How to make record albums

Onhwy61, what you say is not entirely true. A lot depends on the budget and space that is available for a band to record in.

An example is something called 'the Church' in Duluth, Minnesota. A good number of local Twin Cities bands travel to Duluth to use this studio because of the space- because they can record with only two mics, no EQ/no compression, no overdubs. One band that has done this a lot (and as a result, has turned out some great LPs) is a Duluth band called Low. I'm pretty sure Paul Metzger has recorded there too.

None of this material is on the audiophile's radar, even though it was done all-analog, on 180 gr. vinyl at RTI, yada yada.

When we did our LPs, we had our own space to do the work. Although they are not audiophiles, the other members of my band insisted on no overdubs, that is, the material was all recorded in the same space at the same time. We were still learning the space at the time so I think the first LP did not turn out as well sonically as the new one.

The second time around I rebuilt a set of Western Electric tube mic preamps, and we ran them directly into the recorder, and used them for the drums, which had a set of Neumann U-67s overhead with a few spots on the snare, ride and kickdrum. But we recorded the whole thing in one go for each track on the LP. There were separate tracks for each instrument/microphone, so we could mix it later.

BTW in our case, the LP is the only format released. We did do 24-bit backup digital tracks, but they proved to be no match for the analog master tapes. When we mixed everything, we used the best systems we could get our hands on for reference (tube amps, high end speakers) with no thought of what it might sound like on a car stereo or Ipod. Guess what- sounds fine on those things too. IMO the idea that you have to mix for a car stereo or whatever is stupid, plain and simple.

I do not agree that recording a band is all that different from recording an orchestra; I've done both and I have found that they have more in common **so long as the band is trying to get the best sound possible**.

The trick is: no EQ, no compression, no overdubs. But- you **do** have to know what you are doing with the mics!

Lesse... for a top-notch recording of Pink Floyd, find a copy of The Screaming Abdabs (this is Pink Floyd when they were off-contract) 'Rhapsody in Pink', a 2-LP set. It is recorded in the BBC studios before a Decca Stereo tree, the same kind that Kenneth Wilkinson used that made his recordings so good. This recording has no overdubs, no EQ, just the raw mic feed on LP. Its the best sound (IMO) that Pink Floyd ever got and is an excellent example of How to Record a Rock Band in HiFi.

(Pardon me if I say that Pink Floyd and host of others mentioned could have done a lot better job, but often don't because its hard.)

If you show up at RMAF or THE Show I will play it for you.

Mercury used a set of 3 omni microphones, the 3rd being dead center. This mic was usually mixed into the other two channels for stereo. The Decca stereo Tree was a set of cardioids mounted on a baffle that had a sound absorbing panel between the mics. Sometimes a 3rd mic was mounted on the middle panel. Wilkinson favored this approach and also used it on most of the RCAs recorded in England. Both techniques have their strengths and weaknesses!

For our drums we used something a lot like the Decca tree, but no baffles. The mics were angled about 110 degrees off from each other. This is a classic way of recording in stereo and works as well for drums as it does for a full orchestra.

This is why I say recording the orchestra or a band is not that far apart. I've dealt with orchestra leaders who wanted me to use more mics and signal processing, don't think for a minute that the classical world is purist-only!!

Its not too late. Take a look at http://www.paulmetzger.net/