Big Band Brass for Oscar
Famed Venezuelan Salsa singer and bassist, Oscar D’Leon, is recording a new album of American Big Band standards mixed with some latin favorites. Where else would he record than here in Nashville with me? Executive Producer Jaime Araque (de Venezuela) and Producer Rodolfo Castillo (de Guatemala) hired Chris McDonald to orchestrate and myself to record and co/produce the sessions why not try this out. So, back I went to the Tracking Room studio for a few days of smoking hot Big Band.
Along with the J-Series console mic pre’s (which I love,) I used the Neve 1081’s, 1073’s and 1066’s. Honestly, though there were 18 musicians, I actually only used 5 eq’s on the whole tracking date, a testimonial to the great players, their instruments and probably some good mic choices 🙂 Ribbon Mics from AEA, Coles, Royer, Cascade and RCA captured the brass while a line-up of old C-12 and Neumann tube mics were on the saxes. Having worked with these players for so many years helps me match the mic to each player’s tone and style so that the sections sound well balanced when recorded.
Over the last few years, I’ve been doing work on lots of great, award winning Latin records for artists like Boni y Kelly, Ricardo Arjona, Luis Fonsi, Vos Veis, Tommy Torres, Karolina, San Luis and recently Gaby Moreno and young James Febris. From full tracking and mixing to string overdubs, I’m so grateful to get to contribute to these awesome projects.
Great charts, great players and great equipment… a good time was had by all. Fortunately, we had my favorite session photographer, Rick Malkin, come and shoot Oscar’s tracking dates so we have great pictures!
Very good sound of the big band and Oscar De Leon