Analogue sound setups in high end studios often do not sound as good as the cheap interfaces of today. Simulating quality of the past has its place in numerous projects, and sometimes it can be great for one track or an entire project. There are some very easy tricks that anyone can do to imitate the sound of classic music.
It is essential to understand the concepts rather than the exact settings, since different setups will demand different settings. People integrate the imperfections into new recordings that modern equipment has since fixed, in order to get the vintage sound. Reproducing the audio sound quality that is not intended for new speakers, reproducing background noises and distorting tracks are staples of aged recordings. People still use outdated equipment and modern effects that aim to reproduce this sound that screams nostalgia to many people.
One of the classic sounds that people wish to reproduce is the mid-heavy sound that most past recordings used. Since speakers at the time were not as good as they are these days, music then was designed to work with them. Adding more mid ranged frequencies into each track at the beginning of the effects works well to emulate this type of sound. A parametric equalizer serves this intention best since the “bell” of the adjustment can be tweaked so it does not make a sound too bass or treble heavy. The bass rolls off gently and the high end is boosted until it is clear but not tinny. A similar effect can be produced by incorporating a high and low pass filter, or incorporating certain kinds of reverb effects.
Using current specialized effects can also make an up to date track sound like a Beatles vinyl recording. These pieces of software in many cases are very advanced, while they end up producing a worse sounding track in the long run. Tape wear and the imperfections that vinyl records produce are often emulated through these pieces of software, and can often be chosen at will. This can make a Radiohead vinyl cover song sound like it was made many years ago, as opposed to sounding pristine with today's equipment.
The last and best way to re-create classic sound is to simply use old equipment. People can easily plug these devices into their setup and record, often requiring little to no tweaking to achieve the desired result. It is often a breeze to hook these devices into modern setups, given that they usually use the same connections and wires. Although digital equipment has come a long way, a lot of studio owners and producers still choose to use analogue equipment for modern recordings.
Source by Seth Frank
