Rudy Van Gelder

1. Rudy Van Gelder Architect of the “Blue Note Sound”

2. “. . . this reclusive self-taught craftsman is by far the most prolific and accomplished sound engineer in the history of jazz, recording many of the music's most acclaimed albums. In a career that has now spanned half a century and has paralleled developments in both modern jazz and recording technology, Van Gelder has contributed to advances in both areas, simultaneously shaping and being shaped by these new developments.” According to researcher Dan Skea

3. Born November 2, 1924, grew up in Hackensack, NJ • Began making home recordings with the “Home Recordo” at age 12 • Recorded family and friends with disk recording machine, made acetate disks • Played trumpet, became a jazz fan in high school, heard jazz artist on 52nd St. in NYC • Attended Pennsylvania College of Optometry, recorded amateurs on weekends and summers Earliest adventures in recording

4. “I walked into their control room, and the environment there gave me a very strong feeling. It was that ‘this was the sort of place that I'd like to be. . .’ [but] at that time there was no profession known as recording engineer.” After visiting WCAU in Philadelphia

5. Parents’ new home included a control room • Established optometry practice, recorded on Wednesdays and weekends • Used disk recorder • “There were no commercial companies making recording consoles as they are today. The major record companies all built their own, and if you wanted to do anything you had to do it yourself. Which I did. That's how I started. How much did I end up designing? Of course, it was everything. The only commercial designs were available through radio equipment manufacturers. They had consoles for radio purposes and that was my first console, which was actually a modified radio console.” After college

6. Initially recorded local/regional jazz artists • “guinea pigs” included Lee Konitz, Gerry Mulligan, Zoot Sims, LennieTristano • According to Billy Taylor, one of the 1st musicians to “care about mike (sic) placement.” • Gelder one of the first to obtain tape recorder (Apex 300), and soon got a second one • Also one of the 1st to get Neumann U-47 condenser mic • Eventually abandoned optometry practice for recording Began recording professional musicians in the late 1940s

7. Mic’ed close up to capture nuances of instruments • By 1951 used sound on sound • Skilled at splicing tape; combined different takes of songs • Skilled at mastering (had Scully lathe) • Early stereo recordings • Known as a lover of the music Other early innovations

8. 1st Blue Note session January 1953 • Owner Alfred Lion interested in hearing details of recordings • “By experimenting with the various elements of the recording process – the choice of microphones, where they were placed, the physical distribution of musicians within the studio, the volume level at which each player was recorded—Van Gelder was able to increasingly achieve a full, yettransparent sound in which each individual instrument could be distinctly heard within the overall mix. Horns were close-miked for greater presence and enhanced with a touch of echo. Basses became less boomyor muddy, their lines more cleanly defined” (Skea). • Blue Note recordings had a distinctive sound Blue Note

9. “I believe today's equipment is fantastic . . I wouldn't want to face a session without the editing capabilities of digital. There are still maintenance and reliability issues. Tech support helps. From my viewpoint, the essential difference between analog and digital is that analog does not like to be copied. After the original is recorded, edited and mixed, then what? You need a digital delivery medium. In that sense, the final product can be much higher quality than in the '70s.” Van Gelder on Digital

10. “Quality is vastly improved in the current professional production phase. Quality in the home playback phase is questionable: home theater with dinky so-called satellite speakers and subwoofers, ads saying you can get surround sound in your laptop computer, MP3s, lossy compression, music through your cell phone, streaming music on the Internet — come on.” Van Gelder on Consumer Listening