Created by audio engineer, songwriter, musician and record producer Alan Parsons and keyboardist, producer, author and music technology journalist Julian Colbeck, the Art & Science of Sound Recording Master Class Training Sessions offer hands-on sound recording tips and tricks. The programme has three class levels, and enables attendees to participate in a recording or mixing session in a professional recording studio. With a combination of live performance and instruction, the need for articulate speech intelligibility is met by E6 Earset and H6 Headset microphones from Countryman Associates.
According to Colbeck, who serves as the event producer and coordinates both the artists and musicians being recorded and all of the details of the programme: ‘Alan conducts the sessions exactly as he does when he is working on a normal project, except that he will comment on what he is doing at various points throughout the day and also answer questions. The purpose is to give attendees an inside look into a genuine recording/mixing event. Many sessions have gone on to have commercial releases and many attendees have gone on to develop new careers – including some now working for Alan Parsons.’
Colbeck reports that the Countryman microphones are presently being used exclusively for the instruction portion of each seminar. ‘At this point, we use one E6 and one H6,’ he says. ‘At the most recent master class, we conducted the entire program using just the E6. We have the two Countryman mics interfaced with Sennheiser Evolution Wireless G4 systems and, together, they make a great combination.
‘There are three primary aspects of the mics that we like,’ he continues. ‘These mics are unobtrusive to both wearer and viewer to the point of effective invisibility. Almost immediately after putting either the E6 or H6 on, no one notices it’s there. The sound quality is ultra high and very natural sounding, while the pickup range is ideal for acquiring the wearer’s voice and very little else. And the mics deliver plenty of gain before feedback, making it easy to get the right amount of level.
‘The nature of our events is that Alan, at various points during the programme, may be facing directly into the loudspeakers or may be thirty feet away in the live room. At no time during two intense days of recording and mixing did we encounter feedback or any technical issues whatsoever. This is very impressive.’
Given the challenges of administering and conducting the sessions, the ability to get responsive, capable support should it be necessary is crucial to the ongoing success of their program. In this regard, Colbeck has been very impressed with Countryman’s customer support services. ‘Countryman is highly efficient, knowledgeable, and helpful. They’ve been very supportive of our endeavour and are a pleasure to work with.’
While Parsons and Colbeck have only been using the Countryman E6 Earset and H6 Headset microphones for just a few weeks on recent training seminars, they had also worked with the microphones earlier this year during Winter Namm. ‘We’ve been delighted by the whole Countryman experience, the people and the products,’ Colceck says. ‘We also look forward to using the Countrymans on coming video projects in 2020 and to experimenting with the different caps. Thus far, we haven’t needed to use the supplied pop shield, as we didn’t encounter any conditions that required them. We did, however, use one for photos, as the mic itself is so small and unobtrusive.’
