1960's Country and Western recording tecniques

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needledrop

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I'm in the midst of a project where i'm trying to write and record music in the genre of 1960's C&W music...Patsy Cline, Elvis, Johnny Cash.
Can anybody give me any advice on recording and mixing techniques that would have been typcal to that genre at that time?
 
They did a lot of recording the whole band at the same time in the same room with only a couple mics. Most the instruments would be acoustic: stand up bass, minimal drum set, acoustic guitars, fiddles, piano, etc. The singer would be the only one isolated.
If I can believe the pictures and interviews I've read on that subject.
 
EVT said:
Hi Needledrop,
I am also interested in this topic. I just happened to run into this today, and then I read your post...
http://thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?threadid=72164
some good info here,
evt
Click to expand...
It is good info. I don't think country music was recorded much differently than rock, with the exception of distortion. I know that a lot of country players used to overdrive their amps, but it wasn't to the brink of distorting the signal, just to give it some edge.

The thread brings up another point to: mono vs. stereo. I am betting that not too many recordings were done in stereo in the early days, because most radio stations were still on the AM dial, and stereo broadcasting wasn't available.

But I could be pulling that one out of my butt...
 
Hello...
I'm not sure, but based on the post on the gear page by cameron:
"When Phil Spector put together a boxed set of his recordings he went back to mono, and that set is a revelation, since all we'd heard on the radio for years were the lame stereo mixes of those tracks."
It seems that the stereo mixes was what was being heard on the radio. But, I'm not sure if this applied to am radio. And, I wasn't even born yet so...I defintely wouldn't know first hand, or first ear.

Some important tips about mixing to achieve a mix typical to 60's music, but also applicable to any genre, depending on what you are going for:

-simplicity with the drums, and minimal layering for better spacing of instruments.

-mono instead of stereo (in some cases)

or -hard panning for spacing... ex. guitar panned hard left and bass hard right for separation.

Although I have read many different posts about ideas on panning, and separation, but not in regards to 60's, however, definitely useful.
This post was helpful :
https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?p=1326193

Also about panning, stereo, and mono but more in terms of mixing in mono and referring back to mono when mixing. If you can get the the mix to sound good in mono by levels and eq'ng, then once you get to the panning it will just open up the mix even more. Also, someone posted how to mix (pan) a drum set as if they were behind the kit.
https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=145220


- band playing together live instead of recording one track at a time, with the exception of the vocalist

-using your ears, instead of visually mixing with computers etc.

- eq'ng wasn't discussed. I bet very limited eq'ng, and I would say subtractive eq'ng would be the way to go to make room for each instrument in it's frequency range.
I like this article:
http://www.homerecordingconnection.com/news.php?action=view_story&id=154

Reamping:
http://www.stompin-ground.com/products/radial-xamp-hist.htm

Vocals:
http://www.recordinginstitute.com/R2KREQ/excomp.htm

Just some information I've gained from reading up on different posts. I learn new things each day! There's always something else I discover and wonder, hmmm why in the world didn't I know that it just makes sense and seems so obvious, but I guess that's how we learn. Hope this helps
:) evt
 
EVT said:
Hello...
I'm not sure, but based on the post on the gear page by cameron:
"When Phil Spector put together a boxed set of his recordings he went back to mono, and that set is a revelation, since all we'd heard on the radio for years were the lame stereo mixes of those tracks."
It seems that the stereo mixes was what was being heard on the radio. But, I'm not sure if this applied to am radio. And, I wasn't even born yet so...I defintely wouldn't know first hand, or first ear.

Some important tips about mixing to achieve a mix typical to 60's music, but also applicable to any genre, depending on what you are going for:

-simplicity with the drums, and minimal layering for better spacing of instruments.

-mono instead of stereo (in some cases)

or -hard panning for spacing... ex. guitar panned hard left and bass hard right for separation.

Although I have read many different posts about ideas on panning, and separation, but not in regards to 60's, however, definitely useful.
This post was helpful :
https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?p=1326193

Also about panning, stereo, and mono but more in terms of mixing in mono and referring back to mono when mixing. If you can get the the mix to sound good in mono by levels and eq'ng, then once you get to the panning it will just open up the mix even more. Also, someone posted how to mix (pan) a drum set as if they were behind the kit.
https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=145220


- band playing together live instead of recording one track at a time, with the exception of the vocalist

-using your ears, instead of visually mixing with computers etc.

- eq'ng wasn't discussed. I bet very limited eq'ng, and I would say subtractive eq'ng would be the way to go to make room for each instrument in it's frequency range.
I like this article:
http://www.homerecordingconnection.com/news.php?action=view_story&id=154

Reamping:
http://www.stompin-ground.com/products/radial-xamp-hist.htm

Vocals:
http://www.recordinginstitute.com/R2KREQ/excomp.htm

Just some information I've gained from reading up on different posts. I learn new things each day! There's always something else I discover and wonder, hmmm why in the world didn't I know that it just makes sense and seems so obvious, but I guess that's how we learn. Hope this helps
:) evt
Click to expand...
There's lots of good info there. Thank you, EVT!!!
 
Wow, I am getting old, my first recording experience WAS a country recording way back in 1964. It was done in mono with (I think) 3 mics, 1 for the vocals and 2 in the room for everything else. All effects were live, I think all we used was reverb on lead guitar. Towels were placed on the drums to quieten them down (ruined the tone too) and they had us to push the treble on everything. Naturally it sounded like crap but we were young and thought this was our ticket to stardom (yeah sure) surprisingly 3 weeks later when the vinyl came back it sounded better than we expected, but we first played one on a little portable phonograph. Oh yeah I forgot, the recording was done in a tiny room, maybe 10 ft by 12 ft, really cramped. Thats the way it was 40 years ago, i know cause I was there.
 
For the early-sixties Nashville sound (a.k.a. the Owen Bradley & Chet Atkins sound), you should have an electric baritone guitar, played with palm muting and lots of reverb! And Floyd Cramer on piano.

Although... Johnny Cash doesn't really fit that mold, 'cause he recorded with his own band.
 
needledrop said:
I'm in the midst of a project where i'm trying to write and record music in the genre of 1960's C&W music...Patsy Cline, Elvis, Johnny Cash.
Can anybody give me any advice on recording and mixing techniques that would have been typcal to that genre at that time?
Click to expand...

Wouldn't that have involved a lot of hard drinkin', cheatin' and beatin' up of the pet dawg? :D

Just kidding....... you know the old one about "What do you get when you play a C&W song backwards?: You get your wife back, your money back, your health back, your dog back......"
 
fraserhutch said:
Wouldn't that have involved a lot of hard drinkin', cheatin' and beatin' up of the pet dawg? :D

Just kidding....... you know the old one about "What do you get when you play a C&W song backwards?: You get your wife back, your money back, your health back, your dog back......"
Click to expand...
You're silly.... :D
 
Thanks

Thanks to all. There's a lot of great info and ideas there. Gotta go try a few of 'em.
 
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