Talk to Musicians like a dick tho. 'Off you go' knob. He can turn all machines on and set it up the mics perfectly and then what record his annoying voice pratterling on. Lol no respect for the skill the musicians hold. Most engineers I have met are like that.
@@danmillward8595 Maybe it's cultural differences being that y'all are British. As an American, he didn't come across as rude at all. He was rather respectful as far as I could see, explained to the singer and guitarist what to do and why they were doing it as well.
It's not through-hole parts or hand-wiring that makes them reliable and/or repairable. It's the fact that everything is discrete. If a cap fails, you replace the cap. If a transistor fails, ... OK, you have to go and find something suitable, but then you just replace it. Today's electronics are complicated because of integration. When you have an IC with a million transistors in it, and one dies ... you have a broken box. There will never be a substitute part for some custom piece of silicon. Well, maybe eventually, when it becomes trivial to clone something with massive FPGAs.. but not today. On the other hand, those old electronics aren't made of entirely ubiquitous parts either. Try finding an IC of 5 matched NPN transistors on one substrate today. Or the electrolumenescent panel from an optical compressor. You can get close, but today's stuff is different. In most respects, better. But not when the circuit around said part is tuned for the real deal.
U2 recorded tracks for "Rattle and Hum" in the original Sun Studio in 1987. My brother and I road tripped across the US and stopped in for the public tour at Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. The guide played back some Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis in the room where they were recorded. I've heard those tracks a hundred times. But in the room, I actually heard "the room". I may not be able to visit this fantastic studio in the UK. But If you're ever in Memphis, try the BBQ and visit Sun.
We weren't in any real danger. But yeah we did stay in a motel/brothel/drug dealership that had a national motel chain name on the front of it. If the desk clerk has to unlock the front door and asks for cash for your room, you might want to go somewhere else. Makes a good story though.
was there in 1999 .. Sun Studios & Gracelands great but Beale St ! just a tourist 'Disneyland' with crack heads behind the facade where you parked in wasteland.. maybe it's changed now..?
I was in memphis sun studio in 1999 I have a friend who lives there born & bred she wants outta of Memphis its a dangerous crime ridden city... last weekend 5 murders. nothing is what it seems Nothing.
Haha, yeah! I've been trying to create the same thing in my home studio. Not anywhere near this of course. I track into a Fostex Model 80 through a Audio Technica RMX64 4-track's mixer (pres and EQ were made by Neotek) and then run it all into Logic for mixing and editing. After mastering I print to a Tascam 22-2 1/4" half track running at 15ips. It works for me and sounds great. Tons of character and tape compression.
It’s definitely nostalgia. If you’re going for 50’s style quality, all you have to do is record it digitally, and then purposefully remove all the important frequencies.
I'm pretty sure they're genuine about what they said about this song. Without all the heavy compression or modern trickery and effects, the only way to get the song right is the music and the performance itself. Like stated in the video, it's the honesty of it. There's no super fancy big fat sound here, literally just the song. I wasn't even born in the 90's but when I listen to music, be it Death Metal or classic Rockabilly and basically everything in between I tend to love the natural distortion and unfiltered noises in such recordings because it's just what occurs when you're playing a more chaotic and louder genre like Rock. It isn't mean to be so clean and artificial, this music is meant to be real and genuine, dirty and wild. That's what it's about. I'd rather listen to cheap, under-produced, half-baked garbage audio production from the mid-80's than any modern and polished recording, I find that sound underwhelming and bland.
I worked at a recording studio called Sound City back in the early 70s and although they had multiple microphones and recorded onto a 16 track mm1000 tape machine everything went into a 4 buss analog console and then into the tape machine. They had a couple of tektronix limiters and a couple of outboard equalizers which I believe we're passive. And that was the signal path. They recorded everything from Rock to classical music in those two rooms and those recordd sounded beautiful . The hallways of that studio were lined with Gold Records. Keeping it simple can be a wonderful thing. Thank you for the video! It was awesome. EDIT: I forgot to mention we also had 2 live echo chambers and 2 EMT plates for reverb.
I'm with you- I was at Emerald Studios. There were two 24 track Studer A-800's and my first job was cleaning the heads- and then I learned to calibrate them, and became an assistant engineer and coffee fetcher, and learned from there. We (like you) had racks of outboard equipment, the Pultecs, Teletronix limiters, everything patched into the Neve desk. I remember the first time I saw automation! Wow that was something! ! This is great video!
As long as a computer or autotune is not present I don't care who's trying to copy who ! Real Musicians, Real Music....it's been done before so why not now ?
Love this. As an amateur music lover I've noticed that modern Bluegrass recordings sound "over-processed" and don't have that natural sound that characterizes the old-time favorites. Listen to old recordings of the Stanley or Louvin Brothers or Jim and Jesse. Nowadays the instruments sound flat and the vocals sound auto-tuned, bleccch!
I live a block away from a bluegrass studio and the reality is most bands can’t pull off the magic take all at once. There’s no point shaming any one member (cause they are slowing things down)you just have to multitrack it till the band is happy. For every Luvin, Carter , Monroe and Stanley there are a thousand terrible recordings. I LOVE minimal and live recordings but I won’t demoralize an artist to satisfy my own standard.
@@Partybob1 You say you live close to a studio, but...do you work in one? Are you a musician who's been demoralized because someone pointed out that you're not up to snuff? It's curious, the things you say here. If a musician can't keep up, should they really be there? Autotune has not been a boon to the recording artist...it allows poor performance to be hidden behind a gimmick. Worse, it's being used with performers who have the talent and don't need it...but it gets used anyway, making them sound as bad as those who can't live without it.
TheEudaemonicPlague I don’t disagree with you my friend. Also I do work in studios, a lot. I have for 20 years. I don’t need extra takes and haven’t been “demoralized” as you inquired. My joke about autotune is Imagine how good the Beatles would have been if they were autotuned! Of course they are wonderfully human and that’s enough. I was siding with the clients(the bands). They usually have small budgets and want to get music to their fans so I only meant that it’s okay to give someone an extra take. They payed for it and it keeps morale up. The older I get the more I just want people to enjoy themselves. The great players always rise to the top and there’s no shortage of great live acoustic music on RU-vid. Be well my friend.
Go ahead kids, use your VST toys and let the real men do the REAL job ;) Kids = me included, as well... (Can not afford a studio like that - WOULD love to... if I had the possibility!)
S.A. The “real men” doing the “real jobs” ARE the ones using the VST’s you pretentious numbskull. Nobody uses this shit any more for a good reason: it’s extremely limiting and outdated.
@@blib3786 They're all (soft/hard-ware) just tools, and tools with limits can stimulate creativity, not to mention the fact that a lot of old hardware have different, distinguishable flavours of distortion, which are often a desirable addition. Saying "the real blah, doing the real bleh" is mostly pointless, besides it's also just a straight up lie. This ignorant generalizing of "what the pro's do" is totally abolishing the fact, that every producer has their own set of chosen tools.
A trip down memory lane! In the early 1970’s I worked part time for WLAC and WLAC-FM in Nashville. Their studios were full of this old equipment. The on-air mike for FM was an RCA 77, and the one for AM was an ancient 44. The mixer boards were RCA as well, including the stereo board on FM. The AM station still had a large (but no longer used) live performance studio. The board there was just used for commercial spot production.
So you've heard every single modern recording across every single genre and sub-genre? That kind of generalisation is ignorant and pretty disgusting, and you should be ashamed to cal yourself a music lover if you can't get the concept of subjectivity. "Depth" to you may be "shit" to someone else and vice versa.
Yes, some of the modern recordings lack depth. I call it 2 dimensional Vs this sounding 3 dimensional. The bass is so much more vibrant with older recordings.
Dear Sugar Rays! In my opinion you created a place which is just paradise. You should get money from some foundation or the state just for being there, doing what you do. A very lively museum. Thank you very much and please keep it going that way. I also thank SoS for doing this remarkably good and informative video.
All of this very much resonates with me, an engineer focusing primarily on live classical and jazz recording. And like you, I absolutely love a well-placed ribbon (4038 for me especially) on bass, it’s my go-to in my setups!
What an amazing interview/doc. Dean has demystified why we are so connected to the authentic sound of nostalgia. Good grief, after watching him shape sound with mic placement, I'd love to see him work with today's tech.
I once met a fellow that worked in Muscle shoals as a young man. He talked about the same things. Moving a mic or a screen, you stand on the other side of him, or a case that was sitting in the floor changed the was sound moved about. Or winter time when it was warmer in spots around the room and the fact everyone was wearing thicker clothes. Fascinating stuff for sure. The fact that everything still works and people still know the ends and outs of the equipment is a real joy to see and hear. Thanks so much for posting this video.
Let me say this...it is awesome that you guys are doing this! I love the atmosphere.The spirit of real recording lives on in your incredible studio. Thank you so much for keeping it alive.
Excellent video! Even for people that are not willing to go all the way to such old-school recording techniques, there's definitely a lot to be learned from watching this.
God bless you guys for what you're doing and have a passion for...in this overly saturated world of digital, this pure analog project is so refreshing...absolutely love it! Thanks for posting.
What a joy to hear Alan Dower Blumleins name check pioneer of recording and stereo . He died while perfecting airborne radar the plane crashed killing all on board. Apparently the crash was kept secret for sometime and Bernard Lovell( later of Jodrell Bank radio telescope fame)I believe was sent to recover the top top, ultra secret Cavity Magnetron at the heart of this radar.
Sound On Sound should commission various bands/artists of various genres to record 1 song and make a YT series out of it. Bring in a Metal band, Punk band, Reggae, Hip Hop, 80's Tribute band, House/Electronic, Pop Artist, Disco, Folk, Singer Songwriter, etc. 1 episode for each artist/genre.
Excellent video. I've been trying to study up on 40s-50s recording techniques, and this is a gold mine - thanks to people with more loose cash and ambition than I have.
I've spent my entire life in Memphis Tn. I'm in the music business, and always have been. You guys made me appreciate Sun Studios so much more. Great information!
Ampex 300,350 machines.Used these A LOT at VOA(Voice Of America) and other radio broadcast stations.Did much main tenance and repair to the Ampexes.Simple,reliable and easy to maintain.Used the original tube Rec/Pb amps.The remote ccontrol units were in all of the VOA studios.The Collins console I have dealt with those in a few AM broadcast stations.Maintained those consoles and Collins transmitters.LOVED all of that CLASSIC equipment----it WORKED and still does! I have also dealt with Scully,ITC,and Studer/Revox tape machines.Now I am with SW broadcast transmitters.Like working with both studio and transmitters.
This video is simply amazing. I learned so much from watching. Thank you Lincoln and Dean for sharing your knowledge with us. Back on those days you had to be a performer to sound good. No quantizing the drums or auto tuning the vocal. The instruments had to be live, not a sampled keyboard or synthesizer. And lastly every musician in that session had to play as close to flawless as they could because a mistake by one musician would mean starting over with the "one mic technique".
One thing about fewer mics and fewer channels - we hear with 2 ears, not 8 or 12 or 24 or 48. So when you listen to a band live, the sounds come out of maybe 5 or 6 amps and are "mixed" through your 2 ears in your head. Today's music, IMO, is over produced so that every sound is crystal clear and perfect and somewhat sterile. Today, an engineer might add in some "white noise" to give the sound more body. I always thought live recording is better, especially for rock n roll. I have a recording of Ray Charles live at Herdon Stadium in Atlanta back in the late 50's recorded with 1 mic hanging roughly over the middle of the band. Uncompressed, not much if any produce values added/subtracted and it sounds great, like you're right there in the audience, up close.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a drastic misrepresentation of my job. I literally teach how to record with the 1-4 mic technique and even love the results you can get with it but wow-distilling modern music and human hearing down to “too many mics, not enough ears” is laughable.
@@BradsGonnaPlay - Yeah, I guess i was a little "radical." But i still say some music "works" better using fewer mics. Rock n roll and many genres recorded live. I guess it depends on what you want in a recording. Every note crystal clear or a feeling of "being there."
This is so great. What I find most interesting is that you CAN take some of these techniques into modern day studios, and it so amazing seeing and HEARING this space. I hope I can record a song here one day. It's so beautiful. Time to find myself an RCA 44BX...
Fascinating. I learned to record and mix from a studio engineer named Ben Parsons who had mastered his craft in 1950s Nashville. Much of the equipment you're showing here was also in Ben's studio-several RCA 77-DX microphones, several RCA 44-BX microphones, a 1951 Neumann U-47, a Neumann U-67 and a number of other 1950s and 60s microphones. Ben was recording on Ampex 300s but later added a two-channel Scully. There were a Pultec EQ and a Urei 1176 compressor, both of which are still in service in other venues. Ben built his own mixing board using Altec components, and his playback systems consisted of McIntosh 30-watt amplifiers driving Altec A-7-500 speakers. When Ben retired, the advertising agency where I was working acquired most of his equipment, which I continued to use for production until DAWs became readily available. Even upon switching to Protools, I continued to use the Neumann U-47, the Pultec EQ and the Urei limiter, and I burned dubs for radio and TV stations on the Scully.
It is SO important that we don't let these old techniques/methods/equipment "die", we need to get people who are naturally interested in the way we used to do things in the recording studio, and teach them how to use this gear, how to maintain it, and it can sit alongside (in many cases) the gear which is around now.
Loving this! Dean and Lincoln are giving due respect to techniques used in 50's that have been tucked away in the closet. A brassy approach in today's sonic scenario. Amazing maintenance of some cool gear and love the pegboard panels on studio walls. 44 is amazing find nos. I was talking to a guy yesterday and he said he had a ribbon mic ear, I think I may give that a try as kondensators are a different ear altogether.
"I couldn't believe how close the drums sounded on that one mic. They were on the other side of the room, and you could hear the snare like it was right next to you." I had an RCA BK-11 for a time (very similar mic), and he just about nailed what the large ribbon mics were so good at. They do distance better than anything else. They make great stage mics for plays and big movie sets because sounds recorded at 6-feet away sound almost as big and full as they do at 1-foot. That's really the only use I have for them though. For close mic'ing they're just so-so compared to good condensers.
Great video, thanks for getting it to us. For more than a year i spent time replicating RCA BA-2 and Western Electric 141-A preamps with help from people who are specialists for racking original modules, beside people who were affiliated with UTC and other companies providing transformers to W.E., RCA, Altec and others in the 50's. I had original RCA BA-2 for comparison, W.E. 141-A was unfortunately too expensive for tests only. RCA BA-2 got very close to original after some time, 141-A wasn't far either although i couldn't compare it to original. Bigger problem was finding people who could play well enough to get what such gear offers, most local engineers didn't understand 50's or even 60's recording process either. I made small series of both and sold it to UK and Germany. Those people have knowledge to properly use it so results got me very happy despite not all were recording to tape. To those who are technically minded; this circuits look "very bad" when measured and compared to modern solid state or even some late tube gear, but i found this "mistakes" are what they make them sound really good for production as described here. Gates, Collins, Langevin, Fairchild and a few other manufacturers were forgotten although their sound and build quality is often better than any Ampex or Altec. I haven't worked with Ampex tape machines so can't comment them.
Lol "Computers KILLED music" "I love that warm ANALOG sound" "CORPORATE PRODUCERS don't care!" "I can tell the difference between digital and analog" "It NEEDS SOUL" This comment section is hilarious, a slugfest of common non-criticisms that conveniently leave out subjectivity. You like tape hiss because you're either used to it or that's your taste. Analog "warmth" is distortions, which you also happen to like. "Soul" is your perception. A computer is capable of producing any of those attributes *you* so desire, especially since a lot of recording interfaces are still analog to begin with. Most sounds and effects can be modeled in today's technology to resemble real hardware and even vice versa depending on the parameters you set. Also: what's wrong with a metronome? This ain't a sport, it's art. There is no "cheating" and it doesn't really matter if the execution is done well. It's not the tools, it's the user. Great musicians and great producers can work together to make something greater than great because they all had the skills. The means to achieve greatness aren't important in determining the final product if the effort, knowledge and ability were well applied. If you like the sound of vintage equipment that's cool, but don't think what you like has any objective value.
People like tape because of the dynamic compression and transient softening and the various EQ curves not because of the hiss. People like analog warmth because of the balance between the series of complex harmonic overtones that is created by various pieces of analog equipment and their stages. Soul comes from the dynamic interplay between musicians interacting with one another in real time. Like various elements playing behind or in front of the beat and pitch bending and volume dynamics. These things are measurable. They are observable.
@@frankmarsh1159 Except people actually do say they like and think tape hiss is objectively better than without, that's not something I made up. "People like analog warmth because of the balance between the series of complex harmonic overtones that is created by various pieces of analog equipment and their stages." Right, artefacts and *distortions* inherent to the medium, as I previously said. Your equipment will "color" the final product in various ways and so-called warmth is merely coloring via distortions, artefacts, and saturation from said distortion. Sometimes though people find that digital artefacts aren't as pleasant, but there are numerous VSTs to model a realistic imitation. "Soul comes from dynamic interplay between musicians interacting with one another in real time. Like various elements playing behind or in front of the beat and pitchbending and volume dynamics." Something else you can also do in the digital age since computers don't deny live bands, but it's also possible to attain such dynamics by planning ahead of time when you're overdubbing from a more reactive standpoint. This isn't to mention that overdubbing itself was invented in the tape era. Never mind that though, "soul" is still an inherently subjective entity. I say that because the word is always used in a positive context, but there's no objective way to determine what standards truly mean "soul" when it's determined by positive resonance to the listener. You can add swing to drum machines, alternate your playing, and the obstinate will still come up with a reason why it doesn't have soul when they find out it's a digital release. Finally I'm not denying that this stuff immeasurable, at least not completely. However when it comes to judging the value of art by its make there's quite the minute amount of space to do so objectively. Everything people like about analog can be emulated, and even some things in digital can be done in analog, so my point is not to hate and judge so harshly with authority when these things are pretty much down to either taste or very specific equipment/software. It is ok to like that stuff but just remember it's what you happen to enjoy, not what everyone is supposed to think.
@@kubabohdan7020 speaking as someone who owns a record collection of both old and new pressings with a vintage system I agree. 180g is a scam and it's the quality of the master in respects to the medium. I've heard great pressings, I've heard bad ones, and sometimes the digital reissue really is better if I'm looking for something such as a fatter signal with more definition. But it's all subjective, everything "sounds good" to somebody.
21:34 - Do not go straight to the stop button when fast winding! ! You can stretch or break the tape. Slow the speed down by alternating between fast wind buttons. On a 350, hitting stop engages a brake that puts a lot of stress on the tape.
I'm watching this now for the second time because it's just one of the best things I've seen. Since my first computer became obsolete and I was forced to upgrade/update, I've been kind of angry with humanity for allowing technology to dictate to us. To see this beautiful old tube-driven gear being put back into use is simple wonderful. Sure, sure....lots of reasons why old stuff is surpassed by new stuff....the engineer said it best in the opening minutes but c'mon...this is just cool! Besides all that, this is something that started as a dream and got turned into a reality after what must have been a lot of hard work and huge expense. Hats off to anyone who can pursue a dream like that!! It's no less than a work of art.
Sweet, been looking for a video like this for ages, I have been looking at photos to try discover how people recorded back in the 50's and early 60's. 2 Mics for a band is amazing!
One of my first jobs in the early 70s was as Summer Relief Technician at CBC Halifax, Nova Scotia. In those days there was a lot of equipment around that must have been obsolete even then, but was rigorously maintained and worked just fine. Most of the boards, including the one in the large studio we used for master control and the prime local morning and rolling-home shows, looked like the Collins in the video but it probably came from McCurdy or Northern Electric. The mic installed in Studio C was a dented RCA 44, which I thought had a full but somewhat muffled sound compared to the more modern condenser mics in the other studios. This was the studio used for a legendary national network show, “Rawhide” which ran from the late 40s to the mid 60s, probably all on that RCA 44.
I find that less can be more. I love the equipment I see in this studio. I have an RCA 44bx microphone, and WE, Altec, and Shure vintage mixers. We own a few pieces of acoustical recording equipment and have facilities to make the blank cylinder records, so I don't have to outsource them. I own a horn from Thomas Edison's 79 5th ave studio, a mastering feed screw for making two or four-minute master cylinder records (971/3tpi to make a 100 TPI record, or 194.13) TPI for a 200 thread four-minute record from Edison's studio. ) The recording head I use is from one of the big cylinder record companies, nobody knows which Edison, Albany Indestructible, Columbia, or U.S. everlasting, one of the only working acoustical studio heads in the world. Nobody is really interested in recording on cylinder studio equipment though, no interest.
@@jakamkourasanis No problem. We now are also capable of recording 5" cylinder records. We have recorded heavy metal acoustically and that was one interesting experiment.
Great little documentary. Really interesting to see these techniques used with original gear. It's amazing when someone has a passion for something, what can be achieved. ProTools and Logic are wonderful in their own respect, but I love the organic nature of what you do here. Keep it up.
that's absolutely amazing. though this bands performance was great I would like to see a recording not of the classic rockabilly sound done in this studio
At about 28 minutes in I think you explained why you love this old gear. NOISE! As beautiful as the newest rig offers in clear...our ears still miss that random pop, tape hiss and crackle.
Much like digital photographs, our human eyes weren't meant to see every pore in a human face. Nor were our ears designed to hear too much frequency. Give us an image or a sound and let our imaginations be interactive as well, and there's the true experience. We had a great radio station in Los Angeles that played almost entirely 50's & 60's music on AM radio, and I discovered I liked this best. I lowered the bass frequencies on my radio and just listened the old fashioned way. They switched to classical and I was truly bummed. Nice video thank you-
I was the sound engineer/production manager for BR549 out of Nashville TN towards the end of my audio career and I managed to record BR the way you are doing in your studio. All the guys in BR549 were very talented musicians and knew how to play together to get the best sounds. I call this "real music" because it captures the true heart and soul of the music as the musicians intend it to be. Some 'real magic' happens in these kinds of recordings that seems to be "lost" in most modern recording techniques. Thank you so much for this video and keep up the great sound work! Blessings!
@@zilueta5645 This is how I "looked" at everything I did with audio. "Fix acoustic 'problems' acoustically." This allows the "magic" to happen by 'getting out of the way' - "keep it simple"...
Thankyou so much for uploading this. As a live small gig/concert sound mixer in the early 70's, I was mostly self taught and outside encouraged. I "get" what they are saying and made similar discoveries with emerging equipment development. Not of this array of recording studio gear, but with PA stuff. I went to Doobies Brothers concert in Australia a couple of months ago. After the concert, and after watching from behind the sound mixer guy using PC enabled, digitally multi-layered, stylus operated PA gear, I came to the conclusion that it was no better (nor worse) a sound than the 70's. Then, we had the basic winning formula of an Altec or Yamaha analogue Desk, Shure mics, Crown amps, JBL speakers and Altec horns. However the 2017 Doobie live mix could have been /should have been better. Someone once said to me, "its a artful blend in the end, of a good ear and good gear". Same applied in this episode. Terrific vid. I've subscribed.
Absolutely wonderful. My Father got me into doing location recordings of classical music groups. He started back in the '50's with a portable Ampex and a single Shure ribbon. When it was my turn in the '70's I used a two-track 1/4" Crown with a pair of condensers, Either Neumann U87's, KM84's or occasionally RCA 77's. Mic placement was either XY, Blumlein, or ORTF depending on the situation.
The love of analogue sound, or photography with film. We are so use to the digital monitor, but fire up an analogue monitor if you still have one, and then look at the images again. The imperfect equipment with real musicians making great music together with guys that know what the heck they are doing in the studio.
VERY COOL STUFF! I wish I had that privilege to record in such a Studio! The Soul put into that Music and gear, back then, Shows why we are still BUYING those records, in 2018!
I love this video, and being of a "certain age" the equipment is quite recognizable, Tubes aged, calibration drifted, but it sure made some wonderful music! Although I got into the studio a little later (Neve consoles and Studer A800 era) The thing to remember is that stereo was so very new, in the 50's and 60's and even George Harrison said "why do you need two speakers? They felt the Beatles should be heard in mono, George, Paul, John and Ringo in one big room at Abbey Road-EMI. Also the time the child/teen bought that 45 RPM record, the record players (not exactly a turntable) - was generally brutal. And studio mic placement was pretty much, here's your mic, hit record and go. It was really the Beatles that revolutio(ized) recording. Which drove George Martin crazy at first - John was the most experimental.. In any case, thank you for the wayback machine! BTW, my signal chain is as analog as possible, I use outboard Dangerous Music, Universal Audio, SSl, Neve - Just call me an old fashioned analog gal. 🙂
What a WONDERFUL doco. When I started as a sound mixer for Radio NZ in 1979 Broadcasting House was full of Ampex tape recorders like the one featured - they were mostly 351's however. & yes, I even used those RCA Mic's when recording Radio Drama in the early 1980's.
Extraordinarily well done! We've all seen, of course, this *kind* of thing before, going for the sound of a particular era, etc, but rarely... no, I'd say *never* have I seen it so beautifully executed. The video production quality is quite high, but it's the dedication and sincerity of the entire cast and crew, I think, that makes this so outstanding. If I'm *ever* in that corner of the world, seeing this studio (hopefully even recording there) will be at the top of my list. Superb piece of work, all around. Thanks to SOS for giving this the quality it so richly deserves. Cheers all!
20:55 Omg Ive actually played through one of those vintage EMT Plate reverbs!!! The one I used was actually owned by John Frusciante from Red Hot Chili Peppers and sold to this studio Ive worked with in the past. He also had some Ampex Pres (350-351?), vintage Pultecs, and of course a few LA-2A's optical compressors as shown in this video. I. Love. Gear.
Man, wouldn’t you just love to have an EMT 140? I’ve had tracks mixed using one as well... 😍 Though, if I did have one myself (pending that the cosmic reverb gods are smiling on me and giving me one for free) it would have to go in my basement, as I’m not entirely sure that my attic would support its 1/2 Ton weight. For that matter, I’m not sure that my living room floor would, either... and I’d rather put it in the basement to begin with, as opposed to it ending up down there in a broken heap, the result of the living room floor caving in underneath it. 😉
Love your method and the vintage gear. Digitized "rooms" are suck-city. Music is a human experience. Recording the room takes finesse and mic placement. Results speak for themselves. great work, great fun!
I've always as a drummer always liked the 50' thru 60's drum sound. Now I understand it's the ribbon mic. I know some tuning on the drums but its the mic. Yes thanks for making this video.
The Altec equipment brings back many good memories of rock-solid, reliability. And the Ampex 300 and 350. But Elvis's first released recording was apparently on an Ampex 601, a 7-1/2 ips portable machine.
This is pretty amazing. Me coming from the new school of recording always wanting know how old recordings were made this is a great piece to watch. Thank you guys
Brilliant. Loved watching. This stuff predates any time I ever spent in pro studios, but I did have the incredible good fortune to spend a good deal of time working in Studio Three at Western Recorders in LA during the mid-60's. They were using Ampex 8 tracks in those days, but I do remember seeing some Poltec gear and, of course, Altec mixers and Ampex 2 tracks. Brings back memories, does this. Cheers and thanks for posting.
Great video. I might also add that the mix on this video is excellent. So often on RU-vid the mix gets neglected and the video ends up sounding like crap, but you guys did a great job with this one.
