I love Al Schmit!

Hi James this is a good thing to do. In fact one of the best ways possible to seriously improve your recording, mixing and mastering skills is to listen. Listen to as many well recorded productions as you can and as often as you can. Because this builds up information in your mind as to what constitutes good sounding anything. Vocals, instruments etc.

When you are tracking and mixing etc the more stuff you have heard means you have got something to reference to in your mind. eg if you are say equing an acoustic guitar how do you know when it sounds good. If you have very strong mental pictures and memories as to great acoutsic guitar sounds then you have a reference point. You will find it much easier.

Don't get over technical about sound production. Some here would have you believe don't rely on your ears and make sure you measure and have a full technical knowledge of what you are doing. But they are simply wrong. These people don't know how to use their ears, simple as that. Using extra tools is fine and great but start with your ears first not the tools.

Use your ears, they are better than any technical measurement and they reveal so much about how things sound. And although listening may not reveal excatly how a certain sound may have been achieved but they certainly let you know what you are striving for.

Al Scmitt has a long list of wonderful albums to his credit including many Steely Dan productions among others. Try and track some of those down and have a good listen. They do show off how great the recording medium can be and how high to aim.

Something like 15 Grammies, he clearly knows what he's doing! He won his first Grammy when he was just a teenager. But he's also a very cool guy who's always been generous in sharing his vast knowledge of recording. Unfortunately, his advice always begins with "start with a U47...".

Amen to that Jeff. It was a very timely reminder that I need to make time to listen to the best stuff, even if i don't feel like it - it is essential to development. I guess I was also so impacted because I've been doing a lot of alt rock and rap (ughh) lately, so it was so refreshing to hear great music, played by great players, with a true master behind the desk. 

And Dave, I laughed when I read your post - he does indeed start off every interview by telling us we need a U47. And not just any, but his!

I've emailed him a couple of times, and have always received a very polite response from his secretary, "Thank you for your kind words, however, Mr. Schmitt does not do consultations at this time."  It was worth a shot.


I'm actually in the process of recording my next album in 5.1 (which has been so much fun!) and I am saving my pennies to hopefully have him do a mix of one of the tracks (this is for my original work, not my classical work). No doubt if I was in conversation with him I could pick his brain a little. I'll let you know everything he says if it ever happens! He may not even do single mixes...