Getting that old school, in the room vocal

dangeorge6 · 21st January 2007, 06:04 PM

Hey all,

I've been listening to a lot of oldies lately, and it's occured to me that vocals in the 50's and 60's seem to fall into one of two categories. You've got stuff like the Beatles that sounds close miced with an LDC with lots of body and fidelity, but then there's those tunes where the vocals sound more in the room, like in motown, phil spektor stuff, lots of stones recordings, etc.

My question is two fold. What were the techniques, gear, lack of techniques that got this second type of sound, and two, what techniques, gear, lack of techniques have you used this day in age to mimic that type of vocal sound.

Thanks!

RusRant · 21st January 2007, 06:33 PM

Well,
put all the musicains and instruments in the same room, playing at the same time while tracking. And track completly live. A few things you'll need to make this work is, great musicians and singer, a great room and a clear idea of what your going for. I actually track straight to 2-track sessions where there are no overdubbing. All the musicians are in the room together, a few mics spread around, tthe fewer the better works for me. A typical setup is like this:

Drums-Stereo overheads and bass drum mic.
Bass guitar-Amp usually behind gobo with packing blankets and miced
Guitar-Same as above, minus blankets
Singer-good mic, great singer and a live chamber doesn't hurt

6-mics

As far as gear that would depend on whats available, but tape and tubes are a good idea if going for that "oldies" sound.

I've done this for a lot of acoustic sessions as well, works great if you have the talent (musicians) to pull it off. Tracked straight to an old tube 2-track tape machine I have. Sounds amazing.

RusRant · 21st January 2007, 06:36 PM

Oh, and how could I forget tape delay. I love tape delay (the real thing) and it is essential for a lot of that sound. Live chambers and tape delay. I have put two chambers in my new studio I'm currently setting up and have a couple of tape unts just for delay. The best delay and reverb ever IMO.

dangeorge6 · 21st January 2007, 06:58 PM

Thanks Rus,

When you say chamber, you mean a room dedicated to being an echo chamber? So do you run the recorded tracks through the chamber and rerecord or does the singer actually sing live in there? What are these room constructed of?

Thanks

RusRant · 21st January 2007, 08:23 PM

Yeah, you use it just like an aux send. I have mine setup like so: Aux send- Soundtech poweramp-Alesis monitors. I then can send as much of the signal to the speakers in the chamber. I then place one or two mics in the chamber to get whatever desired effect I'm looking for. My main chamber is a 12'X25' unfinished concrete and brick room in my basement. The second one is setup in the live room of my studio to be used while mixing only. It's a 25'x40' room with hardwood floors and plaster walls and 12' ceilings. Depending were you place the mics you can get a lot of different sounds. I also run a tape delay as a predelay sometimes for some more mojo. This is not just for retro sounds, I use this on about everything I do. Just getting this current studio setup, so no clips on the new chambers yet unfortunatly. It's in an older (built 1930's) house, so lots of prep work as we go. Hope this helps.

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21st January 2007, 06:04 PM	#1
dangeorge6 Gear nut Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 122	Getting that old school, in the room vocal Hey all, I've been listening to a lot of oldies lately, and it's occured to me that vocals in the 50's and 60's seem to fall into one of two categories. You've got stuff like the Beatles that sounds close miced with an LDC with lots of body and fidelity, but then there's those tunes where the vocals sound more in the room, like in motown, phil spektor stuff, lots of stones recordings, etc. My question is two fold. What were the techniques, gear, lack of techniques that got this second type of sound, and two, what techniques, gear, lack of techniques have you used this day in age to mimic that type of vocal sound. Thanks! __________________ Danny Leavitt Northwestern University, Class of '06 My band: www.myspace.com/thefosterwalkercomplex

21st January 2007, 06:58 PM	#4
dangeorge6 Gear nut Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Chicago, IL Posts: 122	Thanks Rus, When you say chamber, you mean a room dedicated to being an echo chamber? So do you run the recorded tracks through the chamber and rerecord or does the singer actually sing live in there? What are these room constructed of? Thanks __________________ Danny Leavitt Northwestern University, Class of '06 My band: www.myspace.com/thefosterwalkercomplex

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21st January 2007, 06:33 PM	#2
RusRant Lives for gear Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: B'ham, AL Posts: 583	Well, put all the musicains and instruments in the same room, playing at the same time while tracking. And track completly live. A few things you'll need to make this work is, great musicians and singer, a great room and a clear idea of what your going for. I actually track straight to 2-track sessions where there are no overdubbing. All the musicians are in the room together, a few mics spread around, tthe fewer the better works for me. A typical setup is like this: Drums-Stereo overheads and bass drum mic. Bass guitar-Amp usually behind gobo with packing blankets and miced Guitar-Same as above, minus blankets Singer-good mic, great singer and a live chamber doesn't hurt 6-mics As far as gear that would depend on whats available, but tape and tubes are a good idea if going for that "oldies" sound. I've done this for a lot of acoustic sessions as well, works great if you have the talent (musicians) to pull it off. Tracked straight to an old tube 2-track tape machine I have. Sounds amazing.

21st January 2007, 06:36 PM	#3
RusRant Lives for gear Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: B'ham, AL Posts: 583	Oh, and how could I forget tape delay. I love tape delay (the real thing) and it is essential for a lot of that sound. Live chambers and tape delay. I have put two chambers in my new studio I'm currently setting up and have a couple of tape unts just for delay. The best delay and reverb ever IMO.

21st January 2007, 08:23 PM	#5
RusRant Lives for gear Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: B'ham, AL Posts: 583	Yeah, you use it just like an aux send. I have mine setup like so: Aux send- Soundtech poweramp-Alesis monitors. I then can send as much of the signal to the speakers in the chamber. I then place one or two mics in the chamber to get whatever desired effect I'm looking for. My main chamber is a 12'X25' unfinished concrete and brick room in my basement. The second one is setup in the live room of my studio to be used while mixing only. It's a 25'x40' room with hardwood floors and plaster walls and 12' ceilings. Depending were you place the mics you can get a lot of different sounds. I also run a tape delay as a predelay sometimes for some more mojo. This is not just for retro sounds, I use this on about everything I do. Just getting this current studio setup, so no clips on the new chambers yet unfortunatly. It's in an older (built 1930's) house, so lots of prep work as we go. Hope this helps.