Talk About The History Of Recording

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crawdad

crawdad

Dammit, Jim, Shut Up!
I was reading a book about producers and engineers that spanned the 50's to the present, and it hit me that a lot of people here have never even bought a mono LP, or heard one! Also that we take so much for granted today that was not possible even 20 years ago--in terms of equipment.

These days, we are so used to overdubbing and multitracking that its hard to imagine having to engineer a session while you are getting the mix at the same time as its going down to two track tape or a three track machine. Yet thats exactly what happened in the early days. Though times have changed and there are now many different ways to get a recording, some things haven't changed much at all.

Good mic placement is still just as important.

A good room still plays a part in the finished product. Sam Phillips of Sun Records had a patented sound in his original studio. When he moved to Nashville and built a new facility, he was never able to duplicate that sound.

Talent is always a key ingredient in a good record, but even more important is a great song. Of course, the great performance is huge too.

A good mix has something indefinable which engages the listener on many levels. Its just as true now as it was in 56 or whenever. Though times and techniques have changed repeatedly, I always know when I hear a good mix--no matter when it was done.

Maybe I'm the only one who finds this stuff interesting, but when I get bogged down in bit depth and reverb parameters, sometimes I think about what the early pioneers had to work with and the results they came up with. Thats when I try and focus on the basics of making great records. Amazingly, the same principles apply. The equipment changes (seems like every week) but the basics don't seem to change much at all.

The book I'm reading--"Inside Tracks" has a funny anecdote about Al Schmitt, who was working on a Steely Dan tune. He had turned the monitors off and was just checking the VU levels when Becker and Fagan walked in, watching. Then he turned the monitors back on, and the mix was perfect. Becker and Fagan concluded that "this guy mixes without even listening!" Of course, they were amazed because the track sounded great! In truth he wasn't mixing at all!
 
You're not the only one that finds this stuff interesting. The stories about classic recordings is why I love my subscription to TapeOp magazine so much.

I've always contended that recording teaching programs should have courses in the history of recorded sound. It helps us understand how recording has evolved and why.

I first came to the revelation you did about 10 years ago when I heard a story about a student asking Les Paul what compressor he used on Mary's vocals. Of course, he had no compressor. Mary just watched the meters as she sang. The interns I've worked have relied too much on a compressor at times. Nothing wrong with riding gain once in a while.
 
Inside Tracks

Hey! I just started the same book (Inside Tracks). I'm only a bit into it, but I really liked the forward written by Brian Wilson. It looks like a great read.
 
Re: Inside Tracks

Seanmorse79 said:
Hey! I just started the same book (Inside Tracks). I'm only a bit into it, but I really liked the forward written by Brian Wilson. It looks like a great read.

You'll enjoy this book. Its a nice overview of the last 50 years of recording and the role of the producer and engineer. Lots of great stories.

What Sam Phillips did at Sun was amazing on many levels, including socially. What all these guys did was pretty amazing. You'll find a lot of stories you'll like.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes reading about all this stuff. I agree it should be required for anyone wanting to become an engineer.
 
Man great topic! I read a while back that Les Paul's reverb was a rusty old oil tanker truck ..He put a 8" or 12" speaker inside of it and a mic to create a 'Verb chamber..Frank Sinatra climein' thru the window because he didn't have a door from the outside into the "studio" in his basement..L.P..man that guy is brillant!

Don
 
Henri--Not only is Les a great player, he was way ahead of his time with the first 8 track multitrack and the solid body guitar.

I about flipped when I read how he did his first multitrack recordings. He had two record lathes. He'd play the first part, play the acetate while recording the second part on the second lathe--and back and forth until the record was complete! Can you imagine what a process that was?

I heard that Duane Eddy--or his studio, whatever--used to use an old propane tank (one of the big ones!) that had a speaker and a mic in it and then buried underground. That was the reverb unit! I actually saw a similar thing done at Holland Dozier Holland in Detroit. They built a chamber and put a speaker and a mic to mic the speaker, which was in this gutted movie theater. The theater itself was a great natural reverb chamber. I think they used to send a signal out there and mic that sometimes too. It was more real than any electronic simulation, for sure.

Next time you listen to those old recordings, imagine how they got the verb. Might have been a plate, but maybe it was something more primitive. Interesting stuff!
 
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