The Courtship Of Eddie Kramer

Love for Shure’s new KSM9 blossoms at Westlake Audio clinic

 

LOS ANGELES, CA, October 6, 2006—Hosted by Westlake Audio and Shure, Inc., a clinic held at Westlake's 7265 Santa Monica Boulevard facility attracted a crowd of roughly 70 people who watched, listened, and learned as legendary producer/engineer Eddie Kramer demonstrated a host of different microphone techniques.

 

"We all sat like flies on the wall as Eddie setup complete guitar, bass, and drum rigs in Westlake's studio," recalls John Stack of Audio Geer, Shure's SoCal rep firm. "After he was done getting all the mics into place, we split up into two groups, each of which got a chance to sit in the control room with Eddie to hear how it all sounded."

 

Over the course of a career spanning five decades, Kramer has sat behind the console during stellar sessions for rock luminaries including The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and The Beatles. At the Westlake clinic, he drew from an assortment of mics provided for the demonstration including Beta 98As, SM7Bs, and a number of Shure's large diaphragm condensers from the KSM family.

 

At the conclusion of the event, Kramer fielded questions from the group. When asked by someone which mic he felt was best for both live and studio use, he was handed a new Shure KSM9 in order to give his reply.

 

"It turns out the answer to that question was resting in his hands," Stack adds. "Eddie instantly became enamored with the mic. In fact, he liked it so much he took it home with him."

 

Giveaways of Shure product also highlighted the event, as did a segment that allowed Eddie to stretch out and tell old rock 'n' roll stories, which he illustrated with vintage photographs from a collection of over 1,000 images he shot in the studio from 1967-1972. Some 450 of the photos have been published in Kramer's book, From the Other Side of the Glass, which offers readers a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of one of recorded music's epochal moments.

 


Release 38