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"...the fewer microphones you have, the more likely you are to get a really first class recording. Microphones are stupid. They pick up everything that comes their way. So the more mikes you have, the more phase differences you get, plus you pick up all the reflections from the acoustical environment. It all adds up to a mess."

"...then we began to think that sometimes the center of the orchestra, which was behind the soloist, sounded a little subdued-- that it wasn't being picked up properly. So we thought, let's put a couple of mikes up for the woodwinds, just to have a little more control. And then, well, maybe we don't hear the percussion quite enough. Eventually it just got out of hand."(1)

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1. Many more microphones were used in order to close-mic all of the instruments in an ensemble. The purpose was to establish enough separation between instrumental tracks so that electronic editing of individual tracks would be possible.

2. Often, close mics alone would not establish the desired separation. Therefore, acoustical panels, isolation booths and general deadening of studio acoustics were also used.

3. The measures described above made it difficult or impossible for the musicians to hear each other properly. Therefore, headphone cue systems were used, with each musician on a set of headphones.

4. As the above measures eliminated any sense of room ambience in the recorded sound, artificial reverberation was used as a substitute.

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The performance problems are obvious enough: an ensemble of musicians used to hearing each other acoustically must now hear each other over headphones, with the balance they hear determined not just by them, but by the engineer doing the headphone mix. And for some instruments (such as the brass), the experience of hearing one-self over headphones while playing can be so different from the acoustical experience that it can affect one's ability to play normally, and so require a difficult period of adjustment.

The sound problems derive from the nature of the ensemble: the big band contains several groups of instruments that are balanced in a particular way. A good analogy is the vocal choir. When recording a choir of, say, 40 singers, it is not considered good engineering practice to separately mic each singer. The sound of the choir will not be properly reproduced by 40 separate close mics; the blend and balance of the ensemble will be compromised. This is why, in recording a vocal choir, we use a few microphones placed some distance from the ensemble, so as to pick up the blend and balance that it already has.

In its own way, the big band resembles the vocal ensemble: we have a section of trumpets, a section of trombones, a section of saxophones, all supported by a rhythm section. The more astute arrangers and composers have always written so as to take advantage of the way these sections balance and blend, both internally and with each other. Older recording methods were designed with that in mind.

Multi-track techniques, however, are designed to provide separation between instruments for reasons of production convenience. When this objective is achieved, the natural balance and blend of the ensemble is stripped away. It is then the task of the engineer to restore those qualities by electronic means during mix-down. It is here that we face an engineering dilemma: the tools that are most commonly available are not adequate to the task. If it were just a matter of setting balances correctly, or of some re-equalizing, or of adding a little reverberation, perhaps an exceptional engineer could produce completely satisfactory results. But the sound of the ensemble consists of all of these things and more in a complex interaction. With current tools and methods the best engineer in the world can only provide an approximation of what we would like to hear.

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The main problem is the large number of microphones in use, and their tendency to interfere with each other. In the studio, careful placement of the musicians, acoustical treatment of the space and other measures can be used to control problems of sound leakage between mics. But in live performance those options are often not available. If the space is acoustically small (as on a night club bandstand, for example) the recording can become a study in the effects of phase interference between multiple microphones. Recording all the mics to separate tracks is no help, as the problem is acoustical. Indeed, recording to separate tracks may conceal the extent of the problem until mix-down, when it is too late to do much about it.

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The band was recorded in a medium sized chapel with moderately live acoustics. The band setup was approximately the same as for live performance. A single stereo microphone, centered on the horn sections, provided the main pickup. Two spot mics were used: one on the acoustic bass, the other on the piano. Harry James and the other horn soloists simply stood at an appropriate distance and played at the stereo mic. The mix of, essentially, four microphones (counting the stereo mic as two) was then sent directly to the disk-cutting lathes (and to analog 2-track tape as a backup) without further modification. (2)

As heard on the recent CD reissue (Harry James and his Big Band, "The King James Version", Sheffield Lab 10068-2-F) this recording has a kind of clarity and palpable sense of reality that is all too rare in commercial big band recordings. And it is one of a very few recordings to reproduce the wide dynamic range of this formidable ensemble.

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1. The room has to be suitable to the music. The main pickup mics will be hearing a good deal of the room. If it is too small, or too reflective in the immediate performance area, or has other obvious defects, a change of venue may be the only sure remedy.

2. The musicians have to be good. A band that plays with poor balance, no sense of dynamics, and is out of tune to boot, will sound every bit as bad as it is.

3. The engineer has to be good. He or she has to be expert at selecting and placing microphones for best advantage in various rooms. A clear concept of how a good big band should sound on record is a prerequisite.

Whatever the additions and variations of technique, the goal is the same: to produce a convincing illusion of the ensemble sound as it might be heard in a good live performance. In this respect, recording the big band is conceptually similar to recording the symphony orchestra. We should note that classical recording engineers, after passing through a phase of using 20 or 30 microphones to record an orchestra, have returned to using simpler techniques that better withstand the clarity of digital recording.

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Then there are situations where amplified sound being produced in the venue is a problem.  In particular, on-stage monitor speakers can bleed into any microphones that are not close to the intended sound source. This problem can be corrected by careful attention to the placement and operating levels of the monitor speakers, but there are situations where this will not be possible. (Example: the band is accompanying a famous vocalist, whose demands for monitor volume can be met only at the expense of the band's sound.) Then, close mics on all the instruments may be the only workable solution.

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1. Do not over-mic. For example: many rock engineers will habitually use 8 or 9 microphones on a drum set. For the purposes of rock, where the drums are front and center in the mix, this is fine. But the jazz big band drummer has a supportive role in the ensemble. The exaggerated imaging made possible by the rock pickup works against that role. We need to pick up the sound of the set approximately as the drummer hears it. This can be done with 3 or 4 mics (say, stereo overheads and a spot mic on the kick drum).

2. Be wary of interference effects among all those horn mics. The saxophone section is a particular trouble spot. Because the saxes are not as loud as the brass, each sax will likely get an individual mic. The placement and polar response of those mics are important. In this particular case, mics with bi-directional (figure-eight) patterns may be the best solution; the narrow acceptance angle and pronounced 90 degree rejection can be used to advantage.

3. As a matter of course, you should monitor the session in both stereo and mono, so as to catch any microphone interference-related problems. If certain mics seem especially problematic when included in the mix, record them to separate tracks. This will, at least, preserve the option of not using them in the final mix.

4. If the placement of the instruments in the stereo mix corresponds to how they were placed on the stage, many imaging and phasing problems can be reduced, or even eliminated. Disregarding this rule when mixing live concert material almost guarantees that such problems will occur.

5. If you are doing the final mix-down, try and do it in a facility where you are intimately familiar with the sound of the room and the monitors. The mixing flexibility that multi-track methods permit make it easy to make bad mixing decisions. If you are being fooled by unfamiliar monitors, a bad mix is likely.

By "recent" I guess I mean, of the digital era. This one qualifies, having been recorded with the Soundstream system. I have not heard the CD issue (which may be out of print at this writing) but as the quality of the LP is exceptionally good, I would not expect drastic differences.

This recording is another important example of the use of a simple main pickup. It was made in a medium-sized theatre with a nice, resonant acoustic. The band was set up on the stage as if for a concert: three rows of horns, rhythm section to the left. Jack Renner placed a spaced array of 3 omni-directional mics directly in front of and about 7 feet above the saxes as his main pickup. A pair of mics were placed out in the hall to pick up additional ambience. Spot mics were used on the piano, the bass, and on the various horn soloists. All this was mixed live to 2-track digital.

In comparing this recording to "The King James Version", the main differences are in how the two bands balance themselves, and in the use of spot mics for horn solos. A lot of the difference in balances has to do with the arranging; Harry James used Ernie Wilkins and others who wrote in the acoustic style developed before electronic amplification became common in live performance. Thad Jones (who wrote all the charts for "Naturally") came out of that tradition (he wrote many arrangements for Count Basie in the 1950's), but adopted a more modern style when writing for the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra. That style tends to rely on the sound system to balance soloists against the band, which allows backgrounds to solos to be louder. It is also a denser style-- there is often more going on at once--and one that encourages powerful brass playing. We certainly get that from the Mel Lewis Orchestra, and the recording reproduces it all to great effect.

I have a minor nit to pick: Mel Lewis' pianist, Jim McNeely, is an exceptional soloist and is featured on three of the six tracks on the record. The rather plain mono pickup of his piano does not really do him justice. I would prefer to mic the piano in stereo and spread it a bit in the stereo image. Since the piano would be amplified in live performance, I don't think this would violate the spirit of this recording, and the tonal quality would likely be better. However, this is only a detail in a generally superior recording.

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Count Basie and His Orchestra, "On the Road" (CD, PABLO OJCCD-854-2 [2312-112], recorded 1979)
Producer: Norman Granz, Engineer: Dave Richards

This is a live concert recording, at the Montreux Festival in Switzerland, mixed live to digital 2-track (the Sony system, probably the PCM 1610). It is a very interesting study in the problems of a multi-mic pickup in a live performance venue.

Dave Richards evidently did not have a full sound check before the concert began, so we get to hear him building his mix during the opening number, "Wind Machine". He starts with just the rhythm section mics open, as Basie does one of his classic piano-and- rhythm introductions. Then, as the other sections of the band start to join in, the mics on those sections are brought up, section by section. This allows us to judge the amount of leakage between the various section pickups; it is significant. By the end of the second number, "Blues for Stephanie", things have settled down enough that the remaining changes in the mix are largely confined to fine tuning.

Throughout the record, the balances between the horn sections are a problem. The saxes, especially, tend to loose clarity and at times all the horns tend to mush together in the mix. Integrating the close-up stereo drum mix into the general sound also proves difficult. There are constant little adjustments to the mix throughout as Richards wrestles with these problems. As good an engineer as he is, he can only succeed to a limited extent, given the effect of so many mics interacting in a small space.

Fortunately, the performance captured here transcends any problems with the sound. If you want an example of a great big band in full cry, inspired by an appreciative audience, this record is hard to beat.

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Diane Schuur and The Count Basie Orchestra (CD, GRP records GRD- 9550, recorded 1987)
Produced by Morgan Ames and Jeffrey Weber, Executive Producers: Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen. Live recording engineer: Alan Sides. Recorded on the Mitsubishi X850 32-track digital recorder. Mixed by Don Murray.

This should have been a great sounding record. Diane Schuur is a powerful singer and the Basie band is still a first-rate ensemble, even without Basie. The recording, performed in front of an audience, was made in a studio (A&M studios, at the time one of Hollywood's biggest) and the engineer for the live pickup was Alan Sides, who is highly respected in the business. And, co-producer Jeffrey Weber was an assistant on some of Sheffield Lab's early direct-to-disk recordings. So, why don't I like it?

The chief reason is the balances, which are very strange and have nothing to do with how the Basie band sounds live. For example, in much of track 7, "You Can Have It", the loudest instruments in the mix are the bass (really in-your-face) and...the drummer's high-hat cymbal! The rest of the band is wailing away (this is definitely not a ballad), somewhere off in the background.

The session photos on the album show the band set up in normal concert fashion: three rows of horns with the rhythm section to the left. But what we hear on the recording is a huge drum set spread from left to right (with that high-hat poking out of the center), the piano about in the middle, the bass out in front and much too loud, and the saxes and brass both to the left and right, set well back. The brasses hardly ever sound like trumpet or trombone sections--individual horns tend to stick out and recede--and they may as well be in the next room for all the presence they have. The overall effect makes it sound as if Diane Schuur is being backed by an energetic combo of a half dozen players.

While it would be tempting to blame it all on the mix-down engineer (Don Murray of Capitol studios), he had to answer to two producers, two executive producers and a star singer. I suspect all those cooks fixed it in the mix, really fixed it. In a perverse way, this record is a good argument for live to 2-track recording.

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Mel Torme/Rob McConnell and The Boss Brass (CD, Concord Jazz CCD- 4306, recorded 1986)
Producer: Carl Jefferson, Engineer: Phil Sheridan.

This is another big-band-with-vocalist affair, recorded to digital multi-track in Toronto. The performers are certainly fine; Mel Torme is in good form, McConnell is an expert arranger and The Boss Brass are a collection of the best studio musicians in Toronto. The production team is also confidence-inspiring: producer Carl Jefferson has made dozens of albums for Concord Jazz notable for their fine sound. All the ingredients were in place for a spectacular sounding record. But the result does not sound great; it is merely adequate. What happened?

This record is a perfect example of a good engineer and producer struggling with the limitations of multi-track methods. The worst problems are avoided; there are no strange balances, ugly tonal qualities, or other such distractions. There is always reasonable clarity, and nothing is overdone. Yet, the mix is oddly two-dimensional with little sense of depth. If you were in the room with this 22-piece big band the impact of the sound would just blow you away, but the recording is tame, to the point that one becomes aware of such details as the artificial coloration of the reverb.

Comparing this recording with "Sinatra's Swingin' Session"(3) is an eye-opening experience. The older recording features a wide stereo spread that sounds wonderful on loudspeakers, and the clear divisions between instrumental sections, the way little details of the arrangements are highlighted but never distract--well, this is how a recording of this kind should sound. Only a slight edginess in the treble and a bit of tape hiss give away the recording's age.

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It is clear that we have to stop using so many microphones to record big bands; that we need to pay more attention to what the music and the ensemble really sound like, and use methods that will reproduce that sound. The alternative--just continuing to use multi-track methods because "that's how it's done"--will not do justice to the music, or to our ability to record it.

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2. My thanks to Doug Sax for responding to my questions about these sessions.

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3. "Sinatra's Swingin' Session" has been released on CD, Capitol CDP 7 46573 2. The recording methods used for this album weredescribed in Part 1 of this paper, under the heading "The engineering style of the three-track era: some examples".

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copyright 1997 by Robert Auld