Hey folks,
I've got some questions about recording with a very particular aesthetic in mind, but first, a little background. I have a post-punk solo project called 'Charlatan' (charlatansounds.com). In short, I sing, play guitar, and largely rely on synthesizers and drum machines to back me up. I recorded my last album at home and had an engineer mix and master it afterwards. The sounds that I obtained were pretty spot-on for what I was going for in that album, but now I'm shifting gears, writing differently, and conceptualizing my next album as a "what if I was sucked into a timewarp and had to lay down tracks in 1965" kind of garage band sound. I imagine it wouldn't sound unlike Dirty Beaches, especially this album: Night Walk - YouTube
So, my question is this: How do I get this garagey, lo-fi, but distinctive sound? What gear should I use? I'm more than halfway through writing material for the next album and I want to come up with a plan of attack on how I'm going to record this thing. I'm really, really, really hoping to do it at home again. Going back to Dirty Beaches, I know Alex recorded "Badlands" on a four-track cassette recorder, so let's make this clear: I'm willing to get very unconventional. I love the sound of vocals through guitar amps, over-saturated tapes, the beautiful artifacts of a medium being pushed hard, and generally loathe the sound of squeaky clean production that most studios instill.
Ultimately, I'd like to know what solutions people would recommend, if it even matters, things like mic preamps, recording interfaces (digital and/or analog), compressors, and general recording methods. I'm currently using a Focusrite Scarlett 6i6, Pro Tools 10, and have an SM57, SM58, CAD M179, and some various old and charmingly lo-fi dynamic mics. I would almost donate a kidney to just waltz into a studio with an ancient valve console, but again, I really, really need to keep this on as tight of a budget as possible, and also kind of like the idea of making the most out of the least. I am considering recording completely digitally and bouncing it onto some studio's reel to reel with a (reasonably) hot signal, since that seems the easiest.
Anyway, my brain is hungry - I'm very inexperienced at recording, let alone taking a tasteful lo-fi approach to it. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts. Thanks!
I've got some questions about recording with a very particular aesthetic in mind, but first, a little background. I have a post-punk solo project called 'Charlatan' (charlatansounds.com). In short, I sing, play guitar, and largely rely on synthesizers and drum machines to back me up. I recorded my last album at home and had an engineer mix and master it afterwards. The sounds that I obtained were pretty spot-on for what I was going for in that album, but now I'm shifting gears, writing differently, and conceptualizing my next album as a "what if I was sucked into a timewarp and had to lay down tracks in 1965" kind of garage band sound. I imagine it wouldn't sound unlike Dirty Beaches, especially this album: Night Walk - YouTube
So, my question is this: How do I get this garagey, lo-fi, but distinctive sound? What gear should I use? I'm more than halfway through writing material for the next album and I want to come up with a plan of attack on how I'm going to record this thing. I'm really, really, really hoping to do it at home again. Going back to Dirty Beaches, I know Alex recorded "Badlands" on a four-track cassette recorder, so let's make this clear: I'm willing to get very unconventional. I love the sound of vocals through guitar amps, over-saturated tapes, the beautiful artifacts of a medium being pushed hard, and generally loathe the sound of squeaky clean production that most studios instill.
Ultimately, I'd like to know what solutions people would recommend, if it even matters, things like mic preamps, recording interfaces (digital and/or analog), compressors, and general recording methods. I'm currently using a Focusrite Scarlett 6i6, Pro Tools 10, and have an SM57, SM58, CAD M179, and some various old and charmingly lo-fi dynamic mics. I would almost donate a kidney to just waltz into a studio with an ancient valve console, but again, I really, really need to keep this on as tight of a budget as possible, and also kind of like the idea of making the most out of the least. I am considering recording completely digitally and bouncing it onto some studio's reel to reel with a (reasonably) hot signal, since that seems the easiest.
Anyway, my brain is hungry - I'm very inexperienced at recording, let alone taking a tasteful lo-fi approach to it. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts. Thanks!