CHUCK
AINLAY & GEORGE MASSENBURG SESSIONS @ BRITISH GROVE STUDIOS
- LONDON MAY 2010
Grammy
Award winning US producer/engineers and founding members of the
METAlliance, Chuck Ainlay & George Massenburg, are to jointly
host two recording masterclass seminars in London, directly after
the forthcoming AES convention. The two-day sessions, to be held
at British Grove Studios in West London on May 26-29 2010, will
cover aspects of the entire recording process: preproduction session
planning, studio set-up for tracking, mic placement, overdubs, mixing,
delivery, and archiving. They will also cover effective use of tools:
microphones, analogue & digital equipment, outboard effects
and plug-ins, in-the-box as well as analogue console mixing, plus
detailed stereo & multichannel mixing techniques.
British Grove is a state of the art facility and widely recognised
as one of the finest recording studios in Europe. The seminars will
be open to all but, please note, delegate numbers will be strictly
limited. If you are a studio owner, engineer, producer or recording
musician, or are studying audio engineering, this will be a unique
opportunity to study the workings of a world-class facility under
the tutelage of two of the most respected and admired producers
in the world.
The
event plans are now finalised, and we're delighted to be able to
confirm the dates, costs and schedule.
SEMINAR #
1 TWO DAY EVENT - WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY 26/27 MAY
SEMINAR #
2 TWO DAY EVENT - FRIDAY & SATURDAY 28/29 MAY
THE SEMINAR
FEE WILL BE £395.00 + VAT, TO COVER ATTENDANCE AT EITHER THE
FIRST OR SECOND TWO DAY EVENT. LUNCH & REFRESHMENTS WILL BE
PROVIDED ON BOTH DAYS. WE HAVE A MAXIMUM OF 30 PLACES PER EVENT
ONLY SO PLEASE RESPOND ASAP AS PLACES WILL BE ALLOCATED ON A FIRST
COME FIRST SERVED BASIS.
IF YOU WOULD
LIKE TO BOOK YOUR TICKET FOR THIS EVENT PLEASE CONFIRM BY EMAIL
TO sales@sablemarketing.co.uk
AND CONFIRM A CONTACT TELEPHONE NUMBER - WE WILL USE THIS TO CONTACT
YOU FOR PAYMENT WITH A DEBIT CARD (PLEASE NOTE IF YOU PREFER TO
USE A CREDIT CARD THERE WILL BE A £5.00 SURCHARGE. VISITORS
FROM OVERSEAS WILL BE INVITED TO PAY VIA BANK TRANSFER) UNLESS YOU
CONFIRM OTHERWISE WE WILL USE THE NAME & ADDRESS PROVIDED AT
REGISTRATION FOR YOUR INVOICE.
PLEASE NOTE
- TICKETS ARE ONLY REFUNDABLE SHOULD THE EVENT BE UNAVOIDABLY CANCELLED.
TICKETS ARE NOT TRANSFERABLE AND ENTRANCE WILL ONLY BE GRANTED TO
THE PERSON NAMED ON THE TICKET. WITH REASONABLE NOTICE GIVEN, WE
WILL ALLOW ONE NAME CHANGE PER TICKET AT A COST OF £25.00
+ VAT
If you have
any questions about the events, please do let us know. We look forward
to meeting you in May.
STOP
PRESS
LATEST NEWS
ON CHUCK & GEORGE @ BRITISH GROVE STUDIOS
For those of
you who have already booked your places at our upcoming recording
masterclass in May, and those still interested in securing their
ticket, we're pleased to announce more details of the schedule of
events.
During their
sessions Chuck and George will demonstrate live recording and mixing
in a variety of methodologies, both traditional and new, all focusing
on how to achieve the highest quality recordings.
Performances
from a live band will be recorded to different storage media along
with demonstrations in technique and technologies, from "pure
analog" to in-the-box. Each attendee will be able to participate
in all sessions, each of which will be designed to provide different
experiences in the recording and mixing process. There will be as
many hands-on, interactive demonstrations as are practical.
OUR SCHEDULED
TOPICS TO INCLUDE
Pre-Production
and its role in better quality music recording
Session planning
Instrument setup and effective microphone placement
Improving communication between artists, musicians & producer
Mixing with
your ears not your eyes
Having a sonic
(not necessarily a style) reference for keeping the dynamic
range open for as long as possible. Making delivery dynamics decisions
at mastering.
The importance
of Backup & Master Delivery
File naming and organization of metadata.
Keeping track of musicians' & performers information
(why you should note setup, instruments, amps, micing & processing)
Introduction:
Meet and greet. Who are Chuck & George? What have they done?
What are they going to do? A chance for everyone to say hello and
learn a little about each other's backgrounds. We plan to do this
in Control Room A with video support.
Firstly, talk
about critical listening & evaluation; making the right choices.
Talk about how to listen. Immersive listening, avoid the A/B, get
inside the sounds for the music. How to listen back to a take when
the band comes in. Choosing for feel as well as music or recording
technology. More than anything else, let the music win.
DAY ONE MORNING
- Recording in Studio A
Discuss the
project; Who's the band? What are we going for?
Hand out the mix list.
Discuss the setup. What's the best drum position? What are their
favorite mics? Discuss omnis and lack of proximity. Make sure your
assistant is in the loop too!
Talk about the
headphone mix. Difference of opinion is OK. Work together to get
a great headphone sound
Sonic leakage.
When to listen out for it. How to avoid it when you need to.
Drum sounds,
stereo micing, stereo Royer, the importance of phase between kick
and overheads, samples? Perhaps a reference to ToonTrack sample
library. Reducing leakage if necessary, the importance of not completely
isolating each drum. Importance of proper LEVELS in high-resolution
recording!
Electric guitar
sounds. Keyboard sounds.
Talk about production.
If the band don't have a rough or demo, get them to play it and
talk about it. Talk about how the song is presented. Perhaps it
doesn't need to sound like a slick demo.
Track a tune
or two. Do we use analogue 2" tape? People like analogue because
"analogue is cool" Consider the need for and importance
of good maintenance for analog recording.
1.00pm BREAK
FOR LUNCH, SERVED IN THE STUDIO REST AREA
DAY ONE AFTERNOON
- OVERDUBBING IN STUDIO A back to top
Guitar, keys overdubs, distant
micing, stereo micing, stereo Royer.
Acoustic piano mic placement. British Grove has a Bosendorfer, and
great upright. Hammond B-3 micing at 90º instead of 180º?
Vocal mics:
Set up of multiple mic choices in the booth so no-one knows what
they're listening to. Recording, editing and comping vocals with
vocalist.
When & how to use AutoTune / Celemony.
BACKUP!!
Talk about consolidation. Make consolidation for Studio A
FINISH SESSION @ 6.00PM
DAY TWO 9.00AM
START - MORNING
Recap day one
- thoughts, opinions & etc
Finish vocal comps if necessary, including discussion of tuning
etc.
Mixing in Studio A (Nuendo) & Studio B (Protools)
Divide up into two groups and approach two styles of mixing
The continuing importance of documentation - mention again track
naming, especially when going to a dig worksurface.
Chuck - to mix
large format in Studio A
o choose outboard gear - maybe compare analog gear with in-the-box
simulacrums (Bomb Factory plug-ins etc)
o track compression & mix-bus
o multiband compression ?
o blending with panning
o reverb & ambience
o parallel compression
o stems
1.00pm BREAK
FOR LUNCH, SERVED IN THE STUDIO REST AREA back to top
DAY
TWO - AFTERNOON - MIXING
George - mixing
in-the-box in Studio B
o when to use plug-ins
o track compression & mix-bus
o multiband compression ?
o reverb & ambience
o parallel compression in Protools (delay compensation)
o stems
Both groups
back together to evaluate the different methodologies.
