T
Tumblin' Dice
New member
Can anybody give me any tips or miking techniques, to get that old 60's garage/soul sound...For example...Rolling Stones 12X5, The Animals, or anything recorded at chess studios...
Thanks
Thanks
C
chessrock
Banned
Use a bunch of dynamic mics. The older the better. Or a bunch of SM-57's, even. If you're really serious about it, you might want to spring for a ribbon mic, but if it's not in your budget, then don't sweat it.
Then go and buy yourself a Bellari RP-220 mic pre. Don't drive it to hard. It's distortion is a little nasty, but if you get it just before distortion point, then it sounds pretty good. Don't use one of those toob pres like the ART, VTB1 or similar.
Try tracking everything in a dead, dead room. As dead as you can possibly get it. Get a bunch of old bed mattresses, couch cushions, etc. Raid the 2nd hand store if you have to. Just put together an unbelievable amount of padding in one room; stack it every which way, scatter them around the room, etc.
Now, come mixdown, if you think you want more of a "The Band" or "Harvest Moon" sound, then keep the drums and most of the other stuff pretty dead. If you want more of a Stones or Motown vibe, then get one of these off ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Orban-111B-Dual...ryZ23792QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
... and put some of it on your snare, lead vocal, and tamborine.
Use a good tube guitar amp. Don't use some piece of shit amp modeler. I would recommend a Peavey Classic 30 or a Fender DeVille if you're tracking mostly clean to mildly distorted. I'm partial to the Classic 30's but that's me. If you want something a little heavier, then I'd say Marshall JCM-800 or 2000. Rent something if you have to.
For Bass guitar, definitely run it in to a good bass amp and mic it. Use a Fender Bass Man if you can, but if not Ampeg is always good.
Good luck.
.
Then go and buy yourself a Bellari RP-220 mic pre. Don't drive it to hard. It's distortion is a little nasty, but if you get it just before distortion point, then it sounds pretty good. Don't use one of those toob pres like the ART, VTB1 or similar.
Try tracking everything in a dead, dead room. As dead as you can possibly get it. Get a bunch of old bed mattresses, couch cushions, etc. Raid the 2nd hand store if you have to. Just put together an unbelievable amount of padding in one room; stack it every which way, scatter them around the room, etc.
Now, come mixdown, if you think you want more of a "The Band" or "Harvest Moon" sound, then keep the drums and most of the other stuff pretty dead. If you want more of a Stones or Motown vibe, then get one of these off ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Orban-111B-Dual...ryZ23792QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
... and put some of it on your snare, lead vocal, and tamborine.
Use a good tube guitar amp. Don't use some piece of shit amp modeler. I would recommend a Peavey Classic 30 or a Fender DeVille if you're tracking mostly clean to mildly distorted. I'm partial to the Classic 30's but that's me. If you want something a little heavier, then I'd say Marshall JCM-800 or 2000. Rent something if you have to.
For Bass guitar, definitely run it in to a good bass amp and mic it. Use a Fender Bass Man if you can, but if not Ampeg is always good.
Good luck.
.
T
Tumblin' Dice
New member
Thanks alot man...
M
Mo-Kay
Dragon Soul Productions
don't mean to hijack your thread, but...speaking of motown/chess.... I want to record some stuff like violin, trumpet, sax.... etc. maybe track stuff a few times and layer it....
any tips for that?
any tips for that?
R
ryanlikestorock
New member
What sort of tips are you looking for?
FALKEN
*************************
chessrock said:
Nice post, Chess. I would have to agree with all of that, considering I own just about all of the gear you mentioned!! I had a peavey classic 50 and I would have to say that the Crate club 50 kicks its ass. and its less expensive. although the peavey that I had might have had bunk tubes in it, and my crate has nice ones; its always hard to make a comparison with a sample size of 1. The Bellari RP220 is mad cool. Since I've gotten some transformer-based preamps I have ignored mine....I think it needs some lovin.
Now, I've got a Bassman (1965) with a 2x12 cab. I've gotten some great bass tones out of it, but I can't really crank it without getting distored on the bass. For guitar I can crank it louder than my JTM-45 clone (f-ing loud) but for bass I can't seem to get any sort of volume out of it. Have you noticed this too?
H
Harvey Gerst
New member
One of the Motown horn tricks was having the horn players facing a wall and putting the mics behind the players to record the sound bouncing off the wall.Mo-Kay said:
Track Rat
Just Your Average Sized Member
The horns on Songs In The Key Of Life were recorded that way.
M
Mo-Kay
Dragon Soul Productions
do strings, horns etc ask for dynamic mics too? ribbons? I am particulary interested in string recording techniques....close miked? I really like that soul sound...Al Green etc..you know. ve been trying to figure this one out.any knowledge/ideas?
peopleperson
I'm so sorry.
Tumblin' Dice said:
Recording mono to tape might get you a little closer...
C
chessrock
Banned
FALKEN said:
Make sure to use a passive pickup.
G
Good Friend
New member
they didnt use any
they didnt use any condensers on motown stuff?
they didnt use any condensers on motown stuff?
FALKEN
*************************
chessrock said:Make sure to use a passive pickup.
of course, dude. fender jazz bass. I think it might be the 2x12 cab that is distorting.
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A
AGCurry
New member
Tumblin' Dice said:
The sound of the 60s Rolling Stones is a lot different from the sound of the Animals! The Animals recordings are much drier and cleaner. You can hear the tick of the ride cymbal, the whole tone of the guitar, the organ. The Stones records are, for want of a better word, blurry.
The Chess sound of the 50s was great - something between the two extremes above. It began to get a little overblown in the 60s - or maybe it's that the arrangements got denser.
The room, mic placement, and the musicians themselves have a lot more to do with the sound than the kind of mics you use.
Do you think the studios used by the Stones didn't have condenser mics? Of course they did. They used condensers, moving-coil dynamics, and ribbons.
tourettes5139
New member
Hey Falken, what tubes do you have in your Vintage Club? I've got one of those too, and I've never changed the tubes since I got it used a few years ago. (I know, I know......
) I'm just curious as to what tubes you think sound good in it.
Thanks!
) I'm just curious as to what tubes you think sound good in it. Thanks!
M
Mo-Kay
Dragon Soul Productions
*cough*
anyone have something on my strings question?
anyone have something on my strings question?
F
FeO
New member
I am a Newbie to recording, but an oldie to playing. I was there in the 60's, and I can tell you that back then owning a guitar was really something, if you owned a new strat (about $220 ) you were a rich punk. Buddy Holly's backup "the crickets" were named for a cricket chirping in the garage. The point i'm trying to make here is that money was as rare as hens teeth back then. I dont think you need a "bunch" of mikes, just some well balanced sound, which in my opinion, takes years to develop and is more about the musicians ego and maturity than anything else. Have you ever heard Ray Charles " Live from the newport Jazz Festival"? One big sure dynamic mike. The sound is incredible. Sometimes more is less. Good Luck!Tumblin' Dice said:
jmorris
New member
Kind of on the same subject of 60's recording
I think people have a misconception that studio of the 50's and 60's had crap gear and people that had no clue how to use it. A good studio from that era had gear most people would die for today.Neumann u47's Elam 251's, Altec compressors. Nice tube consoles. Ampex recorders.You will see a lot of these items in todays top studios. McCARTNEY's studio has half the gear from the old Abbey Road. Either THE item itself or similar. Studer 2 track recorder, fairchild 660 and 670 compressors,U47's,48's. I think the wide range of quality of the recordings has to do with unlike today, there was not a lot,if any, formal training like today. Today, you go to school for 2 years for recording engineering, or like us here, learn from the communication of others on the internet. There are so many people recording at home the vault of information is so much greater than before. You can find 50 people in your town that record today to ask for help.
I think people have a misconception that studio of the 50's and 60's had crap gear and people that had no clue how to use it. A good studio from that era had gear most people would die for today.Neumann u47's Elam 251's, Altec compressors. Nice tube consoles. Ampex recorders.You will see a lot of these items in todays top studios. McCARTNEY's studio has half the gear from the old Abbey Road. Either THE item itself or similar. Studer 2 track recorder, fairchild 660 and 670 compressors,U47's,48's. I think the wide range of quality of the recordings has to do with unlike today, there was not a lot,if any, formal training like today. Today, you go to school for 2 years for recording engineering, or like us here, learn from the communication of others on the internet. There are so many people recording at home the vault of information is so much greater than before. You can find 50 people in your town that record today to ask for help.
G
Good Friend
New member
so what are you saying
were all fucked without u47s and tube consoles.? oh nooooooooo!
were all fucked without u47s and tube consoles.? oh nooooooooo!
jmorris
New member
Good Friend said:
Uh..no
What I'm saying is it is interesting the varied opinions of the quality of recorded music over the years. Some people think old recordings are of lessor quality,others think todays recordings are. I think some of the old recordings are truely great. Now, the method with which the consumer listened to those "old" recordings is another story. Most older consumer grade stereos were very poor IMO. Now, along with that, people never cleaned the records properly..hey I really never did. So after time everything sounded like crap. So what I am speaking of is in response to post in the past ( mostly buy "youngsters") that slam the quality of old studio gear.
