"Retro" Microphone for "Rat Pack" recording

Posted on Feb 14, 2006 08:16 pm
willhanburyjr
Member Since: Feb 14, 2006

Greetings and salutations, I'm seeking your valuable advice on something I'm doing. I'm making a personal CD for friends and family using backing tracks of the "rat pack" songs that Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, all the great singers of that era did. I want to capture that great sound they got in the studio. Although I get a great response from my Nady retro condenser mic, I want to be more authentic. Does anyone know what kind of microphones were used in the studio back then? Also, would my singing sound more "retro" if I added a tube preamp, and if so, could you kind guys make a recommendation? I would prefer something small, as I'm limited to space.
Thanks all!

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guitar_jim
Czar of Cheese
Member
Since: Jun 09, 2004

Feb 14, 2006 08:26 pm

Read this:

www.sony.net/Fun/SH/1-7/h1.html

and this:

www.xprt.net/~rcrowley/SonyC37/index.htm

and this:

cgi.ebay.com/SONY-C-37A-T...itemZ7382345856

willhanburyjr
Member
Since: Feb 14, 2006

Feb 15, 2006 12:45 am

Hi guitar jim, and thanks for answering my question. That stuff looks fantastic! Do you know of an inexpensive condenser that does a good retro emulation? I really don't have the money (yet!) to buy the Sony, but believe me, it's in my favorites so I can get one when I can. Thanks for the history, too, really cool to read about how they recorded. Thanks!

Noize2u
Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Feb 15, 2006 09:59 pm

william, you can actually do it in software or with a bit of EQ.

In the day, they were using mostly Ribbon type mics like these. uv201.com/framepage1.htm

You can still buy a ribbon mic today, some more expensive then others. But that is how that early sound was achieved using those types of mics.

One of the big names today is Royer Labs. www.royerlabs.com/

I am not sure what kind of pluggins your software uses, but if you combine a little EQ and some saturation type pluggin you can emulate that very sound easily.

EQ wise you just need a slight boost in the mid and upper mid tone range.

Here is a mic from Shure which is a tried and true design thats been around forever. www.shure.com/microphones/models/55sh.asp

As well Blue makes some great mics as well that have the EQ curves of some older style condensors. www.bluemic.com/

Hope some of this hleps ya get what your looking for.