FIVE-TIME GRAMMY WINNER FINDS 'OLD' 140 PLATE SOUND IN NEW YAMAHA SREV1 REVERB

BUENA PARK (December 1, 2001)—Following the success of Steely Dan's Two Against Nature, taking home triple Grammy Awards, producer/engineer Elliot Scheiner continues his latest passion of mixing classic records like Van Morrison's Moondance and the Eagles Hotel California to 5.1 surround for DVD Audio. But, while working on a new Steely Dan record, Scheiner found an old familiar sound in the new Yamaha SREV1 reverb. "If I closed my eyes and didn't know that I was listening to the SREV, I would have thought for sure it was an old 140 plate," states Scheiner. "I'm amazed at the sound of this reverb; it has the best sounding plate I've heard in 25 years."

Scheiner works on new Steely Dan Record with Yamaha SREV1

It was 24 years ago when Scheiner took home his first Grammy in the category of 'Best Engineered Recording of 1977' for Steely Dan's Aja. That Grammy was followed by a second in 1981 for the band's Gaucho album. During a lengthy career with countless projects to his credit, he has worked with a Who's Who of musical acts in addition to Steely Dan, most notably The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Sting, John Fogerty, Van Morrison and Bruce Hornsby.

At the top end of the well-known Yamaha reverb line consisting of models like the SPX90, SPX990, REV1 and ProR3, the SREV1 reproduces standard and specialized sound fields in stereo or surround, and additionally, enables the user to sample and create custom sound fields. With 24-bit/48kHz, the 3U high rack-mount unit has a wide selection of editable reverb programs simulating environments ranging from room ambiences (the famed Avatar Studio A) to stadiums, each offering control of pre-EQ, post-EQ and Reverb parameters.

"I first had the opportunity to fool around with the SREV while mixing Van Morrison's Moondance in 5.1 surround. When I originally mixed the song, I used 140 plates, and I was trying to recreate the same or similar sound," Scheiner recalls. "I didn't have 140 plates in the studio I was in, but by using the SREV, I was able to come pretty close to the plate sound that I had originally."

Utilizing proprietary Convolution sampling technology, the Yamaha SREV1 uses impulse response samples of actual acoustic environments, rather than the generated algorithms found on other high-end reverb products. The reverb operates in 2-channel (up to 5.46 sec/channel), 4-channel (up to 2.73 sec/channel) or 2-channel x 2 (up to 5.46 sec/channel for each processor) modes. With the addition of the DSP expansion board, reverb time in each mode is doubled, producing reverbs of up to 10.92 seconds. The unit can be completely operated by a remote controller which may be located up to 100 meters from the SREV1.

"I'd use the Yamaha SREV just for the 140 sound," Scheiner says. "If I hadn't known that it was a digital reverb and if I closed my eyes, I would have thought it was an old 140. The quality of the pre-delays are phenomenal."

"On one of the new Steely tracks, Walter [Becker] and I were attempting to get an analog sound, so I thought I'd put in a pre-delay using an analog tape machine. But when it was all said and done, the pre-delays within the Yamaha itself sounded better than the analog delays."

In addition to the yet-to-be named Steely Dan CD slated for a 2002 release, Scheiner is currently in the studio with Natalie Cole, and recently produced the audio segments of the Country Music Awards [CMA].