Eddie Moore

REMEMBERING RON UBEL CONTINUED
Another interesting part of being a recording engineer, as
Ubel readily admits, is keeping up with the technological advances
that seem to define so much of what is going on in today’s
Jazz Trek was a compilation sampler released by Soundtrek Studios in 2003. It featured Vince
Bilardo, Joe Cartwright, Marilyn Maye, the PBT Trio (Paul Smith, Bob Bowman, Todd Strait),
Paul Hofmann, Ed Dix and Bob Brookmeyer, Gary Sivils, Interstring (Danny Embrey, Rod
Fleeman, Bob Bowman, Todd Strait), Kim Park and Karrin Allyson, The Leonard Brothers, Bill
Caldwell and Everette DeVan, Russ Long, Kerry Strayer, Gary Foster, Mike and Pat Metheny.
studios. For someone who started out with an old reel-to-reel
and two mikes, it can be a mind-boggling thing to behold.
“It’s all going beyond my gray matter! And to think that
I started out as a hobbyist with
that one tape recorder. Since then
I’ve seen the evolution of the mixing
console in the late ’60s and
its perfection in the ’70s. Then
digital came along in the ’80s, and
now there’s DAT [digital audio
tape]. DAT has been a real savior.
It’s very clean, no noise reduction
is needed, and it’s a great storage
medium and a great way to mix
down to two tracks. There’s also
digital tape multi-track recording,
audio-on-computer, ADAT
[8-track digital] on ½ inch video
tape, digital work stations where
everything goes right to hard
disk…. It’s a lot of fun trying to
stay up with the advances that are
leading into the 21st century.”
Such wondrous hardware may
make for new challenges and revelations,
but in the final analysis,
it’s the music itself that keeps Ron
Ubel going.
“Although we do want to be
on the leading edge of what we’re
doing, we still want to maintain
the wonderful association we’ve
been blessed to have with recorded
jazz in this market. I’d love to see
a whole collection of artists come
along, develop and stay right here
in Kansas City.”
FEEL AND HEAR THE DIFFERENCE
We are honored to continue the legacy of Ron Ubel (1939-2016)
and Soundtrek Studios (one of Kansas City’s highly regarded recording studios.)
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www.sound81productions.com
FEBRUARY + MARCH 2017 • JAZZ AMBASSADOR MAGAZINE
816.872.8855