DIGITAL D.I.Y.: MUSICAL COUPLE “JAZZED” ABOUT YAMAHA AW4416

—Top Jazz CD Release Recorded, Mixed and Mastered on Digital Audio Workstation—

BUENA PARK, CA (October 3, 2003)—When Frank Marino set about planning a new CD release and upgrading his home studio—a former living room—little did he know that a crash course into the world of digital recording would expand his role from upright bass player/arranger to recording and mixing engineer. Marino recorded, mixed and mastered The Diane Marino Quartet’s A Sleepin’ Bee CD in its entirety on a Yamaha AW4416 digital audio workstation, his final gear choice.

Frank Marino (pictured) recorded A Sleepin’ Bee using a combination of the Yamaha AW4416, a small analog console for additional preamps, and ProTools V5 recording medium with TC Master X3 TDM plug ins.

“Digital recording devices have definitely become more user-friendly, especially for someone like myself,” he explains. “After all, I’m a musician, not an engineer. But fortunately, being located in Nashville, you’re naturally going to have access to a lot of resources. So I did some research, examined different products and basically asked my engineer friends lots of questions. We wanted that clean, open, very live sound that is the essence of a jazz performance, and the digital medium is the way to go. What was impressive about the AW4416 is that it records in an uncompressed format, and that’s really important when you’re trying to capture straight-ahead jazz. The layout and functions are similar to the Yamaha 02R, and the sound is surprisingly warm.”

Although Nashville is not primarily known as a jazz town, the husband and wife duo of Frank and Diane Marino maintains an active schedule of performances in the metro area and throughout the southeast. Diane, a native of New York City, studied classical piano with renowned pianist Murray Perahia, performing solo gigs before teaming up with bassist and future husband Frank. The couple relocated to Nashville in 1989 and became a staple on the local music scene. Their current group, The Diane Marino Quartet, has received critical acclaim for a unique blend of traditional, Brazilian and Latin jazz styles.

After reading the manual and watching the demo video, Frank’s real discoveries came with trial-and-error recordings. “The AW4416 was a step-by-step learning process,” he explains. “I’m very hands-on, and the onboard demo lets you plunge right in. That’s really the best way to learn: screw things up, try again, do it right. If you get stuck, look in the manual or check with Yamaha’s tech support, which is fabulous, by the way.” The stock eight-input configuration AW4416 was upgraded with an optional 24-bit ¼-in TRS card and Waves Y56K card.

“My first recording was a drum machine, then a guitar, then Diane and I recorded a duo CD with vocal and piano. Most of my early mistakes were a result of trying to do too many things too fast. For instance, tracks would get lost because they weren’t saved correctly. Eventually, I got to the point where I felt confident enough to do all the recording and all the mixing. My advice to the recording novice would be to approach this machine like you’d approach a computer for the first time.”

Sessions for A Sleepin’ Bee began in August of 2003 using a combination of the AW4416, a small analog console for additional preamps, and ProTools Version 5 recording medium with TC Master X3 TDM plug ins.

“With the AW4416, we were able to get an open, live feeling—the classic four-piece, basic jazz rhythm section,” notes Frank. “Everything was recorded at one time with a scratch vocal and an overdubbed performance vocal. All the mics were run flat, and no outboard gear was used until we did the mastering, but we did use the internal EQ, some reverb, and the internal compression presets—particularly ‘female vocalist’ and ‘drums’—with very little adjustment. The compression could have been backed off a bit in places, but overall, the presets were fine. I got the fader moves and the instruments placed in the spectrum to where everything was accurate when we listened back.

“We used two Shure SM81s run through DBX Mini-Pre’s on the grand piano, and recorded it in stereo,” he continues. “The flute, tenor and soprano sax were recorded with a vintage AKG C3000B on a separate track, and two tracks were set aside for my upright bass; one for an AKG D112 microphone set about a foot from one of the f-holes, and the other for my B-Band pickup. We put a Røde NTK tube mic on Diane’s vocal, although for the title track, we had used the C3000-B and a Behringer MIC100 tube preamp. It was a great performance so we kept it intact. I had never recorded drums before, so that was a real experiment, but we managed to get some solid, live sounds with two AKG 414s on the overheads, a D112 on the kick, a vintage AKG C451EB on the high hat and a Samson Q1 on the snare. Four drum tracks went through the other board, and the kick ran through one of the ¼-in inputs on the 4416. I also figured out how to get four headphone mixes out of the 4416, so everyone had their own foldback.”
Marino recorded the project in two full days, running the mix through ProTools and performing the final mix from the AW4416. Nashville engineer Gary Dales acted as consultant, performing minor fixes over a two-week period.

“Gary came by to basically tweak some things, show me the finer points of the Y56K card, and make the whole thing come to life,” says Marino. “He was blown away, not so much by the music, but how it was recorded. I told him, ‘all I did was listen.’”

Released on the Marino’s private M&M label, A Sleepin’ Bee clocks in at 79:56 (“with my four second bass solo edited out,” Frank laughs), and has enjoyed surprising success on jazz radio outlets, National Public Radio and popular Web site JazzWeek, where it shares the charts with releases by superstars Diana Krall and Chick Corea.

“It’s amazing that you can go down to a music store and find all the materials to produce a quality digital recording,” he says. “This CD has opened a lot of doors for us, and we did it ourselves.”

For more information, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Professional Audio Division, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622; telephone (714) 522-9011; e-mail infostation@yamaha.com; or visit www.yamaha.com/proaudio.