Early Beatles Sound

[JKD99]

What's pointless about his question? Reading through his posts on this thread, it sounds to me like he DOES have some experience (and some hardware processing) and is simply looking to emulate the hardware of the Beatles with modern plug-ins. As we know, and has been pointed out, the recordings are much more than just a sum of the EQs and reverbs, but that wasn't what he originally asked.

Not that it's got anything to do with me, but I don't know why everyone seems to be ganging up on the guy.

[AmazingOne]

Thanks Joe, I guess the "ganging up" syndrome just comes from lack of knowledge about someone. When Druphus advises on selling a rig, that says he is advocating quitting. Why would someone want to quit? I love the challenges in the biz starting from a couple of decades ago, getting two seperate tape machines in playback/record mode to do my first multitracking, before moving on to 4-track cassette recorders(remember those?), then on to reel-to-reel, then ADAT and Tascam D-88. syncing them all up together for multitracking then getting it into a DAW.I then got into Pro Tools Mbox2 system and then HD. So why would someone want to quit as Druphus suggested? Since video/film go hand in hand with audio, does Druphus remember the early video tape machines? It was black and white on reels. This is what we learned on in my experience coming up. Nowadays I happily use Final Cut Pro and After Effects.
Should I quit that too?

[Stuart P.]

Man, what a dogpile!

Hey, anybody using the new "Virtual Dead Rat" proximity modeling plug? I think Crane Song is making it. When I closed my eyes and stood quietly next to the mic, I couldn't tell that I wasn't Lennon! It's that good.


More cowbell, George!!!!



P.S. AmazingOne - We're just busting your chops, buddy. You will find that people on the DUC go out of their way to help each other. Everyone's kinda frustrated with the state of the music and post industries right now, and we'll leap at any opportunity to let off a little steam. Stick around, you'll see what I mean.

Take care,
S.

[PTUser NYC]

Poster PTUser NYC used the example of emulating the sound of a Fender Twin(which I had two in my lifetime) to sound like Chuck Berry, Chilli Peppers or a country record. Thankfully, plug-ins like Amp-Farm, Amplitube and Guitar Rig do a good job or nailing a specific preset..example: Jimi Hendrix-Foxy Lady.

I think you missed my point entirely.

If you have a decent Fender Twin emulation, there's still a lot that goes into making the sound of Chuck berry vs. that of The Chilli Peppers. If you're asking for an ambience or delay plug in that has "early beatles" presets, then i have to say that I don't know of any. Further, even if they did exist, the simple question of how much you sned and return of them makes all the difference between it sounding like what you want, vs. Elvis, vs. something very modern or anything else.

There is no preset to being an engineer. I don't tell you this as a put down, I intend to be helpful, and teach you something - to actually answer your question. YOu're just not getting the answer formatted in the way you expected it, so you're ssuming I'm busting on you, which I am not.

You know what technology they had: Rooms, Chambers, Plates, Springs, and tape slap. All of these are modelled decently to well in any number of plug ins. Echo Farm is good for tape slaps, and Altiverb is great from rooms, chambers, plates etc.

Again, these tools can sound very Beatle-like, or not at all depending on how you use them. Also, any delay can sound right or wrong if you use it correctly. At the right delay time, in the right perspective, and with the top end rolled off, ANY delay plug in can get what you want., or could be the direct opposite, depending on how you use it.

The fact is, that it is your perpective on what the ambience you're looking for sounded like TO YOU, and then your ability to recreate that with ANY TOOLS that will define your success or failure at this task.

Sure, you could wait for the Jimi Hendrix patch to come out, but a wah wah into a Marshall, with a possible chewy phaser or big muff esque fuzz box will get you there, no matter the simulator.

Engineering IS about using your ears, and not about simply dialing in the right presets.

The right presets might even sound good on their own, but will the blend in a mix? it depends on whether your inner ear heard something coherent, and you made choices accordingly as you went along.

In short, there is no Early Beatles delay sound, there is only your take on it, and any gear can get you there if you make the right choices.

[rockridge]

In short, there is no Early Beatles delay sound, there is only your take on it, and any gear can get you there if you make the right choices.

I agree, looking for that "sweet" delay/reverb, is like looking for the "perfect" EQ setting and applying it to ever track.

None of that will make any difference if what you're recording is less than what the Beatles did all those years ago...

Do a cover of "Love me Do" or "From me to you"... see how close you get.

[77pro]

...Thought I'd sneek over for a minute and see what the big boys were up to......

[PTUser NYC]

looking for that "sweet" delay/reverb, is like looking for the "perfect" EQ setting and applying it to ever track.

None of that will make any difference if what you're recording is less than what the Beatles did all those years ago...

Or even if your recording is better, or even just different! In fact, I'm positive that the ambience settings from one of the Beatles songs you liked would sound awful on another of the songs you're talking about. It all has to work in context.

Kinda like asking - "how much salt should I use when I'm cooking?" or worse - "Which spice tastes the most like Italian (or French or whatever) cooking?"

Do a cover of "Love me Do" or "From me to you"... see how close you get.

This is excellent advice. You'll learn a lot doing this sort of exercise.

[Druphus]

Ok so I admit my last post was more of a coffee induced rant at the AmazingOne rather than anything useful but my final thought on this matter is that presets should only ever be treated as a starting point. We have it easy as a plug-in preset will always sound the same unlike hardware especially guitar amps which may sound better or awful compared to their software counterparts on a certain day because they are effected by other factors such as the space they are in, the power supply and the temperature within the room. An engineer would have to work on the sound until the colour and tone either felt right to them or worked well in the context of the material they were working on.

Don't bother wasting your time trying to exactly recreate the sound of those records because you will only ever be disappointed with the results as no matter how close you get they will always lack the 'magic' that happened in the room at the time when they were recorded. Instead focus on creating new sounds by pushing your plug-ins and hardware and creating your own magic- it will be far more rewarding exercise...