when the magic just happens.
[Tom] Was there a time when you used a first
take live vocal on a major hit song?
[Alan] Yes, Al Stewart on the “Year of the Cat”
album. He thought he was just doing a run-
through, so he was relaxed and he just nailed it.
[Tom] And you were set up and ready to
hit record?
[Alan] Yes, thank God! With experience, you’ll
know what to expect; how much level from [Tom] You recently produced a new album
every instrument, from every mic, etc. It’s a trick with ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro. How
I learned from Geoff Emerick at Abbey Road. did you approach micing him?
even more spectacular than his originals!
[Tom] I love that you’re thinking as an engineer,
He could set up an entire rhythm section,
but simultaneously thinking as a producer; to
orchestra, and singer ahead of time, push up [Alan] That is one rare case where I did
the faders and it all worked. That’s a real skill. choose to mic his uke in stereo. Jake is a “one
get the very best out of the artist.
take” kind of performer and we knew that there [Alan] Jake was clearly inspired by the sound
[Tom] Back to guitar, would you ever mic an was no way we were going to be able to double of the orchestra and vice versa. Recording them
acoustic guitar in stereo? track and do multiple takes with him. He’s all together raised the entire performance to the
extraordinary, one in a million. next level. One of the tunes we actually sent the
[Alan] Generally not. On most of my production
work, I would be more likely to double-track it.
rest of the orchestra home and just left a string
[Tom] There is some beautiful orchestra on quartet behind. Jake was right there in the room
Jake’s album. Was that recorded separately? facing the quartet. There was no isolation at all,
[Tom] So you would have the guitarist play it
twice versus recording it in stereo?
but there didn’t need to be because we knew
[Alan] In the beginning I recorded his uke and it was going to be a “one take” capture of the
I planned to add the orchestra later, but then performance. Yes, the quartet was in his mic
[Alan] Yes. You can reposition the mic from my instinct told me to bring Jake and also have and the ukulele was in the string mics, but we
left to right on the double and get a huge him play live with the orchestra. And without knew the end result was going to be stunning.
stereo spread. exception, his live takes with the orchestra were
[Tom] So, there’s a case where starting with
Alan teaching at the Master Class Training Session
the idea of “everything separate” isn’t always
necessarily the best way to go?
[Alan] I think there tends to be a bit of paranoia
around this issue on the part of engineers. They
think, “Oh my God! I don’t have separation!
I can hear the guitar on the vocal mic, and
the piano on the vocal mic!” But you have to
recognize that there are plusses and minuses.
Orchestral recordings benefit so much from
one mic picking up everything as well as the
instrument it was meant to be picking up.
That’s what makes real stereo, not just defined,
panned stereo from separate recordings. It just
adds to the incredible space that is created.
24
Sep Oct 2017
GearTechRec.com