Synthesizer Recording Techniques of the 70s and 80s

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midiCHICK6
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Synthesizer Recording Techniques of the 70s and 80s

Post by midiCHICK6 » Wed Sep 19, 2007 6:39 am

I was listening to some New Wave recordings recently (specifically Duran Duran) and I noticed that the way synthesizers were recorded sounded noticably different compared to a modern synth recording.


I'm not talking about the fact that the synths were recorded to tape instead of a computer; I'm talking about the placement in the mix more than anything.

I guess my main questions are:

Were synths recorded in mono or stereo?
Were synths DI'd or mic'd with an amp?

It seems today that almost all synths are DI'd and a lot more sounds are recorded in stereo now!

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Post by wiss » Wed Sep 19, 2007 6:57 am

I dont DI synths....its dirct to the mixing board...
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Post by piRoN » Wed Sep 19, 2007 7:00 am

wiss wrote:I dont DI synths....its dirct to the mixing board...
Er... That is DI'ing. ;)
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Post by KnowGood » Wed Sep 19, 2007 8:00 am

I remember reading that Depeche Mode, on Speak and Spell, recorded as if they were a band with "real" instruments. They would mic the amp in an isolation booth and go the whole nine. Seems to have worked pretty good - at least to my ears.
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Post by midiCHICK6 » Wed Sep 19, 2007 8:46 am

Wow, i'm surprised Depeche Mode mic'd. Anyone know how Duran went about things?
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Re: Synthesizer Recording Techniques of the 70s and 80s

Post by Synthaholic » Wed Sep 19, 2007 1:15 pm

midiCHICK6 wrote:Were synths recorded in mono or stereo?
Many synths in the 70s/early 80s didn't have stereo outputs at all, or if they did, it was just for effects (chorus/flanger etc.) Sometimes they would record a synth part twice, once for each channel, to get a stereo effect, or use 2 synths, or run them through an effects box.
Were synths DI'd or mic'd with an amp?
It depends on the sound they were after. I'm sure it's been done both ways.
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Post by wiss » Wed Sep 19, 2007 3:03 pm

piRoN wrote:
wiss wrote:I dont DI synths....its dirct to the mixing board...
Er... That is DI'ing. ;)
I was assuming he meant DI box...
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Post by RobotHeroes » Thu Sep 20, 2007 5:37 am

wiss wrote:
piRoN wrote:
wiss wrote:I dont DI synths....its dirct to the mixing board...
Er... That is DI'ing. ;)
I was assuming he meant DI box...
I think "he" is a "she". Alert the internets! We have an intruder. :P
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Post by midiCHICK6 » Thu Sep 20, 2007 9:48 am

The reason why I ask this is because it seems that some of the old synthpop mixes are a little less cluttered than modern day ones, at least in the sense of stereophony. Also, I know that mic'ing synthesizers can help add "early reflections" to the sound (natural reverb) which sounds quite nice.

When did stereo outputs become the norm?
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Post by BadTeeth » Thu Sep 20, 2007 12:02 pm

roland gear put stereo outs on most gear after about '84? i think
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Post by OriginalJambo » Thu Sep 20, 2007 1:42 pm

BadTeeth wrote:roland gear put stereo outs on most gear after about '84? i think
Earlier than that man. The Jupiter-8 and Junos both had stereo outs where as, for example, the PolySix didn't. That was '81/82?

Roland incorporated stereo into their gear pretty early on it seems.
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Post by BadTeeth » Sun Sep 23, 2007 10:16 am

corrected.
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Post by otto » Mon Sep 24, 2007 4:02 pm

midiCHICK6 wrote:The reason why I ask this is because it seems that some of the old synthpop mixes are a little less cluttered than modern day ones, at least in the sense of stereophony. Also, I know that mic'ing synthesizers can help add "early reflections" to the sound (natural reverb) which sounds quite nice.

When did stereo outputs become the norm?
I wonder if the cluttered sound you dislike is the heavy use of compression in modern music.
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Post by shaft9000 » Tue Sep 25, 2007 12:07 am

otto wrote: I wonder if the cluttered sound you dislike is the heavy use of compression in modern music.
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Post by moogplayer » Mon Oct 15, 2007 4:37 am

another method is to record both DI and amped signals to separate tracks. Sometimes I do this using an old Ampeg reverb rocket amp.
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