Playing with the Room
By: Devanney Haruta

JANUARY 5th, 2018

ARTIST STORIES

A conversation with Monte Nickles

For audio engineer Monte Nickles, “there’s never a solo instrument – there’s always the room and the instrument.” Monte has been working in audio recording for six years with musicians of all genres, from the St. Louis Symphony to the Montana-based Big Sky Trio. He does everything from arranging mics to setting preamps to mixing tracks. But his key to a great recording is not just in the gear: it’s the room acoustics.

Monte Nickles is an audio engineer at Tippet Rise Art Center in Fishtail, MT.

Image via Monte Nickles

When recording classical music at Tippet Rise Art Center in Fishtail, MT, Monte finds that acoustics are essential to capturing a beautiful sound. “In classical, you’re trying to record not only the artist and the instrument, but also the room. It’s the direct sound from everybody as well as their interaction with each other and with the room.” It takes patience to find a harmonious balance between the acoustics and the instrument’s sound. “If you get too close to the piano you can hear the hammers and the mechanical noises, and then if you get too far away you’re suddenly recording the room with someone playing piano in it, not somebody playing piano in a room. There’s a fine line to find that balance.”
“In classical, you’re trying to record not only the artist and the instrument, but also the room.”

In jazz, room response contributes to the style’s aesthetics. Unlike classical recordings, which are often generous with reverb, jazz acoustics tend toward sounds that are clean, crisp, and clear. Many engineers achieve this by recording instruments in isolation, but putting the musicians in totally separate rooms risks minimizing eye-contact between players. “To me it’s never as good if the musicians can’t see each other, because jazz is very interactive. I always try to set up so that they’re isolated but can see each other.”

When you throw an audience into the mix, you enter a whole other world of recording: live shows. The audience, by making noise and even changing the room acoustics with its physical presence, is a key element that distinguishes live concerts from studio recordings. “If you heard just a guitar cab from a live concert, it doesn’t sound very good. The amplification of the room gives some life back to the sound. You can also put a couple mics out in the audience to capture what’s going on in the room.”

Even the outdoors have acoustics
Photo by Redd Angelo, via Unsplash
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When it comes to recording, whether live or in the studio, gear and gadgets aren’t the only essential variables that can bring your sound to the next level. “A good room can make a big difference. It makes the engineer’s job easier, it makes the musician’s job more fun, and it makes the recording way better. I think it’s the one most overlooked things in recording these days. Most up-and-coming people don’t do a lot of experimentation with learning a space.”
“A good room can make a big difference. I think it’s the one most overlooked things in recording these days.”

You have to experiment, Monte encourages. Try the drums in this corner, the guitar in this spot. Move the mics around. Record a sample, listen back. Then move around again, until you’ve found the spot where the room sounds the best. Remember, you’re not just playing in the room, you’re playing with it.

All instruments enter into a relationship with the room in which they are played

Photo by Wes Hicks, via Unsplash