RECORDING '50's STYLE

[Ariosto]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q-scxybnp0

Interesting video - made by SOS - I think.

Anyone here record like this? Not necessarily with 1950's gear - but just using one mic - maybe a ribbon as used in the video. (Modern mic's - not necessarily originals).

I'm interested in this, as it makes a lot of sense. I think we *may* sometimes use too many mic's and get too obsessed with stereo imaging. I may give it a go myself next time I record a small ensemble, whenever that might be, as I don't get involved often these days.

I would be interested in others thoughts and experiences. Should we value mono more? (Or am I crazy?)

[Hugh Robjohns]

The recorded files are here:

http://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/ ... -50s-style

H

[Dave B]

Great video, I thought. The files are interesting. I'm assuming (!) that the '1..4' at the front of the filename corresponds to the number of mics. The single mic and good balance approach is lovely, but I'm preferring the 4 mic option as it's the one the captures the brightness of the guitar (possibly too bright even). And that vocal mic is great as well.

More like this please

[Tim Gillett]

It would be interesting to hear the views of the original producers on this such as Sam Phillips and Norman Petty . Did they record with only one or a few mics because they saw it as ideal or because that's all the gear they had available, or perhaps a combination of both? Same with number of recording tracks and the available recording space.
My guess is that if they had access to facilities that would have (in their eyes) given them a better result, they would have used them.

[Music Wolf]

My guess is that if they had access to facilities that would have (in their eyes) given them a better result, they would have used them.

I would agree, and I think that history backs this up. In fact I would suggest that it was the desire to have greater control which drove the development of better equipment and facilities in the first place.

[thefruitfarmer]

I would be interested in others thoughts and experiences. Should we value mono more? (Or am I crazy?)

Well, yeah I like to do my home mixing in mono a lot of the time, with just reverbs and special effects across the stereo field.

Every now and then I listen to Joe Meek's recordings and, even though they are in mono, they still capture something exciting and interesting, more so than some stereo recordings I have heard.

There is also the argument that a stereo mix should still sound good in mono, as there will be times it is played in mono, like on a radio.

As for recording 50's style with the entire band around one mic... I bet that works just like the guy said on the video. If you have a well rehearsed acoustic band who draw their energy from playing with each other then you want to capture that event, rather than multi tracking everything and then comping it all together after the event...

[Dave B]

My guess is that if they had access to facilities that would have (in their eyes) given them a better result, they would have used them.

There is a story that when The Who were first exposed to 16 tracks, they had a bit of a 'headscratch' moment and simply asked "but what do we do with all these extra tracks?" ... after all, 8 was a luxury ..

[Jadoube]

"but what do we do with all these extra tracks?" ... after all, 8 was a luxury ..

heh heh... didn't take the world long to go crazy with multitrack did it?
Now we have "infinite!". God help me... I have no idea how some people ever finish recording.