George is great

LOL, this is exactly what I was talking about in a recent previous post about making vocals sit properly in the mix & while tracking. And what George was explaining was how considerable crunching can make a vocal sound more dynamic than without the crunching. Notice how this woman sounded in a similar way to his previous Linda Ronstadt recordings sounded.

I've known George since I was 15, so, early on, I was able to tell by listening to what he was doing way back when. I was also able to identify his sonic signature, mixing technique amongst other engineers, engineering. Not that I take the same approach nor have I got an identical sound or technique to his but I've never had problems with the vocals sitting properly in the mix.

I never had no or utilized his limiters. But the technique holds when given a limiter/compressor with a fair amount of adjustability such as DBX 165A's, 1176's. It might be interesting to note hear (pun included, intended, limited) while a DBX 165 has RMS detectors & 1176's have peak detectors, similarities of concept & sound can be achieved with either.

Another little piece of trivia that folks might find interesting is that I know for a fact, that George's limiters (at least in the past) also utilized DBX VCA's & RMS detectors, internally for his gain reduction control. The rest of his audio circuitry (conceived by himself & designed by others) also offers up a piece of his sonic signature to his equipment philosophies.

While he also demonstrated the use of his fabulous parametric equalizer's, he wasn't utilizing any parametric equalization! He was merely utilizing mostly high & low shelving equalization, predominantly with a small bell curve boost at 150 Hz as indicated. And as he stated, that's how you get the vocal to sit properly in the sonic soundscape. And didn't she sound wonderfully dynamic with hardly any dynamics? Yeah! That's the way it's really done. That's the way us real engineers do it. And what I've been doing, without anybody explaining any of this technical blah blah to me since I was 17 and first got my hands on a 1176, 39 years ago. It simply comes from listening & twiddling. Of course I was given the opportunity to have a couple of world-class musician parents. So I was born a listener and have always considered myself a Professional Listener, first. And maybe that's why I've never needed any explanations of any of this in my life? You listen, translate & execute.

I don't want to die... I didn't do it! Yes I did...
Mx. Remy Ann David

I have owned the 8900 since 1998. A year ago this Xmas had it recapped. I guess they got a batch of capacitors that go bad after 10 years. They sent me a loaner, nice people. This is the most transparent compressor I have ever used. This thing is great on mixes too. For rock I usually set it ratio 2:1, fast attack, an unusual decision for a master bus, but with the GML you can. I typically set the release about 40 ms. Love it, worth every penny.

http://www.mtstudio… MT Studios