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Going Beyond Natural Sound

Part 1

Jimmy Stewart

Using some of Los Angeles' top-flight studio jazz musicians, the author recently produced an album entitled The Evolution of Jazz Guitar to serve as a companion piece to his latest book, Jazz Guitar. Recorded at Monterey Recording Studios in Glendale, and mixed at Sound City in Van Nuys, California, The Evolution of Jazz Guitar presents 14 self-penned tunes written in the style of leading jazz guitarists whose careers spanned almost half a century. Working with recording engineer Chris Minto, the author attempted to recreate the sounds of the Twenties through the Sixties, but with an Eighties twist using modern mixing techniques. The album can be considered somewhat unique in that it merges the time-honored jazz recording tradition of pure, natural room sound with Eighties recording technology, to create a new blend that is of its period, as well as more "natural than natural". This series of articles describes some of the recording and production techniques used on the album project.

During preparation of this album project I attempted to combine the best of multitrack recording techniques with the best of the Jazz, live-sound concept. I wanted to achieve a stereo image of the various composite musical elements that would blend in the final mix - piano, drums, bass, horns and guitars - as well as capturing a true representation of the room in which they were recorded. Furthermore, the recording environment had to be complementary to the natural sound of the acoustic instruments when it was recreated in the final mix.

Our goal was to recreate, on a single album, the styles and sounds of all the major jazz guitarists that have emerged during the last 50 years. But recording techniques have changed dramatically over the last five decades. In the old days of recording, one mike was used in the studio and there were no re-takes. The sound of the artist was the best that could be captured with a limited frequency-range mike. Since I was going for an Eighties' equivalent of that original sound character and performance, the first decision was to find a good sounding room and interface it with modern-day technology.

Studio Selection

My recording engineer on the project, Chris Minto, and I chose Monterey Studios, Glendale, California, for its flexibility, which would enable us to recreate the different environments and sound textures. The monitor system was Chris' first consideration, and the recording environment mine. Our checklist ran as follows:

1. Sound of the studio - an open, pleasant-sounding room.

2. Monitor and foldback systems - and accurate system upon which to base our creative decisions.

3. Metering - to check our transient material, and maintain a wide dynamic range on tape.

4. Microphone selection - clear and clean-sounding mikes.

5. Hardware and application - a clean recording chain.

To test out the room's ambience, I recorded my voice in the studio on a portable Sony cassette recorder (using its built-in condenser mike) and played it at home, listening to the room reverberation quality, and texture of the sound. Chris made a tape from an album he recently recorded, for use as a monitor test in the control room. I also played his tape in my living room and personal-use studio, to set up an acoustic benchmark for our listening tests.

We took the tape to different studios were considering buying time from and, as we listened, Chris encouraged me to tell him what nuances of sound I was hearing. He would point out in technical terms the pros and cons of each monitor system, and what we could achieve from our sounds.

In the studio area, I was looking for a flexible environment; one that was capable of providing different textures to different instruments. When we finally started to work at Monterey Studios, I ended up using every area but the restrooms. Some parts of the studio I liked, and some I didn't. Within the recording budget I had allowed myself the luxury to explore what sound we could achieve by experimentation. Such flexibility is very important when you work in a studio for the first time; I knew the sound I wanted, and by experimenting, I eventually got it.