Vocal sound on 'See The Sky About To Rain' by Neil Young

D

diskobox

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Hi!


Neil Young - See The Sky About To Rain - YouTube


I'm hoping to shed some light on how that vocal sound was achieved in terms of Microphone and Reverb.

I'm assuming a ribbon mic was used, if so - any ideas which one?

If not, any ideas what microphone?


secondly, what sort of Reverb Hardware are we looking at here to achieve that sound?

thirdly, the specific singer im looking to emulate this sound with is obviously not Neil Young :eek:, but they have a very similar tonal quality

Thanks! :guitar::guitar::guitar::guitar::guitar::guitar::guitar::guitar::guitar::guitar::guitar:
 
thanks for digging that out for me its interesting!

I'm more looking for what reverb they used on his voice, and I understand Neil's gonna sound like Neil through every mic. I'm talking more about the EQ of the sound. It would be impossible to deter exactly all the ingredients, because obviously your gonna have microphone, preamp, any mixing desk or outboard EQ/compressor, recording medium etc blah blah blah. But knowing the mic used would be a useful building block/reference point.

:guitar::guitar::guitar::guitar::guitar::guitar::guitar::guitar::guitar::guitar::guitar::guitar::guitar::guitar:

Thanks !!
 
I remember reading the whole article about the recordings by the engineer. I can't remember where but I'll find it and post it.
 
Here's some more history...no technical info...but you get a picture of the mindset and "vibe" at the time...and you know, sometimes that IS what makes the sound on a record, not the gear.

Classic Album: Neil Young - On The Beach | Clash Music Exclusive General

‘On The Beach’ came to being at the Sunset Marquis Hotel, suffocating beneath Hollywood’s bleak underbelly at the close of 1973. **** star Linda Lovelace was a regular visitor to Young’s congregated players, as were the Everly Brothers, who would often prop themselves up amidst a sprinkling of Playboy bunnies. As bassist Tim Drummond succinctly put it, the hell-raising sessions embodied “Hollywood Babylon at its fullest”.

In 1973 the sleazefest was fully in session, fuelled by ‘honey slides’, a homemade concoction of sautéed marijuana and honey, labelled by Young’s own manager Elliot Roberts as “much worse than heroin…within ten minutes you were catatonic.”
Click to expand...


"honey slides".....I think that's where the reverb came from. :)

Here's more:
http://thrasherswheat.org/tnfy/otb/credits.htm

Apparently if you get Neil Young's autobiography...he talks about all the techniques used on various recordings:
http://www.amazon.com/Shakey-Youngs-Biography-James-McDonough/dp/0679427724
 
Sorry, but my friend doesn't have any info on that, but like has been said, that's mostly Neil's voice in the room, not much done for EQ or reverb or anything. Typical sounding for his stuff of that time.
 
It's the Edith Bunker sound. Next time you hear a Neil song, close your eyes and imagine Edith singing it. It's un-canny. :D
 
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