Nick Drake styled recordings?

[Mountainmirrors]

How would you all go about tweaking if you only had one vocal and one guitar like Nick Drake - or Beck on a lot of "Sea Change"? Mainly, would you compress/limit vox and guitar seperately, or leave dry and send to mastering to comp/limit them together?
Other tips besides compressing/limit?

 

[visa]

other tips...let's see.

how about not worrying too much about what you are worrying about. write beautiful songs and do your best to make them sound like you think they're supposed to sound through a pair of speakers.

that said let me add that i think mister drake would have done many things differently if he had the technical possibilities back then. no question, his songs are some of the most moving ones on this planet and i don't want them to be different in any way. it's just that i think focusing too much on other artists sounds is definitely not the way to go for that kind of music.

though, one thing i learned from listening to his stuff is that a guitar with almost dead strings can sound quite cool.

 

[Mountainmirrors]

No worries mate.
I've been listening to Nick quite a bit lately and wonder what makes just a guitar and vocal sound so rich and huge!
Simple technique and mic placement? Dry?

 

[Timmy2000]

This probably isn't what you're after but maybe try searching under John Wood and Joe Boyd in Google and see what turns up. My guess is that it's a combination of great equipment and the skills of Nick and these guys. I've tried to record intimate stuff like Nick Drakes work before myself but never had much success. Not wishing to blame the equipment (and then going right ahead and doing so), my gear and room as it stands makes capturing warmth and intimacy nigh on impossible. I might have another go though once I have a couple of decent pre's and condensers. I've got his biography at home so I'll have a look in there and see if there's anything of use as well. Great post though fella.

Tim

 

[Mountainmirrors]

Thanks Tim! Much appreciated, sir.

 

[dobro]

I saw a documentary about Nick Drake a couple of years ago (I think it was called 'One Skin Too Few' or something like that - some kinda play on words about him being so sensitive plus being a heavy marijuana smoker). Part of the documentary was an interview with his producer and engineer. They said they built every mix around his guitar playing because it was so rock solid. Amazing approach. As for EQ and effects, they mentioned nothing, of course. I would suspect the best mics available at the time were involved, of course, plus judicious EQ and gentle reverb. You know, I tried for the longest time to get my acoustic guitar recordings to sound like Bert Jansch's guitar on Rosemary Lane, but I can't do it, and you know why? The mic.