Legendary Recording Engineer Al Schmitt Takes An 8th GrammyÆ
World renowned recording engineer Al Schmitt just added an eighth GrammyÆ to his long list of accomplishments. Known for the singular artistry he brings to his recordings, Schmitt captured his first Grammy for Best Engineered recording in 1962 for Henry Mancini's ""Hatari."" Six subsequent Grammy's in the same category stretched through the decades: 1976: George Benson's ""Breezin',"" 1977: Steely Dan's ""Aja,"" 1978: Steely Dan's ""FM (No Static At All),"" 1982: Toto's ""Toto IV,"" 1991: Natalie Cole's ""Unforgettable,"" and in 1996: Quincy Jones' ""Q's Jook Joint."" The latest Grammy is for Best Engineered Album - Non Classical, ""When I Look In Your Eyes"" (Diana Krall, Verve Records). Known for her jazz style, smoky voice, and subtle song styling, the gifted Krall was twice nominated for her previous works, ""All For You"" (a tribute to the Nat King Cole Trio) and ""Love Scenes."" Legendary bandleader Johnny Mandel orchestrated ""When I Look Into Your Eyes,"" a collection of standards performed beautifully and captured with stunning depth and clarity by Schmitt and his arsenal of Neumann Microphones. This is Schmitt's third album with Krall. Tracking for ""When I Look Into Your Eyes"" was split between Capitol Studios in California for the live orchestral recording and Avatar in New York for everything the remainder. Schmitt's microphone list for both recording sessions relied heavily on Neumann. For the orchestra at Capitol Studios, a stereo pair of Neumann 149s captured the room mix, while KM54s worked nicely on the cellos and U47s rounded things out on the double bass section. As evidenced by the quality of the recording, the Neumann microphones meshed seamlessly delivering an astounding ""openness"" and precision to the arrangements. This quality is what brings Schmitt back to Neumann for all this type of session work. At Avatar, Neumann microphones again took the spotlight. A Neumann U67 run through a Martek preamplifier and a Summit limiter recorded the rich texture of Krall's incredible voice in all its glory. Two M149s amplified by Schmitt's Mastering Lab box captured the subtle shadings of Diana' Krall's fine piano work. As with the orchestra, Schmitt opted to use the vintage U47 for the upright bass. ""I position the mic 12 inches from the f hole. I've been doing that for thirty years! It works like a dream,"" commented Schmitt. Schmitt mixed ""When I Look Into Your Eyes"" at Schnee Studios in Hollywood, California through his trusted custom monitors - a Tannoy/Mastering Lab hybrid. The entire analogue recording was co-mastered with Doug Sax at Mastering Lab, Hollywood. The two-inch analog tape was mixed down to half-inch analog two-track on an ATR using BASF 900 tape. Al Schmitt and his use of Neumann microphones have obviously made quite an impression on Diana Krall. Her touring microphone collection now consists of a Neumann KMS 140 for vocals and a pair of KM 184s for the piano and a TLM 103 for the acoustic bass.