Recording Hammonds

[triton]

Hello,
Does anyone know how Rudy Van Gelder achived those great Blue Note recordings,
what kind of microphones, compressors, tape recorders did he use. Did he mic up Leslie's or PR40's, or was there even a direct output from the Hammond.
I record the standard way...two mics for the top horns, and a mic for the bottom baffle.
Straight to 1" tape, but it does not quite sound the same!!!.
What kind of recording methods do any of you guy's use, would be very interested to here.
Cheers Ian UK

[KickinB3]

1) Place Leslie in small tiled bathroom with door closed.
2) Mike top rotor in stereo
3) Mike bass rotor with kickdrum mike
4) Record dry with no effects. Bathroom provides perfect reverb.
5) ??????
6) Profit

That's how we do it for recording jazz combo in the studio. It's a trick I learned from an older sound engineer and it sounds great.

[DeArmond]

The great Rudy Van Gelder is notoriously secretive about how he does things! He doesn't let people take photos of sessions or anything! I'm hoping he'll reveal all in a book when/if he retires!

I do know however that he used condensor mics as drum overheads at a time when ribbon mics were seen as the standard for that purpose - I guess his Hammond sound is the result of a large diaphragm condensor a fair distance away - it doesn't sound stereo to me - I mean I don't think he used two or three mics on the Leslie but this is just my guess...

Personally the best sound I've got has been from a single LDC about 3 - 4 feet away at about half the height of the cabinet - it sounds very low-tech I know, especially as you have to put the bass on the same track but it honestly sounds more natural to me than the more complicated methods - a Leslie is definitely one of the most difficult things to capture...along with resonator guitars...

It's fun trying though!

[andyg]

The way I did it for the BBC was this

Mike the horn in stereo, use condenser mikes about a foot from the cabinet, just below the louvres, pointing slightly up. Use just one ribbon mike for the bass rotor, about 2 feet away. Keep things dry and add FX later if you need to.

WE actually had a 'one point' condenser mike - two isolated mikes in one unit - and that worked pretty good, too.

Andy G