Making mixes sound 60s after recording..

[sneakquencer]

gday guys

Just wondering if anyone has any hints or any links to help me make some indie music (recorded digitally but not mixed yet) sound 60s with the help of plugins or mixing tricks. I am thinking along the lines of Broadcast or Stereolab. Cheers a lot. David.

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Well, if you want them to sound like what I listened to in the 60s, I recommend laying out your CD on a table and dropping a couple of burning sandalwood or wild cherry incense sticks on them and letting them sit there until you have a couple of warped craters on the CD surface. If you're worried about the CD player being able to track through the damage, all you have to do is tape a couple of pennies to the top of the laser armature.

More seriously, I'm not sure there is a single "60s sound" outside of the use of 100% analog gear with relatively low signal-to-noise ratios and the resulting vinyl mastering and pressing artifacts. But here's a few different ways people try to emulate classic recordings:

- Don't push the final loudness and RMS levels to the maximum the way music has been produced since the 90s. At the same time keep the overall S/N range below what modern digital recording is capable of. Your average rock/pop song of the 60s/70s probably averaged a total dynamic range of about 55-65dB with an RMS equal to a digital equivalent of about -17dBRMS.

- Roll off the high frequencies above 6kHz with a geometrically steeper slope as the frequency increases. Apply a similar low frequency roll off start at about 60Hz.

- Decrease the number of tracks used to record the drums to a minimum. One to three microphones/tracks.

- Unnaturally hard pan everything to either full left, center or full right. Do not follow some of the modern "standard rules" of panning as we know them today; i.e. do not be afraid to throw drums full right and bass full left, for example.

- Add a track of light pink (somewhere between white and pink) noise at a level of about -60dBFS or so to simulate analog tape/circuit noise.

G.

[d.bop]

iZotope's Vinyl plugin could help out. (It's free!)

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/vinyl/

[chazba]

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chazba

[jmorris]

OK, I'll let the cat out of the bag, here is how to go about it!
1) get enginner that knows what he is doing
2) use all old tube analog gear
3) record to tape
4) have players that CAN play without looping and dont need to copy and paste
5) get singers that can REALLY sing in one pass and dont need a comp of 12 takes and dont need pitch correction
6) get a producer that has more credits than "I watched my buddy record and made suggestions".
7)Use a studio that a "'room", not basement, closet,bedroom etc.
8) record good material,written well and played well and does not have words like mother f-er and bitch in the tune.
9) mix to sound GOOD not to sound LOUD.

[hardwire666]

d.bop, and SouthSIDE Glen collectively hit the nail on the head.

[XLR]

Originally Posted by jmorris

...have players that CAN play
...get singers that can REALLY sing in one pass and dont need a comp of 12 takes and dont need pitch correction
...Use a studio that a "'room", not basement, closet,bedroom etc.
...mix to sound GOOD not to sound LOUD.

Yep .

[Rokket]

Originally Posted by jmorris

OK, I'll let the cat out of the bag, here is how to go about it!
1) get enginner that knows what he is doing
2) use all old tube analog gear
3) record to tape
4) have players that CAN play without looping and dont need to copy and paste
5) get singers that can REALLY sing in one pass and dont need a comp of 12 takes and dont need pitch correction
6) get a producer that has more credits than "I watched my buddy record and made suggestions".
7)Use a studio that a "'room", not basement, closet,bedroom etc.
8) record good material,written well and played well and does not have words like mother f-er and bitch in the tune.
9) mix to sound GOOD not to sound LOUD.

A good suggestion if you have lots of money and time on your hands, for those of us who are on a budget and doing this as a hobby, I like Glen's answer better...

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Originally Posted by hardwire666

d.bop, and SouthSIDE Glen collectively hit the nail on the head.

Originally Posted by Rokket

A good suggestion if you have lots of money and time on your hands, for those of us who are on a budget and doing this as a hobby, I like Glen's answer better...

Yep; I'm telling ya, ya can't go wrong with the incense burns/scotch taped pennies technique.You just haven't heard "Gimmie Gimmie Good Lovin" by Crazy Elephant until you listened to it that way!

G.

[hardwire666]

I go for quarters. More mass to rotate, thus slowing down the cd to simulate more bottom end. I'm always careful though with the burns. I like my cd's toasted to add that brown sound.

[KineticSound]

Originally Posted by d.bop

iZotope's Vinyl plugin could help out. (It's free!)

http://www.izotope.com/products/audio/vinyl/

+1 on iZotope. Cool plugin.