People // Jimi P. // Blog
Saturday September 01, 2007 at 05:22 PM |
The past few months I 've been tryin' to find any piece of information concerning the way funk and disco tracks were produced in the 70s and recreate that particular sound. I'm mostly interested in the way the various elements were put in the mix and the way they were processed.I 've found some things about the equipment used back then but the way it was put to use I can only assume by listening. Things like using a spring reverb or a plate in guitar etc. is mostly a process of trial and error to me. I'm after the sound of particular studios,producers or artists which I 'll list below.Any help on this matter is welcome as is any comment or critisism on my tracks. Thanx a lot in advance to anybody who will be put in trouble answering.
The studios : Stax,Motown,The Automatt,Salsoul Records etc.
Producers : Barry White,Isaac Hayes,Chic,Herbie Hancock,Van McCoy,James Brown or Fred Wesley (People Records).
Artists : Love Unlimited Orchestra,Chic,MFSB,Salsoul Orchestra,Van McCoy,Bar-Kays,Roy Ayers,Herbie Hancock,Deodato,Curtis Mayfield and the list is a tome-long but I think you get the big picture.
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Saturday September 08, 2007 at 07:03 PM
couple things go into the sound primarily--recording to analogue tape and analogue mastering of the records themselves as well as the vintage electronics of the day[they didnt know it was vintage only that it was expensive?] some of theses things are hard to duplicate... there are some computer based hardware/software solutions for some of the hardware of the day such as this from steinberg users group
UAD Plug-ins
The plug-ins in Cubase are great to be sure - multi-band EQs and compressors, Amp Simulators, Reverbs and more, they all do the job elegantly and effectively and are part of what make Cubase 4 (and Studio 4) such a great all-in-one production package. But Universal Audio (yes, the same company that manufacturers classic studio compressors such as the LA-2A and 1176) now specializes in plug-ins, specifically software emulations of vintage and industry-standard, time-tested hardware like the Fairchild 670 and Neve 33609. Not all plug-ins are created equal - UA doesn't just emulate the results of the hardware, with many of their plug-ins they actually go so far as to emulate the exact signal path of the hardware device in question, right down to the transistor, and you don't need a $5,000 monitoring setup to be able to hear the difference between these and your standard plugs. Very few professional studios and mastering houses do not use the UAD plug-ins on a daily basis while making hit records and productions in all styles and genres, and here at Keyfax we rely heavily on the LA-2A compressor and the Cambridge EQ (hosted within Cubase 4, of course) in all of our DVD and web-based video productions.
Aside from being extremely high-quality and authentic, the UAD Powered plug-ins are unique in another way - they come on a PCI card with its own processor, allowing you to run these plug-ins in Cubase or any other host program without taxing your computer's CPU (available for Laptops as well!). If you've ever noticed your system bogging down as you add more and more effects and processors, you will appreciate the value of being able to run many instances of these high-powered EQs, Compressors, Delays, Reverbs, Amp Simulators and Effects, without bogging, clicking, or popping. UA makes 2 different cards for desktops - one for PCI slots and one for PCIe slots, and they have a system for laptops as well, each of which comes with 3 different plug-in bundles at 3 different price points. And as a UA customer you can download additional plug-ins as you need them through your UAD account. "" ---they are not cheap i suppose but compared to the original they would be a steal.
other things to consider is everyone in the same room at the same time--ie the vibes that is impossible to reproduce.---
just a few observations
bill nichols
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