Something I hear on Animals and David Gilmour's first solo record.....

J

JeffreyC

New member
Hey guys -

Maybe a tough question to answer, but on these two records (I'm sure there are others) there is a smooth/greasy/smeary/buttery pleasant sound on the tracks. I know they had access to very fine equipment in the studio and I don't discount the excellence on the engineering side, but I'm wondering what's the main contributor to this quality?? I can't seem to get anywhere close to that with plugins and I'm wondering if this is mostly hardware comps combined with tape compression. What might get me closer to that sound?

Sorry for the newbie like post. :o
 
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[MP3]http://www.spinningaroundthesun.com/Music/GilmourSoundsofMuff.mp3[/MP3]

Well, you can hear it especially well on this first solo, but it's something I hear all over this record - Gilmours first solo record. Animals has a hotter more agressive sound to it overall, but it's still there. The Wall has a similar sound as well, but it's more clear and polished sounding. I'm interested in the sound I described and I'm thinking it may be the hardware compressors used and agressive settings....but I've never had any experience using one, so it's just a wild guess. :D It sounds like "color" to me and the result was a very pleasing sound with no harsh high end at all.
 
JeffreyC said:
...there is a smooth/greasy/smeary/buttery pleasant sound on the tracks.
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It's called tape....and lots of good analog gear.

I just tracked some vocals the other day, and decided to just go direct to disk instead of my usual tape--->disk bounce....
...and man, I've been fighting with that damn vocal track ever since trying to remove the nasty harsh/brittle quality with my DAW's EQ.
I'm sure I could pre-EQ before going direct to disk...but when I tracked to tape, it was automatically smooth and pleasant.
 
I think he got most of that sound before it hit the microphone.
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Hey fellow CO dude! I appreciate your response, but don't just focus on the guitar - I'm not talking about his guitar tone (I can pretty much nail those tones)...I'm a member of the Gilmour Gear forum and I'm well aware of most everything he's done and how (at least what's documented, lol). I'm talking about a general quality I hear all over this record. It may be just the combination of gear and how things were done in those days, but I guess what I'm looking for is what does it take to get close to that sound gear-wise using today's methods/DAW/interface, etc. I fully understand that this question can't be answered with 100% accuracy, so just wondering what speculative observations those with more experience may have. : ) Don't flame me please.....
 
bouldersoundguy said:
I think he got most of that sound before it hit the microphone.
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Yes I think he spent years and years perfecting his sound, I too think what ever he recorded was set when getting on tape, perhaps some eq adjustments but that had to be it.
 
JeffreyC said:
Hey fellow CO dude! I appreciate your response, but don't just focus on the guitar - I'm not talking about his guitar tone (I can pretty much nail those tones)...I'm a member of the Gilmour Gear forum and I'm well aware of most everything he's done and how (at least what's documented, lol). I'm talking about a general quality I hear all over this record. It may be just the combination of gear and how things were done in those days, but I guess what I'm looking for is what does it take to get close to that sound gear-wise using today's methods/DAW/interface, etc. I fully understand that this question can't be answered with 100% accuracy, so just wondering what speculative observations those with more experience may have. : ) Don't flame me please.....
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Then I'd go with Miroslav, answer.
Tape and great sounding gear has to have something to do with it, and dont forget great engineers either.
Animals is one of my favorite sounding pink floyd records, I've used it as a mixing reference for years.
 
It's called tape....and lots of good analog gear.

I just tracked some vocals the other day, and decided to just go direct to disk instead of my usual tape--->disk bounce....
...and man, I've been fighting with that damn vocal track ever since trying to remove the nasty harsh/brittle quality with my DAW's EQ.
I'm sure I could pre-EQ before going direct to disk...but when I tracked to tape, it was automatically smooth and pleasant.
Click to expand...

I was wondering if that's all it is....jeez, I have to get that sound into my recordings - any great plugins that can get close? I'm curious as to what kind of tape recorder you're using now. I've played with the PSP Vintage Warmer and like it - close, but not quite there to my ears.
 
No. But you could spend a fortune and still not nail that tone. DG is a beast.
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You mis-read the thread....not talking about DG's guitar tone at all. BTW, the guitar tone on that first solo is easy to nail -
strat bridge pickup - SSL1c or FS1 ->Ram's head muff->Hiwatt; the playing is another story.

I can get close enough - wouldn't want to sound exactly like him playing-wise anyway - what's the point?

[MP3]http://www.spinningaroundthesun.com/Music/ShineOnMaster.mp3[/MP3]
 
I think a big part of this is being realistic about our abilities and limitations. Most of us are not professionals so we should be realistic and realize we probably aren't going to get that sound, though that's not to say we can't get good sounds. And, then at some point equipment comes into play. Without all of the right gear we will eventually become limited by gear.

But, I would suspect our abilities and experience might be the biggest limiting factor.

Sorry, I guess this doesn't help answer the question.
 
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