If you were going to record a classic folk record, how ?

[fivestarstudios]

If you were going to record a classic folk record, ala' Vanguard and Prestige folk recordings of the late 50's and 60's, how would you do it?
I'm talking about the sound of records by Jack Elliot, Odetta, Bob Dylan's first record, Buffy St. Marie, etc
I know these were treated silimarly to jazz recordings, but they have a sound-
How much of it was the record being mastered to vinyl?
How would you do it?

[uncle duncan]

Check out the Dylan movie 'No Direction Home'. It's probably on DVD by now. There is studio footage of his first recording session.

[tINY]

Don't track - record everything with 2 or 3 mics in a good room.



-tINY

[bob katz]

Originally Posted by fivestarstudios

If you were going to record a classic folk record, ala' Vanguard and Prestige folk recordings of the late 50's and 60's, how would you do it?
I'm talking about the sound of records by Jack Elliot, Odetta, Bob Dylan's first record, Buffy St. Marie, etc
I know these were treated silimarly to jazz recordings, but they have a sound-
How much of it was the record being mastered to vinyl?
How would you do it?

Well, the Weavers live in Carnegie hall was recorded with three spaced omnis! I think they were M50's, which are "semi omni."

There are several "multimike" techniques which can still result in a very natural picture.

If I were to do a studio recording today, most of the groups don't balance themselves that well, vocals versus instrumentals, especially. Even if you use multimiking, if you use lots of stereo miking, not mike too closely, take advantage of the room, and have an overall room pair, you can create the illusion that you're hearing the group in front of you with two ears, but a slightly more "focused balance" and more REAL than even being there.

I've done a number of recordings that would qualify in that way on Chesky, but not to toot my own horn, I recommend you listen to Fred Forsell's incredibly beautiful, realistic, yet optimally-balanced (not washy or overly distant) recording of Leah Larson's album "Long Journey". It's Bluegrass, hauntingly beautifully performed

http://www.leahlarsonband.com/music.html

Fred recorded with individual mikes, lots of stereo pairs, not too close, and mixed in daintifully a Sony verb and an overall room pair. Delicious. You feel like the performers are playing there in front of you with great depth and space in a mid-sized "livingroom"---you might get fooled he had done it with a single Blumlein pair, but it's impossible to get the clear balance of vocals and instruments that Fred achieved without the multimike trickery.

However, if the folk musicians are only a few, you can record them with a Blumlein pair, sometimes having a duo face eachother and use the front-back of the pair, and get a fantastic balance by manipulating the height of the mike. But you can't remix later, and that's why Fred's method helps in the case of musicians who are not perfectly balanced.

BK

[Rednose]

Hey Bob, that Leah Larson stuff sounds great!
Thanks for sharing.

[allencollins]

go live for sure. A few years back I did a folk cd in a church
very Haunting. came out great

[100below]

The first person to put Mic in my hands was Sam Eskin. Woodstock late 60s.

Hopefully the room would support a minimum Mic setup. I would start with ribbons and non-hyped condensers like DPAs.

A lot of the early recordings were ribbons or tube mics direct into Ampex 350 Mic inputs. Before that it was typically an Ampex or Altec tube “Mixers” into a 300.

If you are looking to reproduce the sound and vibe, I would try to use similar gear.

Gene Lennon: Producer, Songwriter, Engineer
Aretha Franklin
Stanley Jordan
Chaka Kahn
Freddie Jackson
Surface. Etc.

[themaidsroom]

check out the nina simone live record "nuff said"
while it is not folk, it is simply recorded.....
? mics through ? console to 1/4" 2 track tape - incredible music, incredible
sound (incredible vibe the night after mlk's assasination)

tape is essential for folk

over and over i have worked
with accoustic guitar and vocal
or piano and vocal
onto 2" 8 track 2" 16 track 2" 24 track
or straight to 1/2" 2 track

or conversely to pro tools up to 192 - one of the things for which we really have
no language is the strange phenomenon of why two tracks on tape can sound
full and ready to mix, while two tracks on digital sound empty.....it is not something
i pretend to understand......but it is immediately apparent....
that inclination to "fill things out" is at least 10 x larger with the 1/0's
don't know why ?

my two cents
making a folk record ?
get a used affordable 1/4" 2 track - everything else will fall in place very quickly -
tape is the key ingredient for many musics, like film for movies
there is no language nor is there a plug in for texture........


be well

- jack

[Mats H]

This is a simple one-take recording I did a year ago at a small cottage without electricity, equipped with cheap mics and a Fireface 800. Wish I had better gear at hand back then but here goes, close mics from left to right:

Flute: Røde NT2000
Violin: Line Audio CM2 x2 (x/y)
Acoustic guitar: Studio Projects B1
Mandolin: Studio Projects C1
Vocals: Marshall MXL V69ME

Overhead Studio Projects C4 ORTF. A very very light touch of reverb was added. The other processing is some basic eq to take out bass frequencies. Preamps for all tracks except the vocals and flute were my home built 6 ch preamp. Vocals and flute used the Fireface preamps.



Mats

[Legacy]

Just finished reading 'Temples of Sound' which was very interesting. It seems that most of the legendary studios had pretty nice rooms that were definitely not overly absorptive. Most had a nice assortment of Telefunken U47s, eventually 67s, and RCA 44s. They had 3 track tape recorders and eventually 4 tracks, a small (by todays standards) mixer usually modified from an old broadcast mixer - maybe 8-12 channels. The very beginnings of stereo were in that period too so there was still a lot of direct to mono. Also, most had actual echo chambers with 44s or U47s in the room. Some used stairwells.

Anyway you may know all of this. If not, the book is neat. Sure wouldn't mind having the mics from any of those rooms - and the rooms themselves while I'm at it. They can keep the speakers though ;-)

Best,
Silas