SQ on "bass player" albums

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

wow, oh wow. im checking out leroy vinnagar "leroy walks!"- dunann definely got the bass "upfront" in the mix, i dont know what the hell they were mixing, since its only a mono recording, it was all cut on one track, right, well maybe i mean the 'micing', I DONT KNOW: all im saying, its this is from 195? and you can TELL its a "bass player's" album. i mean the bass is rockin' it right up front way more in the mix than most regular old sessions of the time. what i wanted to know is, is whims of chambers like too, was vangelder doing something similar for these types of speciality dates

[mikeweil]

Listen to the sound of Paul Chambers on the two Contemporary LPs by Art Pepper (A.P. Meets The Rhythm Section & Gettin' Together) and then any RVG recording of Chambers - Du Nann and Holzer were head and shoulders above RVG, sound-wise, IMHO.

On the quartet number on Whims of Chambers the bass is a bit more present, but not as up front as Vinegar, and the tracks with horns are recorded as usual.

[thomastreichler]

Listen to the sound of Paul Chambers on the two Contemporary LPs by Art Pepper (A.P. Meets The Rhythm Section & Gettin' Together) and then any RVG recording of Chambers - Du Nann and Holzer were head and shoulders above RVG, sound-wise, IMHO.

Yes, absolutely right!

[flat5]

My guess: It was Vineger's date. He probably had some input on the mix.

[mikeweil]

There was no "mix" - these dates were recorded directly to mono tape. They could have agreed beforehand about details of the mix, but not in the way modern multi-miking allows.

Edited September 22, 2011 by mikeweil

[flat5]

By my definition, even if it's one mic, it's a mix.

You don't think they used a mixer for mono recordings?

I did.

[Joe]

Another good example of DuNann's engineering prowess with respect to bass players-as-leaders...

PRESENTING RED MITCHELL

Red had a unique sound and approach to his instrument -- he's a "softer" (volume, I mean) player than Vinnegar, for sure -- and DuNann does his best to put Red front and center here.

[mikeweil]

By my definition, even if it's one mic, it's a mix.

You don't think they used a mixer for mono recordings?

I did.

Of course they had to use some mixing console when they used more than one mic. When you use only one mic, you go right into the tape recorder (maybe through some transforming or pre-amp unit), as every unit in between affects the sound. But by convention you call it mixing when you correct the balance of multiple channels after the fact - read the small print on the earliest Blue Note CDs where they proudly state that no mixing was required.

When you do a live recording in mono with only one mic - which sometimes yields great results when the acoustics are good - you call it something like "air mix" ...

Edited September 22, 2011 by mikeweil

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

it really sounds great. im sure that red mitchell does too. dont have that one though. so happy i got the leroy at least. just saw one for 49.99. got my copy for 5 big ones a few days earlier, thank god

[flat5]

I really like that pic of Red, cat, bass.

He did look much hipper later on :-)

[clifford_thornton]

Me too! Great cover.

[Chuck Nessa]

The recording in question was recorded in stereo. Geez! Even earlier mono Contemporary dates were done with multiple microphones. Mixing happened all the time.

[mikeweil]

But once they had established a mix, they kept it for the date, or did they mix from the multi-tracks tape after the session? Which year did they start that procedure?

[Joe]

it really sounds great. im sure that red mitchell does too. dont have that one though. so happy i got the leroy at least. just saw one for 49.99. got my copy for 5 big ones a few days earlier, thank god

One of the earliest, if not the earliest, of Billy Higgins' recordings. Plus James Clay and Lorraine Geller; superb stuff. IIRC from the notes, this was or was close to being a working band...

[JohnS]

Listen to the sound of Paul Chambers on the two Contemporary LPs by Art Pepper (A.P. Meets The Rhythm Section & Gettin' Together) and then any RVG recording of Chambers - Du Nann and Holzer were head and shoulders above RVG, sound-wise, IMHO.

Yes, absolutely right!

Agree