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jim anderson
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Posts posted by jim anderson
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As Auto-tune states, it's to be used on a track at a time.
It wouldn't know what to do using it the way you propose.
I've not aware of the program that you're referring to, sorry.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-Tune
is there some kind of a unit that can be hooked up to a cd or cassette player to correct speed/pitch on pre-recorded music? i have pitch control, but would like something that automatically corrects speed/pitch.
thanks
There are CD players that have variable pitch adjustment, as well as cassette players.
It wouldn't change the pitch automatically, you'd have to make the adjustment you require.
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Thanks J.H. I'm proud of those recordings and happy to have been lucky enough to have been asked to be involved. At the beginning of the series, I really was just beginning my New York career and it was difficult making a name for yourself, back then, with all the great talent that was working in the studios. I recorded albums 2-5 of John's suite of recordings. "Castles of Ghana" was recorded digitally, 2 track (Mitsubishi), at Eras Studio, NYC, "Dance of the Love Ghosts was recorded also 2 track at Sorcerer Sound, NYC, "Fields" and "Shadows" were recorded multi-track at A & R and mixed at the Gramavision Studio. The final two would have been analogue productions. Bob Ludwig mastered all of the Gramavision recordings and did a spectacular job getting this material on vinyl. He was doing a lot of DMM mastering at the time and had the experience and knowledge of how to get that amount of time on a side. (I know of a couple of classical recordings that Bob was responsible for that had a side length of at least 38 minutes, but then again that was DMM) There's a wide dynamic range on the Carter recordings and the loud moments don't last for long, resulting in a side that can hold all of those grooves. It's the land between the loud grooves that takes up all the space and results in a short side.
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Since I started reading this thread a couple of months ago I have discovered that I have a lot of cds with your name on them. Recently I purchased a cd, McCoy Tyner Play John Coltrane Live at the Village Vanguard. What a great album and a superb recording. I'm starting to think that I can pick this room out of a recording on a blindfold test. Do you have any interesting stories (music not gossip of course) about that recording?
Everything that I've heard with your name on it has been truly great and I think it's great the way you take the time to explain the details of your work here. I'm not even in the biz and I enjoy reading that stuff.
Dear Six,
Thanks for the kind words. The McCoy Tyner album was part of a series of recordings that we did as live radio broadcasts for WBGO (jazz radio in NYC) celebrating the anniversary of Impulse Records (other evenings featured Dianna Krall, Donald Harrison, and some others) over the course of a week. The McCoy album was the only one from the evenings recorded directly to two track, with no multi-track back-up. I used some of the same techniques that I used in the past on other recordings from the Vanguard (Benny Green, "Testifying" or Bebo Valdez "Live at the Village Vanguard"). One of the keys to those recordings are the use of omni-directional microphones to pick up the audience. Those omni's help to give the sense of the room to the recording. It also helps that I've worked with George and Al, a lot in the studio and have a good sense of their sound, as well. It's one of the best rooms in NYC for a live recording and part of that is the fact that it's not a very lively room, in the first place and they tend to not use a great deal of reinforcement for the audience. I've really enjoyed hearing music in the Vanguard when a band like Phil Woods plays there and uses no microphones or amplifiers for their set. Now, that's acoustic!
Best,
Jim
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For any Tec-Heads in the audience:
I wanted to alert you to this new service from AES:
AES JOURNAL PODCAST
Each month the AES Journal Podcast will quickly guide you through the contents of the Journal's papers, "back of the book" articles, and other Society activities. You can listen to the AES Journal Podcast on your computer or MP3 player. If you use an application such as iTunes you can subscribe to receive the AES Journal Podcast and have it delivered automatically to your computer each month. If you'd rather not subscribe, you can download each podcast episode individually. You can find subscribe and download links on the AES Podcasts page: <http://www.aes.org/podcasts/>
The AES Journal podcast is free and you can cancel at any time.
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SIDENOTE: Jim, any chance of getting NPR to do a story on the home studio revolution? I have the perfect band/project for them to discuss.
Using modern technology to record in an "old school" way, in the basement of a 100-year old house and getting professional results.Sounds interesting to me.
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I meant to indicate the tapes were loaded without any adjustments.
Still, your playback machine would have been adjusted to the NAB curve for playback, thus affecting the CCIR playback
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AH. Gotcha.
Check out page 8 of the following document: http://home.flash.net/~mrltapes/choo&u.pdf
Should put you in the ballpark.
I wouldn't recommend loading them into a DAW 'flat'. If I'm reading all of this correctly.
You'll be loading them in with the NAB curve, because that's what your machine is adjusted to.
There is no 'flat' setting or the equivalent of turning off the RIAA curve on an LP playback.
The best thing is to realign the machine for CCIR eq with an MRL tape and transfer the tape with that curve.
At NPR, we had tapes from the EBU all the time and had a set of playback cards that had been set for CCIR playback.
You'll get the best result, that way.
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Funny story. The second half was cringe inducing. Whoever that chick's producer is... well, I'll shut my mouth other than to say her statement that if you listen to the "great" singers for intonation, you'll be disappointed is crazy. Who does she consider great singers? Aren't the great singers the ones that can sing?
I hope they use autotune on that 22-year old singer because that was cringe inducing.
Or maybe make her do another take until she can sing it... novel concept.
SIDENOTE: Jim, any chance of getting NPR to do a story on the home studio revolution? I have the perfect band/project for them to discuss.
Using modern technology to record in an "old school" way, in the basement of a 100-year old house and getting professional results.Sounds interesting to me.
I'll send your note on to Ned Wharton, of NPR
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Good to hear the segment on pitch correction technology on Weekend Edition today where you took the human out of Lee Ann Hanson's all too human voice.
Liane and I have been friends for more than 30 years, going back to my days at NPR. The original recording by Noah was legendary among his NPR friends and the source of many laughs. We had a good laugh doing that piece, as well. The recording by Noah was the reason we used the tune "Take it to the Limit" in the first place. There's some video on the NPR site that you can see us in action.
Here's a link for the
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...11#commentBlock
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Jim - Out of curiousity, is there a (somewhat) comprehensive listing of what you've worked on available somewhere?
All Music has almost everything I've done.
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&s...3cfqxql5ldfe~T4
That's quite an impressive list. I see you recorded the final album by George Adams, Old Feelin'. What was it like to work with him?
There were a few albums with George at that time: Nightingale, America, along with Old Feelin'
Old Feelin' had an interesting, young rhythm section: Lewis on drums, Santi on bass, and Ray on piano along with the 'old guys': George, etc. and it might have been the first time that he had played with them. It pushed him in some different directions that he might not normally go.
You know that was 16 years ago and the fact that I'm having trouble thinking of any stories of George, means the sessions went smoothly. Not that you only remember the 'bad' ones or the 'hard' ones, but the more 'difficult' sessions do have a way of etching themselves in the memory. I can clearly see the session at Clinton Studio B and remembering working on a different approach to the drum sound for the album. It was a little more 'pop,' than jazz for the time and that approach was the right one for the album. It may have been direct to two track, as well. My partner, Kazunori Sugiyama, would remember, I'm sure. I'll ask him if he has any tales from the sessions.
My friend, Kazunori Sugiyama, producer of the three George Adams sessions for Somethin' Else, writes:
Multi-track recording. George sang on a few, tunes. He needed some takes, certainly. It was mixed at Effanel Music.
(Only Nightingale is Live to Two. America is also multi-track.)
This is the band that went to play Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival that year.
It could be that the band/booking was set first, and that made this recording as a release for their appearance.
George and Hannibal go back a long time and Jean-Paul knows George from Pullen/Adams days --- JP might have toured with them in Europe (probably he was with McCoy’s or Elvin’s then), or something.
Ray Gallon was a pianist for George’s Quartet for previous year’s Mt. Fuji Jazz Festival.
See, my memory is not infallible.
Kaz said he'd check his notes for any other insights.
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...The first high resolution project for me was Maria Schnieder's "Coming About" and there was no looking back after that.
A couple of days ago I received an e-mail from Maria Schneider with the news that Coming About is being reissued. Good news indeed!
I wonder if she'll use the 24 bit archive from the original mastering session?
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Jim - Out of curiousity, is there a (somewhat) comprehensive listing of what you've worked on available somewhere?
All Music has almost everything I've done.
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&s...3cfqxql5ldfe~T4
That's quite an impressive list. I see you recorded the final album by George Adams, Old Feelin'. What was it like to work with him?
There were a few albums with George at that time: Nightingale, America, along with Old Feelin'
Old Feelin' had an interesting, young rhythm section: Lewis on drums, Santi on bass, and Ray on piano along with the 'old guys': George, etc. and it might have been the first time that he had played with them. It pushed him in some different directions that he might not normally go.
You know that was 16 years ago and the fact that I'm having trouble thinking of any stories of George, means the sessions went smoothly. Not that you only remember the 'bad' ones or the 'hard' ones, but the more 'difficult' sessions do have a way of etching themselves in the memory. I can clearly see the session at Clinton Studio B and remembering working on a different approach to the drum sound for the album. It was a little more 'pop,' than jazz for the time and that approach was the right one for the album. It may have been direct to two track, as well. My partner, Kazunori Sugiyama, would remember, I'm sure. I'll ask him if he has any tales from the sessions.
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Lately I've really been enjoying JJ Johnson's Quintergy Vanguard set. I have to say that, the live sound Jim achieved is IMO stunning, VV never sounded so good...and this from the early digital age....
Thanks. There's another album from those same sessions at the Vanguard, "Standards."
Those albums were recorded direct to 2 track stereo in the Effanel Recording Truck (the Bread Truck) with no multi-track back-up.
That was typical and standard for the time.
With a band like that, you could walk away with a pretty good mix.
J.J. also came into the project prepared.
The arrangements were concise and he knew what he wanted.
Have you heard J. J.'s "The Brass Orchestra?"
That's the last project that I did with him.
He called me a little while before he died and asked if I'd be interested in working on a solo project with him.
I told him, of course I would. I'd be happy to record an album where he just held the horn!
He was one of a kind.
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it's interesting because I have been doing some basement recordings with my masterlink, to 24/96; even with the machine's built-in converters there is a major improvement over 16/44 (or 48); until I did an A/B I had no real idea, and now it's hard to go back -
I totally agree. The first high resolution project for me was Maria Schnieder's "Coming About" and there was no looking back after that.
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Jim - Out of curiousity, is there a (somewhat) comprehensive listing of what you've worked on available somewhere?
All Music has almost everything I've done.
http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&s...3cfqxql5ldfe~T4
Hi Jim,
I enjoy most of your work but I was a little disapointed with the new Patricia Barber, (especially the music) but also I do not think the recording is as good as some of her previous cd's.
I mentioned before how impressed I was with the Fiazzoli piano sound, but on this one it is not as good.
Sorry.
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Jim - Out of curiousity, is there a (somewhat) comprehensive listing of what you've worked on available somewhere?
All Music has almost everything I've done.
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Jim, congratulations! That's fantastic! I hope to come to an AES convention someday. My good friend and studio-owner Glenn Brown loves going (he met you at the convention in 2006 in NYC).
Sidenote about high sample rate digital audio: Do you agree with Lavry that 192kHz is pointless and that really a sample rate of 60kHz would be more than adequate for digital audio? Do you use 96kHz because of the compatibility with DVD?
Thanks. I'm honored to have been elected to this post. There's been some amazing people in this position and I'm thrilled to have my chance.
My feeling is that it's the bit depth that really matters. The difference between 16 bit and 24 bit is truly dramatic and the higher sampling rate is really the icing on the cake. I use the 96K rate to get the highest reasonable sampling rate without the extraordinary size of the 192 files. The 96K rate is large enough without filling up the drive. Also, some PT rigs will limit you to the amount of tracks that you can run at 192 and that's not a problem with 96.
By the way, my recording of Gonzalo Rubalcaba, "Avatar," is in the same category as Bebo's Village Vanguard album. Watch, Kenny G will prevail.
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By the way, I've been elected to the presidency of the Audio Engineering Society.
I thought you might like to read my message to the members of the AES.
http://www.aes.org/journal/presidents_messages/
Also if I could encourage any of you to become members and become an active part of the Society, I will have done my job.
Best,
Jim
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Jim, when you re-do an older album for surround, do you have to upsample the audio or where you prescient on most stuff and recording at higher bitrates?
Jim,
We've done a little of both. When the original was recorded on a 3348 (Sony digital multitrack, only capable of 16/44.1 or 48) or some such format, I'll upsample it to take advantage of the higher rate for the effects, etc. And that's not that long ago!
Almost everything, these days is 24/96 at the very least.
We did manage to archive everything for the last 12 years at 24 bit. Some labels, such as Enja, have been taking advantage of that fact and reissuing that material with the higher bit rate as the source.
Those could be offered to other formats in the future, as well.
Jim
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Bebo Valdes & Javier Colina--Live at the Village Vanguard.
The recording really captures the ambiance of the Vanguard, and is in addition a fabulous performance by the great Cuban pianist. I wish I had been there but this recording makes me feel like I am there. Thanks.
Thanks. I've worked with Bebo many times in the studio and this was the first instance of working with him live. He performed only one set per night, but that set was usually 2 and a half hours long! We recorded for 3 nights and what you're hearing is the best from the three. We set up the Effanel truck on 7th Avenue and recorded from there. All of the microphones were amplified from the stage and the A/D/Fiber optic conversion happened there, as well. In the truck, we recorded on redundant Pro-Tools rigs and a set of DA-98 tapes for further redundancy. A little while later, we met and mixed the whole project in a day at Avatar Studio B. My favorite track is "Bilongo." The audience reaction is incredible as they realize they know this tune from many years ago and they sing along. It was the only time this happened and it's a special moment in the album. I'd love to remix the album for surround and really put you in the crowd! I just got done remixing "Bebo de Cuba" for surround, this past summer. I'm hoping for a possible Blue Ray release on that.
If we're lucky we'll find ourselves with another Latin Grammy, tomorrow night, for our live from the Village Vanguard. Wish us luck!
Best,
Jim
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funny about Vanguard, where,as you mentioned, David worked - because I remember we were having a very long talk about classic recordings and the rooms they were recorded in - and we both happened to share a dislike for some of the 1950s Vanguards, which were recorded in a room that was just a little bit too reverberant - to this day I find some of those hard to listen to -
The room that was used for classical music by Vanguard was just up the street from the Vanguard studio on 23rd Street (east of 6th Avenue on the north side) in the Masons meeting room (which I remember as being on the 5th floor). The room was used extensively by Vanguard, and others, until the Masons decided to carpet the entire room. There were a few pop albums made there, also. I remember Dave Hewett from Record Plant Remote, at the time, telling me about a Joe Jackson album that they had tracked there. Also, Wynton Marsalis used it a few times when he couldn't get into RCA Studio A.
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Here's the article that I wrote for the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society:
August 2004
David Baker, a noted audio engineer, who specialized in jazz, member of the Society and friend, died at the age of 58 in Rochester, New York on July 14, 2004.
In the jazz world there are two David Bakers by name: one a leading composer from the University of Indiana and the other an unparalleled engineer. To those of us who knew “Baker”, there was only one.
David was born into the audio business as his father, Harry, owned Baker Audio in Atlanta. The company specialized in audio installations for home and professionals. David fondly recalled how, as a young boy, his father would take him to public spaces where he was responsible for the public address installation. The pair would stand and listen for a moment to the public address system and its quality. Harry Baker would exclaim to his young son: “That’s my sound!” Looking back, I believe, that’s where David started his quest to find his own sound. In the back room at Baker Audio, David began experimenting with an Ampex 600 series tape recorder. His living in the south and his audio explorations would eventually lead to his documenting moments in the civil rights struggle of the 60’s. The recordings resulted in the aural history album “Movement Soul” which was released by Folkways.
David rarely spoke of his training at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto or at the Institute of Audio Research in New York City, but I’m sure he felt that his real education began at the Apostolic Studios, which were a part of Vanguard Records in the 60’s and 70’s. At Vanguard, David worked with many of the influential rock and jazz performers of the day. My first sightings of his credit for engineering were on “Introducing Larry Coryell and the 11th House” and “Jaco” with Jaco Pastorius, Pat Metheny and Paul Bley in the mid 1970’s. With recordings such as those to his name, he was, in my mind, already a legend.
During the early 1980’s, David was no longer to me a credit line on a recording but a close and trusted friend. I remember seeing his date book listing his work for a month. There listed in his upcoming work was a Who’s Who in the world of jazz: Art Blakey, Joe Henderson, Jack DeJohnette, Dave Liebman, Tommy Flanagan, Art Farmer, Elvin Jones, John Abercrombe, Max Roach...one could only dream to work with musicians of such a caliber.
David was always busy and always in demand in the studio. If I knew David was working, I would drop by the studio to watch him work and take a look at his layout of musicians and his microphone arrangement. He played a recording studio like a musical instrument and he was never afraid to let anyone, musicians, technicians and producers alike, have the benefit of his knowledge. David always remarked that there were no secrets or mystery in audio and anyone that tried to say that there were were, was a charlatan.
David was also never afraid to have or give his honest opinion. I recently asked producer Michael Cuscuna about pianist Don Pullen’s final recording “Sacred Common Ground” which Michael produced and David recorded in Power Station’s Studio C in 1994. He told me this story: The recording was a rather complicated arrangement with Native American drummers and singers, African percussionists, and jazz instrumentalists all recorded direct to two track. Late in the session, which was early in the morning, around 3 am, a tired and confused Don Pullen asked Michael, “What do you think?” Cuscuna replied that he wasn’t certain and he turned the question back to Don. Pullen had no idea, either. Don then asked David for his input. “I don’t know, Don” was the response from David and then he left the control room to get some air. When David had gone Don shook his head and said to Michael: “For twenty-five years, he’s been giving me his opinion when I never asked for it and now that I ask for it, he doesn’t have one!”
And now that David has left the room, I’d like to hear his opinion one more time.
He is survived by his wife, Kyoko, four sisters, and a couple thousand wonderful recordings.
-Jim Anderson
President Elect Audio Engineering Society
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Will you guys be coming out to San Francisco for the AES Convention in October?
If so, let's get together.
Here's a link for more information
Conversations with Jim Anderson
in Audio Talk
Posted
Take a look at the Peterson Strobe Tuner and some of their other products.
http://www.petersontuners.com/index.cfm?category=67
It's much like the Conn Tuner that I grew up with.