Capturing the Eclectic Sounds of a Ukulele Master
By Jack Britton | Tue, 01 Feb 2011
It’s fair to say that no one has taken the humble little
Hawaiian ukulele as far as Jake Shimabukuro. Though
the Oahu-born, fifth-generation Japanese-American is
well versed in traditional Hawaiian music, his albums
have been highly eclectic affairs, incorporating classical
pieces by composers like Bach, Paganini, and
Rodrigo; his own tunes, which cross over many
styles, from fusion to flamenco; pop ballads spanning
the ’30s to the ’80s; and rock chestnuts by the likes
of Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, and Michael Jackson.
Shimabukuro is a true virtuoso, fleet-fingered as the
best rock guitarists, but also capable of bringing out
the beautiful subtleties of his tenor ukulele.
Shimabukuro’s latest is called Peace Love
Ukulele, and like most of his albums, it is dominated
by his original instrumental compositions, with a couple
of beautifully achieved covers thrown in the mix:
Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and a jaw-dropping
solo version of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The
album was recorded at the beautiful, moderne Avex
Honolulu Studios by engineer Milan Bertosa. A
Chicago native, Bertosa moved to Hawaii in 1988
and since has worked with many top artists there, including
the Ka’au Crater Boys, “Bruddah Iz” (Israel Kamakawiwo’ole),
the Brothers Cazimero, and many more.
Asked about his technique for capturing
Shimabukuro’s ukulele in the studio, Bertosa notes,
“I’ll usually use four mics. The basic layout is a Lawson
251—which is sort of a [Telefunken] 251 clone—
in front of the uke, slightly above; directly below that
is a Coles 4038. It’s kind of a vertical array—those
two mics have different characteristics and the two
capsules are hopefully as aligned as possible and
pointing down at the uke. Then we have these outrigger
mics, left and right—AKG 480Bs with omni
caps, and those will sometimes be on a plane with
those other mics, and sometimes Jake will grab
them and stick them right up against the sound
board; it depends on what he wants to hear. That
combination of four mics in different blends gets us
to where we need to go, in terms of capturing what
he may be doing at any point in time. ‘Bohemian
Rhapsody’ was recorded in Japan [at Sony Studios]
and is actually a Telefunken 251 instead of the Lawson,
and they’re DPA 4003 omnis instead of the
AKGs.” Bertsoa has his own collection of tube mic
pres, including the Kauai-made Gitlronics 356, and
others from the defunct Curtis Technology.
Any advice for folks recording ukulele—suddenly
quite a trendy instrument in indie circles—with just one
mic? “Use the best mic you can find and place it about
a foot off the instrument, offset up the neck away from
the sound hole and pointing down, because all ukuleles
have a ‘bark,’” says Bertosa. “Never point the mic
directly at the sound hole because it exaggerates that
‘woofy’ note they all have.”