My "studio" is a tiny, cluttered terraced house bedroom so the room sound is something i don't have huge deal of control over. A lot of it is just trial & error but I've picked up a lot of useful tips reading about GBV like turning the high end EQ all the way up & rolling the bass down to zero...
..I think that probably doesn't work in a digital context but something about the way it hits the tape really punches things up. Also feeding the mic through guitar pedals for compression/reverb/saturation. Recording with the meters in the red can work well too. And sometimes going through an amp...
..I try to double-track vox too whenever I can but obviously that's limited by the format. It's definitely got me thinking a lot more about stuff like mic proximity too. Think I have a tendency to mix vocals a bit too low sometimes tho, which might be a confidence thing...
I think the low mixing of vocals is pretty common for exactly the reasons you say. But one or two other things you say do still seem to me to go back to getting your settings the way you want them before you record, because afterwards you’re stuck.
Definitely. A big part of transition from digital (not that I ever used anything more advanced than Audacity) was getting used to that aspect of not being able to fix stuff in post (though the effects loop on my Tascam can be useful for that during mixdown) & just getting stuff right in the moment
..the clarity of Bob's voice in those kind of recordings is something I definitely struggle to replicate. But I think that's as much a testament to his power as a vocalist as it is to their recording process, but it's hard to get that sort of upfront sound without it clashing with the music a bit.
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