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Post by the Scribe on May 19, 2021 7:02:17 GMT
VAL GARAY - BAE 10DC
BAE AUDIO
Val Garay brings BAE inside his studio to discuss his award winning career, his first big break with Linda Ronstadt, the BAE 10DC compressor, producing Kim Carnes "Bettie Davis Eyes", Martha Davis "Only the Lonely," Wouter Kellerman, and analogue verse digital.
Val Garay Talks Waves Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter®
Waves Audio
474K subscribers
Watch producer / engineer Val Garay as he talks about how the Aphex Vintage Aural Exciter® was instrumental in shaping the sound for artists such as James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, Neil Diamond, and The Four Seasons. |
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Post by the Scribe on May 19, 2021 7:12:22 GMT
Val Garay Mix Master Class Part 1
Westlake Pro
7.14K subscribers
Last month Grammy award winning engineer and producer Val Garay was special guest for a very special Mix Master Class at Westlake Pro.
API Works Val Garay
Val Garay Interview - Warren Huart: Produce Like A Pro
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 30, 2022 6:02:43 GMT
Val Garay, History of his recording Linda Ronstadt.
MakeMyRecord - World Class Music Production.
33 subscribers
72 views Jan 12, 2023
From the man himself! Watch Val's fascinating interview with MakeMyRecord.com's Nic. tenBroek discussing the behind-the-scenes history of recording Linda Ronstadt and her hits!Originally from the October 1983 issue of Recording Engineer/Producer magazine, Val Garay, who worked with Peter Asher on 6 of Linda's albums, talks about them in these excerpts from the article. The whole 8 page article is here:
RE/P Files: An Interview With Noted Engineer/Producer Val Garay
www.prosoundweb.com/article/re_p_files_an_interview_with_noted_engineer_producer_val_garay/
I make most of my records live with very few overdubs. I think that records are better that way, especially if you’re working with great singers, which I have had the great fortune to do.
Yet certain singers thrive on the overdubbing process. I’ve never seen a great singer, who overdubs his vocal, sing a part from top to bottom, and use 98 percent of it. The minute they get into the overdub design of doing vocals, they’ll do eight takes and comp (compile or combine) eight to one track, and then do eight more and comp them. Basically what they do is use their ear as a singer to pick what they sing best, and sort of assemble the finished vocal track mechanically. In the end, it usually sounds like they sang it from top to bottom.
Don Henley does that very well—although I don’t know why he does it, because he’s a great singer. In fact, all the Eagles did it that way for years. Jackson Browne does it the same way. They go as far as comping syllables. “Well, the t-h-e of that word is a little flat.” So they’ll switch at that point to another vocal track that has that syllable a little more in tune. The layman can’t really hear all these comps. I did that with Randy Meisner’s album; there were a million switches in that.
With the Eagles, (Meisner) was used to singing in only one register, which was really high. But for a solo record, where you’re the lead singer, you have to cover all the areas. His lower ranges were a little more tentative, and he would sing out of tune more often. In order to get it in tune, we had to do the vocal tracks that way.
But when you have a singer like Martha (Davis, of the Motels), Kim Carnes, Linda Ronstadt, or James Taylor, those people are great singers. They have great intonation. The best vocal performances I ever recorded with Linda were the live ones with a few fixes—you fix one word here, and one word there. “Blue Bayou” was live; “Ooh, Baby Baby” was live. In fact, that whole record was. Also, “Bette Davis Eyes” by Kim was totally live.
RC: I remember reading a couple of reviews about Linda Ronstadt’s album to the effect that, because the recording sounded so perfect, the critics thought it had been “produced to death.” How do you react to such comments.?
VG: The pre-production was really good. The interesting thing is that Linda never learned the songs until she got in the studio. She would sort of sluff her way through the rehearsals. The band would learn the songs, but she wouldn’t even know the lyrics most of the time—she’d be reading from a sheet! But she’s such a great singer that she can evoke emotions that sound like she’s torn. She’d usually learn the lyrics in a couple of run-downs in the studio.
Martha (Davis) is a great singer. When you have someone that sings as well as she does, and a band that’s got the tune down—and they’re interacting in a live-performance situation, even on a record—it’s much more real and emotional, and more moving, when it’s all going down at once, and one person is playing off the other. If you have a strong drummer that doesn’t move if the singer rushes or drags, then the track stays steady; the singer is singing and the band is following the singer, instead of a singer following a music track that’s [already] laid. It’s a whole different method. That’s why Elvis Presley records made in the Fifties still hold up; they were done Iive.
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RC: You’re no longer something that they discovered?
VG: Right. I watched Hoyt Axton completely berate and belittle Linda for selling out when she made “Heart Like a Wheel,” because he was this hard-core country singer. She worked her ass off thinking that she was making a sound, artistic endeavor. Because it sold 2 1/2 million records does not mean she sold out. But, to him it did, because she was no longer his discovery.
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I have opinions and feelings; you don’t have to use them, or listen to them. But to not allow me to say them is sort of cheating oneself, because I have good ideas. Obviously, that’s been proven. Peter [Asher] listened to my ideas for enough years, so I figure if he’s as smart as he is, somebody else should listen, too!
RC: Speaking of Peter Asher, he brought you Linda’s last album to mix, didn’t he?
VG: No. Not actually, I was contracted to do that album based on the kind of deals we made in years previous. I started recording that album about two years ago. We cut five or six tunes. Then I got in the middle of another album - I can’t remember who it was at the time—and Linda got into the Broadway play [Pirates of Penzance], then into the movie. Before we knew it, a year had gone by.
At that point, I was unavailable, and they needed to finish the album. So we all talked about it when they got back to LA. They came up with the idea of doing it with [engineer] George [Massenburg], who is a very close friend of mine, and a marvelous engineer.
RC: So you were familiar with the album when the time came for you to mix it?
VG: No. They spent another seven or eight months recording more material and, out of the five or six tracks that I recorded, I think they kept three. When it came time to mix the record, George, having worked with Earth, Wind and Fire for all those years, had his style of mixing with those people, and Peter and Linda had gotten very used to my style of mixing.
They started mixing with George, and weren’t happy with the results—I believe based mainly on the fact that Peter liked my style of mixing. Not because I’m a better mixer, because I think George is every bit as good as I am as a mixer. They then approached me on the basis of: “We’re old friends; would you do us a favor?” I was right in the middle of another project. “Just give us five days of your time, and try to mix some of this album for us.” So I said, “Sure.”
I mixed about five or six tracks, and they played them for George so he could get his bearings, because I mixed some of the things that he’d recorded. Now, when you’re a good engineer, you hear things—balance, levels, EQ, etc.—a certain way. And when somebody else changes that, it’s instantly apparent what they’ve changed.
So, when I mixed a couple of his tunes he became aware of what Peter and Linda were looking for, and remixed again the tracks that I had mixed. The tracks were even more to their [Peter and Linda’s] liking. George ended up mixing better than half the album, and I did the rest. |
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Post by the Scribe on Oct 5, 2023 6:02:31 GMT
How Val Garay Became Linda Ronstadt's Engineer
Pop Vocals In the Box: tips great sound #shorts #musicproduction #audioengineer #audiomix #vocal
@insideblackbird
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Post by the Scribe on Feb 14, 2024 20:38:57 GMT
Val Garay Reveals Linda Ronstadt's Astounding Singing Ability
Rock History Music
1,370 views Jan 29, 2024 |
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 20, 2024 2:22:18 GMT
Producer Val Garay Talks Linda Ronstadt, Randy Meisner, Kim Carnes, Neil Diamond & More
Rock History Book
375 views Feb 26, 2024 Producer Val Garay Talks Linda Ronstadt, Randy Meisner, Bette Davis, Neil Diamon & More
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Post by the Scribe on Apr 20, 2024 2:26:47 GMT
Today in Rock History, July 15, Linda Ronstadt, Elton John, John Lennon, Pink Floyd
Rock History Book
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