
Rudy Van Gelder, Audio Engineer Who Helped Define Sound of Jazz, Has Died - slr555
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/26/arts/music/rudy-van-gelder-audio-engineer-who-helped-define-sound-of-jazz-on-record-dies-at-91.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=mini-moth&region=top-stories-below&WT.nav=top-stories-below&_r=0
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leothekim
This man was singlehandedly involved in the recording sound quality of some of
the greatest jazz musicians in history. There will not be another like him.
Rest in peace, Rudy, and watch for clip in the Great Jam Session In the Sky.

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beat
Just for a reference to his sound, look up "Maiden Voyage" by Herbie Hancock
(it's probably on Youtube). Listen in particular to the drum sound (a 20 year
old Tony Williams!), and the breath sounds of Freddie Hubbard's astounding
trumpet solo.

This was supposed to be the sound of the sea, and that's what it sounds like.

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erichmond
This is a _titanic_ loss. One of the greatest sound engineers of all time.
RIP.

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slr555
A Love Supreme. Blue Note recordings. I marvel at them today. Yes, a major
loss.

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sxcurry
A Love Supreme, one of my favorite recordings of all time. Now I know why it
just sounds so clear and natural.

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mrinfinite
Funny Story: Rudy would set up multiple microphones on a session. Some would
be plugged in to the board and some were just a placebo. This helped him keep
his unique sound as his popularity soared.

The idea being that a spectator couldn't be sure what microphone he used to
record with.

~~~
lobster_johnson
Nitpick: Decoy would be a better word than placebo. (Interesting anecdote,
though.)

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em3rgent0rdr
Many jazz greats have died this year.

~~~
hackuser
Many more than are being born or have been born in any year in decades, I
fear.

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aczerepinski
Speak No Evil [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gujh-
gDJBvw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gujh-gDJBvw)

Edit: I guess that wasn't really in response to parent comment. Anyway, great
record! :)

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vanderZwan
I'm surprised he insisted that he isn't a producer. I mean, sure, I understand
how he feels like an audio engineer _first_ , but he definitely had the right
to be credited as a producer _as well_ with all the work that the did.

~~~
maroonblazer
Probably because in traditional jazz the role of Producer doesn't really apply
like it does in more modern genres (R&B, Rock, etc).

Producers typically focus not on the mechanics and apparatus of the recording
process/audio fidelity (that's what the engineer does) but rather are involved
in selecting the musicians who play together, what songs they record, how
they're arranged, mixed, sometimes even contributing to the writing, etc.

Given that most of those responsibilities don't apply in traditional jazz -
Coltrane is going to play with whoever Coltrane wants to play with - and the
"mix" is intended to match as closely as possible how it sounds in a real life
setting, the role of "producer" (outside of the artist themselves) in most
traditional jazz was never really a thing.

~~~
biggieshellz
Definitely not true. There were plenty of producers who were "involved in
selecting the musicians who play together, what songs they record, how they're
arranged, mixed, sometimes even contributing to the writing, etc." \-- Orrin
Keepnews, Teo Macero, Alfred Lion, Creed Taylor, Ozzie Cadena, Don Schlitten,
and the list goes on and on. A good producer often made the difference between
an OK session and a great one (case in point, Sonny Stitt).

~~~
maroonblazer
Fair enough, but then the question becomes did RVG play that same role? My
understanding is he didn't, that he focused solely on the recording process
and was a 'hired gun' so to speak. Is that not the case?

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zhemao
So sad. I was always amazed at how many great albums he recorded. And his
remastering of the old records to CD format ensured that these historic sounds
would preserved in the digital age.

RIP Rudy Van Gelder truly There Will Never Be Another You.

~~~
hobbes
I agree with all this.

But, a major motivation to remaster old records is due to copyright expiring
on the old recordings, particularly in Europe. A remastered release is
considered a new release in terms of copyright, which can therefore be
protected, I believe.

The depressing mountain of very cheap public domain John Coltrane (for just
one example) "reissues" by every man and his dog was foreseen by the record
companies.

And, while I'm here, these cheap reissues of expired copyright recordings
often say they are "remastered" when all they've done is tweak the equaliser
and added some phasing. For no other reason, these RVG remasters are great in
order to identify the reference recording amongst the deluge of bedroom re-
hashes.

(And, RIP Bobby Hutcherson. RVG's remasters of his recordings sparkle).

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stuaxo
This popped up an ad that covered the whole page from a data: url that said:
'hi $my-isp-name' then asked if I wanted to win an ipad.

Being on a phone couldn't work out best way to close it.

~~~
mixedCase
Firefox for Android supports ad blockers like uBlock. For me it's the only way
to use the web comfortably without having to resort to apps for everything.

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bryanh
For those curious about his recordings, search "Rudy Van Gelder" on Spotify or
similar - there are many remastered tracks tagged as his. Definitely worth a
listen.

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honkhonkpants
Anyone with an interest in jazz has already got at least one of his records.

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bigiain
I just googled this up:

[http://dgmono.com/rvg-discography/](http://dgmono.com/rvg-discography/)

I don't consider myself to be a dedicated jazz fan, and I've got a dozen or
two out of those ~800 recordings - mostly Miles, Coltrane, and Herbie Hancock.

From the dates, that's ~800 recordings between '52 and '65 - that's an average
of one a week for 13 years. Prolific and hard-working as well as talented...

~~~
dharma1
Back then albums were usually recorded in a couple of days. "Kind of Blue" \-
just another day in the office :)

I love his recordings, will be missed. There was a good interview with RVG in
Tape Op 10-ish years back: [http://tapeop.com/interviews/43/rudy-van-
gelder/](http://tapeop.com/interviews/43/rudy-van-gelder/)

If you are interested in recording, I recommend subscribing to Tape Op. It's
wonderful, and it's free.

~~~
beat
Tape Op is a terrific resource for recording engineers, for sure.

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valdiorn
what's up with all the nytimes articles recently? Why do people keep posting
stuff from behind paywalls?

nytimes is behind a paywall, which means most people browsing hacker news
won't be able to read this.

