Jazz Quartet
This was a session for a stereo recording of a Jazz Quartet; (Will) Piano, (Warren Louie) Upright Bass, (Niko Póllak) Guitar (Johannes Hamm) Drums. I wanted to go for a softer, more classic tone on this session. The first track you’ll hear below Elegy features just a trio of Piano, Bass, and Sax. All music was mixed using completely analog equipment except for the editing/storage device being Pro Tools/Computer.
The drum set is miked with close spot mics as well as overheads in the style of Glyn Johns. The overhead microphone above the snare is a Neumann Tube U67, the Ride cymbal’s overhead mic is the tiny Sennheiser 8050. I put an AKG 414 on the bottom of the snare as an experiment and I’m happy with what it got me.
Drum Set Microphones
Piano Microphones
The bass was miked with a pairing of a U87 and a 414. In the end I used mostly if not completely the U87 signal. My thought with the 414 was to use it to brighten the tone of the bass if I needed. The U87 rarely disappoints.
Guitar Cabinet Microphones
The piano was miked to get a close and warm sound. The two outer mics are Neumann Tube M147s paired with a inner ORTF of DPA 4011s. The use of tube microphones in this session helped to get the classic warmer tone that I was looking for.
Bass Microphones
On the guitar cab, I did what feels almost standard to me by now for jazz guitar and put up a 121 paired with a 57 on our Fender Twin reverb. This amp was placed in the studios Iso-booth while the guitarist was placed in the live room with the other musicians.
