50s production techniques

[Analog Recording and Overdubbing]

Analog tape recorders involved slicing and made it possible for producers to be able to cut and reform sections of recordings. This really made it insanely easy to correct any mistakes that may have been made during recording and create seamless takes. Many producers and musicians began to make good use of the properties of tape to create some big effects such as reverb and echo. This was helpful with adding some depth and space in recordings.

Analog tape recorders made overdubbing so much easier. Overdubbing is where additional instruments or vocals could be recorded over a track that already exists. This is very helpful when it comes to building these unique, layered sounds. Overdubbing is where you record something on a new track. The easiest way to overdub is create a brand new track on you DAW (DAW stands for Digital Audio Workstation, most common DAWs are things like Logic, Garage Band, Cubebass and Band Lab) and start recording along side the tracks that you have already laid out. 

[Close Mic Technique]

The close mic technique involves placing microphones within a close proximity (around 1 to 30 centimetres) to the source of sound, this helped with capturing a more absolute sound. The close mic technique quikcly became poullar to Rock 'N' Roll recordings. With using the close mic technique, there can be a case of leakage, this is where the microphones are picking up noises from some or all of the other instruments in the room. 

You can prevent a leakage by: placing the microphone closer to the instrument you want a tighter sound for, setting up barriers. between the instrument you have set up for this technique and the other instruments, or by simply just putting more of a distance between between the instrument with the microphone(s) and the other instruments. Say you are using this technique on the drums, you want to set up a barrier between the drum kit and the guitars and basses so that the microphone doesn't pick up any of those noises.

[Reverberation]

Reverberation, a perfect way to describe this is if you were to clap your hands loudly or shout something at the top of you lungs and hear a form of ringing echo around the room, that noise is made as the noise reflects off the hard surfaces of the room. The sound that you produce bounces from surface to surface causing the noise to repeat and overlap each other to create a form of echoing sound known as reverb.

Artists used to used a form of reverberation called plate reverb in studios. This was done by using two large metal sheets that they set up a vibration made from from the sound that bounced back and forth between, this sound is then transferred back using a pickup.

The effect that this leaves is that it gives the song a more natural feeling and makes it sound more repelled around the room, as if the song is bouncing around the room, making the