


Mark

[fossaree]

Goonies ! Chocolate !

LOL

Regarding the video , @ that time JEK would play with some ambient mics ...

But since 90's , he just uses close miking ...

[MatzeMillion]

I admire Jan Erik Kongshaug since listening to his work with Peter Erskine. "You Never Know" is one of my favourite albums and apart from the fantastic sound Mr. Kongshaug captured the spirit of the music in a very modest way.

Just listened to "Maria Mena - Apparently Unaffected" and I enjoyed it so much that I looked for the engineer... Now guess who recorded it... :-)

[fossaree]

Yeap ... And what I think it's great , is the fact he has a very unique "sound" .

I mean he's achieved this combination of reverbs and a very acurate but virtual space inside his recordings ... Quite particular .

About his set up , it's basically a desk with a PT rig and hardware digital FX .
No paranoia regarding outboard gear ;-)
And the most important , fabulous nice sounding rooms (with daylight ) .


Just an excellent desk (harrison onsole) !

[PlugHead]

You'll find some love here.

I am a fan of the ECM catalog, but am not completely stoked on all their recordings. I guess that is the way with artistry and evolution - sometimes you are 'where they are' at that point in their careers, and other times you are not. I could say the same thing of many other artists and their labels.

However, I do have a lot of respect for JEK (and ME) for their recording skills, and esp. for not getting in the way of the musicians/artists.

Many A/E's could better learn this trait..

[fossaree]

I was wondering if JEK is a gearslutz member ?

[PlugHead]

Originally Posted by fossaree

I was wondering if JEK is a gearslutz member ?

If you check out the economy of mics listed on his website, if he is/was, he might get his GS card revoked!

Seriously, if one can make great sounding records with as minimum gear as that mic list, we ALL should have our GS memberships suspended...

[avebr]

Some of their reverbs are too much for me, very unnatural...

I'm not a ECM connoisseur but surely great performances.


all the best,
ave

[PlugHead]

Originally Posted by avebr

Some of their reverbs are too much for me, very unnatural...

I'm not a ECM connoisseur but surely great performances.


all the best,
ave

agreed on BOTH fronts, but remember - this is a 'tribute' thread - better keep it low on the criticism...

Now, where were we?

[fossaree]

Let's remember Jan isn't stuck on his Rainbow Studio .

He's been doing lots of "on location" recordings . What comes up to my mind are churchs (ecm new series) and Halls (w/ Jan Garbarek) .

Like him or hate him , He along Manfred achieved a unique sound . A sound that can't be really recreated , because it depends on so many variables like :

model of bussines> there's no recording deal ! It's Manfred's word and that's it .
concept> great tendency for spiritual meanings @ the whole process .
process>sessions of no more than a couple of hours , so performances are totally spontaneous
enviroment> rainbow is a day light studio . During the midnight sun's period , it means a lot !

etc,etc,etc

What's great about that ? It's not really all about gear . It's about human beings .
As it is with all great engineers and musicians . The other day I was reading a Rupert Neve foreword for an american author and I became highly impressed the way he describes his aproach to his gear . He actually didn't even mention gear at all ... !!!


Don't take me wrong , I'm not saying gear isn't important for JEK . Neither for Neve or any one else . I'm just saying that my previous points leads to such unique ways of developing art as I think Mr. Kongshaug has achieved . ;-)

[GuitarRuss]

Hey guys, I run a very small studio in Taichung, Taiwan of all places. I'm recording a German saxophonist and his trio next week. He would like the album to have the ECM recordings sounds Jan Garbarek in "Afrik Pepperbird", "Sarte", and "Terje Rypdal". He really likes the sounds of those recordings and really doesn't like the modern close-mic'ed sound. I agree that it's a good choice for his trio's style.

I have a few questions: The reverbs - any ideas how he produced those beautiful long reverbs?

How did he approach mic'ing the drums? Any details would be great.

It sounds like he used some ambient mics, and allowed for some bleed between the instruments, although not much. Any ideas about his approach on these?

This whole thing is absolutely new to me and will be a huge challenge because of my limited equipment and lack of previous experience with this sort of thing! Any help would be appreciated a lot!

Rather than start a new thread, I thought further info about Jan Kongshaug's techniques and approach would be valuable to those interested in this part of recording history.

[fossaree]

Jan Erik do work with close mics , which I think is his main sound !
I remember one of his interviews , he stated he doesn't play very much with ambient mics , because he's got very good reverb units and uses them a lot.

[carlheinz]

Re-discovering some ECM on LP here....really nice!.Un-real at times.

Very inspiring

If it's not about gear then why would most of these great recordings be done on Oslo at Talent studios?

I love the reverb and too much is ok.

Sounds Like the had possibly one of the EMT 250 digital reverbs ...then lexicon etc.

[fossaree]

I suggest reading this :
ECM
I have one , bought it a couple of years ago ;-) .

[npihlaja]

Innerworld Audio - Rainbow Studios - Jan Erik Kongshaug

[fossaree]

Thanks for sharing ! Great !

[erikdrink]

Great!