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John Kurlander Scores with R44C Long Ribbon Microphones
January 1999
By John Kurlander
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(454Kb) John Kurlander, who began his career working as a second engineer on The Beatles album, Abbey Road, has been using a pair of AEA R44C microphones. He has already recorded five feature film soundtracks with them since last January. John has been in the recording industry for 32 years, 28 of them with EMI's Abbey Road. "I became a staff engineer at Abbey Road in 1967," John began as he spoke to us about his career. "I started as an assistant engineer working with The Beatles on their album, Abbey Road. Later I also recorded some singles with Paul McCartney." In the early eighties, John engineered the hugely popular, Hooked on Classics series. Later, he recorded Toto and Elton John dates with full 80-piece orchestra tracks to put on top of rock tracks. "In turn that led to doing some classical recordings around 1980." Projects included the Berlin Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
In 1985, he became Abbey Road's Chief Balance Engineer and also Chief Classical Engineer for EMI. "In 1985," John recalls, "I started working with Itzak Pearlman, and I asked our technician, Lester Smith, to pull the RCA 44's out of the back microphone closet and check them out. Lester likes to work with antiques and for him, getting the 44s going again was a labor of love." That was 14 years ago. John Kurlander now swears by ribbon microphones.
Recently John bought a pair of new AEA R44C studio ribbon microphones. The R44C is an engineered replica of the classic RCA 44 series, that has been out of production for over 40 years. The R44C replicates the look of this classic and, as Kurlander attests, they also have the classic RCA 44 sound appreciated by recording engineers since 1936. When asked about how the AEA R44C compares to the "classic" RCA 44, John was very positive. " Although all RCA 44s share a distinctive character, they've typically had 50 years or so of use and variable maintenance, so it's hard to say exactly what a factory RCA 44 sounds like. The ones you run into all sound so different. The AEA R44C sounds as good as any well maintained RCA 44 you're likely to find."
John commented that while condenser microphones can flatter the human voice, ribbon microphones record the human voice equally well but only the ribbon microphones are well-suited for orchestral pickup. "For a trumpet solo, for example, I would only want to use a ribbon. And there's really only two options, the 44 or a Coles 4038." Of the two, he believes the 44 focuses sound better than the 4038.
Regarding microphone placement, John said that he would love to have his own stands "almost more than my own mics. Stands are always a big problem because you go into the studios and have to deal with whatever stands they have." Positioning a microphone securely and easily, is always a major part of getting a sound, but studio microphone stands are often an afterthought.
Today Kurlander is a Hollywood-based independent engineer specializing in film scoring. His film career began when he was recommended to record an opera chorus in Budapest for a film by Shawn Murphy. John was asked back to mix for the film, and today scoring has become his primary work.
John talked to us about how he has used the R44C since last January. On Analyze This, with Robert DeNiro and Billy Crystal, R44Cs were his main stereo pair to get the "big band" sound. Neumann U67s were also used as accent mics when necessary. With Never Been Kissed he used the R44C on the harp. For Brokedown Palace, R44Cs handled basses, brass and horns. On the upcoming film Komido they do the honors on horns and brass, and in Gossip they handle the piano pickup. He also reported using the R44C on string bass for a Michael Jackson track currently in production.
Expressing satisfaction in his pair of AEA R44C microphones, John says he uses them whenever possible. "I pull them out for every job and if I can use them I do. They are my favorite ribbon mics to work with."
Pro Audio Review – "AEA's Wes Dooley is at the forefront of ribbon microphone expertise." Read other product reviews.
