Sandesh Nagaraj (aka. The Sonic Chameleon) is no stranger to Ultimate Studios, Inc and is an immensely talented musician, composer, arranger, and conductor. There is a reason he is known as the Sonic Chameleon. Sandesh has recorded at Ultimate Studios, Inc for many years now and no two sessions have been alike. From rock, metal, and jazz, to indian and classical. Sandesh moves through styles with ease and always brings top notch musicians with him.
On this session Sandesh is conducting a string quartet, featuring Mary Keating & Jordan Slocum on Violin, Brandon Encinas on Viola, and Billy Tobenkin on Cello, recording on a track for MTV in India. Here’s a little video from the session.
Charlie gives a rundown of the gear used
“We were going for a very natural and open sound and the class A mic pres on the Trident 88 are perfect for this. They sound absolutely wonderful and did a fantastic job of capturing a smooth and open string sound.”
“For microphones I went to my trusted Audio-Technicas. They really make fantastic sounding mics! I always get the sound I’m looking for from them. For the violins I used AT4051b small diaphragm condensers, on the cello I used an AT4047 large diaphragm condenser, and a pair of AT4080 ribbon mics in a blumlein arrangement to capture the entire ensemble. The viola was a little darker compared to the violins so I used an AKG 451b which helped bring out some presence. I really think we captured the perfect sound for the track.” says engineer Charlie Waymire
Mary Keating & Jordan Slocum on Violin, Brandon Encinas on Viola, Billy Tobenkin on Cello, and Conductor Sandesh Nagaraj
Charlie on working with Sandesh
“Working with The Sonic Chameleon is always a pleasure! Besides being a fantastic musician he is a wonderful person too. We have a lot of fun working together. His music is so diverse that I have to treat every session completely different. There is no standard mic setups. He also allows me to experiment and really try to come up with mic/gear setups that will fit his music. We’ve done some pretty strange setups! I’m always looking forward to the next session with Sandesh!”
Enjoy some photos from the session!
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- Sandesh Nagaraj discussing chart changes
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- Sandesh conducting the string quartet
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- Mary Keating & Jordan Slocum on Violin, Brandon Encinas on Viola, Billy Tobenkin on Cello, and Conductor Sandesh Nagaraj
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- This area is for strings only! 🙂
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- Sandesh Nagaraj conduction the string quartet
