Face to Face with George Massenburg of GML

[3daudioinc]

Here's an interview that I conducted with George Massenburg, founder and designer for GML, when we were in New Orleans at TapeOpCon 2004.

George is an innovator, creator, producer, as well as one of the world's finest engineers. His opinions aren't always mainstream and frequently are controversial. He tells it like he sees it and doesn't care if he steps on some toes in the process.

In this 12:21 interview, we discuss the growing number of knobs on preamps and why his still has only one, the state of the business, how to learn how to hear, and when to leave things alone in the studio.

(I discovered too late that we were in the shadow of a radio tower, so the RFI from the station is very noticeable in this clip, but I thought the content was important enough that I could suffer the frustration and embarassment of the compromised audio to bring you this enlightening interview. So please try to listen around it. And don't mention that I had anything to do with the recording.)

Face to Face interview with George Massenburg at TapeOpCon 2004

[EJ]

Good interview!

[Wireline]

A very eye (ear) opening interview....

Lynn - what station is that?

[3daudioinc]

Originally posted by Ken Morgan:
A very eye (ear) opening interview....

Lynn - what station is that?

That would be the one in New Orleans whose tower is two blocks away from the Fairmont Hotel, right even with the 10th floor. It's really frustrating to me because I was so worried about lighting and camera angles that I assumed that the audio would take care of itself. I let down my guard and *** -umed too much. When we discovered the problem, we changed over to dynamic mics, but even THEY had RFI present (though much softer). What does that tell you about the RF field we were sitting in?

It's a live and learn situation. This was my second time doing something like this and each time I make mistakes that I won't repeat again. I figure that within a couple of years, I'll have made enough mistakes to get this down. Until then, I hope you'll be patient with me.

I also hope you all realize how much guts it took for me to release these and show my mistakes publically.

[Wireline]

I appreciate that sentiment...I don't really think anyone getting hold of these examples is being critical of quality of productiopn...quality of content is MUCH more important, and the two I've studied thus far have been extremely valuable...

Thanks for the work, Lynn...

[Philip Perkins]

That was pretty darn great, Lynn.* Like a whole year of school in a few minutes.** I encourage you to get Mr. M to expound on other topics on our behalf--it was really cool.* The David
Bock interview was like a short course in mic design. My...this is going to be interesting.* It's kind of like tagging along with you to various engineering gatherings and getting
to evesdrop on your conversations with your famous friends. 3DB University!

Philip Perkins

[Mike Simmons]

Thanks Lynn! I'm really enjoying the interviews.

[QNote]

Interesting... I had/have that opinion on preamps, myself. I just thought (and I/we probably am/are) I was in the vast minority!

Keep up the interesting stuff. Lynn!!!

[3daudioinc]

I enjoy this probably more than anyone so you can bet they'll keep coming. I'm trying to line up some more for late July when NAMM is here in town. I just have to find out who's going to be here.

[lclyman]

Lynn,
How can I view this interview?

I try to log in and it rejects my username and password...but obviously I have one as I'm posting here.

Thanks,
larry