Okay, I jump to this story because it is one of my favs! We were working on a song for a Spielberg soundtrack, the song was called "Reach For The Light". Earlier in the week we had recorded tracks at Quad on 24 track analog, (before it was retro, analog that is) so we were ready to overdub organ. It was late, about midnight and we were at Skylab Studios (gone but not forgotten) which was on the 8th floor looking west. Beautiful view for working at night. It was ritual to make sure we had enough Guinness on hand for it is Mother's Milk to an Englishman and lends to a great mood for recording a legendary player.
As I was setting up the mics, the producer fell asleep, head back on the couch snoring like a baby. How could he sleep through this? This is history in the making!! I was making sure everything was perfect because this is what every engineer waits for, the moment of recording something very special. We had plenty of tracks because we made ADAT slaves and I was ready roll. Maybe he'll play "Gimme Some Luvin" while I'm checking the mics.....
We kicked back another Guinness and Steve said, " Salvo do you mind if I make a suggestion?" I had miked the leslie with 2 AKG 451's at 180 degrees, opposite of each other. Done it that way for quite a while, it always sounded good. What could be wrong? Well Steve went into a great story about knowing the guy who design the leslie and what it was made for and some other stuff I can't remember because we were both half lite and tired. In conclusion, we should mic the leslie at 45 degrees from each other because that was the way the horns inside were set up to be miked. So much for impressing Mr. Winwood with my skills. Of course I switched it up and it was amazing!! We toasted and went on to record for a couple hours take after take, not minding that the sun was soon to come up.
So now wherever I go, that is how I mic the B3. You should too..

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