All language subtitles for MWTM Q&A #25 - Sylvia Massy.mp4

hi welcome to la Fabrique studio in the

South of France my name is Sylvia

mantasy and I came here to the mix with

the master's seminar to show some people

some unusual techniques for recording

and mixing we've had a great week we did

a bunch of really interesting things

including running a guitar through a

drill oh let's say we had a singer stand

on a speaker and sing to a tool we built

a special microphone out of a phone what

else we do we built a potato filter for

your guitar all these things that you

really need to know about well anyway

sound on sound has sent us over some

questions so I'll do a question and

answer now with the readers of sound out

sound and I have some prepared questions

so let's go through it Jonathan leaf hey

Sylvia when using a 1073 cue I always

seem to experiment with the frequency

selections and move things around until

it sounds good it's rare that I make

corrective cuts with it though

are there any go-to frequencies that you

find yourself routinely cutting perhaps

on problematic instruments like room

mics or bass what are your other

favorite eq's alone or in combination

with a 1073 and what sources do you use

them on thanks so much

Jonathan 1073 you're already in a great

position the 1073 doesn't give you a lot

of choices so you can't really screw it

up too badly I tend to add more than I

cut but when I do cut I'll cut some mid

frequencies some lower mids to kind of

clear up a sound for instance I might

use I might cut around 350 and the mids

to to give some clarity to toms and

maybe pull a little bit of that out on a

kick drum I use the high-pass filters

quite a bit especially on high frequency

instruments like the high hats on drums

or on

overheads the 1073 EQ is fantastic AQ

and you're anything you put through it

already even if the EQ is not even

turned on it's going to sound better

than you started makes you look like a

genius I've been using it for years that

says a lot

alright thank you Jonathan Timmy Fasano

hi Sylvia for us out there with a Pro

Tools rig and limited microphone

selections would you recommend we play

it safe in the engineering of our

recordings for example not try to build

much of a sound into the recording due

to lack of equipment this way it's a

blank canvas for the mixing thanks Timmy

I would say never save anything for

mixing even if you have in expensive

mics that should not affect the way that

you record I record with inexpensive

mics all the time

it's a in fact that's those are my go-to

s before I reach for an expensive mic so

you'll see me using sm57 sm58 sennheiser

421 SM 81 sure microphones for the high

end or even for overheads we're never

shy in using inexpensive mics for many

reasons for one thing you can make big

mistakes with them and if they break or

get destroyed then you don't have to

worry about it too much so you can

really experiment with them and for that

reason also experiment all the time

spend more time working on the sounds

that you're recording then you would in

in your mixing basically I try to record

in a way where when I push up the faders

on the desk and I do use a desk I do use

a console it's already mixed you can do

the same thing in the box you can record

in a way where it's already mixed when

you're finished recording when you put

your last overdubs in and you finish

your vocals and you've done your little

edits and tuning or whatever you want to

do your mix should be close to being

finished

so and another another thing is that

vocals sometimes you think you need an

expensive mic but honest-to-goodness you

don't need an expensive mic for vocals a

lot of times I'll use in sm58 for vocals

even if I have a telephone u47 in the

studio one time when I worked with Rick

Rubin we set up Oh $20,000 worth of

vintage microphones in the studio at

Ocean Way and we put them all in a row

and then we put up a sennheiser 421 and

as shure sm57 and a shore sm58 and we

thought well we'll listen to those two

just just to have perspective well we

had these fantastic vintage German mics

at Telefunken 251 you 47s you 67s we had

norman you 87's and we had billy corgan

from Smashing Pumpkins seeing a verse

the same verse in each mic on a

different track and then we without

knowing what those mics were on the

playback we compared each one and the

one the mic that one was the sm58 and

that's $100 microphone so you could have

in your mic closet you could have only

sm58 and I think you're still doing very

well so thank you Timmy let's move on to

the next question

she Bron Ramirez thank you for writing

he writes how many hours do you think is

necessary for a good recording session

what is the most important thing in the

studio to you a day you don't want less

than a day I think to get momentum in a

recording session you need a full day

and that means 8 to 10 hours just to get

moving I often when I set up my

scheduling or budgets for a project I

estimate meeting three days per song to

do the recording the

editing any processing and mixing for

each song and that would include some

time to spend on working on arrangements

with the band or anything so three days

per song I think it's good so three

ten-hour days you're looking at 30 hours

minimum that is a luxury I suppose for

some people so just go into it I spend

the most time on the first song leave

everything set up record as many songs

as you can with that initial set up and

then you can then you speed up your

production at that point if you continue

to record overdubs using your initial

tracking from the first day or first two

days there's ways to schedule things to

work that way

terry lee bolton asks a question how do

you get your best sound on recorded

drums terry i love recording drums it's

my specialty and i do it with very

simple drum miking techniques the the

trick for me that makes the best sound

on drums is to have all the microphones

pointed in the same direction it's a

very simple technique and if you no

matter what types of mics you're using

if you generally have them all facing

the same way pointing in the same

direction instead of pointing at each

other that you're going to get a much

better sound and it's instantly will

have more low-end more punch sound

bigger and better if you hear a papery

sound on your snare when you're when you

turn all your mics on all of a sudden

your snare sounds thin then there's a

problem with your phasing and you should

look at how the mics are pointed I often

times when I bring up I might I may be

recording 10 to 20 mics on a drum kit

and I'll very carefully compare my kick

drum mic with my overhead mics so load

in mono

and just to check and flip the phase on

those microphones sometimes it's

difficult to flip phase when you're

recording with a rack of mic priests so

in that case I would prepare some mic

cables with reverse phase so that you

can make some comparisons like this and

you'll get the best sounds this way

another thing to do is to some if you

have a way to some mics while you're

recording your drums will sound better

for instance if you have three toms and

you record a mic on the top of your Tom

and a mic on the bottom of your Tom

let's say one one Tom one mic on top one

mic on top on bottom and you have three

tones combine all those mics which would

be six mics into two tracks you use

busing if you have a console you can use

the busing on the console there's other

ways to some mics together but you'll

need to to have a piece of gear that

will allow you to some several mics into

two channels that's just going to make

your drum sound better be careful to

reverse the phase on these mics that are

pointing at each other one on top one on

bottom so this is I think this is the

secret to recording great drum sounds

usually I don't record with what I

record with very little EQ on the drums

and and they turn out great just with

this very careful technique of having

all the mics moving in one direction all

right next question

Edward LeBron your favorite mic preamps

and what is your most memorable

recording session I'm a bit of a snob

about mic preamps in fact I think if

you're recording that this is this may

be the most important thing that you'll

want to spend money on is your mic

preamp more so than the microphones more

so than anything else and the mic preamp

of amplifiers will color and and change

and say they change the shape of your

sound

if you have really inexpensive mic

preamps it is very difficult to achieve

the sound that you want so I use the

Neve 10 73 which is also a called a 1272

mic preamplifier it's the little red

knob on the 1073 that's the magic knob

so I would highly recommend at 10 73 or

12 72 Neve mic preamplifier the api's

are also very good I've been using mic

pre amplifiers from Black Lion audio and

I think that they're also very good

there's several boutique makers that are

good but I always lean towards the Neve

1073 because I really know what I'm

going to get and he also asked Edward he

asked which is your most memorable

recording session well that would have

to be Johnny Cash with Rick Rubin

producing and I was engineering the

album was called unhinged and it was

magic every day was magic in Los Angeles

while we recorded it because I would

turn my head and look in the back of the

room while I was working at a console

and in the back of the room there would

be someone else so some some of the big

star in the room that I wouldn't be

expecting I'd turn around and there

would be Anthony Kiedis or there would

be Mick Fleetwood or Lindsey Buckingham

or Marty Stewart or Carl Perkins and Tom

Petty and the Heartbreakers was the

backup band for the album so you can

only imagine what that was like

it was pure magic every day and that has

been so far my favorite recording

session okay next question

chin Zion any tips for recording violin

sections I have a special technique for

recording strings and it's and it's

basically because I tried recording

quartets tried writing music for

quartets and conducting quartets or

string sections what I found the easiest

and best way to do string parts on on my

recordings has been to use one player

and to have that player play as many

parts I have a multi-instrumentalist

that I use quite often his name is

Morgan o Shaughnessy and he plays viola

is his main instrument but he also plays

violin he plays cello

he plays nickel harpa which is a very

unusual Swedish instrument and and

several other instruments bagpipes and

Ilyn pipes and so we start on a project

and I'll bring them in to the recording

the song will already be relatively

finished but there will be a section

where I hear a melody and I want to

develop a string arrangement for this

particular section of a song so we start

with the melody first and I'll have him

do at the first viola parts then we'll

do a second viola part and each each

part is recorded twice mono and then

I'll split each part at left and right

hard left and right so then the second

viola part and then we'll put in a

violin first violin part in a second

violin part will put cellos under there

usually just one cello part again

recording each part twice so that we

have stereo and and making it wide then

we might add some other violin melodies

across the top and it's really full and

and exciting we can get into details too

if one part is not working so well we

can remove that and change it if you're

working with a string section like a

section with

you know 4 to 20 players it's very very

difficult to change things once they've

been recorded but working one track at a

time with one string Claire is very good

economical and with great results so

that's my technique everyone has a

different technique and let's see we

have another question as to our dos

olives our hi Sylvia is there any

guideline on how to direct an artist

without compromising their sound with

your musical influences well this is a

very interesting question because I try

not to get in the way of the music the

band and their sound however I'm being

hired to because of something that I do

and if it's if what I do is to create a

certain sound I want to also bring that

to any client that hires me so I'll go

as far with that is I'm allowed but

again it's very important for the the

artist to maintain their identity I like

to help guide that and to really define

an artist's sound so we'll do that by

looking at the equipment that they're

using the instruments that they're

playing and and if it's if there's a

certain instrument that is part of their

signature then I want to use a thread of

that through an entire project so not

only one song but maybe five of eight

songs will have this special sound so

that a project has continuity like that

so I'll try to help an artist to develop

their sound so it's it it is their sound

and they leave the session with that

being their sound also and it's a very

interesting question Thank You Eduardo

okay Russell Bell how do you shift

between so many contrasting genres and

what centers you when you undertake that

well at the core of of any genre there's

going to be really good

music with good songs and good

performers so it doesn't matter what

style of music I'm working on I I'm a

fan of the music in a way where I can

appreciate if it's jazz if it's

bluegrass if it's Scandinavian metal

which I love if it's country or roots

country which I also love if it's R&B

you know there's there's obviously

there's great music and all those genres

and it all boils down to the song and I

think also the character of the the

person who's singing or who has the

voice in the band that the voice may not

be a human voice at all it may be the

voice of a guitarist or another

instrumentalist so you just have to

identify what that is and really feel

the emotion and and really understand

the story of what they're trying to tell

you with their music so that's what

centers me Michael Griggs hi Sylvia what

are the things you feel like you have

had to compromise over your career

during a project and how have you

overcome them the first thing I think of

is compromise well having a regular life

is a compromise you spend a lot of time

in the studio you pretty much put the

rest of your life aside this is my life

it's also very difficult to be a girl in

the studio I have found like just like

dressing up and you know taking time to

be a girl do girl things you know it's

very difficult but I try very hard to be

a girl I'm sure that's not what you're

asking about Michael so the things that

I think really have really compromised a

recording would be a lack of time to

really flush out an idea so I try to

build enough time into a project so that

that doesn't happen

I very very careful to listen to some

music from the artist beforehand to

understand the instrumentation to get an

idea of how much time it will take to

get a really good recording if the

budget doesn't allow enough time I will

probably pass on the project and only

because I don't want disappointments I

don't want to be disappointed I don't

want my client to be disappointed either

so that is where the greatest amount of

compromise happens I believe they the

other thing is a instruments and

equipment can really compromise the

quality of a project however less so

because there's ways you can make really

fun and creative recordings with very

with with whatever you've got you know

you can record with most anything these

days a laptop and 2 M box or whatever

and some a couple mics one mic there's a

lot you can do with that so have fun

just have enough time so that you can

really think out your ideas and I think

that that might be all the questions we

have today we've had a great time at la

Fabrique and

you