The 1 Mic Recording Session

A couple months back I had the opportunity to record a blues group, Chris Noel And The Burning House, live off the floor in their jam space with the goal of making it sound like some of the classic blues records of the '40s and '50s.
The solution: Record it like they would have, using just 1 microphone and moving the band around it until you find a good balance.
Come in to the session with us and see the methods we used to record the groups performance using just 1 microphone!
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[@dragonstuff1983]

Awesome job. My grandfather, who was a sound engineer for Chess Records, was one of the guys recording in this manner. Brings back good memories of him telling stories about his setups.

[@tonebonemarone3089]

Wow that’s really cool!

[@romeleone9429]

Thanks for the lesson . Less is more . 1 mic ,1 tom, 2piece horn section and the bass player doubling using vocals . Really sounded fantastic. Great acoustic engineering at it's best .

[@mathiaskellnermusik]

Good job man! Sounds amazing. So much better than a lot of overproduced stuff these days

[@davewestner]

Wow, that guy's got a great voice. Just at the point in the video where the actual mic kicks in, and it sounds great right off the bat. Nice job. this kinda thing is an audio bucket list item for me. It's great that you put this up here. thanks!

[@tonebonemarone3089]

Thanks man! Chris really does the blues well, it was great to have him and the excellent musicians in his band for this project. Thanks for tuning in!

[@isuruabeykoon66]

Great sound! it really brings back to the music of 50s!

[@joepalooka2145]

Great sounding video! I'm a huge fan of this "old-fashioned" style of recording, which to my mind is the BEST way of recording. Because the MUSIC and the HUMAN ELEMENT comes first, NOT the complicated technology! You feel like you're in the room with the musicians and they are all keying off each other, as good musicians always do.

[@stevenwalker3124]

Very, very well done...I think you nailed it. Congrats on producing a classic track!

[@tonebonemarone3089]

Thanks! It was a fun session

[@thedelshannonshow8575]

Amazing!

[@guiyudoc6720]

Very inspirational. Thank you for sharing.

[@IDDQDSound]

Just lovely!!! So cool! Consider me inspired to do this on a next record :)

[@tonebonemarone3089]

Make sure to take your time and experiment with mic and musician placement. Moving that mic up or down an inch on the stand can make a world of difference. Good luck and have fun!

[@LaCooper]

Thanks for another great video man! Thanks for sharing this journey

[@tonebonemarone3089]

It was too much fun to not share! Thanks for watching!

[@SidLives]

Awesome stuff, what a pleasure it must have been to work with musicians that can actually play a whole song from from start to finish, and you yourself, a real engineer that knows how to capture such a session well done!

[@tonebonemarone3089]

That really was a great session. I'll be working with Chris again next month, this time with a few more mics and a tape machine! I'm hoping to do another video about it but I might not be able to get the camera resources together in time.

[@BlueCollarLogic]

@@tonebonemarone3089 ... where are you?

[@tonebonemarone3089]

@@BlueCollarLogic I’m on Vancouver Island, the very west coast of Canada 🇨🇦

[@halliburton6262]

Dude this one is awesome !! I was just wondering about doing something cool like this !!

[@tonebonemarone3089]

Thanks man! I love this kind of unique session, it really tests the ears and creativity!

[@jimbergson]

Awesome video, it sounds great ! For some genres and situations less is Spot on ! :)

[@tonebonemarone3089]

Thanks! It wouldn’t work for many other styles or a less experienced band but this approach was perfect for this situation!

[@bigbarty8648]

The drummer in a band I used to play in got his wife to videotape our performance one night. After a bit of tweaking with Audacity the resulting sound was incredible. And that was just using the microphone built into the video camera.

[@rockboy360]

Air mixes better than any console! Beautiful sound, I think it could also work great with an omnidirectional mic or a stereo one, or even a blumlein pair to shape the drums a little more in the center.

[@vegasbackgrounds3426]

Good job!! And it sounds fantastic! It's not just that you slap up one mic, it's the placement, pickup pattern, and mic type that bring it all together! So simple but so correct!

[@VitorMachadoProf]

Excelent. I’ve subscribed. Cheers.

[@RocknRollkat]

Yup, this is how it was done. Compression was used to get the session above the noise floor of the half track mono tape machine, typically -65 dBs. These are far from ideal studio room conditions, but it sure proves a point.

[@andybinns8385]

Thoroughly enjoyed this. It's so easy to over complicate recording, and while this may have been difficult for the musicians, the end product sounds so pure and authentic. Great video, thanks for sharing!!

[@Eyzostouten]

Great video, love the sound! Are the recordings available to listen to somewhere?

[@dalan4791]

Hi I'd like to know if there is some kind of monitor or none cause I can't see headphones, I'm thinking this is quite impossible for louder genres. Amazing final product you got there by the way.

[@speedrunfantasychess]

Wow - cranked up in the headset and it sounds amazing - all the magic

[@batmayn123]

Sounds amazing!

[@travisraab]

whoa it sounds 3rd. is it stereo?

[@stephenromano6523]

amazing video thank you for this, almost want to send a picture of the studio session room Im working on. honestly want to record room improv sessions with one mic want to figure out what kind of micing should be used.

[@KyleCarrington]

Super interesting thanks

[@AntlerBandOfficial]

Great video man!!

[@tonebonemarone3089]

Thanks dude!

[@iler859]

You earned a sub just for that channel name alone. I am curious how you did the recording project for I am thinking about doing something similar. Right now I am just getting into recording and I am looking forward to watch the video when I return home. Greetings

[@jimbojazza5539]

It was the worth the wait for James.

[@nilsgrafo5999]

Well done and a big inspiration!

[@JoaoSantos-vc5vv]

Really nice one...

[@roysummers1026]

Cool 😎. Great live sound

[@pRotzkv]

Sweet vid dude. Thumbs up!

[@tonebonemarone3089]

Thank you!

[@MIDICECRISIS]

Good stuff Anthony!

[@tonebonemarone3089]

Thanks buddy! Hope you and the family are doing well!

[@Morten_Nielsen1979]

RTA R5 ribbon microphone, you say. I can not find this microphone nor the company on the Internet. I am trying to find out how to make a recording such as this. Which microphone should I buy? I sing with karaoke backing tracks and play acoustic or electric guitar on top. Is it possible to record such a live performance without any mixing programs? Just a simple recording like a dictaphone. I need to get close to a professional recording level. Preferably, something good enough to get on local radios.

[@aiacone]

Bravo!

[@alvarov4279]

Hey I'm not able to find the Chris Noel and the Burning House website anymore. Kind of a shame, you know what's goin on?

[@ssmstudio1476]

Great job.

[@marcusmagellan]

This is how you’re supposed to do it.

[@sombora]

Just curious, what city was this recorded in?

[@rabidwookie606]

Keep it up high or you just get bass drum and floor boom. Good job!

[@thezogs95]

What mic did you use for this?

[@KisaVorobyaninovDesu]

ART AR5 Active Ribbon Microphone

[@sugoma6741]

what kind of mic specifically did you use to achieve this recording?

[@KisaVorobyaninovDesu]

ART AR5 Active Ribbon Microphone

[@gibsondrummer]

They used more than one mic

[@peterleuenberger2981]

Fantastic!