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Ellis Hall Attends GC Training Session and Converts to Neumann

With more licks on guitar than most guitarists, more riffs on bass than most bassists, more chops on the keyboard than most keyboardists, and vastly more passion in his vocals than most vocalists, Ellis Hall is a multi-instrumentalist gift to the world wrapped in glittery, effortless charisma. Hall has had a long and prolific career in the music, TV, and film industries. Among a list of credits much longer than this entire story, Hall has opened for the Temptations, Earth Wind & Fire, and Herbie Hancock; performed with Kenny G., Tower of Power, and Stevie Wonder; recorded songs for ‘The Wonder Years’, ‘New York Undercover’ and ‘NYPD Blue’; and made musical appearances in ‘Big Momma's House’, ‘Catch Me If You Can’ and ‘Bruce Almighty’. On top of being a fabulous musician and songwriter, Hall is one of those rare individuals who are so utterly cool and friendly that he charms everyone that has the privilege of working with him.

Hall sang with saxophonist Brandon Fields' Jazz Group at a Neumann Guitar Center training session at Capitol Records earlier this year to the delight of everyone present. Hall's voice is hard to peg. It has a mix of pleasing highs and rich, strong lows that seldom occur simultaneously. At the training, that timbre was pressed to service to highlight the differences between half a dozen of Neumann's most amazing contemporary and vintage microphones, including a U 87 Ai, M 149 Tube, TLM 170 R, TLM 49, TLM 103 and Capitol's "Frank" U 47 that Sinatra used to record many of his hits at the studio. After the training, Wolfgang Fraissinet, president of marketing and sales, Neumann Berlin, sent Hall home with a Neumann M 149 Tube and a Neumann KMS 105 to audition. The large-diaphragm M 149 Tube condenser carries on the tradition of Neumann's legendary U 47 in quiet, sensitive transformerless fashion, while the KMS 105 folds Neumann's studio aesthetic into a stage-ready live vocal microphone.

"I took the KMS 105 back to my studio, just to try it out," Hall said. "I flipped on the phantom power, started test singing, and said to myself, 'Wait a minute. I thought this was supposed to be a live mic, but it sounds like a high-end studio condenser!' It was amazing. So I said to myself, 'self, there's an important song I need to sing for an important producer - perhaps even Clive Davis? - called ‘Out of My Dreams’. Let me record myself singing the whole thing, backgrounds and leads, with the KMS 105.' I added a little bit of compression, which I always do, sat in front of the mic, and squeaked and squawked. It was more than ready to handle a big mouth like mine! I can't wait to use it live."

Hall played the recording over the phone for an engineer friend who expressed excitement about the Neumann KMS 105. He had never used one before. He made plans to visit Hall, who then, as a humorous understatement, mentioned that Neumann also let him borrow some other mic, an M 149 Tube or something. "Not only was he coming over," Hall said. "He told me he was moving in!"

Hall used the M 149 Tube to record a single, ‘Just Dance’. He explained: "A lot of times when engineers are working with my voice, I don't like that they end up squashing it with too much compression. The highs and lows of my voice don't go for that. The M 149 Tube captured all my low-end with smoothness that cut through without too much compression. I record to a Roland 2480 hard disk recorder, which has nice pre amps, but the digital format can sound brittle. The high-end on the M 149 was perfect – not brittle at all. In fact, I'd say the tubes made my voice sound..." he paused to think and then coined a term . . .’refreshional’.

In picture: at a recent Neumann Guitar Center training session at Capitol Records, famed musician, vocalist and songwriter, Ellis Hall sang with saxophonist Brandon Fields' Jazz Group and discovered the amazing properties of both the Neumann KMS 105 and M 149 Tube. Photo George Portell

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Ellis Hall Attends GC Training Session and Converts to Neumann

17th October 2007

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