Retro now sounds

Hey you teenagers!
Thanks for all the input. I'd love to say a few more words, but I'm a little busy... broke my foot yesterday on my way back home with the bicycle from a gig with our jug band... glad it was only the foot that broke and not my banjo as well... tomorrow we'll be heading to Berlin to play two shows... phew!
I just came back from rehearsal with the Royal Flares. Gotta rehearse because we have a concert next week at the Atomic Café, Munich. All that with fucking crutches!
Anyway, I'm in good spirits. "It's gonna be allright, allright allright, it's gonna be allright!" (great tune by Gerry & the Pacemakers!).
Only one thing regarding the sound: I talked to the engineer who will be doing our recording. When I told him about the real mono mix (& mastering) as advised by Mans, he got excited and told me he recently bought a mono reel tape machine from 1969 (only for mono use... in 1969... strange, but true!), I forgot the manufacturer, and says it sounds abslolutely great. He uses it a lot. Mix-down on mono. So, yeah, I hope it's gonna be allright!

Have a nice weekend!
Axel
 
Damn, axel, I learned how to ride a bike long before I was a teenager. Bummer about the ankle. But, it will be alright, alright.
 
Thanks Tom for the insights to your recording at Fenton.

Axel great cover, sounds good... real tight!

Mans, In Novemeber I am recording a psychedelic side-project (possible 45 On the horizon) with a really cool female singer-songwriter here in the UK.... one of the songs I have written 'Sunflower' is going to make use of both Sitar and Autoharp.

Mans if you came over to the UK, you'd be most welcome at 'State Records Studios' as you're ONE of US... you are like our long lost brother.

Btw I listened to The Country Joe & The Fish album today, yep one of my fave US Psych moments!

P
 
Axel, why is only one guy singing? It appears they have mic's, but don't see where they're using them. One of the changes that occured as a result of the Beatles and the whole British Invation was the use of multiple voices and harmonies. Everyone in T&TR sang except me. Another noticable change brought on by the Beatles was, for the most part, the elimination of a middle lead guitar bridge. Instead, they played a lead part throught the song. Prior to the Beatles, every song had a lead bridge and many bands had just one singer and front man. I like the changes that came about. IMO, they gave the band a bigger, fuller more enjoyable sound. Besides, with just one vocalist, everything starts to sound the same after awhile.
 
Cool live vids there Axel, I watched You're Gonna Miss Me as well. I'll direct Erik when he has some time to this area as he's been living with vintage tape machines and amps and tubes for awhile, he makes the Pixiphone sound good is all I know (future Hendrix of the Pixiphone here). My Dad was just in the studio with him and man did it sound good with just one guitar and lone vocal mic, especially through one of those big theater speakers. A great live room sound should be more appreciated than it is these days... I guess Regent probably sucked that way being so small but they made it work to some degree, I think Trident had a bad reputation for traffic noises, but IBC and BBC's Maida Vale usually sound good from what I can figure out was recorded there, a lot depends on the mic placements and types of course but the room means a lot I think. Really love to see old photos of these storied places; I saw some of IBC circa 1966 and it was not what I'd imagined. I could try scanning if anyone is into it? Wonder if there are any of Fenton's?
 
Becca, we have one picture taken while we were recording our 2nd 45 in the Fenton Studio, but I have know idea how to post anything like that on here. If it just had an "attachment" button like on email.
 
Wow, that's pretty neat to see! Looks like a fairly big room with a high ceiling (but no boom mics visible), and I can see the wall around your drums clearly. From the Fenton stuff I've heard (mostly all via Boss Hoss I guess, and one Misty Lane/Lance EP) they got some powerful results (a bit like the Remains audition session in that NYC theater, so direct and alive). If only there could've been a full LP eh?
 
That is better, expo, thanks. I think the guy on the left with his back to the camera and wearing a blue shirt is Dick Wagner. The guy in the light blue sweater standing next to me is my step-father. He helped direct the horn section.
 
Becca, it was a movie theatre. You can see the curtain in fron of the movie screen. The mic's weren't up yet. I take it that this was taken early on in the session. But, when we re4corded, we were set up like that and played all at the same time just like on stage. Any dubbing was done after the main music track was down. As you can see, no one was in a separate booth and you won't see any headphones. Studios don't seem to do that anymore. I think they've made the studios of today to technologically sterile. And, that is reflected in the music of today. It's hard to re-capture that situation and the sound it produced.
 
Great picture Tom! That's what we also do when we record. Everyone in the same room playing live and absolutely NO headphones. I wish we could also have an old cinema to record in ;)

Paul, it would be very cool to visit the State studio etc. We've actually been mentioning it when discussing recording The Flight Reaction...
 
the last recording session I did was on a Scully 1 inch 8 track. We didn't use any headphones. We didn't dump anything to pro-tools. It takes a little looking to find a studio that has what you need but they're out there.
 
At the moment I'm thinking of finding a good room and setting up the equipment there. Can it generally be said that high ceilings, as in this theatre, are a good thing?
 
I think the high ceiling helps alot, but there are other acoustical attributes to a movie theatre you may not be able to replicate in a high ceilinged, empty room. But, what have you got to lose. Give it a try. Hang some flags from the ceiling, that will help also.
 
You mean flags like these?

Michigan.gif


us-neng4.gif


nunst070.gif


Cool idea. I'll think about it. ;)
 
Well, those flags will work. They work somethinh like baffles when suspended from a high ceiling like that. I think they help keep from making all the sound you'll be putting in the air a jumbled mess. Unless it's a jumbled mess you're after. They used things like flags hung from the high ceiling in an office building full of cubicles I worked in before I retired. It did seeim to help keep the noise from becoming an annoying, undistinguishable roar in an open office space full of talking people.

One of the gigs we play regularly has a high ceiling the the acoustics are great. It sounds differently to me playing there, but the recording of our shows sound pretty damn good when recorded there.
 
tom kirby said:
I think they help keep from making all the sound you'll be putting in the air a jumbled mess.
Click to expand...
Yes, of course. I assumed that.
I just thought waving some flags of cool local '60s scenes might help get into the mood. ;) The one in the middle is an old and not very common flag of New England it seems. It looks kinda nice.
Thanks for your thoughts about high ceilings (and problems they might cause).
 
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