OT - new Vintage Cats Videos on Youtube

[vintageboris]

Like I promised some time ago, I am dropping a notice about our new videos on Youtube:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkfpvMnfoJI"]YouTube - Vintage Cats' "Tribal Dance"[/ame] - this one was written by me and

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htK9VCzV0ek"]YouTube - Vintage Cats play Afro Blue[/ame]

Interesting thing: this was the first gig that I recorded (well, that is organized, installed and let a student press the buttons) with my new-old Tascam 24-Track tape recorder and with 2 digital video cams as well. While doing the cut, I've noticed that the sound and picture slowly drifted away. After some experimenting I've found out that the drift is about 0.05% speed. So I processed one audio track with Apple Logic's Factory and then it worked. Apparently the tape machine is not recording at the exact speed as the digicams.

Yes, a sync machine would do it...

Oh, there is still something in those videos that is Altec-related: the speaker cab mounted on the Leslie is loaded with a 421A

[bfish]

Mighty fine Boris, thanks! You'd be right at home in Kansas City.

Yeah, the A/V sync thing is pretty easy now compared to some of the old film techniques. You might investigate the audio features of the vidcam, many consumer versions even do good audio, some in stereo. No sync problems that way.

Can't tell how you mic'd the Leslie. In case you haven't found it, there's some proven techniques here;

Leslie Recording Techniques

To lend a little more Altec spin to the thread, another excellent reference is Unearthing the mystery of the Leslie, written by former Altec engineer/inventor, Clifford A. Henricksen. Cliff is an accomplished player himself (even worked with Zappa back in the day), so who better to provide some insight.

[Mike Gibson]

Very good sound Boris. You make Jazz enjoyable. I wish you the best.

Mike

[vintageboris]

Well bfish, my wife said: "Let's then go to Kansas City, maybe you'll get the big shot"

Thanks Mike

That's one of the hottest compliments, "making Jazz enjoyable"... I guess not like really tough free jazz


Dave

I don't know Phil Stockli personally, but some of the cats on his credits list (Dusko Goykovich, Roman Schwaller).

Switzerland is a small country...easy to overview.

<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ July 08, 2008 03:20 PM: Message edited by: vintageboris ]</font>

[selmerdave]

Very nice Boris. I don't suppose you know an alto player there named Phil Stockli?

Dave

[vintageboris]

Originally posted by bfish:


Can't tell how you mic'd the Leslie.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That is an classic issue - my experience (up to now) is that the best spacing was achieved when positioning one stereo mic (I use AudioTechnica) pointing into the tip of one of the front corners (so the mic axis' vector is 45 degrees through the corners' square). That position was used on our older videos on youtube (S. Wonder tunes). I was especially satisfied with the mix of the doppler spin and the basic presence of all freqs - not too much "tremolo", so to say.

On those last recordings (Afro Blue and Tribal) I tried the same mic square to the side panel - too much separation, too strong Leslie fx, like some early Santana recordings.

Comparative, I listened in concert one player whose Leslie had two mics in the oposite corners (like MotionSound?) - wasn't really thrilled.

[boltupright]

Originally posted by vintageboris:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by bfish:


Can't tell how you mic'd the Leslie.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That is an classic issue - my experience (up to now) is that the best spacing was achieved when positioning one stereo mic (I use AudioTechnica) pointing into the tip of one of the front corners (so the mic axis' vector is 45 degrees through the corners' square). That position was used on our older videos on youtube (S. Wonder tunes). I was especially satisfied with the mix of the doppler spin and the basic presence of all freqs - not too much "tremolo", so to say.

On those last recordings (Afro Blue and Tribal) I tried the same mic square to the side panel - too much separation, too strong Leslie fx, like some early Santana recordings.

Comparative, I listened in concert one player whose Leslie had two mics in the oposite corners (like MotionSound?) - wasn't really thrilled.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well I am thrilled I would get some mic'd Leslie tips on this forum!
I too am a Leslie fan but I use it for guitar mainly.
What Audio Technica mic do you use, & when you say pointing into the tip of the corner, do you mean pointing towards the corner inside? & how do you dael with cabinet resonance noise on the mic, do you somehow isolate the mice with shock resistant foam os something like that?
& do you mix stereo as well?
Also, do you mic the bass rotor?

Bolt.

[vintageboris]

Hi Bolt

The mic is AudioTechnica AT825.

It is placed outside of the cab pointing at the vertex of one of the two front right angles. It captures therefore (at maybe one feet distance) a lot of the Doppler fx from the Leslie. I put also one mic at the bottom. Some engineers prefer two mics at the bottom, because the spacing effect is stronger down there. Probably the best thing would be using four mics (or two stereo mics) anyways.

Concerning the cab resonance- I personally like it because it gives that distinctive character. Older Leslies tend to have more wood resonance.

<font color="#FFFFFF" size="1">[ July 12, 2008 06:22 AM: Message edited by: vintageboris ]</font>

[boltupright]

Yeah, I like the cab resonance too, I was thinking about permanently mounting a mic inside the upper horn chamber.
I thought that is what you meant in your first post.
At home I just mic the upper horn for the most part with a Beta 58, I havn't played out with my Leslie yet for obvious reasons,LOL.
I was hoping to some how mount the mic inside the upper chamber & isolate the cab noise from the mic, to limit unwanted vibrations on the mic's housing with a sound deadening foam.
I was hoping to find a good mic small enough to fit inside & still give decent performance.

Bolt