Translation of the German interview:

An interview with Dominique Klatte

His labels: Pure Tape Recording & Jazz on Vinyl

The state-certified sound engineer, producer and publisher Dominique Klatte has earned an excellent reputation in the analog scene with his labels Pure Tape Recording and Jazz on Vinyl. With his selected recording technique, he achieves a very high fidelity that comes very close to the original sound. The live recordings are recorded on an analog master tape and only must be reworked in a few exceptional cases. The resulting master tape copies and records enjoy reference status. In this interview, Dominique Klatte talks about his career, the equipment he uses and how his recordings are made.

Claus: What was your career like? What jobs have you done that have led you to where you are today?

Dominique: My career as a sound engineer began in 1991. Before that, I had worked as a self-employed carpenter and furniture restorer. At the same time, I built speakers and chassis for turntables and worked intensively on the topic of high-end. This intensified my desire to get involved with music production techniques. I come from a musical and artistic family. My mother is a singer and video artist and has lived in New York for many years. My father was a painter. My stepfather is a high-end fan of the first hour and a lover of classical music. He founded the Archiphone label and since the 1990s has restored and published many classical historical works in his studio. So, my path was mapped out and through my neighbor, who was the managing director of Intersound Studios, I was given the opportunity to build the sound control room. I completed the work after two months. After I had also taken care of the technical set-up, I was asked if I could train as a sound engineer. I agreed, they took me on, and I had excellent mentors.

Before the end of my first year of training, I was given the opportunity to make a test mix from a recording (singer with guitar). My boss only showed me which audio tracks had been selected. I sat down at the mixing desk in the evening, got to work and finished by six o'clock the next morning. When I came into the studio after a few hours' sleep, expecting to be told off for being late, the entire crew, including the clients, the singing duo Marianne & Michael, were standing in the control room and applauding. I had managed to produce the finished CD with the mix at the first attempt. Even my experienced colleagues were very enthusiastic about the result. That was the initial spark for me that I had chosen the right profession. Then it went from strength to strength: I recorded a lot of folk, pop and rock music in the studio and mixed it before mastering it. Parallel to the digital file (DAT) for CD pressings, I was instructed to make backup copies with a Revox PR99 tape recorder. I really enjoyed that. My boss, who still came from the old school of sound engineering, kept asking me to go to the tape machine to make audio cuts, as digital technology was still causing us problems. Cutting tape material and making sound collages during my training was something special for me. There was always a pleasant feeling of craftsmanship.

After my training as a state-certified sound engineer, I worked freelance in the studio for a short time. A friend then introduced me to a major television station. They were urgently looking for sound engineers. I became a permanent employee there and received extensive further training in film sound and audio post-production. I was later responsible for training media designers and became an examiner at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK). I specialized in film and advertising and worked there from 1995 to 2009. After the demanding and high-quality sound work became less and less important and more attention was paid to content instead of sound quality, I left this business and became self-employed as a sound engineer. I familiarized myself with business management issues and made steady progress. However, I was driven more and more towards music production. I had always been very interested in mastering, and I enjoyed the finely structured work again. I got more and more recording jobs such as live recordings of organ, classical music and jazz. First in the Munich area, later engagements in the context of film documentaries such as with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and some other artists who were happy to make use of my experience from both worlds. I still enjoy doing one or two feature films and documentaries a year as a sound engineer on set. My goal of giving my best as a sound engineer and delivering the best result to the customer, i.e. never losing focus on quality and professionalism, was honored and I travelled more and more around the country with mobile mixing consoles, digital and multi-track recorders and finally producing the music completely: i.e. recording, editing and mastering, all workflows from A to Z.

In 2016, I had the opportunity to get a Studer A807 tape recorder in very good condition and a Studer 961 mixing console and microphones from the estate of a close friend whose father was a renowned sound engineer and music professor. That was the starting point for my mobile, purely analog work. I put together the equipment according to my ideas and made test recordings for friends to become more familiar with the analog technology and to find my sound design. My wife was surprised at the large and heavy equipment and encouraged me to work even more with tape machines. After a valuable exchange with colleagues, I realized the idea of the Jazz on Vinyl label in 2017. I worked with Heinz Hechtel, who created beautiful cover designs for my productions until his sadly untimely death. The idea was to give my work a special emphasis and signature, and so to this day I choose rooms with the musicians, drive there with my equipment to make the analog recordings, which then only must be edited to release them on tape and/or vinyl. Now, this mainly relates to the European region, which can be reached by car.

Claus: Which microphones do you work with and why?

Dominique: When recording music, I don't see the recording device as the most important sound-shaping element, but the microphones. It doesn't matter whether it's a film recording, a musical situation with a band or with solo artists. For me, the microphone is the absolute be-all and end-all at the beginning of the signal chain. If the sound spectrum is not clean or the timbres of the sources are reproduced incorrectly due to an incorrectly used microphone, this is a major issue. In my opinion, this is where the biggest mistakes and impurities in the sound occur. I have experienced recording situations in studios (even back then in our company) where the same microphones were always used in the overdub process. They were fantastic large-diaphragm microphones, such as the U57 or U67 tube types from Neumann, but they were always used for everything. By and large, it was one or two mics that had to cover every sound source. They were high-quality signals, no question, but the sound was always the same coloration, and it was usually not very natural. In the studio, things must move quickly, especially when recording. Stifling the artist's creativity due to technical experiments by the sound engineer would be a disaster. For me, such actions are out of the question and that's why it's important to be well prepared in advance!

I have collected microphones for many years, own about 50 of them and know their sound character very well. Since I worked a lot in film, the Colette series from Schoeps is one of my favorite microphones. They are very neutral and work incredibly well in poly-miking, for example in classical music, because the coloration outside the main axis is very minimal when combined with many microphones. The right microphone should be used for each instrument or sound source. I have devoted a lot of attention to this topic. However, this does not mean that you can only generate the best signals with expensive Schoeps or Neumann microphones. In my recordings for Jazz on Vinyl, I have also used less expensive microphones, such as the AKG P820 large-diaphragm tube microphone, which costs around €700, or types from Rode, etc. The cost is a fraction of the price of a large-diaphragm tube microphone. The costs are also a fraction compared to “high-end vintage” microphones. The AKG P820 has already delivered such good results, for example on the Fender Rhodes piano (amplified via speakers), on the bass or with a speaker's voice, that I would never say that an inexpensive microphone is out of the question for me. The overall sound simply must be right, and you must be open to new approaches.

When a recording is due, I have the majority, i.e. a broadband selection of my microphones, with me. You can think of it like a game of Tetris: The sound shapes of the music must mesh with the microphones. I make a pre-selection, for example, if I know which artists are coming or if there are different instruments to choose from. I then add to the selection to be able to react to unforeseen acoustic events. I also like to take my MS stereo microphone out of the film case so that I can use it as an additional room microphone, for example, if necessary. However, there are hardly any limits to the joy of experimentation.

Claus: Which devices are in the signal path?

Dominique: The microphone signals go directly into the mixing console without any detours. At the beginning, when I hadn't yet decided on my sound direction, I thought I would need at least one compressor to calm down the sum signal. I had taken the Tegeler Audio Tube Compressor and the Tegeler EQP-1 with me and had previously achieved very good results with them on live classical recordings, for example. During the first productions for Jazz on Vinyl, however, I quickly realized that these devices changed the signal too much during recording, which I wanted to avoid. Up to Vol. 4 or Vol. 5, I sometimes still had the devices with me (for peace of mind), but then no longer. From the Studer 961 mixer it goes directly into the Studer A807, with a RTW level meter connected in parallel to keep an eye on the levels. In the beginning, I also took various microphone preamps with me, such as a stereo Telefunken V76 tube preamp, built into a Neue Heimat plug-in unit from Vertigo Sound, for my main microphone. It sounded great, but the overall sound was far too soft for me. So, I left it out!

Claus: How do you bring together the technical aspects and what you hear?

Dominique: After a recording session, there are usually two or three tapes, but sometimes seven or eight tapes if the musicians have worked very intensively on their pieces. After the recording session, the first step is to back up the master tapes 1:1 in the studio to the highest digital quality. Then the musicians receive MP3 files of all the recordings to discuss cuts, track sequences, requests etc. Then I play through all the scenarios on the computer and start cutting the master with a razor blade. The big advantage is that I can simulate the musicians' wishes on the digitized tape material, for example if the musicians say: “At bar 34, just before the guitar solo, we had an incredibly beautiful part on take three that would fit perfectly.” I always keep an eye on my digital template to make sure I don't make any mistakes. It's easy to cut to the wrong beat, take the wrong take or destroy something else on the master. I have the greatest respect for my colleagues from 40 years ago when it comes to the fine art of sound editing.

I always have a digital recorder running parallel to my recordings. This is important in case of problems with the tape machine and/or the tape material. I like to use my Sound Devices 788 as a backup. In my mastering studio, I save and listen to the material at a sampling rate of 176.4 kHz - 24 bit. With good converters, this sounds excellent and open to my ears. I am less of a fan of DSD and similar formats. Finding a “sound truth” here would distract me too much. I leave the digital material on my server so that I have a backup if the worst comes to the worst. However, this is then no longer relevant for Jazz on Vinyl. But the valuable work of the musicians is there and there is still the possibility of bringing a nice production onto the market, e.g. on CD. Once, at the very beginning, there was the temptation to digitally repair a part that could not be cut into analog form on the computer and play it back on the tape. But then it would no longer have been the analog world of Jazz on Vinyl. In this situation, I talked to my wife. Her answer: “If you still want to look in the mirror the next day, leave the original”. So, I stand by my work, sticking to the original without any ifs or buts. If we were all unhappy with the result, we wouldn't publish the material!

An important device when recording is a RTW level meter to keep an eye on the level conditions. The preamps must not distort and must be operated in a good working range. The balance is not to drive the material too “hot” or too “cold”. If everything fits and the microphone signals sound the way I want them to, I do an audition and let the musicians listen to the test recording. I think it's important to present my sound ideas to the musicians and to talk about details, because nobody knows the instruments better than they do.

However, I don't release the sound signal and the sound image for open discussion. I have an idea of the sound in my head and don't have the time to spend half an hour discussing the sound. I am happy to accommodate arguments that a voice sounds a little too sharp, for example. I reserve the right to decide on the overall arrangement of the sound, i.e. how the instruments should sound. If the sound works, then there's no more discussion for me. No musician has ever intervened.

There are also situations where musicians bring their microphones with them. During one production, for example, a saxophonist brought his Neumann U67 microphone. I took him by surprise and immediately realized that he didn't quite like it. He put up with it and so I got him involved and convinced him of my Neumann U77. The performances of my live recordings are always a challenge, as they often don't conform to mainstream listening habits. They are very direct, blunt and highly dynamic signals. These are characteristics that you first must explain to some musicians who are used to other recording situations. Here, subtlety in communication and an understanding of the issues are essential. If musicians don't feel comfortable and don't play freely, my sound ideas are of little value, I can't emphasize that enough.

I always must take working noises into account, such as the sound of keys on wind instruments, pedal noises from a pedal machine or mechanical noises from a grand piano, as well as the musician's movements. They must not get out of hand, but I certainly want them. There are certain rules when recording, e.g. when a record is to be made, e.g. in the bass range, which you can't throw overboard and so I always must be on my guard as to what comes next.

My mix happens live. I listen through headphones and sit in front of the (loud) musicians at the same time. I already must think about the next steps. There are two recorded tracks where there is hardly any chance of correcting anything. When the final stage of vinyl production begins, I have the utmost confidence in Thorsten Scheffner. I've been working with him for several years. He knows my sound design and can make small corrections, such as reducing the level by half a decibel to the right or slightly smoothing out a frequency that is too dominant if it suits the result of the production.

Claus: Why analog? Why tape?

Dominique: As I said, it's a great pleasure for me to work with analog equipment, to handle tapes, to use different tapes and to work with the tonal nuances. On the other hand, working with tape recorders can also be stressful when you must lug around equipment weighing 35 kilograms. If necessary, as is usually the case at live concerts with an audience, I take two identical Studer A807s with me so that I don't have to change the tape after 40 minutes but can continue recording directly with the second machine without a gap. It's beautiful work, haptically, for the heart and the ears, that makes up for everything.

When the signals go through all the microphones via minimalist signal paths into the excellent and well-maintained analog Studer 961 mixing console in the tape machine, I can perfect the result with the level ratios and slight tape compression to such an extent that mastering is no longer necessary. If formats are required for different sound carriers, then mastering is essential. The high quality of the recording always allows for this, and the analog basis is also very good for the CD. But everything really must fit. For me, the analog techniques from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s are the pinnacle of sound quality. Working “in the box” (in the computer), as we experience it today, has hardly led to any progress in sound technology. In some places, the sound has even regressed because everything must be loud, and everyone is fighting for the listener's favor. Long story short: I work consistently in analog because this technique is intuitive to use. I know exactly what to expect. To my ear, tape is the most pleasant way to store music signals.

Claus: What is your outlook on the world of analog artwork in general? Artists, technology, etc.

Dominique: My way of working has the enormous advantage that a high-quality recording can be produced in one or two days. The analog recording situation is also interesting for many artists because it is produced under the other aspects described above. In contrast to the multi-track technique, where the tracks are recorded by the musicians one after the other and further tracks are added by the computer so that everyone can build on them. These tracks then must be mixed, mastered and compressed with lots of effects. These are very complex productions, which unfortunately often end up sounding loud and flat. In my analog art world, many of these things are not relevant, which also has to do with the fact that the musical styles or genres I serve are to be found in jazz and world music. If I were to venture an outlook on the world of analog artwork, I hope that we can count on a steadily growing fan base that is tired of the overproductions and once again enjoys beautiful and unadulterated sound. Once you have listened to the analog-produced material, doors open that were previously closed. There is so much to discover!

Claus: Thank you very much for this great interview!

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)