How did they do it? Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman and Teaser and the firecat

C

canakas

New member
The room, the proximity, the timber, the crunch, the balance is an historic soundmans deed...
and mr stevens' art goes without saying...

and I know theres a lot to be done with a good eq-strip.....

BUT how did they record those guitars? what microphones sound like this...? and the vocals....! :eek:

Im assuming its recorded on some magic 1"-2" otari or studer or sth... :D
so the machine shouldnt be a bottleneck, nor could it be so wildly flattering as the way these records sound...

Tell us wise forum readers... what do you say, how did they do it?


thank you
-Canakas
 
Thanks for the link!

I take the liberty of quoting jmikeperkins over at gearslutz:
Cat mostly played Gibsons
I have a large video collection and I have various different performaces of Cat from the 1970's. He seems to have favored 3 different guitars, a black Gibson Everly Brother's Model (in the photo earlier in this thread - this was his main stage guitar), a natural finished Gibson J-200, and an Ovation (a 1970's model, not sure which one). Both of the Gibsons have maple back and sides (top is spruce) and the maple can be pretty bright sounding when strummed. The Ovation of course has the plastic bowl thing on the back and has a certain "zing" to the sound which some people like and some people hate. If I had to guess, he probably used one of his Gibsons in the studio in the early 70's.

J. Mike Perkins jmikeperkins.com myspace.com/jmikeperkins
Click to expand...

I must say it again; the sound on these records is very interesting,
it is a beautiful quality of mids and harmonies, that the bass+treble hysteria elegantly wiped out...

Do you folks think they used large diaphragm condensers for recordings like these in the 70's?

Maybe Neumann TLM 103 or U87 ?

-C
 
canakas said:
The room, the proximity, the timber, the crunch, the balance is an historic soundmans deed...
and mr stevens' art goes without saying...

and I know theres a lot to be done with a good eq-strip.....
Click to expand...

IMHO, it had nothing to do "with a good eq-strip." Your first paragraph nailed it. To my ears, EQ is a LAST resort when recording acoustic music. If you can't get the tone you're looking for with a talented artist, mic choice, pres, mic placement, and recording medium (less important than the other three), then you're in the wrong business or in the wrong room.

Cheers,
--
Don
 
Yes this is just what I mean...that is where I wanted to draw the line in the first post...

I think Im gonna go after Mr William Wittman, and kindly ask him for some advice... the folks over at gearslutz say he played with C.S. back in the 70's...

dont really know where to find him though...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top