Studio Recording Techniques Through the Years - Photos Please!

If I were the bass player on that session, I would hate to have the guitar amp blasting in my face like that.

It looks like it's a brown Fender Concert:

 

Perhaps @Buffalo would know.

 

Clever remake of Dvorak. That's Pioneer SE-2P headphones, got a pair. What's the vocal mike?

 

At first I thought it might be a Beyerdynamic M260 but probably not. Doesn't mind smoke whatever it it!

 

Hard to tell with the windscreen. I'd guess a SDC like a Neumann KM54, but that's purely a guess.

 

Well, I've got the cd transfer but could not tell what mike it is by ear, even if I wished...

 

The Scholars (white sweaters) with vocal trio the Perennials, plus manager Nat Segal
Cameo Parkway Studio, Philadelphia, January 28, 1967:









The Scholars | Garage Hangover

 

Monk at Reeves Sound Studio in New York, in 1956... from the fabulous PreservationSound website.

 

Why do you say that?

 

That's an interesting point .
I worked at a small sized music store in the late 70's and there were four or five of us that smoked in there all day .

We noticed that the grill cloth on the guitar amps were turning yellow.

When I see pictures of the Beatles in the studio and hanging around the recording desk, etc., everyone is smoking like crazy.

It was probably the same everywhere in the 50's and onward.

I wonder how often they sprayed Funk Out or the eras equivalent in the mixer etc., and did they clean out the mics somehow once in awhile also ?

 

Original page says 'circa' 1956, so I could be wrong about the date.

 

Thelonious Himself was recorded in April of 1957, and the same console can be seen on the cover:



It looks like The Unique Thelonious Monk and Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington were both engineered by Rudy Van Gelder, so it seems likely the photo above is from one of those April 1957 sessions.

 

This photo is great. It intrigues me. Any guesses as to whether this is from the Electric Ladyland sessions? Would this be the "party scene?"

 

Some great pics, still making my way through all the pages. Does anyone know of any good ones from Fleetwood Mac at Chess that aren't on the releases of those sessions? Also the Howling Wolf London sessions, or really any sessions of him and his band at Chess or Sun.

 

A little commentary and a question. I love looking at this stuff. Dig the capsule grill on Curtis Mayfield's U47. One thing that has perplexed me though is that while there seem to be vintage Neumann mics available I have not really seen any offerings of what I will call vintage capsule grills. There are modern wind screens and pop screens, etc. But what has become of the globe capsule grills like the one here? Also, you will see photos of what I take to be KM56 mics on the drums and cymbals at RVG's studios with a smaller globe capsule. But when the KM56 mics are offered for sale I have yet to see one of the vintage capsule grills available. Any ideas on where to find them?

 

Thanks Lukpac! ..... some really great info and photos at the Preservation Sound website., including the one below.


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We had seen and discussed an excerpt of this in the Columbia 30th Street thread, but Ron Furmanek let me know that Anatomy of Pop: The Music Explosion is available in its entirety on YouTube:



Sessions seen in the film:

0:24 - 1:00
Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York
Tony Bennett
The Trolley Song

5:19 - 7:12
Motown Studio A, Detroit
The Supremes
My World Is Empty Without You

8:12 - 9:16
RCA Studio A, Nashville
Waylon Jennings
Stop the World and Let Me Off

11:44 - 13:10
Motown Studio A, Detroit
The Temptations
My Girl

32:24 - 33:04
Nashville, outside shots of:
RCA Studio A
Decca (?)
Columbia
Capitol

Control room shots of RCA Studio A.

41:34 - 43:14
Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York
Tony Bennett
Days of Wine and Roses

47:49 - 50:47
Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York
Tony Bennett
The Trolley Song

The Motown sessions are staged. I'm not sure about the Waylon Jennings session, but I think the Bennett sessions are real.

The film was first broadcast on February 15, 1966 on ABC. Written and produced by Stephen Fleischman, there's a discussion of the program in his memoirs.

 

without starting a new thread, I wasn't sure where to put this, but a great watch:


what Mic is Frank singing into there?

 

Pretty sure that's a "The AKG Tube", aka an AKG "The Tube".







Also of note, that's A&R Studio A-1, formerly (until 1966) Columbia Studio A.

 

Some selected shots from the control room:


Recording engineer Hank Cicalo, singer-songwriter Carole King, and record producer Lou Adler gather around the mixing desk for a playback in the control room of A&M Records Recording Studio during the recording of King's album 'Tapestry' in January 1971 in Los Angeles, California, United States.
Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Inductees: A Look Back Photos and Images | Getty Images


James Taylor, recording engineer Hank Cicalo, Joni Mitchell (back), Carole King and record producer Lou Adler gather around the mixing desk for a playback in the control room of A&M Records Recording Studio during the recording of King's album 'Tapestry' in January 1971 in Los Angeles, California, United States.
Singer/Songwriter Carole King Turns 70 Photos and Images | Getty Images


Joni Mitchell and James Taylor talk to Carole King in the control room of A&M Records Recording Studio during the recording of King's album 'Tapestry' in January 1971 in Los Angeles, California, United States.
Tapestry Recording Sessions Pictures | Getty Images


James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, recording engineer Hank Cicalo and Carole King in the control room of A&M Records Recording Studio during the recording of King's album 'Tapestry' in January 1971 in Los Angeles, California, United States.
Singer/Songwriter Carole King Turns 70 Photos and Images | Getty Images

In conjunction, here's a 1971 article from Recording Engineer/Producer magazine. Some or all of the photos are from the Tapestry sessions, but the write-up is from the Music sessions.

RE/P Files: Carole King, Lou Adler, And Hank Cicalo In Session At A&M Records - ProSoundWeb

 

Good lord that was a massive studio. Was that in Columbia Square?
It messes with my mind knowing that any S&G tracks were recorded in California. They're so NYC to me, all of their songs seem like they had to be created in "Midnight Cowboy"-era NYC.

dan c

 

Yes.