Sylvia Massy Recording Techniques - A tour around her session during a break from recording

[@DavidDiMuzio]

She's is "crazy" in the most charming way ever. I'm in love.

[@CharlesK441]

Crazy in a good way. She is a really lovely person. I'm also in love !

[@sKarredtoon]

David DiMuzio was going to say the exact same thing.

[@BenGurskyMusic]

the right kind of crazy for sure

[@vgabnd_kenji]

SAME!!!

[@divinodayacap3313]

uy ikaw yung sikat sa Pilipinas

[@Rick-Jangle]

Sylvia doesn’t seem arrogant in any way. She just loves what she does. Only too happy to share her recording techniques. She’s worked with the best. What a wonderful person.

[@Hammerhead224]

4:20 I feel so bad the "extra warmth" joke didn't land

[@chrispeterson73]

I absolutely love Sylvia's "mad scientist" approach to getting ready different unique sounds. ❤👍🎙🎚

[@JayHendricksWorld]

I could listen to her talk about her work all day, she's amazing!

[@frankybebop2913]

She’s soo f...ing cool and creative! Mindblowing!

[@daleplatino]

What I love about her is that she doesn't hide her techniques. My biggest question is, does she render the mixdown or does she mixdown to tape or cd burner? I haven't seen in it any of her videos.

[@TheBaconWizard]

That. Was. Awesome. I would give my right arm just to follow her around for a while and learn some of her wisdom and approach.

[@ParthPandya1992]

That fuzz tone from the light bulb was glorious but its really freaky that there was no guitarist present and Sylvia actually mentions the studio being haunted lol!

[@Kampsy]

lol they do say that spirits are attracted to energy, and there's a lot of electrical energy going on in that room

[@boxabeatrecordings6309]

21 minutes of pure love for music. Thank you so much.

[@axelfoley1768]

Charming woman, & a rather enchanting producer. But most of all just a world-class music engineer & professional with a unique but excellent approach. Love it.

[@RecordProduction]

A huge talent - and fantastic person - we are huge fans and a treat to meet and talk with her :-) Thanks for watching!!

[@matthewv789]

That is so creative, I would never have thought of that! (Putting them through light bulbs, that is.) Actually so many creative ideas.

[@granthambeard]

"make every recording an adventure" shit man she's SO cool.

[@parasiteunit]

It's a marvelous philosophy. If you do a mix that is a box ticking excercise EVERY time... How long will be until you get to that point that it just feels like EVERY mix is the same... That just kills the creative process. Also, weirdly - sometimes strange limitations you can deliberately impose on yourself when mixing or producing can really get the ingenuity going... Deliberately using a 3 band EQ on EVERYTHING sounds ludicrous in the days of parametric on all the channels, but it forces you to get the sound "right" before you press record... That invites experimentation. Great fun.

[@CharlesK441]

Threw away the text book...... what test book!!! This is awesome. Such a refreshing change

[@Fervillasmil]

My goodness gracious. Love this woman.

[@eastwoodrecords3364]

So many great ideas! I remember a childhood cassette player with an onboard mic/compressor that was literally impossible to clip! Now to find a garden hose... 🥁

[@RecordProduction]

That's a great idea! :-)

[@jbyork]

What an amazing attitude! It's wonderful to see how much fun she's having! Music should be fun!

[@riccardofioretti9743]

She is brilliant!

[@brunosilviomartins]

Now I wanna hear that drum sound! I'm gonna check out this album. Thanks Sylvia for an amazing insight on how your creative mind works. PS: I'm gonna try the garden hose thing!

[@TomHellstenTSTstudioThailand]

Love the creative spirit she has :)

[@Jerrylumdegaard]

She’s awesome ! Get her book !!

[@superdad942]

just awesome

[@Merkwuuurdigliebe]

I'm watching this at 2am and I can't wait till I can play drums and try this garden hose technique!!! Amazing! This video was like the same level of wonder as the first semester of audio school

[@RecordProduction]

Have fun! :-)

[@OllertonMD]

this is beyond brilliant. who would think of this.

[@BrianTheoret]

Whoa. This is incredible!

[@johnchase8510]

Love Sylvia Massey and her musicality! Thank you for this interview.

[@Skiamakhos]

She is amazing, a consummate expert and a real mad scientist. I love her. :-)

[@BoltieBolt]

I had to subscribe, wow. I am a fan.

[@tracyyy99]

Oh my...she is so creative...I want to switch on all my gear in my home studio and start creating...anything...i'm so inspired.

[@paolastrange9903]

I'm in love!

[@HovakMusic]

I don’t know if this is more crazy or more creative, but this is the coolest thing ever. Those cables on the floor drive me nuts though ...

[@dillipphunbar7924]

Love this approach...gr8 extended studio...props for the volca. and those mic ideas.....brilliant

[@jerroldangeles]

brilliant

[@everennui1]

at 4:20. I have one of those little Fender amps somewhere. I wish I knew where it was, because it sounded so cool. I'd go out and play it alone until the battery started dying. Such a wealth of unique tones.

[@michaelnc4450]

Back in the day, I had a Tascam Porto-One... and I had the outputs plugged into the Line In of a Teac Cassette Desk, and I had it on Record-Pause... and I never knew why, but it sounded so good through the receiver amp.. I never took into consideration the electronics of the Teac coming into play. Great Info... Sylvia is a genius! Thanks for the post!

[@RecordProduction]

Thanks for watching :-)

[@crustaug]

Some of this is so insane. I LOVE it! What an awesome video and view into her mind and approach to recording. Incredibly inspiring.

[@BrantleyAllen]

My first distortion box was a cassette deck. Ran the guitar in, pause/record, headphone out to amp. That was a LONG time ago.

[@chuckinator13]

I have a noxious fuzz made from this same concept

[@Evildandalo]

I’ve been thinking about building a pedal out of the pre in one cassette deck I have, it’s ridiculously good bass distortion

[@charlesquagliana1473]

@@Evildandalo DO IT!!!!

[@Evildandalo]

Charles Quagliana Totally forgot about this comment haha. Now that I have endless free time I might actually start reverse engineering it finally. I’m considering uploading some demos of the unit in action and some other things I’ve made distort well

[@AL.N-music]

WOW... i love the idea of that portable cassette recorder as a parallel compressor/saturator, sort off. Except that it's compressing a totally different signal source.

[@bleeknoir]

EDGE Studios! Cheshire. Cool!

[@scarykrishna3191]

Wonderful

[@lonecrow1577]

Love your sense of experimentation.

[@Arlo360-Official]

She's spot on with that mic placement at 8:10. I've recorded drums that way using a single stereo mic and it works great, especially if you're just wanting to record rehearsals.

[@voxhumana1634]

the ole dick mic lol

[@stepitupandgo67]

I've learned more from her about recording a band than anyone else ever....not that I've implemented any of that knowledge, but I've filed so many of her tricks away....and every recording studio on earth should have her book somewhere there for creativity boosting!!...and tech tips...I love when artists are generous with their knowledge...serves the greater good!!...

[@analogandroid420]

Amazing video! Thanks so much for sharing your secret wizard techniques!

[@CJWarlock]

Instant like for the light bulb idea and the ability to do it personally, even though I don't know the persons in the video. :) I knew the trick with incandescent light bulb in series to protect the tweeter in a loudspeaker. The use of fluorescent lamp's built in power supply in series on the audio line to produce a special distortion - ingenious! :)

[@CjSaabRecords]

thanks man,, I'm a big fan of mam,, always a new experience I get when I watch their videos.she is awesome and brilliant

[@garethde-witt6433]

Sylvia is awesome 😊😊

[@josefrancisco6969]

Awesome.

[@tomprice3258]

My kind of producer. Nice ideas!

[@burnradio9681]

Great stuff! Although I was looking forward to her showing the preamps, like she said she would, but she left me hanging on that one :D

[@sonjohnjeff]

love this

[@BounceboyProductions]

Wow, well that was a proper education 😎👏👏👏👍

[@adamwasthefirstman]

This was amazing! Thank you!

[@JuanRamirez-di9bl]

This is just what I needed!! Thank you very much 🙏!! This is like being a kid again and not having any predefined ideas sticked in the brains!

[@thomaskleinhans2384]

Wonderful, inspiring, authentic, love it!

[@odic7660]

Thank you for the experience , you are the best , this inspired me

[@slxbeats8146]

Something about her i like....Shes awesome

[@narayantx]

Very cool

[@anilmayur]

great job mam

[@BeatzlordRec]

Wow I love it

[@guitarsarelikestupid7200]

I used to record in a stove using a Fender Silverface Vibrochamp. I mean the amp was mic'ed in the stove. I wasn't in the stove. Gives you a hugely compressed but rich and awesome tone.

[@DeathTrapProductions]

SYLVIA IS SUCH A BADASS HUMAN BEING!!!!

[@manonbassguitar]

Love her!

[@flyingjib]

Oh man I have the same mini amp! I use it with my keyboards It's so awesome. Really cool I'm not the only one who thinks so!

[@dianathompson7597]

My fave light bulb for guitar are the 12ax7 and el34, not vary bright but great sounding.

[@99Michaelthom]

I discovered God Damn because of this video! Holy shit I love them!

[@alobosk]

I also recorded a song with a pocket amp. I discovered it by accident (and poverty) but man, it sounded amazing. Huge sound. We couldn't believe it, and couldn't stop laughing. The mike looked bigger than the speaker!

[@MihaiSorohan]

That's the most "out of the box" trick I've ever seen. Well, not to complain, but the camera guy is filming everything but the guitar setup. From windows, backs of people, doors and ceilings, he caught almost everything.

[@Beexzz]

Aaaahahahah! Zen master of weird tech! Hehehe... Light bulb! Pure zen! She's like a mad scientist fiddling around with different stuff for spicing up the sound! Thumbs up!!!

[@sean_wave]

This is brilliant

[@ericfloyd9917]

No one is mentioning the quality of the condenser mics on his hand held digital recorder. They sound superb. No joke.

[@imark7777777]

I think it's a zoom and they usually do pretty good

[@HamiltonSeen]

Me, listening to the guitar sound on that Spiderbait track and jumping out of my chair in joy when the distorted part comes. Daaaamn.

[@nowpoei2071]

Sylvia Massy is a recording wizard! She reminds me of Carol Kane’s characters only more mystical.

[@ChanningCookHolmes]

Mind blowing,,,,

[@0374studio]

Brilliance!

[@mistertamura6190]

Sylvia is a treasure.

[@Alfalfa_Male]

My admiration for her know no bounds.,

[@tabtuburan6439]

So creative..

[@yaveeya2992]

The famous Massey second hand portable tape recorder trick for drums.. Genius..!!

[@dragon-id5uj]

what the heck! i can't even imagine recording in a setup like that, but boy, it's unique, creative and experimental

[@christiaandemarezoyens4720]

Sylvia Massey is da bomb!!!

[@ruby2thursday]

@14:34....shows panasonic mono cassette player. I still have mine. just crazy.

[@PhatOtterStudios]

I just came across a whole box of older different types of candescent light bulbs of all sizes. I'm now intrigued.

[@DaveBessell]

Good questions, nice informative interview. I was particularly interested to hear Sylvia's comments about more conventional mic positioning etc. as well as the more wacky stuff.

[@stevefaure415]

Sylvia is one cool lady! I'm so tired of all these architectural digest-style recording studios that are sterile and full of gazillion-dollar equipment. She's a throw-back--you expect to see overflowing ashtrays on the console and half-empty bottles of Jack Daniels on the windowsill. This is a place to record loud and proud! Go Sylvia, you're my spirit animal

[@ThomasORourke1982]

❤

[@markreardon6969]

God I love her so very much! I always learn something fascinating watching her in videos. What I would give to be a part of her team.

[@scrimmerman]

Charming female mad genius at work here.

[@G.GordonMidi]

When a lightbulb of an idea pops into Sylvia's head, sometimes the idea is an actual lightbulb!

[@ayoungethan]

I am going to custom tune a guitar and close mic it near a drum kit! Dayyum. I need to try the hose isolation trick, too.

[@RecordProduction]

Go for it!

[@rahim4411]

WTF Silvia, I didn't know you were a TECH GEEK! running stuff through lamps? That is insane!

[@monkeyxx]

wow, and I thought I was weird, love sylvia

[@beigela]

You are weird.

[@mdee2581]

i love when women are into music production / mixing techniques and actually know their stuff! big thumbs up

[@freshconnekt]

She’s a genius

[@froag4003]

this is fucking incredible.

[@MZ-tm1tw]

Micking the resonance from the piano strings i would try a contact microphone on the metal frame or on a wooden part very close to the metal frame holding the strings. For very different sound a electric guitar / Bass pick up would pick up the sound electro Magnetic directly from the strings but are not optimised for pick up of piano strings. Other microphones that could work are PZM or shotgun microphones aimed directly on the piano strings. The lid of a grand piano gives some amazing reflections from the strings when recording a piano and can be used to enhance the sound with a softer tone.

[@nancybeckett890]

I love how she correctly says "damping" (a drum) instead of "dampening". She knows the difference between sound waves and wetness -- unlike most drummers and many recordists.

[@OCDHIFiGuy]

Sylvia, youre the bomb sweetie !! Check you out !! I'll never forget our conversation where you explained your concepts about morphing sonic through unconventional methods. Ive got to come up and drink kool aid with you guys sometime, its like me going diametrically opposed to my normal mindset. Honestly completely opposite. But when you told me about making audio cables with old phone cables or the wire from an old drive in speaker, I got a little grin on my face that has not left. My heart swells when I see others so passionate about music. lol the Gooch just came up as Im writing.. Later this year I try my hand at recording with a Studer A80 out of Sunset Sound now here with me in ATL.. to jog your memory, Im HiFi cable guy Mikey from Verastarr. Huge love and support for everything you do !!!

[@johncall7532]

One Sylvia is worth a thousand nerds.

[@DerekHundik]

How she connected lamp with speaker cable and 110 V main power circuit which draws 5A current ...

[@RicTic66]

She's in England, we use 240v mains power. I don't know if that makes a difference? 😊

[@DerekHundik]

@@RicTic66 in UK so thats even worst

[@imark7777777]

I was listening to the sure signal path podcast trying to figure out the same thing. I think I'm pretty certain that she's using this on the speaker side output of the amp. I was thinking parallel with the speaker but now I'm thinking in series with the speaker as that is the best shot yet I have seen from all the shaky camera work oh, I understand how hard it is I do camera as well but