Studio Recording Techniques Through the Years - Photos Please!

Great wide shot, not seen one like this before. Looks like strings far left, horns in the centre in from of conductor and then rhythm section and percussion to the right.

 

This was the recording that got Ralph the job with Nat, thanks to the intervention of Val Valentin.

 

Yeah but on "Think for yourself" the Fuzztone is on the bass, not on John's guitar.

 

Looks like four U47s (two on the right) and maybe a DX77? Wouldn't bet the house on it though!

 

I'm not a Doors fan (quite the opposite actually), but have heard tracks from this album for ages on the radio. Never knew it was live in a small room. What kind of mic is Morrison using? An E-V of sort? Was he recording scratch vocals with that or did it all end up on the album?

dan c

 

I was unaware that Val Valentin worked at Capitol in the '50s. I recognize the name from the credits on many MGM LP covers from the '60s.

 

"Rothchild wasn't the only one who felt liberated: “When Paul removed himself, we felt the same as he did — we were out of school; we were free,” Botnick remembers. “The guys said to me, ‘What do you think we can do here?’ And I said, ‘You guys like your rehearsal room?’ ‘Yeah, we love it there!’ ‘Great, I'm going to get some gear and I'll set it up in [manager] Bill Siddons’ office, which is upstairs, and run mic cables downstairs and we'll record there; forget going into a regular studio every day.' Well, they liked that idea a lot and three or four days later we did just that. I got a bunch of gear from Elektra Studios across the street — a [custom] console and a Scully 8-track. We kept it simple. I had the gear upstairs; the band was downstairs in their rehearsal room. The idea was there weren't any rules. The idea was to play well and capture it on tape and see what happened. They had earphones, I had speakers. Jim was set up in the bathroom because it was so crammed. He stood in the doorway and sang the whole album, using the same mic he used on tour, which I think was an Electro-Voice.”"

http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_doors_riders_storm/

That said, I can't find any EV mics that look just like that, and most in that form factor (like the 655C) are omnidirectional, which would be pretty unusual for stage use.

Apparently he was known to use a 676; it's possible that the photo above is just at a funny angle, and his hand is (mostly) covering the Variable-D slots. I'm probably going with that.

 

Val's obituary. http://www.aes.org/aeshc/docs/jaes.obit/JAES_V47_6_PG548.pdf

 

Radio & Television News, April 1951:

VERSATILE EQUIPMENT
Key To Good Recording
By William Miller
General Recording Manager
Capitol Records, Inc.

Flexible recording studios and a variety of modern cutting equipment characterize Capitol's operation.

FLEXIBILITY is the keynote of all recording and dubbing operations at the Hollywood recording studios of Capitol Records, Inc. Shown on this month's cover in Studio C with engineer John Block at the controls, is vivacious singing star Margaret Whiting, as she records her song hits, "Over and Over and Over" and "The Moon Was Yellow." Besides frequent recording sessions, the popular gal singer, who has won "Top Vocalist" awards for the past five years since her disc of "It Might As Well Be Spring" was released, is heard twice weekly on a network radio show with Jack Smith.

In explaining the versatility of all the studios and equipment used on a Capitol recording session, first, one of the four available studios is selected by
agreement between the musical producer and the recording department manager, according to orchestra size, whether it is vocal or instrumental,
etc. After an agreement is reached on studio, type of pickup and placement and over-all sound needed, the microphones for the job are then picked
from the seven available types. In the case of this particular Margaret Whiting session, the Stephens MI-CIC microphone was chosen for its extreme
cleanness throughout the entire range, and for its absence of "pops" on certain letters such as "p" in the lower frequencies.

All original recording is done on Ampex tape machines. The studios are equipped with four of the 200 series (large, custom-built models) and three of the 300 series (small, broadcast type). After the number has been recorded, the original tapes are intercut according to the producer's direction, and a final "A" tape is placed on the storage reel ready for dubbing. Since Capitol produces a great part of its catalogue on all three speeds, special tapes must be assembled from the originals with proper pauses or spacing for the LP 33 1/3 r.p.m. sides, which of course run from 12 to 26 1/2 minutes for a single side.

The console, (see cover) one of the two custom-built for Capitol by Art Davis of Cinema Engineering, has a very desirable feature; i.e., eight of its
ten channels can be either boosted or attenuated nine db. at the high or low end. This feature alone is one of the most versatile aids in getting any desired
sound, and is extremely valuable for music, vocals, or sound effects.

To the left of the console but not shown are the eight channels of echo which control the mixer output to the speakers in one or both of the two specially constructed echo chambers located on the roof of the building.

The red knob at the right of the console is the master echo return, which controls the over-all amount of echo returning to the console to be mixed with the main program material.

Another interesting feature of this studio, which cannot be seen in the picture, is the presence of large (8 x 10) movable acoustic panels, (hardboard surface on one side and glass wool on the reverse) which are hung from tracks in the ceiling. They hang parallel to the walls. If a live sound is needed, all the panels are turned with the hard side out, although for most purposes about half of the panels are turned with the absorbent (glass wool) side facing the room.

The mixers and recording engineers all have extensive musical backgrounds, which enable them to grasp quickly any problem involving the editing of the music, as required by the producer.

Capitol is firm in its belief that, in order to do a top-quality job on all recorded material from classical to hillbilly music at all three speeds, the equipment and the personnel must be geared to meet any of the many different problems which are posed by an inventive Repertoire Department.



Engineer John Kraus inspects an LP during cutting process. Note automatic head lifting mechanism at rear of cutting head pivot.

General view of Capitol Record's dubbing room No. 2 showing two Scully lathes tied together (by means of the dural bar at rear of lathes) for producing two identical processing masters simultaneously. These machines normally produce LP's and are equipped with semi-automatic groove deepeners and automatic head lift at master tail out.


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Not sure what a Stephens MI-CIC mic is. Possibly a C-1?

 

In the second picture it looks like there is a small white speaker wedge facing Jim on top of the patchbay on the floor.

 

Good eye, I think you're right. I wonder if they just did that while rehearsing or if they tracked that way too.

 

Those Scullys look like 501 class. Looks like they got the more "modern" Scullys by year's end.

 

Perhaps, although that seems kind of small to be a monitor. I wonder if perhaps that was used for communication from the control room.

The guitar amp situation is also odd. I don't see mics on what are apparently Benno and Krieger's amps, and it's odd that Kreiger's amp is facing right at Morrison. Are the guitars DI'd? Or were those photos in fact from a rehearsal?

 

That video is no longer available, but the entire documentary is on YouTube officially now:

Glenn Gould - On the Record

And the companion piece:

Glenn Gould - Off the Record

 

RCA Studios - Nashville, TN.
Roy Orbison guitar monument stands outside.

 

RCA Studios - Nashville, TN.

 

RCA Studio - Nashville, TN.
Original piano used by countless artists, on countless music classics.

 

RCA Studios - Nashville, TN.

 

RCA Studios - Nashville, TN.

 

RCA Studios - Nashville, TN.

 

That's the desk from the (Bradley/Decca) Quonset Hut.

 

Hey, that's Owen Bradley's console from the Quonset Hut!: