Recording engineer Rod Evenson talks about his audio expertise

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1 Recording engineer Rod Evenson talks about his audio expertise by James Bash on January 24, 2011 Photo credit: Peter C. Little Portland is the home of many recording engineers, and one of the best is Rod Evenson. He is a quiet fellow who has a big fan base among local music ensembles, because of his high-quality work. So, I talked with him recently to find out more about his audio expertise. Here is our conversation.

credit: Peter C. Little Portland is the home of many recording engineers, and one of the best is Rod Evenson.

2 How long have you been a recording engineer? Evenson: It started as a hobby, going back to junior high school. But in earnest, it began in the early 90s. I bought an editing computer in 1995, and then suddenly everything took off. Before that I had been associated with a company called Northwestern Incorporated, which was run by Robert Lindahl. He had been doing things with film and recording since I got to record the Portland Youth Philharmonic because of him. That was the first large, symphony orchestra I had ever recorded. Did you have specific training for doing recordings? Evenson: After graduating from Portland State, I went to Washington State University in Richland and got a masters degree in electrical engineering. I had also completed two years of engineering studies at a little place called Multnomah College, which later merged with the University of Portland. That included some electronic technician courses, too. I worked as a technician for Tektronix for a number of years. I didnʼt have a formal education in doing recording. I initially considered that but there were no schools at that time that offered such a thing. You could go to a broadcast technician school like Multnomah College to earn your FCC licenses, and then land a job with a broadcasting company, which would then assign you to recording projects. I figured out a lot of it by reading and getting little jobs here and there. I started by recording my father, who was an Episcopal priest and a fairly good pianist. Plus I had access to several church choirs. My first piano teacher was Stanley Trogen, and he taught the choirs at Lincoln High School. He gave me some recording opportunities, and by that time I had purchased some nice recording equipment.

He had been doing things with film and recording since 1943. I got to record the Portland Youth Philharmonic because of him. That was the first large, symphony orchestra I had ever recorded.

3 Some of the choir work that I did came to Northwestern Incorporated to be duplicated. Lindahl liked what I had done and told me about an opportunity with the Portland Youth Philharmonic, which was going to do a concert and recording at Timberline Lodge in celebration of the 50th year since its construction. That was in The PYP planned to release the recording on cassette, and it would feature a premiere of a piece that Jacob Avshalomov had written for the occasion. But the acoustics of Timberline were not what Avshalomov had intended for the recording. So we did it again at the old Berg-Swan Auditorium at the Portland Art Museum. That recording was then published and picked up by Albany Records. Itʼs been distributed all around the world. Excellent work for your first orchestral recording! Evenson: Thanks! From that point on things have slowly crept up until 1995 with the procurement of an editing computer and suddenly everything came together all at once. I was finally out of the cassette and DAT world and into CDs and beyond. Along the way, I took a short seminar class from a world-class recording engineering by the name of Michael Williams. He was the principal instructor for recording technicians at the ORTF, the French broadcasting institution. He was their lead recording techniques instructor in France and for all of their former colonial operations such as Tahiti and some of the countries in North Africa. He had a lot of knowledge about the European research that had been done on stereophonic recordings. That information influenced my techniques. Iʼve been very picky about my equipment, because I want to do a high-quality

since its construction. That was in 1987. The PYP planned to release the recording on cassette, and it would feature a premiere of a piece that Jacob Avshalomov had written for the occasion.

4 work. Live recordings call attention to using minimalist techniques in other words, not using numerous microphones. But you have to be careful, because if you donʼt use enough microphones, you would have to re-arrange, for example, the orchestra in order to get the right balance. Thatʼs not a practical thing. Iʼm sensitive to the placement of musicians who need to do their job in an effective manner. Of course, for a vocal ensemble of twelve, you can go really minimalistic. Evenson: Yes, I need just a pair of microphones. Of course, I have to work around background noises. Air conditioning can be a real problem. You try to get it turned off, if thatʼs at all possible. Some lights make a slight noise, and my microphones can pick that up. I usually monitor the situation through headphones while I sit at the control area. In the Newmark Theatre, I can hang microphones, which is a real asset. The School of the Arts in Vancouver has some sockets that I can hang microphones from. I had some input on the design of that venue, and it really comes in handy. A few years ago I was introduced to digital microphones, which work really well with the portable digital recorders that I have and in venues that have been problematic for analog microphones. How long does it take you to set up for a concert? Evenson: A minimal setup might take around thirty minutes, but a large concert event might take a couple of hours. Iʼm pretty good at looking at the situation and getting by without much of a sound check. Every now and then a group like Third Angle throws me something thatʼs pretty weird and causes a lot of recording adjustments. If someone has something really strange, Iʼll get there early and do a few sound checks.

Iʼm sensitive to the placement of musicians who need to do their job in an effective manner. Of course, for a vocal ensemble of twelve, you can go really minimalistic.

5 Iʼve seen you at a number of concerts. You seem to be busier than ever. Evenson: Iʼve done recordings nine days in a row with double concerts on Saturdays and Sundays. Thatʼs a lot to schedule. I have to be careful when I have two gigs in one day. So after doing a live recording, do you take it home and edit it a little. Evenson: I touch it up a bit. I can remove some coughs but usually not all of them, because of when they happen during the music. I do try to clean things up during the intervals between pieces. That gets rid of distractions like tune-ups that might take place between movements. On one occasion I was able to get one of my pieces of reconstuction software to remove a Union Pacific train whistle out of Brooklyn yard from a Chanticleer concert performed at St. Phillip Neri Church, rendering the piece available for broadcast. Generally, I get it ready for broadcast and include documentation that shows like Performance Today needs like timing and such, so that they can use it without any fuss and so that they donʼt have to spend time knitting anything together for their shows. Youʼve also done re-recordings of old broadcasts. Evenson: I did some re-mastering of historic recordings for a company called Video Artists International. These are of some old recordings of the New Orleans Opera. One came from broadcast transcription and two from analog tape. One job from analog tape was one of the best jobs Iʼve done in audio restoration. It

I can remove some coughs but usually not all of them, because of when they happen during the music. I do try to clean things up during the intervals between pieces.

6 was a 1959 recording of La Boheme with Licia Albanese and Giuseppe di Stefano. The original analog stereo tape recording had been done with a primitive stereo technique in which everything is either all left or all right. Plus, the tape had been broken in several places and repaired with a splicing machine that cut out about a second of tape here or there. They had a mono-video soundtrack that had been done of the same performance, and I had to work those segments into the seconds that had been lost from the stereo-analog tape. This involved getting the sound to move correctly from left to right in line with the primitive stereo technique that they used. I was able to do it well enough so that VAIʼs best audio man with the golden ears didnʼt notice any of the patches I had done. They were very happy. Iʼve also done some consulting to the Oregon Historical Society with regard to the transfer of their archive of acetate broadcast transcriptions to contemporary media. This was in association with Ken Lomax, the curator of those archives. Itʼs really great to get this window into history. How do people get ahold of you? You donʼt have a website. Evenson: The easiest way is probably by at rjevenson@comcast.net.

Plus, the tape had been broken in several places and repaired with a splicing machine that cut out about a second of tape here or there.

501-612-7038 info@lanskysound.com. LanskySound.com. Contact us today and schedule your free consultation:

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