Recording a leslie

[cooters]

I'm going to be recording a b3 through a leslie for the first time this week end. I was wondering if any one had some places i could start?

[drumsound]

There are a million ways to record a Leslie. The 'classics' are stereo something on the top and something good at low end on the bottom. Often a mono mic, often a condenser aimed at the middle of the front panel and back a few feet can give a nice woody tone.

[rodreb]

I have to agree with the single condenser mic about 3' to 5' in front of the leslie unless it's an extremely prominant / exposed / featured part..... then you might want to do some bigger, stereo mic'ing.

Everybody seems to have their own way of mic'ing a leslie so..... whatever flips your switch.

[cgarges]

For most purposes, I like something like this as a starting point:



Both mics are equidistant from the center of the rotor, which as you may or may not know is not centered in the speaker cabinet.

If the instrument going through it is a large feature of the track or if I need all of the low end present in the cabinet fully represented, I'll put another mic down by the bottom rotor as well. I oftentimes prefer this mic on the wood cabinet side. Nine times out of ten, when I'm doing this, I just print everything to stereo pair of tracks.

I also do a fair amount of simple mono miking, and for that, I usually like something simple, like an EV 635A, which doesn't take up much space in the extreme top or bottom of the frequency spectrum. This is kind of perfect for background-type organ pads or electric guitar parts that don't need to be stereo. If you're going for a more classic type of Leslie sound, then a mono mic with some vintage vibe to it, like a U47 or an RCA 77 a few feet away can be perfect. As far as placement, it's really just as simple as walking around and listening until you find the spot that sounds like you want and then putting a mic there.

I've also done all kinds of stuff like an MS pair a few feet away, spaced pair on either side of the cabinet (where the vents are-- this can be kind of helpful if the top rotors are especially noisy), and one of my favorites, a stereo pair of Leslie cabinets on either side of a 60-foot-wide room with a pair of U47s in the middle. What a grand sound.

By the way, a note about rotor noise and anything that's not annoyingly "rattley": Don't sweat some of those sounds. Leslie cabinets make noise when the instrument going through it isn't playing. It's part of the sound. Don't worry too much about the constant barrage of rotating hum that you'll get underneath the track. It's supposed to be there.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[A.David.MacKinnon]

All good advice so far. The only thing I'd add is that stereo micing the top from oposite sides will make the rotor sound like it's spinning twice as fast. You can hard pan (with a bass mic in the middle) for an extremely wide picture or pan everything mono for a fast mono sound. Just make sure to check the phase on the stereo mics.

Enjoy. B3 through a leslie is one of my favorite sounds to record. There are a million options and they can all sound great.

[Waltz Mastering]

There are a million ways to record a Leslie. The 'classics' are stereo something on the top and something good at low end on the bottom. Often a mono mic, often a condenser aimed at the middle of the front panel and back a few feet can give a nice woody tone.

I used to use this technique a lot, but would buss the 3 mic's to stereo so your taking up 2 tracks instead of 3. That was analog so the track count was limited.

Also would stick an overdrive or distortion inline with the leslie pre-amp pedal.

[David Piper]

I rather like two SM81's up top, and an RE20 on the bottom, although reading this thread has given me some new ideas to try, too.

[Brian]

I'd put whatever condensor pair you like for the organ that's in front of you, whatever it sounds like versus what you need for the track, you might want one with nice mids and clear highs like an xformerless coincident pair up top for effortless smooth highs, and an sm57 1.5 feet out from the opening of the bottom. You may not want the wuhffy low end that can come out of them and a 57 won't give it to you. I use that formula live and it always works, I use it for recording and it always works. The pre is your next thing, Live you get what you got, probably a board pre which is fine in a midas, but studio, choose wisely.

[oldguitars]

I really like to have a room mic up too, especially if it is a slower tune, or one with a lot of space....

[drumsound]

There are a million ways to record a Leslie. The 'classics' are stereo something on the top and something good at low end on the bottom. Often a mono mic, often a condenser aimed at the middle of the front panel and back a few feet can give a nice woody tone.

I used to use this technique a lot, but would buss the 3 mic's to stereo so your taking up 2 tracks instead of 3. That was analog so the track count was limited.

Also would stick an overdrive or distortion inline with the leslie pre-amp pedal.

Yea, I should have said that. Always stereo on the multitrack.

I rather like two SM81's up top, and an RE20 on the bottom, although reading this thread has given me some new ideas to try, too.

That was my Leslie set of for years. I miss those SM81 for that reason.

[cooters]

wow. I have many an idea lat night. I love this forum. I haven't been on in a while and oh how i've missed it.

[cooters]

messed that up. i'm really tired. i have no idea why i wrote lat night. but yeah. thanks every one. and keep this thread going.

[DJ_LBP]

I like the RE20 on the bottom or the SM7. For the top I got to use a 421 a few months back and I liked it. But I have lately been using a GT MD1a about horn height a few feet back and it seems to work pretty well.

I had use of a Subkick mic for a week and tried it on the bass rotor...
Thunder. I need to make one of those pronto.

[Ronan Chris Murphy]

The great part is that its such a cool sound that as long as you do not clip your converters its hard to really mess it up.

I tend to go with one mic on the bottom (Beta 52 or RE 20) and one or two condensers on tope depending on the role the B3 plays in the tune. (hard to go wrong with U87s for this)

[joninc]

how often do you guys really want that deep low end on an organ tho? (from micing the bottom).

- assuming we are mostly not recording solo organ....