Can you talk a little about how you got into recording engineering? Did you start out as a musician or engineer?
Both actually, but at first I didn't combine the two. I lived in Switzerland at that time. I came to the U.S. when I was 28. I had built an amplifier that didn't work, so I went to the local hi-fi guru [Freddy Whettler] in Zurich to ask him what was wrong with it. He looked at it and said, well, you have to ground it here, you have to do this, you have to do that... Then it worked — we became friends and he became my boss. He was very much involved in recordings and building equipment. We started out on wire recorders, editing by knotting the wires together, then progressed to the Magnecorders — that was a mono machine. It was sent by a company in New York for us to record in Europe for them. The company was MMS [Music Masterpiece Society]. We called it Music Murder Society. [laughs] That was the reason everything started to roll, because my boss was so mad about what they were doing with equalizers in the States (basically boosting mid-range to sound better on cheap equipment). He didn't spare any words about that.
When was this?
1955. They wanted to fire him and put me in his place. I didn't want that — he was my mentor and friend. I called Vanguard here [in New York] because I knew their recordings. At first I wrote but I didn't get any answers. Then I called Seymour Solomon, who was the head of Vanguard. He told me, "Well, I'll be in Vienna. Come over and we'll see." That's how I became assistant producer and engineer at Vanguard. In '65 I left Vanguard and started Elite Recordings.
So you trained mostly with your mentor in Switzerland?
The technical part, yes, but I already had a musical background. He was a technical wizard — we complimented each on the musical side, overlapping on the technical side. That's also the way I worked when later, Joanna Nickrenz joined in '69. We both were producing and I was engineering. It slowly overlapped since she was doing all the editing, so I said if you're doing all the editing you might as well produce.
How have your recording techniques evolved over such a long career in classical work? How, for example, did you mic up the early Vanguard sessions?
Even before that, the idea was, to be as faithful to the score as possible and not try to gimmick things up. And that led to essentially two mic pickups for stereo and possibly some reinforcement. But keeping in mind that you have two ears, two microphones are what you need for stereo. In other words, not to flatten out the stage by having all sorts of microphones in the orchestra, bringing everything forward. The back of the orchestra is not meant to be heard up close.
In a recording, do you try to present an ideal audience perspective, say in the center of the 12th row?
To a certain extent, yes. But keeping in mind that a recording is a recording, and there are a couple of things that you have to take into consideration. You don't have visual contact with the artist on stage. But in essence I'm trying to get as good as possible a sound, say fourth or fifth row, about ten feet up, so that you have an overview of the orchestra.
Did you experiment with many stereo main pairs before settling on what you have now?
I have used the same microphones since 1960. And so far I have not found better ones.
The Schoeps 221s [with the 934 capsule]?
Yes. I have nine other Schoeps CM60s that I use for reinforcement, and they have essentially the same sound. Even in Europe, I was using Schoeps. I knew Schoeps personally in Karlsruhe, my boss was a friend of his, and ever since, I've been using the same mic. I've tried others, but for one reason or another I'd give up on them. There's another very famous microphone that we used on a session in L.A. for Johann Christian Bach's "Harpsichord Concerto", with solo and continuo-harpsichord in the orchestra. With the Schoeps I had the perfect balance. With the other mics next to them, you couldn't even hear the continuo-harpsichord...
Balancing that instrumentation is a difficult task...
Yes. I mean physics is physics — sound pressure diminishes by the square of the distance. But for some reason these Schoeps microphones have much deeper reach.
Did you always use omnis in spaced pairs? Did you try ORTF or coincident setups?
I just don't like the sound of cardioid microphones. To me it sounds tubby, like hooting into a barrel, especially on piano. I get a much more satisfying sound picture with the omnis. Of course that depends on the acoustics of the hall — most of the time we don't have a choice with the hall. We go where the orchestras are. Then I have to adapt my technique to the specific quirks of the hall.
Some people who support ORTF, NOS or Blumlein over-spaced omnis argue that the AB pair creates an exaggerated image, despite the wide bandwidth.
But that's how you space the microphones. If you want the early days of stereo, having the express train roaring from one side to the other, that's one thing. But if you have the distance between the mics such that you don't have the tennis effect — I'm perfectly satisfied with what I'm getting with the AB setup. It sounds the most natural for the depth and width of the stage.
Do you alter your setup and positioning much between orchestra and chamber sessions?
Well, yes and no. You bring the mics closer. But most recordings I've heard lately in classical, specifically, are recorded too close. It's probably a spin-off of super high fidelity, where you have to hear every scratch, but it's not musical. I try to have my distance and let the sound develop before it reaches the mic.
What would be a typical setup for an orchestra?
It depends on the size of the orchestra and the hall, but I would say four mics in front, with the outer mics panned in slightly and whatever reinforcement mics I need. The better a composition is orchestrated, the fewer mics I need. Each additional mic is essentially a crutch. But sometimes you have to — for instance if the bassoon is playing a passage with the cello and you don't hear the bassoon, you have to do something about it or reseat them.
How often do you balance the sound by reseating musicians or raising them on platforms instead of moving microphones?
It happens. First of all, of course, you talk it over with the conductor. Usually if we know each other, you have carte blanche to do that. What I do very often is put the harp in the violin section (between first and second) to avoid having a mic on the harp — it still has the distance [to the main mics]. It depends entirely on the score.
What were you recording onto in those days? Nagra or Stellavox?
I had a Stellavox. Actually I have serial number two. I used that just for the National Geographic field recordings — but essentially Ampex and Scully machines. Eventually Scully 4-track for ambience recording — not as four channel recording, but in case I need more ambience I can mix it in. And that has come in handy today because these recordings can be released in surround.
That's a lot of lifting work! Ampex's so- called "portable" recorder was two heavy cases.
Yeah — it had handles! The board has also shrunk. I had the Studer [model 169]. It's got a large handle — it's "portable," but it's heavy! Now I use Mackies and they are fine, even without a handle.
You have always mixed live to 2-track at the session?
Yes. I set balances when the orchestra is warming up, then I would ask the conductor for specific passages, a good fortissimo, for example, or some relevant passage in the score. Within a few minutes I'd have my balance. But I can only do this on headphones.
You never used speakers to monitor?
No, although we do set up monitor speakers. I don't believe in monitors because they sound different in every room you go. Besides you hear any movement on the faders immediately with headphones. With the speakers you have too many distractions, people moving around and talking...
Have you stuck with the same head- phones as well?
No, no. With the mics being constant, the headphones got better and better. I used to have the Beyer DT- 48, which I thought was the cat's last meow. Then came the Sony DR-26 and now I'm using some other Sonys. To make a loudspeaker that's as flat as the headphones is almost impossible, but these come quite close I must say. [Innersound Kachina monitors that were just being installed at Elite.]
You're not bothered by the discrepancy in imaging with the headphones?
I compensate for that.
Did you ride the levels much during recording?
