"TRUTH IN RHYTHM" - George Massenburg (Earth, Wind & Fire, Linda Ronstadt, Audio Icon), Part 2 of 2

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Brought to you by FUNKNSTUFF.NET and hosted by Scott "DR GX" Goldfine - musicologist and author of “Everything Is on THE ONE: The First Guide of Funk” ― “TRUTH IN RHYTHM” is the interview show that gets DEEP into the pocket with contemporary music’s foremost masters of the groove. Become a TRUTH IN RHYTHM Member through RUclips or at / truthinrhythm .
Featured in TIR Episode 214, Part 2 of 2: Recording engineer, producer and inventor George Massenburg, a four-time Grammy winner who for the past 45 years has been involved with more than 400 records. That includes Earth, Wind & Fire’s output from 1975 onward and that group’s associated acts of the Emotions, Deniece Williams and Ramsey Lewis. He has been acknowledged as a key architect of EWF's classic sound.
Other credited acts include jazz fusion giants like Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, Stanley Clarke and David Sanborn; great bands like Average White Band, Tower of Power, Journey, Little Feat and Toto; and mainstream stars like Linda Ronstadt, Randy Newman, Dolly Parton, Bonnie Raitt, Cher, Billy Joel, Roy Orbison, Carly Simon, Neil Diamond and even Frank Sinatra.
His George Massenburg Labs is a pioneering audio electronics company that has released many innovative recording technologies based on his original designs. Currently, he is an associate professor of sound recording at the Schulich School of Music at Montreal’s McGill University, and a visiting lecturer at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and Valencia, Spain, and at Tennessee’s University of Memphis.
RECORDED AUGUST 2021
LEGAL NOTICE: All video and audio content is protected by copyright. Any use of this material is strictly prohibited without expressed consent from original content producer and owner Scott Goldfine, dba FUNKNSTUFF. For inquiries, email [e-mail]. TRUTH IN RHYTHM is a registered U.S. Trademark (Serial #88540281).
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[@alpoe4467]

😁 LOVE THIS, he does not seem to pull any punches, it is refreshing! He's also mannerly.

[@kapmusiq5794]

What a master

[@barneydunn8458]

Linda Ronstadt...sigh. Pipes of glory and " ears extraordinare". Thanx for this.

[@keithbell9117]

A very honest man, speaks from the heart.

[@jules2207]

really enjoyed listening to the guy......my favorite interview of yours in a while (I mean the interviewee not the interviewer, you're always good). I really appreciated him telling how he appreciated you being well prepared.

[@wfew]

love this guy

[@alphasnk]

Great interview with GM thank you! You're a really good interviewer! Have an interview with Bill Schnee as well, you'll have a great conversation together!

[@ccfunk1]

Catching the replay.

[@jmlaasonen]

#Genelec speakers on the background?

[@willburrito9710]

8050s all around

[@RemyRAD]

LOL George says, Prince, was difficult to deal with. They didn't see I to I. Or, eye to eye. Because Prince loved his, API Audio Console. Which I don't think George ever really liked, that brand of American Audio Console? But Prince had a custom big one! And I don't think George wanted to engineer on one of those? He's not the only one like that. Bob Clearmountain, is another. He told me. He can't get his, Sound. On API Audio Consoles. And I know what he is talking about. Even though I do love that brand of Audio Console, myself. I understand perfectly what they are saying about it. I think it's pretty funny. As I know both, Bob Clearmountain and George. I've worked with, Bob, somewhat. In a limited capacity. As a Maintenance Engineer. For the studio he was working for in New York City. LOL. Yes.
And so none of this part of the story can be effectively relayed. By George. I guess? LOL.
I do love to hear his passion. Regarding each song and each artist. And his strong, feelings. And his description of some of those, hurt, artists. In their younger life. I sometimes wonder. What it must've been like for George? Having a Military Surgeon Father? I think could make someone rather, intense. Like George. And that has done him well. With his passionate neurotic attention to detail. To make those albums, happen. Whereas I took a much different direction. I went for the Live Performance, aspect. Of Live Broadcasts. Of Music Entertainment, events.
This requires a much different, Style. Of, Audio Engineering, expertise. As everything is TAKE-1. There will be no Overdubs. There will be no, Remixes. And in some cases. I actually get no, microphone nor sound checks. Before the Live Band, starts to play. And when they start to play. I then get. Approximately, 60, seconds. To push up a, Hit Sounding Mix. With a band I don't know? A band I have never heard? A band I am Mixing Down Live. Never having heard them before. And having to deliver, a Funding, Enjoyable, Exciting, Mix. All on Take-1. And that is virtually Impossible To Do! And all you are going to get is garbage sound! That sounds like this:
soundcloud.com/remyrad/track08
Technically speaking. Nothing is right about this recording. It's all one huge compromise. And all dynamic microphones. None of those nifty sounding condenser microphones George likes to use. And whereas, the lead guitar and saxophone. Those are both on, Wireless RF Belt packs, transmitters. You don't want to use those for recording. Ugh. LOL. I don't care! I can't care. It does me no good to care. All I can do is just roll with this. And ride the volume levels. The best I can. It's all live. In front of an audience of 20,000 people. It's the Washington DC Capital Jazz Festival. All live on stage. And this is just my, Haphazard Audio Engineering. I don't do while sober. As then I would overthink everything. And I don't want to be thinking anything I'm stoned. I'm just Engineering a, Cool Groove. That's all this is about. It's not about the accuracy in Engineering. It's about the Fun and Excitement. Of a Live Performance. It's not about the Technical Perfection. Like George and others are into. And I'm done with this. At the end of the set. I don't have to listen to the same tracks, 5000 times over. No! I get paid at the end of the gig. And I don't have to be a subservient, servant. To the artist.
And so in this respect. I lead a more comfortable life. I don't have to deal with the artists, neuroses and idiosyncrasies. I don't have to interact with them, at all, generally. Only occasionally. And yes. They are a bunch of neurotic idiots. And I can understand how George, would burn out. I'm sure it burns out a lot of people. When you have to go over things thousands of times. Screw that! This is Take-1. And I'm done. Way to go!
And so this took me all of, 60, seconds. To dial in this mix. For FM & TV. And I've got, No Producer. Sitting in the control room with me. Telling me what to do. So this is actually, not only my Engineering but also my Producing. And I designed, wired, built. This Control Room. And it's better than the Sound City Control Room. Dave Grohl purchased. Similar to others, George Massenburg has worked in. Inside my little 25,000 pound, completely custom, Diesel Box Truck. Control Room On Wheels.
And oh by the way? Quincy Jones wanted me out in Los Angeles. To do the same thing for him. So this must mean something? I must also mean something. With my different kind of Haphazard Mixing Style. Because that's all this is. It's 100% Spontaneous. No studio trickery in use. No computers. That was 1996.
So? Just something to think about.
RemyRAD

[@RemyRAD]

Wait? What? Lyle Lovett would see George. Move a fader, a, 10th of a, dB. And he would take note closely. Why did you do that he would ask? And George said, he couldn't hear the difference. Yeah but George did! So if George heard that difference and moved the fader. Why did he do it? And is he certain? Lyle Lovett couldn't hear what George could hear? Because nobody can hear like George. Except, George. And well? Me. I can hear better than George. That's probably why George and I have never really talked? He can hardly take a complement. When I have complemented him in the past. He's yelled at me. Yelled at me? Yes he did. Why?
I went up to them one day when I bumped into him. As I have from time to time. And I told him. I really loved that album he did of Linda Ronstadt with Nelson Riddle and the orchestra. And he snapped at me and said, YEAH? WELL YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE!
And I asked him what gives? He said everybody hated what he did. I said I certainly didn't. I thought it was one of the finest albums you've made. I really enjoyed it. He never even thanked me.
And here's this guy, George. Whom I've known since I was 15 when he was 23. And we were both mentored by the same guy. And we were both hired for our first job at the same studio. By the same guy. And both mentored by a different guy. Not from that studio. But who I later got hired. At that studio. To take the job as Chief Maintenance Engineer. They had offered to me at 16 years of age. But give them a lame excuse. That I was too young for that. I wasn't. I was ready for that. But my mentor, and George's mentor. Had just got laid off from Johns Hopkins University after 23 years of service. And I turned it over to him. They hired him. They liked him. They knew him. And I got hired a couple months later. And got to work with my mentor at my First Studio Job. At 17 years of age. And both George and I. Worked for the same guy.
But then one day. George split off. With 2 of the other partners. Who also split off and opened their own studios also in Baltimore. That devastated, Lewis R. Mills Junior. And Recordings Inc. in Baltimore, closed. The reopened months later. With a new wealthy 2nd partner as, Flite Three Recordings Incorporated. Which I think signified. The other 3 partners leaving? George, Burgess McNeil and Joe Bradley. Burgess partnered with George and they opened up ITI Studios and Equipment. And his Parametric Equalizer was introduced. The Model 230, I believe? It was a wonderful equalizer. Very musical sounding. Very smooth and accurate sounding. With gobs of headroom. I didn't personally have any. Then I used a couple elsewhere. And I loved them. I couldn't afford them. For my own studio. So I had those miserable Neve, 1073 equalizer's. LOL. And so I could not engineer like George Massenburg with his parametric equalizers. Oh well? While he has recorded with those for others over the years. I don't know? I used other brands of audio consoles. All top-of-the-line, first-rate. They have also recorded countless hit records. By countless other fine engineers. Many also award winners.
I am not an award winner. I have merely been Nominated, for multiple major awards. And I've been told I made history doing so. Though I have no gold nor platinum records. Even though I do. They are not in my possession. They were awarded to the Producers, Artists & Record Labels. And I get no royalties. As I was a single contract gig. For Live Broadcast and Archival Recording Purposes. For later Fund Raising. And other Promotional, applications. And Broadcasts. As they cost a lot of money to produce. And require a lot of people. As I also have to have a crew of my own. Of anywhere between 2 and 20 additional, Engineers. All Produced out of my On Location Facility. I designed and built from scratch. As I am also Quite the Engineer. With a background similar to George's. But from a different side of our Industry. The Broadcast Side. Where I have to get everything in Take-1. No redos. No overdubs. No remixing. No fixing. It's just me. Raw, me. And they Need, Engineers, like Me. Because I don't freak out. If everything is not perfect. Because it's not going to be. And I just have to live with it LOL. George doesn't have to. He can't. He wouldn't. He would walk away. I can't do that. I'm On The Air!
We come at the music from all sides of the tracks. Recorded and Live.
RemyRAD

[@bonzology322]

George is underrated by far, Prince is overrated by far