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| Full circle Tony Bennett live int the studio with KMS 105 neumanns live performance mic |
| 01.08.2001 OLD LYME, CONNECTICUT |
The irony lost on no one, Neumann's famous "studio sound" embodied in the Neumann KMS 105 LIVE vocal microphone came full circle back to the studio in a "live" recording with industry icon Tony Bennett singing duets. Produced by Phil Ramone and engineered by Joe Moss, "Tony Bennett Sings the Blues" features the venerated artist with such luminaries as Ray Charles, Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, and Stevie Wonder. Ramone recorded the entire project with everyone in the same room sans headphones so that, to the musicians, the session felt just like a live performance. To exploit his expertise in such situations, Tony Bennett brought in Tom Young, Bennett's FOH engineer of seven years. Before joining Bennett, Young perfected his craft during thirteen years with Frank Sinatra.
"Blues" follows "Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool", the first album that Bennett recorded in this "faux live" manner. He loved it. With no one on headphones and no isolation, everyone "naturally" heard everyone else and the excitement, dynamics, and authenticity of the performance benefited. "It's understandable that Tony would prefer the live feel to the studio feel," observed Young. "He's spent fifty years on stage. That's his office. That's where he's at his best."
Two concerns were paramount. The production team needed to capture the session with high-end, "big studio" fidelity while simultaneously rejecting torrential bleed of a sort unheard of in normal studio sessions. In a normal session, headphones compensate for the acoustical separation that makes track separation possible. Without headphones, there could be little acoustical separation. Track separation had to come from the directional characteristics of the microphones used and the careful placement of musicians and microphones.
On the "Ellington" album, Bennett used a Sennheiser SKM 5000 wireless microphone. While obviously an excellent choice for wireless stage use, the production team thought they might do better with a wired live vocal microphone on "Blues". Enter the Neumann KMS 105. Long touted to possess Neumann's "studio sound" coupled with rejection and mechanical characteristics worthy of stage use, the KMS 105 seemed a natural choice. Young brought one into Capitol Studios, and its sound floored everyone.
"We had Tony and his partner on an eight ft. by eight ft. by one ft. riser facing the band, each on a KMS 105," recalled Young. "The fidelity truly was on a par with Neumann's studio microphones and the rejection was incredible. Throughout the sessions we had people holding them, using them on stands, crowding them, standing back from them, and on and on. Throughout it all, we had no problems with plosives, distortion, or any lack of clarity. The KMS 105 is an engineering marvel."
Everyone involved with the project enjoyed the free, relaxed feel of the "live" performance and the sound of the Neumann KMS 105. The recording phase of "Blues" will wrap up at the end of June with a recording session at New York's Hit Factory involving Billy Joel, Elton John, and Natalie Cole. Columbia Records should release the CD by the end of this year.
Neumann's award winning line of microphones has set the standard in the industry since 1928. In 1999, Neumann received the prestigious Technical Grammy(r) for their 70 years of innovation in microphone design and contribution to the music industry. A continuing commitment to provide innovative, technically refined products and engineering solutions of proven quality ensures that Neumann's stature will remain unassailable.
NEUMANN
1 Enterprise Drive, Old Lyme, CT 06371
(860) 434-5220, Fax (860) 434-3148
http://www.neumannusa.com/
CONTACTS
Karl Winkler, Director, Marketing Communications
kwinkler@neumannusa.com, (860) 434-5220
Antoinette Flosi, Publicity
tflosi@aadvert.com, (847) 998-0600
PHOTO CAPTION:
Tony Bennett chose the Neumann KMS 105 to record his upcoming "Duets" CD.
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