"Recording the Hammond B-3"

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Joel4500

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I am beginning work on a Gospel CD next month using the Yamaha AW4416 and some great outboard gear. I have experience recording different instruments, i.e., acoustic piano, guitar, and of course keyboards & drum machines. SouthSide Baptist Church of Lumberton, NJ (my church!) recently acquired a Hammond B-3 Organ in mint condition from a local benefactor. Upon examination I discovered there is only a headphone output underneath. B-3's come with one big Leslie Speaker, so my question is this; do you mic the Leslie Speaker with a quality mic (I have an AKG 414) or can you get a quality "direct" signal from the headphone out (and is it stereo?). Any response would be appreciated.
 
The leslie is kinda important in creation of the typical hammond sound. So I guess you should mike it. I would stereo mike it. No idea how I would do that, but I would. :)
 
Aha ! my favorite topic

There are quite a few different ways to mic the leslie.

I need to know what mics you have at your disposal and I'll guide you from there.
 
First of all, let me het this of my chest:

YOU LUCKY BASTARD!!

So, now to the Leslie ;)

How you mic it will depend on the system you have available, the size of the church and, like Shai says, the mics you have available.
 
Yo Brother Joel of the 4500 Club:

You mentioned you have the Yamaha 4416? I just got the 2816 and as I've been studying the manuals, you should be able to record the B-3 in Stereo though inputs #1 and #2, using two mics.

The B-3 or Hammond box is a rich sounding machine and with some fairly decent mics, you should get a remarkable sound quality through the 4416.

I have run CD music out the headphone plug of my stereo amplifier into my MD8 recorder with good results; you might try one song done direct through the circuit you mentioned and see what happens after you tweak it.

But, your 4416 manual should cover stereo recording and, away you go.

I played a BIG pipe organ at St. Mark's church in Grand Rapids because I knew the man in charge of music there. It was awesome to play that box. Even more so, it was wild to sit in the room where all the parts of the pipe organ move and breath.

So, have fun.
Green Hornet
 
sjoko2 said:
First of all, let me het this of my chest:

YOU LUCKY BASTARD!!

So, now to the Leslie ;)

How you mic it will depend on the system you have available, the size of the church and, like Shai says, the mics you have available.
Click to expand...

Ohhhhh sjokoooooo, brutha',you echo my EXACT same sentiments. Woooooo!!!!! MEMOR-got-d@mn-RIES!!!!
In one of my old bands,back in the day (SIGH ), Our keyboardist,Marshall Dobson (name mentioned as he sessioned with S.Wonder,toured w. Jazz drummer Billy Cobham) had 2,IMHO,
the greatest keyboards of all time; the FENDER RHODES ,and the HAMMOND B-3 with the sweet as sugar,gyratin',original sound-makin',LESLIE !!!! The few times we went to a stoo-dee-o to record, at Enjoy Records in NYC,
the engineers, Bill Robinson & Scott Harris,used the most unusual micing techniques. In a triangular fashion,they mic'd the LES with 3 mic's (one of which was a 57,but can't recall the other 2). Theoretically,the mic'ing configuration they had would seem to defeat the purpose of the rotating "woosh" sound produced by the Hammond & Les,however, due to mic positioning,baffle use,some wierd kind of EQ'ing & panning and overall engineering skill, (PLEASE, don't ask me in detail,I;m a musician 1st;RECORDIST 2nd!) they got the Hammond tracks to sound SOOOO awesome...the likes of which we have NEVER heard
recorded before!!!! (The Lawd only know's what my mom's did to my copy as I left it with her when I was playing gigs on the eastern seaboard). My word's do ABSOLUTELY no justice to the
fan-tabulous sound of the Ham & Les sam'ich combo!!!!!!!

Joel 4500, right about now, I'm stupendously envious of you!
take care of that baby,or I comin' after you !!!:D


IMHO, double mic that bad-boy with a condenser and a 57 to capture that .."Oooooooooo-Ahhhhhhhhhh" sound!!!!
 
If I remember correctly there was an article in one of the recording mags on micing a Leslie. It had pictures of the set up and they were all multiple mics.

It may have been Electronic Musician or EQ magazine. You can check the back issues.
 
The best way (at least in my opinion) is to first of all remove the single piece plank covering the rear top horn chamber.
Once you've done this, place a mic on each side, 57's works perfectly. Place the mics level with the sides of the leslie cabinet, then point them 20 degrees in.
If you want a smooth sound, place the mics slightly outside the cabinet. If you want something more "breethy" place them closer in. Now you can pan the 2 mics, I normally do 9 and 3 o'clock.

Now for the low end, once again I prefer to remove the plank first, then use one mic (like your 414). Same thing goes as with the horns, close is more extreme, further is smoother.

I still have one of my old converted leslies, a DC300 Crown as the amp, 2 Neve pre's, a 300W Gausch woofer, and 2 x 75 watt JBL drivers on a dual throat towards the horn. A little loud :)
 
That sounds like good advice to me (not like I'd know the difference) :D I saw the (very thorough) article on recording the B3 tho. It was definately in Electronic Musician. I can check the issue tonite when I get home and post it if you're interested. And yes, you are a lucky bastard. Most of us are stuck with cheesy digital emulations. The only solace we have is that we don't have to carry it anywhere.
 
There are all the traditional ways to mic a Leslie (I use 2 Beyer 260s on the top rotor panned L/R, and a U47 or KSM32 on the bottom panned center), but another way, especially if the B3 is not going to be hogging the mix, and if it's an overdub, is to mic it from across the room with a single mic.

Stick a mic 10' away or so, compress heavily, and crank it up...
I've used a KM84 for this, but my fav is a ribbon like a 44BX...

Makes the organ sound huge, and yet doesn't compete with the other instruments, especially if they've been close-miced...

LOL...
 
The weirdest thing I've ever build was a "special" leslie for mic'ing, which was always located off stage.

This "thing" was in a HUGE flightcase, the Leslie positioned in the center, very much stripped down. The top had a dual throat with one JBL 75W driver, and one 25W Altec Lensing driver, the bottom a Gauch woofer. It had 2 amps, and 2 pre's. The pre's were Neve, the amps one Crown DC60 - one side driving the low end, the other side driving the JBL. The other amp was a Quad, driving the Altec.
You could switch between the amps for the horn - the JBL / Crown for 'normal' sound, the Altec / Quad for 'smooth and clean'

Inside the case was designed with some tunnels and acoustic treatment, different designs for high and low. Normally there were 2 AKG's in the low compartments, and 2 Neumans in the top.

The top compartment, to make matters more complicated, had 2 levers on the outside. Lift them and push them apart and the top compartment split from 2 into 4 chambers. Open two small hatches and you could insert 2 more mics, especially for quad gigs.

Once the 'thing' was set up for a tour, all you had to do was connect power, connect the control cable to the Hammond, and insert either 3, 4 or 6 mic cables into the small patch panel on the side. Good sound every time, without overspill. For most gigs the keyboard tech would switch the amps, if and when required.

The good'ol days, when sound came before money :cool:
 
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