Recording In A 1950s Style Recording Studio

[@ThePoisonBiscuit]

The engineer here is really good at explaining what he's doing and how things work. He'd make a great teacher.

[@TempoDrift1480]

Mr. Albright he needs a hair cut though.

[@mrblister8359]

captial studio where they recorded gene vincent and thousands of others video is on youtube and all there equipment still work

[@danmillward8595]

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.

[@mrblister8359]

@@danmillward8595 .. thats because all producers are failed musicians that cant write songs apart from steve albini

[@user-vd7io9jc8f]

@@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.

[@PsychorGames]

So we've got Americans trying to emulate Brit pop and Brits trying to capture American rock and roll. The world is a beautiful place!

[@SocietateaAscendenta]

I thought that Music has no boundaries, but... still waiting for an Hindi Elvis to believe that! FOR REAL!

[@chipgaasche4933]

..or, as Marmalade sang: "the world is a terrible place to live..but I don't want to die"!

[@softdorothy]

Lets be honest, we're all recalling simpler times.

[@xboxlive6]

@@softdorothy The grass is always greener on the other side.

[@fickfehler3866]

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 ?

[@iplaymytele]

In 1975 my father and I opened a recording studio in my home town of Mattoon Illinois it was called ( Applause ) we started off with a military war surplus suitcase Tube AMPEX Recorder, a echoplex Tape Delay, a plate reverb that I built out of a 10 x 4‘ sheet of thin metal stretched tight inside a frame Box using turn buckles....! A speaker was mounted on the metal at one end , and other end was a old microphone pick up...! You would reduce the amount and reverb or add reverb by moving a board back-and-forth with a small pillow on it that would let the metal resonate more or less....! That’s how we increased or decreased the reverb sound...! We had no compression or no limiting....! Our first mixer board was a 12 channel mono Peavey mixer board...! We did build a small separate drum booth and used two microphones to record the drums one Mic , was for the kick , the other Mic was a overhead....! We had a Old up right Piano with One Mic inside of it...! Our first five albums we made for customers , and I don’t know how many 45 records , we also offered cassette tapes we’re all done with( One shot recordings ) ....! We did not get a four track multi track tape deck till 1977....! I have a KZbin channel....!!! Called ( The Jeff Galey Channel ) I have a school of music in on Wednesday night there are between six and nine students who come over and play together ...! I have recorded these students several times the recordings came out extremely good I thought so I posted five or six of them on my KZbin channel....! I will Arrange the musicians around One Apex 210B ribbon Mic and recorded ( everybody in the room with One Mic ) ...! These recordings are easy to Find on my KZbin channel because, all there is , is ( a picture showing several of my guitars on the video ) the audio is all one shot recording going into a Tascam Tape recorder using ( two tracks nevertheless it is still a mono recording ) ...! 🎶❤️❤️🎶 Of course over the years I have purchased many extremely sophisticated Digital Recording systems they are so complicated to run I finally just gave up on digital....! So about eight years ago I got rid of everything Digital , and all I use is tape.....! i live in Trussville Alabama about an hour and 40 minutes from muscle Shoals....! There are great musicians down south....! After Dad and I finally got a old Sony four track recorder we purchased from the band ( REO Speed wagon ) in Champagne Urbanna Illinois...., We were flying high at Applause studio..!!! Because .,I myself play 13 instruments ...., my dad used to wear me out in that old recording studio back in Illinois ...🎶❤️🙏 Applause... ( There’s nothing better than the sound of Applause ) Watching your video brought back a bunch of Great memories...🎶🙏🎶 it’s hard to believe we would send off a master tape of so many Singers and musicians albums made with one shot recordings that I assume are still floating around out there somewhere....!

[@ThomasUeber]

This recording studio is an AAW = Analog Audio Workstation. Amazing.

[@niteshademusic5262]

its def aww inspiring lol

[@Coastincolt]

Thomas Ueber Clever!

[@freeecountryy]

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.

[@gramursowanfaborden5820]

and those musicians are in an ASS! (analogue studio situation)

[@gramursowanfaborden5820]

or an ARSE (analogue recording studio environment)

[@JeanmarkRodriguez]

It would be awesome to hear a modern song (rock or a ballad) recorded in that studio

[@faraitheprod]

It would sound so fat!

[@orlock20]

Mother Maria by Slash ft Beth Hart was done on tape and using old equipment. It's probably the closest you'll get to hearing something like this.

[@KingBlonde]

I might actually listen to modern rock if it were this honest and real.

[@Fluffar0n]

Foo Fighters' recent stuff has been recorded on old stuff and on tape. They even made documentaries about it!

[@darwinsaye]

Cowboy Junkies' first two albums were recorded live with a single stereo mike, the first one in a garage and the second in a church. Very atmospheric recordings. Gillian Welch and David Rawlings record this way too.

[@dreammix9430]

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.

[@cynthiak3376]

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!

[@dreammix9430]

​@@cynthiak3376yup. Thats the way we did it back then.

[@laurieharper1526]

This is excellent. They are using the equipment for its positive qualities, not for nostalgia's sake.

[@nike3web]

Wrong. Its for the nostalgic sound of course.

[@dumpydoctor7670]

hahaha u old man

[@WakeTheory]

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.

[@HardwareFahrrad]

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.

[@laurieharper1526]

@@dumpydoctor7670 hahaha u brain dead

[@bentyreman5769]

the fact that the machines still work says a lot to me, they are so well made

[@N00B283]

simpler things tend to last longer, that is probably why

[@ChrisThomasBone]

They still work because people still repair them

[@tl9930]

And it's easier to repair them, unlike the smd electronics we mostly have today.

[@IAmKillEveryone]

All those old consoles were hand-built and hand-wired. They'll work as long as there's people alive that know how to use them.

[@nickguy6820]

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.

[@77Cardinal]

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.

[@filminginportland1654]

John Quimby and try not to get robbed ;-)

[@77Cardinal]

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.

[@ebookpioneers]

If you think Memphis is bad, try a motel in Oklahoma City some time. You'll learn to sleep with your shoes on real quick.

[@trailwayz]

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..?

[@neilbillybob3065]

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.

[@shaunsidney2899]

2/4 TRACK MONO THROUGH TO 1959 THEN RCA RECORDED ELVIS WHEN HE LEFT THE ARMY IN 4 TRACK STEREO ❗👍😉😁🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 FABULOUS VIDEO, WELL DONE

[@LandNfan]

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.

[@mcadder]

My god! That sound is so much more pleasing that what we hear on the radio today. The instrument all harmonize. It's magic.

[@ljones2087]

tuning is more accurate today though.

[@GenXstacker]

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!

[@Partybob1]

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.

[@TheEudaemonicPlague]

@@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.

[@mrjasondylan]

Steve Earle done a lot of his albums on analogue the old style, check out his album Train a coming from 1997 great old time country blues type sound.

[@MaxBrinsterGuitar]

My buddies todd grebe and cold country have a good sound

[@Partybob1]

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 KZbin. Be well my friend.

[@djsting6732]

I love music from the 50’s. Do Wop, R&B, Country, Rockabilly and Pop. So cool to see a studio that really puts the effort in getting it right.

[@dougtaylor7724]

I watch a band play a song 4 times while a straight back chair was moved around with what looked like one of grandma’s homemade quilt draped over it. They finally hit a sweet spot and it was great. I will never forget seeing a tiny hard wall room with 60’s era cardboard egg crate on the walls. Amazing the secrets of old style recording that get lost every year. Someone should have written all this stuff down.

[@alakani]

I've always been amazed how much effort and cooperation goes into each and every step of single mic recording, and how much patience such bands have. A lot of sessions now are in and out, fix it in post

[@gordontubbs]

Recording this way is a reality check for us home studio engineers, but also liberating to some extent because less is more.

[@SocietateaAscendenta]

LESS IS MORE! I WILL TATOO THAT ON MY FORHEAD! CAUSE I always tend to put a loooooooot of stuff on stuff :).

[@thejasonknightfiascoband5099]

If less is more then I must have ∞ of whatever you're specifically referring to. 100% of my music is recorded on a Tascam DP-008EX 😂😂

[@SocietateaAscendenta]

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!)

[@blib3786]

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.

[@akaleri]

@@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.

[@bearpaw4720]

Lincoln's level of knowledge is inspiring. What a brilliant engineer.

[@sski]

WOW! A pure recording place. I didn't think this existed anymore on a professional level. This is amazing.

[@jimw7ry]

12:50 Bing Crosby was an investor in Ampex recording equipment and he put LOTS of money into their refinement and development! Thanks Bing!

[@sharonraizor2839]

The Stray Cats are recording a new album in 2019. I wish they would record it at Sugar Ray's.

[@bassistbovee]

When I started watching I was unsure if I'd watch it all.......glad I did. Beautiful documentary.

[@sallopiccolo7336]

Hands down. This is my favorite video on KZbin. Love it!!!

[@aprylrittenhouse4562]

Omg i remember the old valve and tube mixers and amps . they were so flipping heavy. My first band id gotten a hold of old 50s and 60s pa and mixing equiptment. God i miss those days.

[@nickneumann5650]

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.

[@louisrelf5903]

It would be fun to go here and record original retro-sounding samples (like Portishead used to do)

[@noisesoundtonevibe]

There's a depth to these kinds of recordings that most modern tracks lack. I love the ethos behind it too!

[@yeaaboiii3002]

noisesoundtonevibe what is modern recordings lacking? Oh yea talent

[@Syklonus]

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.

[@blib3786]

@YEAA BOIII Found the boomer

[@kimberlywentworth9160]

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.

[@tw364]

@@Syklonus What are you pissing in your pants about?

[@JoshLocke]

Dean is a proper legend, really fun to record there and fascinating to just see it. Great prices as well, highly recommend!

[@naedolor]

This studio is downright amazing. The owner said that he doesn't think many hip-hop artists will come to his studio and I think that's a shame. The hybrid beats and reampings you can do there today are astonishing. I wish someone would actually experiment and produce a hip hop track or anything else for that matter there.

[@AiMR]

"Yo, where's the Autotune?" Blank stares.

[@filminginportland1654]

Nae Dolor I'm working on sort of a hybrid studio now for hip hop, with some of the best of old analog and a little digital by way of a tascam MX2424 for capture. Editing will still be done in the box, but capture will be very different and atypical.

[@naedolor]

+Filming in Portland - That sounds amazing. When can we hear some demos? :)

[@jerryweber1768]

I think it's a shame Rock is hardly being recorded almost anywhere.

[@soulchorea]

Anderson.Paak would sound crazy in here

[@NoMoreRadioMyths]

I was a radio broadcaster all my life and used to use a lot of that gear.

[@TheDazlermac]

Brilliant video Sound on Sound. Thank you

[@briankehew579]

Love it - Toe Rag in Hackney has been doing this for years, too, with great success.

[@zo1dberg]

No idea why this was recommended to me, but I'm glad it was. I'm not even a 50's music fan!

[@axelfiedel3793]

Me too and my kind of music is 80s-90s music

[@codaalive5076]

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.

[@JohnHillEU]

Wow I watched the first 10 minutes of this and figured it must have been the whole half hour, but nope, it's just jam packed with fascinating content, 3 times as much as what I'd normally hope for. Thanks for much for this video, it's fantastically presented. Big congrats to the folks who put that studio together as well, it looks better than a dream!

[@arranmacgabhann6103]

Ooooooooooooohhhhhhhhh...... As someone who is an exclusively digital engineer I can assure that it is not as a result of choice, but convenience. This equipment is so warm

[@NeopolitianNPLTN]

That engineer was making so much sense!

[@Espresso101]

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.

[@ksbav8r]

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!

[@dougtaylor7724]

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.

[@ClintCurtis]

Would love to see videos like this on more decades, especially 80’s 😉

[@100thschool]

80s recording wasn't much different from today. in fact people often argue that 80s is when digitization start happening where everything got that modern, slick, overly produced sound to it to signify era where it only went downhill from there

[@JohnDrewVoice]

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.

[@NC17z]

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.

[@spoonie1972]

Frickin' amazing. Performance is King.

[@inkshop963]

OMG just watched this video, then went to Wikipedia to see if my recollections had any merit or not. A modern British technician, trying to recreate early pop music in a British studio seems surreal. I think he knows his technical stuff, but its like when I was in Japan, and a Japanese guy asked my opinion on how authentic his 1965 Mustang was, I had to tell him he had created a modern construct of what a Mustang would have looked like, if it had been made in Japan for Japanese consumers. I think before they spend another dime on genuine vintage gear they ought to speak to someone that was there, like Willie Nelson or an old studio musician. I was, but am not knowledgeable enough to be of value, but here it is any way. When we got to studio, usually a high roofed carpeted floor warehouse like building, we set up, were able to fool around with our fellow musicians, a technician came out set up a mike, then asked for a sound check and then asked us to adjust our kit, then after playing a few bars sometimes alone and then together, he would come out adjust the mike and move our stuff where he wanted it, we would sound check again, and again. Then without warning he would say "tape is in motion Count it down please" and we would play our prearranged song. If everything was ok, he would ask us to do it again, then thanked us for a job well done, and we would leave. We never got to go into his booth or heard the tape we had just made. About two weeks later we got a copy of the record. While we were wrapping up, the next band was moving in. Kinda like a kid in line for a hair cut. Clearly, studios were a business, and we were just a piece on the production line. But it was fun.

[@rexoliver7780]

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.

[@AlexBallMusic]

Awesome. Thanks so much for uploading this. Would love to record there some day.

[@jameswallace5967]

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.

[@InflatablePlane]

Is imagining how warm that studio is with all that valve equipment running. I'd love to record some swing or ska music on that equipment.

[@YARDMANMX]

I would love to record here it would be an experience that many of us only dream of

[@andrewmcgee1001]

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.

[@jimw7ry]

24:29 - Importance Of Performance Ability WOW!! Extremely well said! BRAVO!

[@JJ-tc7eh]

Absolutely brilliant! the interview talking about the total unpredictability of things speaks to the risks that must be made. The constant takes, take after take, the medium of this entire studio will demand exhaustion most times and that is where the magic happens. And wait until these guys record some old Doo-Wop & Harmony Soul where the lead singer lays way back ... And the session players dropping random twists? All the rare & obscure Sweet Soul used this stuff because it was hand me downs back then by the late 1960's, that's ironic because it produced records that collectors will pay hundreds of dollars for. Rock on Sugar ray studios & SOS

[@simonr7097]

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.

[@theaztecwarrior1190]

And this is what inspired me to become a audio engineer as of today 👍😁

[@jwhite1016aol]

As far as music videos goes Kurt C. had the same idea for recording In Bloom.. using old cameras and all old 50s television equipment. Kinda parallel thinking, I like it.

[@paulsummerside]

Oh yeah, this is the way to record. Would love to lay down some tracks somewhere like this.

[@DavidCarterVideos]

This was so incredibly interesting and made more so by a guy who not only knew his stuff but has the ability to present it to the viewers in such a clear, artculate and concise way. As others have said in the comments, you'd make a great tutor Lincoln.

[@michaelc3747]

i can defs appreciate the 50's. cheers for the upload

[@rogerbranton1752]

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.

[@carlitobrigante330]

A facility like this would have been incredible for recording 50's-influenced trios like the Stray Cats and Violent Femmes...

[@MrmelodyUs]

Or more favorably, ME.

[@thetreblerebel]

I wanna hear Tiger Army in here stripped down to basics

[@lennon1482]

lee mavers should try this place out

[@MrBrubart]

Excellent video. The engineer really knows what he's talking about, and it's exciting to consider the possibilities of mixing music in the air, rather than in a mixer.

[@tyletkersey4357]

Love the info and the Franklin Tennessee hat. Much love from East Tennessee.

[@thermionic1234567]

Tylet Kersey No I like this video even more as my father was from Franklin.

[@tomstickland]

That was great. I started off worrying that it was going to be entirely about replicating the 1950s but I got drawn into the fun and excitement of it and how it could be used for all sorts of bands.

[@Kirk-Monteux-Production]

Love the sound, love the band, love the studio.

[@dd2hot4u26]

Kirk Monteux do you know the name of the band?... if yes could you tell me

[@hgggjgtf7204]

Kirk Monteux racewiththedevil.co.uk

[@CrossCuntryFranco]

@@dd2hot4u26 Sorry for the late reply, but they're called Race With the Devil. :)

[@Simmisc]

That was unbelievable, really really incredible job Sound on Sound guys!

[@keithrowe6608]

I have an Altec 1567A that I got from a camp sale for $5. I wasn't into recording at the time, and didn't even really know what it was. In the late 90's I got an electronics guru to bypass the main mix. It is now a 4 in - 4 out preamp. Definitely a funky sounding unit with lots of characther. Old Phillips step up transformers and 12AX7's. I also have an almost exact copy of that Telefunken cabinet stereo in the final scene. Mine is from early 50's, and was bought in Germany by a relative in 52 or 53. The only difference to my eyes is that my speaker grills are smaller.

[@jediforce6551]

always liked recording the old way. did a lot of single-track one-pass tapes of ambient instrumentals that came out quite satisfactorily. actually never used computers for music, except for rendering the tapes to mp3, and that, only recently.

[@rogerlafrance6355]

Much in the change in music has been going from one mic and one channel direct to disk to multi-mic live mix and later multi-mic post production mixing. One of the best examples is a live Bluegrass Band performing with just one microphone. They can only get just so many mouths and instruments close to the mic at one time and have to take turns performing. That is what made pre 60's music sound the way it did.

[@douglasfreeman3229]

Beautiful! All that vintage recording tech. Gorgeous. Those old engineers were so skilled. Respect to all those guys. Cool band too!

[@AdamMalster]

Really, really interesting. I wish Mr. Amos loads of luck!

[@riklionheart23]

This is pure gold. I've recorded at Toe Rag in London, which has a similar analogue principle, if maybe slightly one decade advanced into the sixties as far as technology is concerned compared to Sugar Ray's 50's approach. But at Toe Rag as well as here on this excellent film, I learnt about the importance of microphone placement, getting the sound right before committing to tape/hard-disc and above all, the performance. I have a small digital project studio and I always make sure the music, no matter how electronic it sometimes can be, gets to move some air that consequently moves a diaphragm or ribbon of a microphone. Music is vibration after all.

[@gpcrawford8353]

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.

[@jimreeves550]

Love this. And I've been there with this technique, from one mic, mono, Altec pre-amps, Ampex 300's mono & 350 2Tk, Emt, Fisher K10 Springs, slap back and so on back in the earliest '60's. Didn't get my first 4tk Scully 280 till '69 so lot's of years of mono to mono, tape splicing etc. to today with 30 mics and Pro Tools HD. There was a 1/2" 3 track head stack as well as a 1/4" 3 track head stack there, but I never got to use it. I still have some of my 2 to 4 mic sessions. I still own perfectly working Ampex 350 and AG440 2tk decks and my prized Neumann U67. So hard to find a good sounding 44 or 77 these days.

[@BillE2112]

Fantastic! Thank you Sound on Sound and Sugar Ray's. Although I usually record with more than one mic, I subscribe to the notion that if it doesn't sound good with one mic, it probably won't with more. Similarly to this studio, I like the recordings that Ewing Nunn engineered and produced for Audiophile. Same one mic concept, except he didn't like the microphones of the day - so he built his own! He went so far as to have a specific length of mic cable for the microphone, which was an omni. He mixed each track like Sugar Ray's does - by moving the instruments around the room until it sounded right.

[@laughorgomad]

This really is an art form.So cool to know each album was taylored to the band's live sound.

[@andreacaccese]

truly amazing - I love that this set up "forces" you to rediscover a whole new approach to mixing, which starts in the way musicians are placed in a room and in the dynamics of their performance...A dying art in the "fix it later" age unfortunately!

[@freeecountryy]

I agree. This is one reason why a lot of new bands sound really different live. They were able to make their recordings so perfect and add such a level of false skill to their performances that they can't come close to recreating it when they try to play them live. I do think there's some incredible records being made today but I also think that certain type of music (rock, country, blues, jazz) benefit from at least partly tracking the old fashioned way. Get in the studio, play together in a nice room into a big analog board and take it from there. Afterwards, mix down to tape and put it out! Digital is a blessing to music making, but it's not a replacement for analog!

[@windowspeak1669]

Which is why I find myself recording onto a Tascsam Portastudio a lot of the time when I'm at home. You can't really fix stuff later when recording to cassette, so you have to capture the sound perfectly at the recording stage. Say what you want about the format I use, but it's actually helping me out a lot.

[@freeecountryy]

Right on! I do the same thing. I started in 4-track and that sense of urgency when recording a take straight to tape cannot be replaced. I've got a Tascam 244, and a 246, along with an Audio Technica RMX64 which is an incredible machine. The EQ and pres on it sound amazing. I also like to use 8-track on 1/4" tape (Fostex Model 80). I have no interest in elitist gear head bullshit and feel that it's the end result that really matters. A Studer 24 track is an amazing machine but it's not going to get you an interesting song. Some of my favorite songs were recorded onto cheap equipment. I did this on a 8-track cassette machine soundcloud.com/free-country/under-fluorescents

[@meanderer06513]

I tell 'kids' that go on and on about digital recording...I love (and miss) recording on my Tascam 4 track. I tell them that recording with such 'antique' methods forces you to actually think about what sound you want - you have to make a decision what sounds best - and hit 'record'. If you mess up, you rewind and do it again. I have never played as well as I did when I was recording on 4 track. Of course, in a nod to modern technology, since I've saved many multi-track tapes from the days when I recorded in my bedroom, I can put all those multi-tracks into my computer and clean up any excess tape nose or whatnot. I'm able to remove any problems with mouth pops or whatever, but essentially, it still sounds like tape. When I'm listening to these old tapes I've put into my computer, I'm often surprised by how I was able to record without a lot of 'room noise' or ground buzz...much of the tapes sound so nice and clean...and analog. I love it!

[@MicrophonicFool]

Before I saw it was a Model 80, I was dreading that you meant the Fostex A-8 with it's specialized little mixer. A hell-spawn piece of gear if ever there was one. I did however make it survive until the end of my recording and then ceremoniously take it back to the evil cretin that sold it to me. Good times!

[@ccmdav]

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.

[@tomwatson283]

Fantastic - one of the best interviews I've seen in a long while.

[@violenceisfun991]

But we'm not to be trusted

[@lmoore5264]

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".

[@JazzGuitarScrapbook]

Just a thought - a lot of double bass players used laminate basses from the Sears catalog back in the day rather than fine carved instruments. I can really see how these might have recorded better on a ribbon mic.

[@rockabillycat1954]

Budget brands like Kay were pretty much the de-facto, and they were all plywood. They just have "that sound".

[@peterkendell5214]

Fascinating. There's such purity to simple recording techniques.

[@snarnok]

Very interesting video! There is another similar studio in London called Toe Rag Studio in London which is owned by Liam Watson. His studio is based on the Abbey Road setup from the 60's. He even has some of the original equipment used at Abbey Road! Perhaps you could make a video of that as well?

[@elgamerico]

I heard about that place when The White Stripes recorded an album there. I think it was the album Elephant. WHat's funny is that I've lived near there for years and realised it was there 😁

[@metalzizar]

This was awesome. As an audio student, I have absolute respect of this kind of recording, and for the people still using this kind of equipment. I agree there's been a loss in the ability of musicians to "auto-mix" themselves and be aware of their dynamics. And so the recording engineer must be aware of that when placing the musicians and the mics. I found that particular remark on bass players accurate, as I also play bass, and I struggle when the drummer and the rest of the band is not able to control their loudness, so I need to rely on cranking up my amp to make the bass work. Excellent!

[@jeremythornton433]

This is great! It's an honest lesson in recording! Maybe we have just too many options nowadays. Too many mikes. Too many plugins. Hmmm. Makes you think!

[@gcoudert]

As a major fan of Sun Studio's 50s blues and rockabilly output (been there 3 times), this video has to be one of the best I have seen on KZbin.

[@ikigai47]

Man I would love to record a song there

[@kurtschlieter7506]

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.

[@Bbh4535]

I would like to hear a metal band record like this,.

[@TheRightLadder]

Pretty sure I saw a metal band recording on an even earlier studio technique. They were all playing into a giant old timey recording horn/amplifier. I wish I could remember the details of it.

[@GreedPainLove]

@@TheRightLadder It was Rob Scallon recording metal on a wax cylinder, I think the video is called recording metal on 100 year old equipment

[@MrRonnmaui]

Outstanding time machine for recording. I use to love recording sound in the late 60's on the most basic of equipment. It is amazing how insightful the art of recording comes into play here. Great stuff and really enjoyed watching how you made it all work again.

[@princetonaudio]

This is a wonderful review, and I think everyone should consider starting in this type of environment to learn the art of recording. Then, and after all of the basics are mastered, move to digital multi-track recording.

[@pete3816]

Given that this is the only studio we know of that sports all this vintage gear, how do you suggest we “ALL” start our careers in this environment? 😂

[@princetonaudio]

@@pete3816 I feel your pain, my brother!!! #1. DIY C12 or U47 microphone-parts.com (Do this first if you can.) #2. Tape unit from Studer, 3M, Chris Mara, or ATR. www.ebay.com/itm/274590576595?hash=item3feedfafd3:g:b98AAOSw765fv1Op (You want to start with a minimum .070 track width (8 tracks per inch, 16 tracks for 2 inch.) #3. heavy modded CBS VolumeMAX and AudioMax. #4. Positive Grid SPARK #5. Any junk guitar, and I'll send you info on the mods. #6. YAMAHA upright piano (any shape) #7. Three trashed Yamaha DX7's #8. Behringer Model D #9. Alesis QS6 #10. Roland TR8 #11. Pioneer DJ Toraiz #12. Roland V Drums #13. Neve RMP-8 (Get this third if you can.) #14. Neve Portico 2 (Get this second if you can.) #15. EVENT 20/20 #16. OLD Ampeg B15. #17. Any old trashed fender bass from the '70s, 80, 90's or early 2000. #18. Scully 280 preamp (Careful they're all broken) #19. Free software from Cakewalk (I just heard today it's now free??? got to check it out.) #20. Any broken ribbon mic. You'll fix it, and I'll tell you how. #21. Mackie 1202. nothing else. #22. Sigma DR-7 (with Brazilian rosewood appointments but not many know it.) #23. Old broken version one Otari (preamps distort nicely.) #24. Any old Bogen tube amp. #25. Any old Sears (or the like) tube guitar amp. Be careful; some amps have the death cap. #26. Champ tube DIY build (Any of them)#27 PortaB #28 Rocky Mountain Instruments. #29 Leslie (the tube or solid-state one.) #30. 1973 Rhodes. #31. Drums from the Ross the Drum Doctor. #32. Both Wurlitzer's (120 and the 200.) So there is it! This list should take you years to get. List not in any real order. Buy broken stuff and fix it. I will help you! Any questions on any product, reach out, and I will answer every question. Please keep it a little at a time. Scotty

[@pete3816]

@@princetonaudio the stuff you’ve listed isn’t from the ‘environment’ we see in this video. This video is all about singletrack recording - not multitrack. It’s all from the 50’s & 60’s. I thought you were suggesting we all have to start in environments similar to the video. The equipment you’ve suggested is way after this time period. Did you mean that people should start their careers in the analogue domain rather than just jumping straight to ITB digital?

[@princetonaudio]

​@@pete3816 Ahhhhh,.. again great questions! I'm sorry I'm real busy now, but let me start with a few reasons "Why" #1, The Neumann-Telefunken Mic; originally made to make Hitler sound great; and it did. No one has ever been able to beat the initial design, just copy it. The cheapest way to copy it, is in the post above. #2. Lets keep going...Big Ribbon Mic's are the true source or reality, but they're noisy as heck. RCA created the magic first, then AEA has copied the mic. You have to get these two mics (or good copies) to start, or you'll always be on the wrong road. #3. All mics needed to hit a big fat coil first! There is no such thing as a coil that's too big. A great coil and a great filter, grind (36 grit) away harshness and add magic and richness to everything. Pultecs for instance;.... but as Rupert said, the Pultec only helped a little (@6db);... so he made his own modified Pultec that made a heck of a lot of changes, but without the tubes and high voltage issues that were shocking the heck out of everyone, hence solid-state. Now Industry borrowed (stole) the solid-state front end design from the rf section of receivers-transmitters. They inclosed everything in a steel box. Look at API's first stage...it's in a steel box. Look at beyerdynamic's coil, it's in a steel box. So to start, make a DIY Neumann or AEA copy, and make an enclosed preamp with a fat coil and a three stage filter and you have the beginning of the signal chain that hasn't changed in 60 years. One secret is the input and output needs to be able to sustain 24db, cause after 0db is where all the excitement happens. I just spoke to a producer in Nashville three weeks ago and he said, "I'm adding 10DB to everything! How????, his console supports +24DB, and so does his tape unit! Ohhhhhhhhhhh, that's cheating!. And many wonder why their mix sounds low and life-less at -10 db........do the math...

[@richardlee4730]

Love this guy's dedication to the great classic pop sound. I could listen to this "tech talk" for hours. ;)

[@henrys3138]

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.

[@frankmarsh1159]

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.

[@henrys3138]

@@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]

I love you, so on point. Makes me think of all those vinyl lovers lol

[@henrys3138]

@Walter B You don't have to read it.

[@henrys3138]

@@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.

[@6A8G]

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.

[@MOSHAEMUSIC]

Great documentary! I'd love to experiment with all that vintage gear! 💘 #audioengineer

[@mahoot81]

Just loved this video!!! As an audiophile I learned quite a lot. Thanks!!

[@RobKingRC]

Awesome...

[@spacemissing]

Where skill and artistry meet chance. It's a testament to the abilities of the pioneers in the old days that they got the good results they did.

[@MrRichiekaye]

I'd love to record at that studio.

[@taotuhao5969]

I grew up in the 80's and love 50's 60's 70's, 80's, 90.s and some 00's music. Although, I cherish my Sun recording sessions, I feel that recording hit its pinnacle in the 70's with bands such as Steely Dan.