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Apogee: Apogee Users: Eddie Kramer

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Apogee Users: Eddie Kramer
Eddie Kramer:
Crossing over from analog to digital with Big Ben
and without cutting cookies

by Sean McArthur
Interview and photo by Bryan Walsh

 To those in the know, Eddie Kramer is one of rock’s, royalty. And if you have not heard the name maybe you recognized some of the people he has worked with. Artists like, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Sammy Davis Jr., The Rolling Stones, Kiss, and a group called The Beatles along with many other mega stars can be found on Kramer’s list of credits. Functioning as an engineer, producer, writer, musician, and photographer, Kramer has had and continues to have one of the most illustrious and enviable careers in the music biz.

Most recently he has produced/engineered compilations from Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple & Led Zeppelin. Kramer took some time out to talk to Apogee about using the Big Ben and to offer his, well informed, opinion on the state of recording and music.


The process: “It’s Still Analog”
To many producers, and Eddie Kramer is no exception, analog still tastes better. And while Kramer is a fan of most of the benefits inherent in digital recording he maintains a best of both worlds approach. “I’m still very much in favor of recording [basic tracks] in analog,” Kramer states. “A lot of producers rely upon the fact that there is a studio like this (NRG in Hollywood). They have these beautiful rooms that sound good and two, vintage Neve boards for tracking. I’m of the opinion that the saturation and other unique qualities of analog are still desirable,” he adds.
“With the advent of the Big Ben I think this has become a lot easier for me and certainly the sonic pristine-ness of my transfers from the analog world into the digital world were made a lot easier and a lot clearer, a lot cleaner and more transparent obviously and now I feel much more comfortable being in the digital world.”
- Eddie Kramer-
Engineer, producer, writer, musician
Kramer likes to record at 15ips with Dolby SR. “30ips is for wimps. [And] I like what Dolby does to the sound, I like whacking it really hard. Now you have a great sounding analog tape.” The next step for Kramer is transferring the pure analog tracks over to the realm of digital. “With the advent of the Big Ben I think this has become a lot easier for me and certainly the sonic pristine-ness of my transfers from the analog world into the digital world were made a lot easier and a lot clearer, a lot cleaner and more transparent obviously and now I feel much more comfortable being in the digital world.” He goes on to say “Now I’m in Pro Tools using the Big Ben and using whatever digital tweaking I can do, but I try to keep it to a minimum”.


Cutting Records not Cookies
Now, this is the point in the practice of contemporary recording where unusual restraint is required and because of his experience and exposure to some amazing tracks, Eddie Kramer has some words of wisdom that should not go unheeded. “I feel that a lot of records that are recorded or transferred or worked in Pro Tools, can become cookie cutters in sound in the sense that they all come out sounding like the same thing, they all got the same bloody programs, there all slammed, over compressed and when you get to the mastering, the mastering engineers are told by the labels, the A&R guys, the bands, the managers etc etc… make it as hard as you can, now there is no more bloody room on that CD. I mean it is hot as you can possibly get and every goddamn band sounds the same.”

He continues, “I made a very conscious effort on the last few Hendrix re-issues to come back 2db from the top, just pull back, I want some head room, I want my dynamic range, I make records that have big dynamic range, and I don’t want it to sound like there is a 1db movement each way, that's bull shit. That’s not how my records are, my records go from –20db to +3 and that’s how music is, so if we make records that sound like they have a 1 to 2db dynamic range that's kind of dumb.”


Is it live or is it… Pro Tools?
Another thing that troubles Eddie Kramer is the performance enhancement and sterile perfectionism that seems to be on the loose in the digital domain. And while he also makes it clear that the powers of digital doctoring can be very useful when applied in moderation... he cautions.


“So, you know you bring the band in and the drummer plays for eight bars and he is out of time, alright so you put the beat detective on the case and now you’ve got a drummer who really can’t play and it sounds like he can. You put the singer in the studio and he or she sings out of tune. Oh, bang in the auto tuner, ok fine, now you’ve got a singer that sings out of tune, a drummer that can’t play in time and a guitar player that doesn’t know where the first beat is, but you can correct all that shit… Alright you put the band on stage and now what, it sounds like crap.” Kramer laments.

“The way we used to make records is so completely different. Nobody gave a crap weather there was noise or farts or bangs or clicks. A little out of tune, a little out of time, I don’t think we paid attention to that. There is some stuff on Hendrix, on Zeppelin, on the Stones, every album was full of mistakes and stuff hanging over but that was part and parcel of this idea that this was music that we were creating and capitalizing on the mistakes,” he reveals.

“A lot of stuff today is fabricated, but interestingly enough there are bands, that fly right in the face of this perfectionism, bands like the White Stripes, you know I think did a fantastic job. Anyway it’s a tool that should not be abused and that’s the bottom line, the takes are only going to be as good as the vocalist or performer themselves.”

Links of interest:

Eddie Kramer's photography site: http://www.kramerarchives.com/
NRG Studios: http://www.nrgrecording.com/
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