Recording - August 2014 - 36

Sometimes the best way to make a record is in stages: track
drums and bass, overdub guitar and keyboards, then vocals, etc..
This lets you make sure each part is perfect before moving on;
that's great for songwriters fleshing out arrangements or for really
awful bands that just can't get through a song without a train
wreck. However, when you have a band that rocks hard together,
you can capture a much more ass-kicking performance by having
the whole band play together, feeding off of each other in a way
that just doesn't happen when the drummer has already gone
home and the guitar player is asked to shred all alone in a big,
cold room under a bare bulb.

Pro Tools, no Auto-Tune. Each musician played perfectly or was
on the next bus back to Kalamazoo... or perhaps on a train to
the front lines if you got fired from Glenn Miller's Service band.
You'd better practice!
Early rock recordings modified this approach. Common
practice was to put a mic on each instrument; however, they
all still set up in the same room because that is how they
rehearsed and performed! In 1963 the Beatles were recording in Abbey Road Studio 2, 40 by 37 feet with 28-foot ceilings, in an arrangement shown in Figure 1. The drums were
placed in a corner and miked with an overhead ribbon and

Recording A Band... As A Band

By Michael Schulze

Old school methods for old school vibe
This approach was once the norm, but fell somewhat out of favor
in the 1980s and 1990s as advancements in multitrack technology
made it possible to piece records together in multiple studios on multiple continents. Some producers sacrificed musical spontaneity in
search of perfection, tracking some very big hits with virtual bands
that never sat in the same room together.
Today, though, the old ways are coming back. In Dave Grohl's documentary Sound City, we hear Tom Petty talking about slogging
through take after take after take, all together in the big room with the
drummer, the vibe and feel coming together ever so incrementally with
each take and each early morning hour, until finally-after weeks of
this long siege-a top 10 hit would emerge, something that just would
not have rocked so hard any other way. Bands like Foo Fighters and
Queens of the Stone Age are new proponents of, well, being a band.
There is just something you get with the band all in the same room,
with everyone feeling the kick drum thumping at their internal organs.
Some history
Many early music recordings were made in concert halls. Classical
ensembles were set up on a stage as if they were performing a concert. One or two mics were set in front of the ensemble and recording
ensued. The aim was to capture the balance of the instruments just as
an audience member might perceive it. By the 1940s, big band swing
was king and the approach was not much different. When Tommy
Dorsey's band performed with the young and still submissive Frank
Sinatra, there was but one mic for vocals and solos. When they went
into the studio, usually for a live broadcast, a recording would be made
as well, direct to acetate disc. Maybe 3 mics were used: one on the
rhythm section, one pointing at the horn section, and one up front for
Frank and Tommy. The 3 mics were mixed to mono and sent out over
the airwaves while being recorded, all in real time, no headphones, no
36

RECORDING August 2014

Fig. 1: Here's the layout for the
recording of the first Beatles
album.

Recording - August 2014

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