Al Schmitt on Vocal and Instrumental Recording Techniques (METAlliance Academy)

I bought this book because I wanted to learn from a master recording engineer. That’s just what I did.Mr. Schmitt details his microphone choices and mic placements. He recommends that the reader buy a few excellent mics rather than many inferior ones. Complete specs for his favored microphones are included.The writing is clear and easy to read. There are some small errors: Reverb is sometimes called “echo”; polarity is called “phase”. Some paragraphs are misplaced under the wrong topic. But the text still communicates very well.Many times, Mr. Schmitt advises us to make sure that the artist is comfortable, and to respect their requests.Surprises abound. He often uses omnidirectional microphones. The leakage or bleed that these mics pick up sounds good because he uses the best microphones with minimal off-axis coloration. He often places mics more than a foot way from their sources. Al has the musicians control their own dynamics rather than using compressors, and this gives a more natural effect. He employs compressors only for their vacuum-tube sound. He uses only the best mics, carefully placed, rather than EQ. That helps to provide the smooth, effortless sound we hear on his recordings.Some reasons why he was able to create such great-sounding records are that he recorded top artists, with top-quality microphones, in large top-quality studios. That enabled him to create recording masterpieces without EQ, compression or plug-ins. Many of us do not have that luxury. We record bad-sounding instruments that need EQ, or musicians with extreme dynamics that need compression. We might record in a small basement studio that requires close-miking with cardioid mics to reject the poor acoustics.Still, I love Al’s general approach: Get it right up front. Capture gorgeous sounds during the recording session rather than during mixdown. It certainly works for him! Thank you, Al Schmitt, for a lifetime of priceless recordings and great advice.Bruce Bartlett, author of "Practical Recording Techniques 7th edition."

It’s a book about Al Schmitt. Period. He talks A LOT about his stories, and half the book is dedicated to the microphones he uses. The reasoning for his choices and techniques I found to be lacking. Most of the time he says things like “I thought it sounded good.” Also, half the pages used for the microphones are pretty much copy/paste from the manufacturer spec sheet. Interesting read? Yes. Worth the money? Nah.

You read the book and you can just hear Al reading it to you. There is so much good info in the book. His techniques are great, his stories are interesting, and he even provides diagrams about his work. After reading the book I went and recorded a big band. Nothing compared to his work but it just developed that kind of inspiration for me. Al is the man! Oh, and the book I got is hardcover. Can't get any better!

Wish it had more recording info.

I loved how direct and easy to follow this book was!

Very readable. Wish I could have heard him work his process.

Ecrit en anglais. On a 45 pages bien faites avec photos sur les techniques de prises de son.Mais le reste, cad 65 pages, sont consacrées essentiellement aux specs + courbes (que l'on peuttrouver sur internet) des micros utilisés avec 1 commentaire succin sur chaque modèle: on apprécieou pas ce récapitulatif...

Al has written a book that is pleasant to read and full of sound advice gathered over a lifetime of experience. I would not pass this up.

I purchased this book for new information, but it was simply a transcript of some online videos on the same topic, with Al Schmitt.

informative and interesting !