70`s Prog-rock....

[Nakatira]

I`ve got the drums covered.
anything inparticullar I should be doing about the other instruments, or vocals.
I`m just looking for pointers that could send me in the right directions.

thanks

[sweetnubs]

snort lots of coke.

[chessrock]

I concur with Sweetnubs.

Be sure to snort lots and lots of coke.

[Nakatira]

Thank you guys thats valubale input

[7string]

We need a bit more info. What specific instruments are you using? How are you recording? What gear? Instrumental? The more detail you give us the better we can help you.

[chessrock]

Originally Posted by 7string

We need a bit more info.

To put it mildly.

[Pequ]

... Synths often played an important role in that kind of music. Try experimenting with running the synths (if there are synths) through a speaker cabinet into a microphone. That way the room acoustics + many other factors are added to the sound and you can get a more colourful/plentiful tone.

[Nakatira]

Ok, I`ll give you guys some more info.
I will be recording through a DAW(Firepod), wish I had analouge equipment but Digital is what I`ve got so I`ll stick that.

Mics; mxl 603,v67g, sp B1, sm57, sm58, b52, and e825 sennheiser.

Instruments that I want to record are; Guitar both acoustic and electirc, Bass, drums, various synths organ and piano, flute and other string instruments such as mandolin.
I will also be recording vocals.

hope this helps

[Benreturns]

Play a guitar solo for 20 mins. When it cant possibly go on any further play another one. When everyone is half asleep and looking for a Sex Pistols/Disco/Funk record then you know your getting there!

[Nakatira]

I`d rather play a Flute solo

[Ronan]

well my crazy career has had me working with a lot of prog stuff (more than a dozen albums with King Crimson) but i am not even 40 yet, so a lot of what I know about the old ways is from mixing older stuff.

Here are some tips.

Use a melotron!!!!

Keep the micing really simple.

Do not gate stuff when you mix it.

Do not put the kick and snare way out front like a modern rock record.

You really good compression liberally

A lot of those classic sounding records had to do with really classic tones. and sorry to say that the modern modelers do not really capture them. If you had a real melotron it would sound like vintage prog right away.

Use as much real stuff as posssible and for gods sake do not record your guitars direct.

[Nakatira]

I love the mellotron, allthough I use organ and el-piano a bit more.
hence the synths that I have provide a nice vintage sound on those two.
the mellotron is a bit of the King crimson sound.

I always record guitars miked, never us any direct input, I`ve tried it on bass, but I think the bass sounds better through and amp.
But then I havent got the best preamp on the market so that should explain why, I`m not utterly mad about DI`yng the bass.

I do use compressors a lot especially on the drums and the bass.

and thank you ronan for an informative post.

[dr.colossus]

When i think of seventies prog, i think of very dry sounds and quite a bit of "seperation" between the instruments. While I agree about not d.i.'ing the guitar, I'd avoid using too much room in the mic.... When it comes to your flute thoughthe more room sound the better.

[DonGraham]

Use a really dry Marshall (JMP MK2) for guitar tones.......and don't go for the "modern" clear/crashy drums sound....It will be a real challenge to reproduce some of the old vibe on a DAW vs. an old Trident/Neve console with 2" tape.......good luck and post clips along the way....good advice abounds here

[themaddog]

I'd use fairly clean guitar sounds through tube amps if you have them. Some of the Floyd stuff is a mix of direct and mic'd amps, with the mic'd amp having a lot of added hall type reverb.

The bass sounds on a lot of prog. stuff (like King Crimson) is nice and chunky, like maybe through a 15" speaker and driven pretty hard. The entire second side of the Red album by King Crimson has this kind of bass.

The drums always sound pretty loose, maybe only 3-4 mics. The snare is usually kind of distant, but crisp. I'd definitely stay away from samples and rely mostly on overheads. Just keep trying different drum mic configurations, with a limited number of mics, until you find one that you like. The kick punches, but doesn't have the kick you in the chest bassy, woofy sound. You just might have trouble getting the right sound you want without the aid of tape compression.

Without getting too fancy, I'd say those are the basics! You have to watch your levels with synths going into analog equipment because of the transients and such, so I'd watch them even closer since you're recording to digital. I doubt you'll get the exact sound you're trying to recreate, but you may get some newer, different ones that you may like. If that's the case, you may want to try using a few digital effects they didn't have easily available at the time, like reverse delay and such. Just remember that the progressive rock era was all about experimentation, doing unique stuff, and using the equipment that was available at the time. If you keep that in mind, and try to create prog. rock without too much imitation - then voilla - you've got prog. rock.

-MD

[Nakatira]

Originally Posted by themaddog

I'd use fairly clean guitar sounds through tube amps if you have them. Some of the Floyd stuff is a mix of direct and mic'd amps, with the mic'd amp having a lot of added hall type reverb.

The bass sounds on a lot of prog. stuff (like King Crimson) is nice and chunky, like maybe through a 15" speaker and driven pretty hard. The entire second side of the Red album by King Crimson has this kind of bass.

The drums always sound pretty loose, maybe only 3-4 mics. The snare is usually kind of distant, but crisp. I'd definitely stay away from samples and rely mostly on overheads. Just keep trying different drum mic configurations, with a limited number of mics, until you find one that you like. The kick punches, but doesn't have the kick you in the chest bassy, woofy sound. You just might have trouble getting the right sound you want without the aid of tape compression.

Without getting too fancy, I'd say those are the basics! You have to watch your levels with synths going into analog equipment because of the transients and such, so I'd watch them even closer since you're recording to digital. I doubt you'll get the exact sound you're trying to recreate, but you may get some newer, different ones that you may like. If that's the case, you may want to try using a few digital effects they didn't have easily available at the time, like reverse delay and such. Just remember that the progressive rock era was all about experimentation, doing unique stuff, and using the equipment that was available at the time. If you keep that in mind, and try to create prog. rock without too much imitation - then voilla - you've got prog. rock.

-MD

thanks mate thats really informative.