Well, I'm back in Norway, cross eyed from jet lag and ready to share some info on Steve Remote's live recording of Conrad Herwig's project "The Latin Side of Wayne Shorter" featuring Brian Lynch and Eddie Palmieri. Steve was gracious/dumb enough to allow a total stranger access to his process of live remote recording. My thanks to Steve and his band of elves for allowing me to photograph them in order to share with both you and my students.

I'll be making about 28 posts so, as always, please hold your comments/applause until after all the contestants have been announced.

And now, on with the show:

Here is the club site with "The Bread Mobile" in position at 11am on the first day of recording. The elves, Jon, Robert, Adam and observer/helper/apprentice/gearslut Michal are rigging the sound, electricity and video snakes under the club. The weather was bad and getting worse by the minute. (Click on thumbnail to enlarge.)

Here is Jon on the narrow stairs down to the cellar. He didn't see his shadow......

Michal is seen here pulling the snakes through a small access hole.

Adam is up on the ladder running the snakes through some bungie cords mounted on the canopy in order to fly them over the sidewalk. Jon and Robert advise and point. Gotta avoid those frivilous lawsuits...

Robert is shown here tying in the electrical lines. After some head scratching, burnt fingertips, emergency CPR and careful measuring with a voltage meter, the Bread Mobile comes to life.

Here is the cellar. The snake and video cables hang from the ceiling, running under the entire length of the club.

This is the stage pre setup.

Here is Michal and Jon with the active splitter box under the piano. The splitter was later moved to stage left due to practical considerations.

Robert is shown here setting up Steve Remote's remote controlled remote camera for remote recording. Nifty little toy....

Here are Adam and Steve discussing pre sound check logistics. It looks like they're posing, but they're really aren't....it's all business with Steve. And falafels...

Jon mounts the stage right room mic. Milab DC96B's were used for left, right and center. The mics were taped to ensure that no accidental noogies occured.

Now we're getting to the cool stuff.... The congas are stereo miked with the new Milab DC196's. A 12db pad was inserted. They sounded fabulous! The overhead is a Royer 121 ribbon. What!? A figure eight on a live recording? Well, check out Steve's nifty little filter he has on the backside (The "MicroGobo". Gotta trademark that puppy, Steve!). A great little homemade gadget pulled out of the the "necessity is the mother of invention" well. If Steve is feeling magnanimous, perhaps he will share his secret. I'll give you a hint (see pic #2). Pedro Martinez was laying down the groove.

Here is the right side of the drum kit. Steve has the standard Shure SM57 on the snare together with a Neumann TLM103 at the drummers right knee for the cowbell. After the sound check was underway, one of Steve's magic filters was put between the high hat and the 103 because it was picking up too much high hat. (Either that or it was just turned more inwards away from the high hat. Help me out on this one, guys.) And for you TLM103 bashers.... Go buy this record! Oh yeah, In addition you'll get to hear the fabulous Robby Ameen on drums!

The overheads: Two Beyerdynamic M160's (Thank's Jim!)

Now, take a look at the left side of the kit. Here is a Steve trick! He said that back in the good old days when he was doing live sound, he'd be lucky to get a 16 channel board with all the channels working. On top of that, he'd have a large ensemble to mic up. In the end he'd be lucky if he had two channels left for the drums. He discovered that a well placed mic at the drummers right knee would give him the full kit! He then soloed that puppy, again a TLM103, and damned if it didn't sound great! The well of "necessity is the mother of invention" has been good to brother Steve...

And on trombone we have the Neumann M149. Conrad sounded great through this...

An M149 was also used on Ronnie Cuber's bari sax, but everyone agreed that he sounded a little thin through this mic. There were also problems with him playing off axis...

Trumpet was (Horray!) a Royer 121. Brian Lynch told us that he had just purchased his own 121, so he was pleased. After rapping with him I got the impression that he's a future Gearslut...

Here is the house bass amp miked with a Sennheiser MD409. The bass player, Rueben Rodriguez, informed us that the lower right speaker was blown out. In addition, two DI's were used. Reuben used a '72 Fender Jazz bass and one of those funky solid uprights. An annoying buzz in the bass line was eventually traced to a bad volume knob on the upright. Gremlins.....

The piano mics: Two AKG C414TLII's mounted to the frame. Notice the gaffer tape forming a cradle to prevent any accidents. Steve, is that your PZM?

Eddie Palmieri's piano monitors: This too could be you if you don't wear ear protection.... Talk about a vicious, downward spiraling circle....

Here is a shot of the stage after the live engineer put up his mics. Sennheiser 441's on the brass. Standard fare on the rest.

And Steve at the helm....

Here is Adam inserting a pad on a mic. Now dig that! The upper TT patchbay is loaded with 10, 20 and 30db pads! How convenient is that!?

Here we have Steve looking up the word "duduk". I said it was either an East European stringed instrument or an African percussion instrument. I lost... Our Polish friend Michal was closest when he guessed an Armenian flute. I gotta brush up on my world instruments...

Steve also does remote moderating...


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Jon, Robert and Adam after the first set. What you're seeing here is a result of the long day and the freshly ingested food, not a complete lack of enthusiasm over yet another remote gig.... I think....

No, I speak the truth. As soon as the next set got under way they were as attentive and professional as ever.

I was unable to snap a photo of the recording gear for fear of getting in the way, but Steve was using 24 channels of True Systems Precision 8 mic pres. Recording was triple redundant going to 6 Tascam DA 78's and a Alesis HD24XR (Virgin usage on this gig.) Two live stereo mixes were recorded on DV-RA1000 decks.


I was unable to attend day two as I was hijacked by a gang of Leprechauns and dragged to a silly parade with people drinking green beer and shouting Gaelic explitives at the top of their lungs. (I was actually surprised by some friends that I hadn't seen in 15 years! Nice.)

Therefore, I would like to thank again Steve and his merry band of remoters. These guys are at the top of their game! Jon is one to look out for! A true professional. Adam is the perfect assistant, always taking detailed notes and watching levels. Robert is always attentive on the side of the stage, ready to shoot any Gremlins. (Those bastards..) Michal is a really eager cat, mouth shut, eyes and ears wide open. Something I don't see that often any more...

And Steve! What a guy! Always a smile on his face. Unusually generous. (Except when he's hitting me up for all my quarters so he can feed the Manhattan Meter Monster... heh ) This guy is a multitasking wizard! Just when you think he's sluting around in cyberspace he'll say, "Jon, sounds like that left mic is a little off on that conga....". And, of course, he's right...thumbsup Lastly, the isolation Steve gets is downright amazing! Let's just say that it wouldn't surprise me in the least if this one is nominated for a Grammy™, as well!


Over and out!

Thanks for all of the pictures and the detailed review. I wish I could have made it out for these shows. I feel like I've learned something just from your pictures; I'm afraid of what would have happened to my brain had I been there.

Great job on the posts and pictures!

Point of information:Those drum OH's are Beyer M160s, not 69's...

Great info! And Steve, the Grumman looks great, bro!

I’m glad to hear you made it back to Norway with only some jet lag.

Yes, Conrad Herwig -- "The Latin Side of Wayne Shorter" featuring Eddie Palmieri, Brian Lynch, Ruben Rodriquez, Ronnie Cuber, Robbie Amen and Pedro Martinez.

What a wonderful live recording that turned out to be. We got a record made and IMO, the vibe and groove was best in the last set of the second night…

Eddie’s solos were awesome. It just felt right, but that’s my opinion.

Yeah, “dumb enough to allow a total stranger access to my process of live remote recording.”
The only time I felt that maybe the case was when you slipped out for a bunch of hours and didn’t tell anyone. It was a bit alarming for someone like myself. I like to trust, but verify, so I was looking for the logic and motivation for an act like that…

In any event, in my eyes you’re a fellow (Gearslut) Remotester that was invited to come visit the on location world of “Remoteness.” It was a pleasure to have you there and I’m delighted you captured the moment via your camera and careful notes. I trust your students (and the GS community for that matter) will get something good out of all this.
Hey, they may even come up with advice on how to make the next location recording better.
You never know, they may have some stupid suggestion to address too.
We’re all “ears…” Right?


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Years ago we only ran the power through these cellar doors. The snakes went throught the dressing room window down to the stage. Nowadays we run everything through the cellar.


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Safety is key, but a good insurance policy really covers your arse!


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Yeah, and unscrewing the screw to the panel is a must whether you need to do it or not.


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…And, up the rear stairwell to stage left.

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It sure is!


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Better access to the meters and potential gain adjustments is maintain at the stage left position.
You’re totally out of the way, but still can make eye contact with the musicians on stage.


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I’m really used to this toy. It’s a drag when other facilities don’t have something like this on board.
PTZ cameras rawk!


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Yeah, no posers are allowed on board any of our vehicles.
I not a poser, but I play one on TV.


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I love using Milab DC96Bs for room tone or audience response. They’re silky smooth.


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Now you're talkin’, now you’re talkin’.
The new Milab DC196s sounded great as a close stereo pair.
We adjusted them by swiveling them in and out a bit to capture the right balance between all four congas.
I was going to go with two overheads, but changed it to a single Royer 121 ribbon with one of my “Micro Gobos” positioned behind the mic.


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We normally go with only a TLM103 pretty far from the snare, but Robbie had a lot of stuff going on, so Jon suggested we stick a good ole’ SM57 on the snare for some extra isolation from the rest of the kit on that side.

We added another “Micro Gobo” between the hats and the TLM103.
I changed the mic position and filter a bit after the first set. It needed a bit more fine tuning.

TLM103 bashers -- How about any kind of equipment bashers? It’s about the “ear” not the “gear…” Remember?
Okay, I know we’re Gearslutz. But come on folks, make it work and shut the f….
What? Hey, I don’t say this kind of stuff on this board…
I got to calm down a bit. One, two, three, four, five…

The overheads were two beyerdynamic M160s and the bass drum had a M88TG just outside the front skin’s hole.

Yeah, I’ve been doing that “single mic near the (righty) drummer’s right knee” trick since the yearly 80s trick!
Proper placement is the key to this scenario.
You want to capture the complete kit, positioning is everything. Remember…

It’s about the “ear” and not the “gear.”


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Conrad sounded sweet on that M149. He didn’t eat the mic too much…
But, I did ask him to eat it just a tad more. He complied and it was what the doctor ordered.

We finally got that M149 positioned right on Ronnie.
He sounded very strong on the second day’s two sets.
IMO, it was more about the positioning than the mic.

Brian was totally happy to see the R121 in front of his horn.
We added another “Micro Gobo” behind the mic for extra isolation.


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Yep, that was the situation of the moment, but we dealt with it.

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Cradle those mics baby, Cradle them well.
The PZM is the club’s mic.
I’ve used them before, but prefer to go with our matched pair of C414TLIIs instead

You got to be lovin’ piano sitting behind those Peavey’s.


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The mic positions changed a bit since this picture was taken.


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Hey, is that a blemish on your photo or do I need Ron Popil’s spray can of instant hair?
I know Ronco’s pocket fisherman isn’t going to help this situation out one bit.

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Very convenient and, we have isolation transformers in that bay too.

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Did someone say “Duduk?”
Yeah, I’m always keeping an eye on “my little forum that could.”


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FOOD IS GOOD! Sleep is optional when you’re recording on location.


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Yes, were using 24 (48 available) channels of True Systems P8 mic pres patched to six DTRS machines and an Alesis HD24XR. One set of DTRS machines were going through the left Midas Venice 320 which we inserted an SSL stereo compressor on the 2mix which fed a bunch of DAs that sent multiple 2mixes to the stereo recorders. The HD24XR was patched into the second Venice on the right for confidence monitoring of the HD recorder. The second set of DTRS was not monitored, but could have been patched if necessary. In a live broadcast situation we could have set it up so each mixer could have fed the SSL and DAs in the event that one of the systems failed. A click of a button and we’d be on the other system.

Gary, thanks so much for starting this thread.
You put a fair amount of work into it and I appreciate it and I’m sure your students will feel the same way. GS members, take it for granted… No, no, no, what am I saying? It’s all good!

Your kind words about my crew and me is recognized and appreciated.
Maybe they’ll chime in with a word or three – You never know?

Holy crap!.... What a great post! I can't believe more people didn't make it out to see Steve and company in action! I wish I could have gone but I was stuck in Tampa with a case of food poisoning and an even sicker fiancee...

Gary, great post and pictures. You did an amazing job and it's very nice to see myself working with Steve, Jon, Robert and Adam. It was a big experience for me and I am glad I could be there.
Your post and pictures together with Steve's comments......I will print it out to have a manual "how to record a live gig"

BTW, I didn't guess that duduk was an Armenian instrument.....I was close though

thanks again guys
Michal