Getting an early 90s sound

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Big The Cat

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Hey, i've got quite a problem i could do with some advice with...

This is a long problem that I've been trying to address on a few forums, but I've had no real success. I just keep getting the answer, "You won't know till you try it, since its what ever YOU think sounds best!". But I'd like some answers that could give me a bit of direction since i don't have a lot of money to throw about.

(the exact sound I'm after is that warm sound you hear on records such as Nirvana's Nevermind and Jeff Buckley's Grace. But i plan on putting my own sound onto that)

Anyway, I'm currently working with my own band and i have quite a bit of gear but its not getting the exact sound I'm after, so I'm looking into expanding

At the moment i have:
lexicon ionix fw810s
Macbook pro 15inch intel i5
Logic 9 / Ardour(Rarely)
An SM58
and i tend to borrow a few mics from friends (In most cases its Gatt Drum mics, and Behringer C1)

(Also, the gear the band uses is sound, A high quality kit with a good drummer behind it, the amps are fender and mesa Both Valve using fender, ibanez and prs guitars)

I know your thinking that the mics i use are the bad link, but im buying some new mics.
I planed on buying a Rode K2 or NTK, A sontronics stc1 and a Sennheiser e602. I would mic the drum kit using the Glyn John method for a more open sound (And to save on the budget...) and then use the K2 and the sm58 for just about everything else.

I've been told that a valve preamp would be useful, and a hardware analogue mixer (To EQ in all the drums properly (Rather than using the DBX software mixer that comes bundled with the Lexicon).

I also have an old phillips 4 track Tape recorder thats currently getting repaired at the moment, and some people said that i should bounce my tracks down to that to help give the analogue sound.

To sum up, my questions are
1. What gear would help my current setup help me achieve the 90s sound i'm after? And would the mics i said that im investing in help me achieve that sound?
2. Would a hardware mixer give me a better analogue EQ than the software mixer?
3. Would bouncing my tracks to a tape recorder, then back on help achieve my analogue sound?
4. What kind of space to record in would be the most beneficial for the sound?

I know this is a very specific question, but any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks!
 
One of the biggest variables you didn't mention is your experience as an engineer.

Some clips of what you've already recorded would be useful too.

Can't answer most of your questions until we know a bit more about your experience, what it sounds like now, and what you want it to sound like. But bouncing to tape probably isn't going to be the missing link.
 
Well, my experience is that i've done music through college, however they only touched upon digital recording. Work i've done is minimal but i've played music for fair amount of time (singing and guitar playing) for the last ten years (Since i was 9) and i KNOW the sound i want, its just how i achieve it, I'm not sure upon.

Some past work I've done is this:
youtube.com/watch?v=2w1BU2eSOKA (Done on a beaten up guitar and Midi piano, and i never sent it off for mastering since i plan on re-recording it)

Quite a bit of my other work was done for college but it was Reason based and isn't finished just yet.

The sound right now from the last drum recording we did was alright, but it didn't shine. (And the drummer was ill that day, so didn't do perfect takes) It was cold and clinical and didn't jump out at you like we wanted to. And the Kick mic sounded like absolute crap (Could have been broken). On those takes we recorded everything close mic'd. I may or may not upload a few drum takes that we did if you really need to hear them, but we plan on doing the Glyn John method with much higher quality microphones (And maybe a Subkick I made). For now, this is mostly about gear, and when i get the gear, if i'm still struggling to dial it in, i may need some more help, but i'm good with logic so i envision that if you say, "Well actually X microphone will do the job better" or "Yeah a Hardware mixer would do better and try dialing Y like Z and work from there".

Thanks
 
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So much can be affected with production techniques, though a lot of it comes from the song, the arrangement, the performance too.

I'm trying to understand what you are focusing on when you mention "that warm sound". I think a decent tape deck could help as it naturally rolls of some of the HF harshness. Compression/EQ can also take out the harder attacks and HF frequency starkness. You can also get there with a basic DAW, but you will need to work things a little differently.

There's just a lot of ways to get there...but it's a combination of things and how you implement them during the recording and overall production. There's not going to be some XYZ combination that will just give it to you without any effort on your end....and like arron above said, your skills may be a major part of that. It might just take you some time to find your sound with the gear and material you have to work with. That's not a negative comment...I'm just saying it takes time to find your own working style.
 
Thanks, and what do you mean by "work things a little differently."? What imparticular are you talking about
 
Well, going direct to a DAW VS a tape deck or VS compressing and EQing things at the front end before going into the DAW will sound a little differently. Going right into a DAW from a transparent preamp can sound rather stark initially because the converters/DAW just take what you put in without any "built-in" color, so you have to work a little differently to get the tones you want than had you gone to tape first or had you done a lot of adjustment at the front-end before it ever got to the DAW.
I'm just saying that each setup, each signal chain will have its own requirements...so you work them all a little differently to get where you need to go.
 
Right, i get what you mean. Maybe thats why someone suggested i get an analogue desk infront of it, so it adds that colour. Also something like a valve preamp too
 
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