how does WILCO do it?

[michael.butler]

They're probably my favorite band. But I especially like the sounds of AM and Being There. I'd love to get the warm, true sounds they achieved on acoustic and vocals. Sounds like a LOT of compression, but very tastefully applied. Anyone else?

michael.butler

 

[VotaIdiota]

pretty much the only recording thing I know about wilco is that the vocals are Tweedy up close and personal on an SM7.

other than that, I know Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was mastered by a really good guy at a really good place.......

sorry......

 

[MightyOne]

Sorry, I have few answers to your questions, although I would think a lot of the vocal sounds are compressed (I'm not sure about ALOT but enough).

They seem to have had THE BEST reverb units I have ever heard on Being There. You can really hear the quality of these units on "Someone Else's Song"--reverby AND up-close presence.

"Being There" are some great discs; organic yet plenty of studio tricks. Five years after buying I still catch cool stuff going on.

Also, for Jeff Tweedy-quality vocals, it might help to smoke a few packs a day. I guess I don't have that kind of dedication.

 

[Almiro]

I don't know much about the band you're talking about, but Mighty one's comments made me think of a question....so..

I've been trying to achieve the reverby, but up close effect on vocals, and haven't been really successful at this. I have gotten the best results when I compress the vocals a lot, but with the usual drawbacks of heavy compression.

Do you have any suggestions? Could the up front reverby vocals be achieved using other effects combined with reverb, such as chorus or simply doubling and panning?

Thanks.

 

[VotaIdiota]

try lightly compressing the vocal, then adding the reverb, then lightly compressing the track once more. that should allow you to turn the whole thing up without there being ridiculous reverb peaks.