Recording techniques with Al Schmitt

Al Schmitt walks us through his method for recording vocals and upright bass and how to use the tracking process to make mixing easier. Full video available exclusively on Join the legendary Al Schmitt and his assistant engineer Steve Genewick at Studios La Fabrique to record jazz singer Melody Gardot with her musicians. We begin with Steve explaining how he plans a session with Al and the roles they both undertake when working as a team. He then elaborates on the procedures taken prior to tracking (preparing the console, polarity checking, headphone mixes, and choosing outboard processing for EQ, compression and reverb). Following this, Al Schmitt illustrates his microphone placement and signal processing techniques for vocals, drums and double bass, while discussing microphone choice, acoustic space and performance style. He also explains why he advocates simplistic microphone setups and no EQ while tracking.