RIP Rudy Van Gelder

**AndyV** · 08-25-2016, 05:00 PM

Legendary jazz recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder dies at 91

Kenny Burrell, Wes Montgomery, Gabor Szabo ... the list goes on and on ... and that's just talking about guitarists. Van Gelder set a standard of excellence that few engineers matched.

**wintermoon** · 08-25-2016, 05:05 PM

wow, a true legend in the industry
rip Rudy, your recordings made the giants sound as good as they could.

**MarkRhodes** · 08-25-2016, 05:08 PM

RIP, Rudy.

**neatomic** · 08-25-2016, 05:19 PM

wow truly one of the greatest engineer/producers ever...innovator... genius... his recording secrets are now gone forever

rip rvg

cheers

**rabbit** · 08-25-2016, 06:43 PM

'Wow' is about right.

Choice cut, too. Thanks.

**AndyV** · 08-25-2016, 08:32 PM

Interview: Rudy Van Gelder (Part 3) - JazzWax

Every instrument perfectly balanced within the ensemble. The sound is warm, clear and nuanced. You hear the sound of the room but not with too much reverb. Dynamics are captured beautifully. Burrell's electric guitar floats above the horns but sounds warm, full and completely part of the tapestry of sound. That he could do this constantly with all kinds of groups - small and large - over many years, boarders on genius. We cherish these recordings partially because his artistic use of the studio MADE us pay attention. Van Gelder was a brilliant engineer.

**marcwhy** · 08-26-2016, 08:50 PM

A legend. RIP RVG.

**jaco** · 08-26-2016, 08:54 PM

The best ...RIP.

**targuit** · 08-26-2016, 09:50 PM

The greats of my time and a generation before me are slipping away....like sand through the hourglass.

**AndyV** · 08-27-2016, 06:38 AM

**princeplanet** · 08-27-2016, 08:12 AM

I'll continue to worship at the altar of RVG, so many of my favourite Jazz recordings were made by him. You can ignore the naysayers that didn't care for his piano sound (close miced, wrapped in cloth), or his RVG series of remasters (many done in his 70's and 80's...).

I work in the field myself and I can safely say that he is to us what Wes is to guitarists.

A cut above.

RIP.

**gtrplrfla** · 08-27-2016, 12:59 PM

RIP Rudy. He has left us a veritable treasure trove of perfectly balanced and recorded music . I reached a stage some years ago of deliberately seeking his Blue Note masterpieces as I became addicted to his unique sound. Among innumerable examples of his art, I've chosen this one , featuring Ike Quebec on tenor sax ; Freddie Roach on organ ; Milt Hinton on bass and Al Harewood on drums. Just soak up that sound !

**neatomic** · 08-29-2016, 11:16 PM

one of rvg's great technical innovations was to secure some of the first neumann condenser mics stateside...one of the first to move from the then standard ribbon mics..this allowed greater directionalty/separation and broader frequency response...

he was both artist and tech..not many of that ilk..george martin was a great producer but not a tech...bob thiele, creed taylor, ertegun..all non techs...

maybe the closest in modern jazz era was great fusion recording man ken scott

cheers

**Doctor Jeff** · 08-30-2016, 08:11 AM

Man, those are some nice recordings above. That Ike Quebec is awesome--never heard it before, but it's a standout. Reminds me of Gerry Mulligan's recordings from that era.

**Greg Holmberg** · 11-09-2018, 02:32 PM

Like a lot of people here, I'm a big fan of Kenny Burrell and have tried to get his sound on Midnight Blue, recorded at the Van Gelder Studio in 1963. I've found some interesting articles on the studio:

The Van Gelder Studio: Peek inside the room where classic jazz happened from northjersey.com

Vangelder’s Studio from JazzTimes

The Secret Legacy of Rudy Van Gelder excerpt from the book The New Cyclopedia of Jazz Recording Techniques by Jesse Klapholz.

Van Gelder Studio from Atlas Obscura

The Secret Legacy article is especially interesting because it talks about Van Gelder's techniques:

The more impressive “New Rudy Van Gelder Sound” owes much to the larger space, the exclusive use of close condenser microphones, the recently-acquired EMT Plate Reverb, and the producers, arrangers and performers of CTI.

Apparently, when he died, Van Gelder passed the studio onto his assistant, Maureen Sickler. I found her email address in the Atlas Obscura article, and wrote to her, asking about the amp, microphones, and so on used on the Midnight Blue recording in 1963. She responded:

Thanks for your note, Greg. Unfortunately, 1963 was before my time with Rudy. We did talk about that recording, but, as you probably know, Rudy didn't like to share technical details. I don't know what amp he used or what microphone. He did say, "The thing about Kenny is, I always did like his sound, and we sort of agreed how to set it up and get it. The Midnight Blue album was one of the best things he's ever done. It was a nice glowing sound that Kenny had, and I loved to record him. That was before the days of isolation booths, too. The room was just the way it was when it was built originally. That kind of groovy music really just fit with that space. Everything just came together naturally."

The current guitar amp is, I think, a Fender twin reverb.

Sorry I don't have any details.

So I guess we'll never know what happened to that Tweed Deluxe amp we think Kenny Burrell used on Midnight Blue!

Greg

**Sam Sherry** · 11-09-2018, 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by Greg Holmberg

Like a lot of people here, I'm a big fan of Kenny Burrell and have tried to get his sound on Midnight Blue . . .

Greg, that's a rabbit hole.

After accounting for all the differences between yourself and your setup and Kenny Burrell and his setup, that sound starts with sticking your ear 1" away from the speaker of your amp.

Recorded sound just isn't like the sound in a room. And the sound in your quiet practice room is not the same as your sound in front of a band, in a hall. All we can do is try to find an approximation that works.