Les Paul recorded for oral history of audio

As one of the first to experiment with multitrack recording as well as developing the analog audio console and electric guitar, Les Paul is an audio revolutionary. During this year’s AES convention, the knowledge of this industry great was captured for use in an upcoming documentary entitled “Adventures in the History of Audio.”

Documentary director and sound designer Frank Serafine sat down with Paul to talk about his contributions to the audio industry and the future of audio recording. “Adventures in the History of Audio” chronicles the history of audio recording from its beginnings during WWII to present day through interviews with key manufacturers and inventors. Serafine recorded the entire interview in 5.1 surround sound using the H4 SuperMINI microphone mounted on a Sony HDV-V1 camera. To capture the dialog, Serafine connected a shotgun microphone to the mic’s auxiliary center channel microphone input.

“I thought it was fitting to record someone who has had such an influence in audio recording using the latest generation in audio capture,” Serafine said. “The H4 SuperMINI allowed me to set up quickly and very easily obtain an accurate surround recording.”

Holophone’s H4 SuperMINI works with current camera technologies to bring surround audio to field recording. The mic comes equipped with a Dolby Pro Logic II encoder, which converts the mic's six channels down to two, allowing it to be recorded to any standard broadcast camera.

In addition to Paul, Frank has interviewed Robert Moog and plans to speak with other audio luminaries.

For more information, visit www.frankserafine.com and www.holophone.com.