Need some advise regarding sounds of 60's and 70's

[Pedwin]

Hello,

Someone asked me if I would like to help a befriended singer he knew to recording a few of his songs. After a few calls we scheduled a 1st meeting to discuss the further details in January next where we will talk about his ideas. As far as I know The recording and arranging for his CD will be in the style of country and western and also rock ’n roll of the sixties.
As a newbe to recording and with a background in composing mainstream jazz, soul, funk and pop-/-rock I was curious how someone experiened would prepare record sessions for this kind of music.
Here’s where I could need your experience and some hands-on suggestions to achieve this;
- Using the UA-1, which parts of the plug-in effects would you recommend and with what kind of (pre-)sets?
- What other suggestions do you have to getting an old classical sound on track; I’ve been thinking about recording everything
via mic through speakers.

Any suggestion would be very much appreciated . . . and please, have mercy with a dummie

Thanks in advance.

Chrees,
pedwin

[johnnytucats]

Regarding session preparation, are you doing this as a one man band or are you actually hiring musicians for the tracking?

[1nput0utput]

… I’ve been thinking about recording everything via mic through speakers.

Don't do that unless you want it to sound like the music is being played back through a stereo. That would probably only be used as a special effect. However, if you have a nice reverberant room, you can play back a recording into the room, record the reverberation with a distant mic, and then mix the reverb in with the dry tracks. Basically, that's what you would call chamber reverb.

[Pedwin]

Regarding session preparation, are you doing this as a one man band or are you actually hiring musicians for the tracking?

@Johnny
I have been informed that he will only bring / use one guitar player whenever the it's time to record the guitar track.

@

Don't do that unless you want it to sound like the music is being played back through a stereo. That would probably only be used as a special effect. However, if you have a nice reverberant room, you can play back a recording into the room, record the reverberation with a distant mic, and then mix the reverb in with the dry tracks. Basically, that's what you would call chamber reverb.

@1nput0utput
Thanks. A will try to realize this.

Kind reards,
pedwin

[kassonica]

2 things to achieving that sound.

1 A great sounding space to record in, small boxy rooms a NO NO.

2 The right mics and pre's, if you can hire a U47 and a neve 1073 or V72 or similar.

If you can't afford these try every mic and Pre you have.

A lot of the sounds from the 50's and 60's was far miced as well (read not closed miced)

Tape delay and plate reverb ARE YOUR BEST FRIENDS. Real ones that is NOT SOFTWARE.


If you can't find a plate try a spring.

Get the sounds AT THE SOURCE not post in mixing.

Hope this helps.

[Pedwin]

2 things to achieving that sound.

1 A great sounding space to record in, small boxy rooms a NO NO.

2 The right mics and pre's, if you can hire a U47 and a neve 1073 or V72 or similar.

If you can't afford these try every mic and Pre you have.

A lot of the sounds from the 50's and 60's was far miced as well (read not closed miced)

Tape delay and plate reverb ARE YOUR BEST FRIENDS. Real ones that is NOT SOFTWARE.


If you can't find a plate try a spring.

Get the sounds AT THE SOURCE not post in mixing.

Hope this helps.

Thanks kassonica;
regarding your advise about using / hire U47 and a neve 1073 or V72 or similar, . . . don't worry,
MONEY IS NOT AN ISSUE.

I don't have any

But how should I use the gear that I do have? Can you give me some advise on how to get as close as possible to this specific sound?
mic.'s:
- 1x Brauner
- 1x Mojave MA-200
- 1x AKG 414 C ltd.
- 1x RODE NT-1000
- 2x RODE NT-55 (stereo pair)
R'verb:
- 1x bricasti M7
- 1x altiverb
pre-amp & eq/compr.:
- 1x AVALON AD2022
- 1x AVALON VT-747SP

Thanks in advance for everyone willing to share their professional experience

Kind regards,
pedwin

[Phil O]

I realize this might not be a popular opinion, but I really believe that the vibe you're looking for is going to come more from the performances than the recording. My approach would be to focus on a performance with the proper vibe and work on accurately capturing that vibe. Just my humble take on it.

Phil

[MIDI Life Crisis]

You might want to just record to a 4 track reel to reel to get that 60's sound.

[monkey man]

I'd be wary of overdoing any sizzle, be it sausages or otherwise; in fact, you might just as well roll the highs off a little IMHO.

[Pedwin]

Aah. . . great! Thank you guys for all the practical suggestions.
I'm really curious (I'd better say nervous) about my possibly first customer
but with you forum members as my secret professional coaching board I might get it done.

I'll keep you updated when the time has come.
Maybe another newbee can benifit from it.

I have another question but I think I'll better put this one in a new post.

K.regards,
pedwin

[monkey man]

Great! Poofessionals standing by... LOL

[kassonica]

Pedwin Wrote:

But how should I use the gear that I do have? Can you give me some advise on how to get as close as possible to this specific sound?
mic.'s:
- 1x Brauner
- 1x Mojave MA-200
- 1x AKG 414 C ltd.
- 1x RODE NT-1000
- 2x RODE NT-55 (stereo pair)
R'verb:
- 1x bricasti M7
- 1x altiverb
pre-amp & eq/compr.:
- 1x AVALON AD2022
- 1x AVALON VT-747SP

That is some nice kit there With that you should be able to get the job done.

The wendy Carlos plate in Altiverb is the best SW verb I've ever heard, so there is your EMT

Use only one mic on everything if you can (drums included although 2 maybe needed)

Mic placement in a GOOD sounding room is paramount here, as is vintage amps etc. I don't guitar amp sims are going to do for it for you somehow.

ANother thing to try is low pass filtering everything from 15kz down maybe even 12 for somethings.

The bottom end is key really and nice rounded transients, not sharp digital ones.

Good luck and maybe record at 96/24 if you can and I'd be getting it professionally mastered as well on half inch tape (if you can of course)

[Larry Mal]

All of these are great ideas, but you may want to consider either running the mix through a good tape simulator or just outputting the mix to actual tape (gasp!) and then back into digital. When I say tape I mean professional tape- not a cassette or anything. This time in the tape domain will give you tape compression, and you can get the levels just slightly into the realm of distortion there, which could add quite a bit of warmth and immediacy. Or maybe not, just a thought.

And be aware that by getting it to tape, you'll need a reel-to-reel, which I imagine you'll be getting used, which will have it's own hassles. But maybe you have a good option there that I don't know about.

And it would be hard to get the sound of that era without knowing the techniques, and a good place to start could be with this fairly exhausting book on how the Beatles were recorded:

http://www.recordingthebeatles.com/

I know the Beatles weren't country and so forth, but they did make use of a great majority of the schools of recording thought of the day. I'm sure you'd find something useful there, but then again, it's a $100 itself.

It occurs to me I could be responding to a totally dead thread, and in fact I may have been enjoying the fruits of this labor on my radio just today without knowing it. Sorry if that's the case.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

All of these are great ideas, but you may want to consider either running the mix through a good tape simulator or just outputting the mix to actual tape (gasp!)...

You might want to just record to a 4 track reel to reel to get that 60's sound.

That's what I said back on Dec 16. There was a lot to like (and hate) about working from tape.

[HCMarkus]

+1 on Kassonica's mic placement advice, Monkey's high-frequency roll-off, and Phil's "vibe".