Recording 'The Black Keys'

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Rickson Gracie

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Being a new tascam 388 owner I kept hearing about the Black Keys and after I listened to some of their songs on my monitoring system Im VERY impressed by their recordings. It really shows what a 388 is capable of. Its totally analog 'medium fi' colored but the mix and fidelity is very very good IMO

Does anyone have specific info on their mics, micing technique, use of outboard gear, mic pres and anything else that would be useful info?

There seems to be a lot of 'tape saturation' going on in their recordings. How do you do that with the 388? I assume you have to shut off the DBX?

Even info on their mixing technique would be very helpful.
 
DBX will give you more headroom, it's more like a compressor; it allows you to record louder whilst at the same time it minimizes the saturation effect.

Saturation is exactly what the word essentially means: 'thoroughly full'. Tape saturation means filling the tape to the max, use every microscopic piece of space on the tape...

Best way to get saturation is to record as loud as possible without making the sound clip, record on a lower tape speed and record on a narrow tape. A 4 track recorder with 1/4" heads recording at 7,5" per second will saturate sooner than a 2 track with 1" heads recording at 15" per second.
 
Rickson Gracie said:
Being a new tascam 388 owner I kept hearing about the Black Keys and after I listened to some of their songs on my monitoring system Im VERY impressed by their recordings. It really shows what a 388 is capable of. Its totally analog 'medium fi' colored but the mix and fidelity is very very good IMO

Does anyone have specific info on their mics, micing technique, use of outboard gear, mic pres and anything else that would be useful info?

There seems to be a lot of 'tape saturation' going on in their recordings. How do you do that with the 388? I assume you have to shut off the DBX?

Even info on their mixing technique would be very helpful.
Click to expand...

http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/the-black-keys/Nov-03/1580

I'm a huge Black Keys fan myself and I found that article a while ago. Some good information.

http://www.theredalert.com/features/blackkeys.htm

This one doesn't have much recording info, but talks about them overdriving their compressor while recording and the engineer getting pissy.

Keep in mind that a huge part of their sound is not just the recording equipment, but also Dan's guitar gear, where they record, and their unorthodox methods.

Dan uses some crazy stuff in the studio. Old Ampeg guitar amps and vintage guitars, as well as a large variety of vintage fuzz pedals. One of the tracks he recorded out of a 6" speaker on one of the old guitar cases with a built in amp. Their first two (The Big Come Up and Thickfreakness) albums, as well as their fourth (Magic Potion) were recorded in their concrete-walled basement, and that definately adds a huge amount of vibe to the recordings. I think Dan mentions in that first article that "I Cry Alone" on Thickfreakness is his favorite example of the basement's ambience.

For your listening pleasure: http://hypem.com/track/488482

Their third album (the aptly named Rubber Factory) they recorded in an abandoned tire factory. Sort of a unique environment, I'd say.

Favorite story from their recordings I've heard is how they put down the solo for "Hard Row" on Thickfreakness. Dan had Pat hold a microphone by the cable and swing it in a circle in front of his guitar amp in order to get a sort of reverse-leslie effect. Spinning mic instead of spinning speaker. I couldn't find a track of that online so check it out yourself.

Anyways, long post. I hope it helped some.

I'm new here and finally found a thread I could contribute to.
 
thanks gooley thats great info...

it also occured to me that bands that record on lower fi equipment like The Black Key's stuff and Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska always leave out one element of the band.

The Black Key's dont really use bass as far as i know and Nebraska didnt really use drums (and not much bass either if i remember correctly)

I wonder if this contributes to the higher quality recording because it leaves more sonic space for the instruments.

Is this a valid theory?
 
The Black Keys used bass on a couple of their earlier songs, but they recorded it through a guitar amp, so it doesn't have a real defined bass sound. Mostly on their first album I believe. "Brooklyn Bound" for example. I think maybe "The Breaks" too. Their newest album ("Attack & Release - coming out April 1st - get it) is completely different from their other stuff, though - bass, organ, synth stuff, banjo, even.

According to the Black Keys, though, they don't have a bassist because there's not much room for it in the songs. Dan already has an extremely thick guitar sound, and bass would sound a bit out of place in his style of playing anyway.
 
was their new album recorded with the 388 also?

gooley said:
The Black Keys used bass on a couple of their earlier songs, but they recorded it through a guitar amp, so it doesn't have a real defined bass sound. Mostly on their first album I believe. "Brooklyn Bound" for example. I think maybe "The Breaks" too. Their newest album ("Attack & Release - coming out April 1st - get it) is completely different from their other stuff, though - bass, organ, synth stuff, banjo, even.

According to the Black Keys, though, they don't have a bassist because there's not much room for it in the songs. Dan already has an extremely thick guitar sound, and bass would sound a bit out of place in his style of playing anyway.
Click to expand...
 
I don't know. Attack & Release is their first album recorded in a proper studio, and they had Danger Mouse produce it. It's probably still on tape, 'cause I don't see them switching over to digital, but I don't know what specific medium or equipment.
 
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Do you think its safe to say that they turned off the DBX for their recordings?
 
gooley said:
http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/the-black-keys/Nov-03/1580

I'm a huge Black Keys fan myself and I found that article a while ago. Some good information.

http://www.theredalert.com/features/blackkeys.htm

This one doesn't have much recording info, but talks about them overdriving their compressor while recording and the engineer getting pissy.

Keep in mind that a huge part of their sound is not just the recording equipment, but also Dan's guitar gear, where they record, and their unorthodox methods.

Dan uses some crazy stuff in the studio. Old Ampeg guitar amps and vintage guitars, as well as a large variety of vintage fuzz pedals. One of the tracks he recorded out of a 6" speaker on one of the old guitar cases with a built in amp. Their first two (The Big Come Up and Thickfreakness) albums, as well as their fourth (Magic Potion) were recorded in their concrete-walled basement, and that definately adds a huge amount of vibe to the recordings. I think Dan mentions in that first article that "I Cry Alone" on Thickfreakness is his favorite example of the basement's ambience.

For your listening pleasure: http://hypem.com/track/488482

Their third album (the aptly named Rubber Factory) they recorded in an abandoned tire factory. Sort of a unique environment, I'd say.

Favorite story from their recordings I've heard is how they put down the solo for "Hard Row" on Thickfreakness. Dan had Pat hold a microphone by the cable and swing it in a circle in front of his guitar amp in order to get a sort of reverse-leslie effect. Spinning mic instead of spinning speaker. I couldn't find a track of that online so check it out yourself.

Anyways, long post. I hope it helped some.

I'm new here and finally found a thread I could contribute to.
Click to expand...

hi,
is there a chance to have the articles you mentionned ? not able to open the pages anymore ...
thanx !
 
thegoonmat said:
hi,
is there a chance to have the articles you mentionned ? not able to open the pages anymore ...
thanx !
Click to expand...

I'm about 5 years late to the discussion, but if you're still looking for The Black Keys article about recording in their early days (their basic setup, instruments, gear, and approach), you can view it via the internet archive here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20090316152336/http://guitarplayer.com/article/the-black-keys/Nov-03/1580

Lots of interesting info, and a fun read. It's originally from 2003 so it's also cool to see how they've evolved as a band.

Apparently they even recorded one of the guitar solos by manually waving the mic around in front of the speaker; kind of a "reverse" Leslie if you're familiar with those from the world of Hammond organs. Super cool.

Cheers!
 
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