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A month and a half ago my band recorded our debut lp at Zero Return
studios in Atlanta. It's a great studio with an excellent sounding
'live' room and tons of vintage mics and outboard gear. Although
we're from NYC, we went to record there because it's set up to record
this type of music. We recorded live to two track half inch with Jim
Marrer running the board. We're quite satisfied with the results and
highly recomend this studio. Check out thier website,
zeroreturnstudios.com, they have a very impressive equipment list and
are very reasonably priced. Recording live was good because nothing
had to be isolated, hence no headphones (it sucks recording with them
), and let's face it, some of the best r'n'r records were recorded
this way. Being all in the same room playing together makes an
enormous difference IMHO. Also, having no opportunity to 'fix it in
the mix' made us play better from the start - you just have to be
well rehearsed going in. It would be great to hear everyones
recording experiences, tricks and techniques. How do you go about
recording? This would probably be helpful to those members who've
never recorded before. By the way, we're currently looking for an
interested label, any suggestions? Viktor, The Coffin Daggers
I would like to know how one would go about getting the same kind of
sound that the Phantom Surfers have been using on their many records.
To be specific, the kind of lo-fi recording that was featured on
Sounds of Model Road Racing and Play Music from the Big Screen
Spectaculars. Do you have to find vintage Ampex equipment to do so or
mix everything in mono or make the final mix as 3rd generation copy?
Chad Cote
6 string surfer.
To get this type of sound, get a 1/4 inch reel to reel (you can find
them really cheap these days, Just make sure it records at 15i.p.s.
to minimize tape hiss), set up a couple of room mikes (experiment by
moving them around different parts of the room),and just record it
all onto one track. You'll probably have to give it a few tries to
get the balance right. You want to keep it at one or two generations,
otherwise you're likely to get a lot of tape hiss. Try out different
cheapo mics, especially oddball looking ones. Also run the levels
hot, as my crazy engineer friend used to say: "ignore the red lights,
they're just there to scare you!" One of the advantages to recording
this way is that there is no after the fact mixing involved which in
my opinion tends to have a 'sterilizing' effect on the music. From
the sound of thier records, I don't think the Phantom Surfers close
mic any of the instruments. Remember though every room has it's own
tonality and sound, so it's also good to try out different
locations. I have an old teac open reel 4 track and have gotten
great recordings just fucking around, and I got it with a mixer for
under $500.
--- In SurfGuitar101@y..., "fenderboy66" <jazzmaster64@h...> wrote:
> I would like to know how one would go about getting the same kind
of
> sound that the Phantom Surfers have been using on their many
records.
> To be specific, the kind of lo-fi recording that was featured on
> Sounds of Model Road Racing and Play Music from the Big Screen
> Spectaculars. Do you have to find vintage Ampex equipment to do so
or
> mix everything in mono or make the final mix as 3rd generation copy?
>
> Chad Cote
> 6 string surfer.
