Back-to-the-future magic

[ahumphr]

Its pretty hard not to hear Madeleine Peyroux's "Careless Love" this year. I don't want to get into the "is it Jazz or pop or a tribute album" debate. Focusing purely on the quality of the recoding "Careless Love" is one of the most facinating records I have heard recently because it manages to pull off a wonderful, bold audio trick.

The trick is this: although the recorded in pristine digital 21C quality, it still somehow pursuades the listener that, from sound and feel, it is a recording made in 1952. And it does this without fakery or cliche. The sounds evoke the era.

Ms Peyroux sounds transparent and liquidy clear but still has a touch of 50s sizzle to her voice. Dean Parks guitar has delicious tweed covered coloration and piano and brushed drums sound like the mics were still in place in a room locked since Errol Garner's last session.

The producer is Larry Klein (ex Mr Joni Mitchell fame) and the sessions were engineered by Helik Hadar, of whom I know little other than he has also worked on a lot of albums by name female vocalists (Joan Osbourne, Julia Fordham etc). The listed studios are Market Street, Venice and Paramount Recording Studios, Hollywood. I hope they qualify as hi-end studios .

I read at mix online

http://mixonline.com/recording/inter...y_klein_doing/

that Larry Klein likes to record vocals with vintage mics like the C12, 251 and so on, but since many many high end studios use equipment of that era, the mics alone don't really explain how Mr Klein and Mr Hadar contrived to work this back-to-the-future magic.

Has anyone worked with these guys, or has any thoughts on how, why and what made this recording sound like it does?

Aiden

[ben_allison]

This thread's a year old and no replies!

I'll take a stab:

Sincere performances. They have a real authenticity about them. The exude a simple whimsy. They scream of art nouveau and Parisian cafes.

"Warmth" from an gear sense, is so over-hyped. It's not just about the frequencies.

Yeah, I'm sure there are tubes all over the place. Things aren't compressed to death. The final master wasn't squashed to hell. Those things help to keep it wounding "old timey."

But listen to a Sufjan Stevens album. He records in to a Roland digital multitrack thing...nothing old timey about that, but he too maintains a quaint, "must be analogue" feel. At least I think so.

It's ALL about sensitive arangements, earthy song writing, and treating the audio minimally, not processing it more than what isn't essential.

The reason Ms Peyroux's album does not sound like a cliche is because it's not. Yeah, there's "jazz" in there. So? She's writing the music she wants to write, and is performing with sincerity.

There is no affectation here.