From one of the best jazz quartets in town comes a spectacular Audiophile Master, Say Somethin’ from trumpeter Gabriel Mervine. Without question, one of the best jazz recordings yet made, this wonderful Octave Records release will help set the standard for how an intimate musical session can sound.
Gabriel Mervine’s Say Somethin’ is a musical conversation in the language of jazz. Octave Records and Gabe Mervine put together an extraordinary hour of music, beautifully captured as if the quartet were playing in the intimacy of your living room.
Turn the lights on low, pour the Cabernet, and press play.
Engineered, mastered, and mixed by renowned recordist, Steve Vidaic on some of the best recording equipment in the world, this is one disc you must have in your collection.
| Say Somethin' | |
| Feels | |
| Furor | |
| 1964 | |
| Sunlight | |
| If I Had You | |
| A Foggy Day | |
| Friends | |
| But Not For Me | |
| When It's Sleepytime Down South |
Born in Princeton, New Jersey, Gabriel began his professional playing career at the age of thirteen. By the time he graduated high school he was already fast-tracking his way to a career playing the trumpet‚ studying privately with jazz masters Bobby Shew, Roger Ingram, and Greg Gisbert. It wasn’t long before Gabriel began performing with the big acts: Natalie Cole, Christian McBride, The Temptations, Terence Blanchard, Lettuce, Karl Denson, John Scofield, Hugh Jackman, Lonnie Smith, Russell Malone, The Who, Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, Roberta Gambarini, the Motet, and Houston Person. Gabriel has deeply rooted himself in the traditions of Jazz and Classical music while at the same time contributing to the modern music scene, playing everything from Mariachi to Mahler.
Hidden in the sleepy little town of Lyons Colorado is an unassuming building without the benefit of a sign or any indication of what’s inside. It’s the home of Animal Lane, one of the world’s few 32 track Sonoma recording studios. During a week in December 2020, musicians Gabe, Tom, Seth, and Alejandro got together with Octave producer, Giselle Collazo, and recording engineer, Steve Vidaic to lay down some tunes and tracks.
The session was basically live and captured without overdubs on the Sonoma pure DSD recording system, then later mixed through a vintage Euphonix analog board, then back again through Sonoma to put all the pieces together. What resulted was one of the
most beautifully recorded jazz works yet and Octave Records is proud to have captured Gabriel Mervine’s music for all time.
Gabriel’s trumpet was recorded using a combination of a Neumann M49 Cardioid and a Royer 122 Ribbon microphone into a Grace preamp. The mics were about 12” from the instrument’s bell. In the final mix, both the Neuman and ribbon were used with the ribbon more prominent.
For the piano, a pair of DPA 4009 Omni stereo pair amplified with a Grace preamplifier were used along with a vintage RCA 44BX ribbon, amplified through a Forsell microphone preamplifier. Engineer Steve Vidaic placed the mics at the edge of the piano soundboard, lid low, to keep out the drum bleed and used mostly the vintage RCA in the mix, with a little DPA for stereo spread and air.
For the bass, a Neumann U47 was placed close to the instrument’s bridge (6” out) and a Royer 122 Ribbon on the neck. Steve then added a Teletronix LA2A Limiter to the 122 and for the Neuman a Warm Audio WA76 Limiter through a dbx 160 for fast transients, and the lightest of touch with a Urie LA3A limiter for body control. Forsell preamplifiers were employed for both microphones.
To record the drums Steve used a Soundelux iFET 7 and Grace preamplifier for the bass drum, a Sennheiser 421 connected through a Grace preamplifier about 6” to 8” from the front head snare, and for the brushes and overheads a rare Tim de Paravacini stereo AKG C24 vacuum tube microphone (on loan from Dan Schwartz) into a Forsell preamplifier. The C24 was placed about 18” to 24” above the drum kit. For the ambient room microphones, a custom pair of Rode stereo omnis through a Forsell preamplifier were employed.
Captured in pure DSD on the Sonoma Recording System.
Download the recording booklet
Honoring the Music and Those Who Make ItOur mission at Octave Records® is simple – respect musicians by paying them fairly, and respect their music by bringing it to life in the highest-quality possible.
Too often, musicians have to absorb the costs of production, leaving them little or any earnings – or even putting them in debt. And the quality of their recordings end up in last place. We at PS Audio and Octave Records are dedicated to correcting these inequities.
To support musicians, Octave™ covers 100% of all studio, mixing, mastering, production, distribution, and marketing expenses so that artists may directly share in retail sales revenues – while retaining ownership of their music.
Octave Records is dedicated to offering the highest-quality recordings in high-resolution formats including pure DSD on SACD , as well as 192kHz PCM. Located in Boulder, Colorado, Octave utilizes the world’s finest studio equipment, based around the acclaimed Sonoma™ DSD recording, mixing, and mastering system. Gus Skinas, our world-renowned mastering engineer, has hundreds of album credits and helped design the Sonoma system.
