Premium Audio System , currently available in all Acura models .
Many thanks to Elliot Scheiner for his benchmark recordings !
out Elliot ’ s credits . They ’ re unbelievable !
I started noticing Steely Dan around the time they released Royal Scam . But when I heard Aja , it changed my life . I could hear that Elliot was crafting each mix ingredient so that it was only what it needed to be . It was no longer about the individual instrument . It was about the whole mix and what served in the best interests of that !
Elliot is the master of balance , simplicity , and heart . Of all of the METAlliance , he — and Niko — are the most minimalistic . Where Chuck uses four mics on a snare drum , Elliot prefers to use one mic on the top head . And like Al , Elliot came up in a simpler era , where a band was mixed and recorded direct to a mono tape recorder .
Elliot likes to make decisions about his sounds early in the recording process . Rather than recording multiple mics and perspectives to several tracks , he prefers to find the sound he wants for the recording and commit that to the multitrack recorder . But , keep in mind that Elliot has insights honed over decades regarding what he ’ ll need for the mix . Let me repeat that : Elliot has insights honed over decades regarding what he ’ ll need for the mix . That is so important ! Our love of music and our perception of musical balance is finely tuned as we critically listen to music , always hearing deep into the mix and trying to figure out what ’ s going on so we can test it in our own work .
Committing and making decisions about the sounds you ’ re recording during the recording process — tracking exactly what you ’ ll use in the final mix — is courageous . In today ’ s recording sensibility , tracks are essentially limitless . It ’ s so easy to set up 20 mics on a single instrument just in case there might be magic in one of them . Elliot has the courage and depth of understanding to recognize what he wants and capture that alone .
HERE ’ S WHAT I LEARNED FROM FRANK FILIPETTI Frank is known by his peers as an independent thinker and one of the early pioneers to explore the potentials of digital-audio recording . His first number-one album , Foreigner ’ s Agent Provocateur , included the single “ I Want to Know What Love Is ,” heard on radios around the world . Other early credits include , Foreigner ’ s Inside Information , which he also co-produced , Lick It Up by KISS , James Taylor ’ s That ’ s Why I ’ m Here , Carly Simon ’ s Coming Around Again , and Eternal Flame by The Bangles .
Check out Frank ’ s credits . Like all of the previous members credits , they ’ re unbelievable .
Frank is a deep thinker and an excellent writer . His chapter in the book is crammed full of mind-stretching concepts . In fact , there was a point where the book was pretty much finished , but Frank kept sending me new material to use if we could fit it in . We fit it all in because it was all important . In the traditional publishing world , we couldn ’ t have added anything new at a certain point ; however , we published this book ourselves so we kept refining up to the last minute . Why ? Because we all were willing do anything to make the book the best it could be .
There ’ s a lot that I ’ ve learned from Frank , but there ’ s one thing that stands out . He points out that most engineers who use a spaced pair for drum overheads place the mics parallel to the plain that runs across the front of the kick drum . But , and this is a big one , if you look at the drum set , the snare is a little left ( drummer ’ s perspective ) and the kick is a little right . If you just pan the overheads left and right , that causes a smearing of the kick and snare because we usually pan the kick and snare center . Smearing blurs the image and detracts from its clarity . Nobody wants that , right ?
Frank tilts the overheads so that line that ’ s perpendicular to the plane that runs between the mics runs through the center of the kick and snare ! It might look a little odd but man does it
Frank Filipetti tighten the kick and snare image !
I currently teach at the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences ( CRAS ), and a few of my classes have to do with recording drums . I can attest that this one change that Frank recommends in the book is a game changer . There are many more where that came from .
HERE ’ S WHAT I LEARNED FROM GEORGE MASSENBURG George Massenburg . O . M . G ! George gave us the parametric equalizer , GML moving-fader automation , and one of the most accurate outboard equalizers ever made , not to mention that he ’ s recorded a plethora of hits for so many iconic artists . And his studio design talents have given us uncompromising studios around the world where engineers and producers can capture every minute detail from an inspired and emotion-filled performance .
Massenburg has participated ( individually and corroboratively ) in over four hundred records over the past forty-five years . His work
George Massenburg