Direct to 2 track recordings

cale w · Post by **cale w** » Mon Mar 23, 2015 11:51 pm

I just read that "Small Change" by Tom Waits was recorded direct to 2 track. I've always been fascinated by that production method... what are some other great straight to 2 track albums?

LowG · Post by **LowG** » Tue Mar 24, 2015 5:12 am

"Whites off Earth Now" by Cowboy Junkies. One mic to 2-track.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Tue Mar 24, 2015 5:29 am

Not so sure about that, altho' The Trinity Sessions was, one stereo mic in Trinity Church, NYC. (Marianne Faithful did a cool live album there, also, and the CJ's returned years later on Trinity Revisted what is a cool DVD, also.)

I love the Frank Black (of the Pixies) and the Catholics album, and his Pistolero.

I'm Painting Again · Post by **I'm Painting Again** » Wed Mar 25, 2015 9:05 pm

Don's record "16 songs" IIRC is 1 mic to mono rtr

http://www.dischord.com/release/nolib1/sixteen-ssongs

jimjazzdad · Post by **jimjazzdad** » Thu Mar 26, 2015 5:56 am

vvv wrote:Not so sure about that, altho' The Trinity Sessions was, one stereo mic in Trinity Church, NYC.

Peter Moore recorded Trinity Sessions using a Calrec Ambisonic microphone - the forerunner to the Soundfield mic. The recording was then decoded to stereo. It would be really interesting to hear the original master decoded and mixed in 5.1 or other surround format ... but there probably aren't CJ fans out there to justify it commercially

Don't know "Whites Off Earth Now" so can't comment on how that was recorded. Peter also did an ambisonic capture on Holly Cole's "Girltalk". Most of the Chesky Records catalog is "Direct to 2 track", sometimes MS setup, sometimes with a Soundfield mic.

Bottom line is that the artists have to be GOOD - no fixing it with Autotune and ProTools plug-ins in post production.

A.David.MacKinnon · Post by **A.David.MacKinnon** » Thu Mar 26, 2015 7:28 pm

vvv wrote:Not so sure about that, altho' The Trinity Sessions was, one stereo mic in Trinity Church, NYC. (Marianne Faithful did a cool live album there, also, and the CJ's returned years later on Trinity Revisted what is a cool DVD, also.)

I love the Frank Black (of the Pixies) and the Catholics album, and his Pistolero.

Trinity Sessions were recorded at Trinity Church in Toronto (behind the Eaton Centre). The Frank Black records are great.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Fri Mar 27, 2015 4:23 am

Oh, never knew that, but I thought the cover photos looked different!

Thanx!

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 6:11 am

I'm at a conference in St Louis at Webster University right now. Yesterday we did a live to MONO track I was lucky enough to play drums on. Vintage Pye, Ampex, Altec, EV, Ampeg, Rhodes, 67 Ludwigs,with Leedy and Ludwig snare, Rhodes, Epiphone hollow body bass, Kay guitar with Tel-ray and a Shure 55 for vocal. Mark Rubel on Bass, Matt Ross-Spang on guitar, myself on drums and Susan Marshal singing and playing Rhodes.

It was expertly recorded by Jonathan Pines, and he and the panelists were in the room with the band. It was magical.

I'm Painting Again · Post by **I'm Painting Again** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 2:10 pm

nice! that sounds fantastic..post it if you're able

tjcasey1 · Post by **tjcasey1** » Wed Apr 01, 2015 6:41 am

The Beatles' first album, "Please Please Me".

Not too shabby.

the finger genius · Post by **the finger genius** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 5:11 am

I'm Painting Again wrote:Don's record "16 songs" IIRC is 1 mic to mono rtr

http://www.dischord.com/release/nolib1/sixteen-ssongs

This reminds me of early mountain goats stuff most of which I think was directly to a cassette recorder.

Injured Ear · Post by **Injured Ear** » Thu Apr 02, 2015 6:40 am

I have been told most Frank Black records are live to 2.

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Mon Apr 27, 2015 9:54 pm

Some of the early REM stuff is live to 2-track. There are also a handful of commercial releases from those same sessions on various compilations. Basically, Mitch Easter and Don Dixon made the records, but saved a day at the every end of the session. When the multi-tracked, polished version of the record was mixed, they had the band play the entire album over, all live, with the benefit of having spent a month hearing good takes of the songs played back. They would usually do this while drinking a bit. (The last day of Reckoning got pretty out of hand, from what I hear, which is also evident by the released versions of "King Of The Road," "Tighten Up," and "Moon River.") But some of those takes actually wound up better than the ones they'd spent a month laboring over, so those made the actual album cuts.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

I'm Painting Again · Post by **I'm Painting Again** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 12:11 am

awesome

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Tue Apr 28, 2015 11:14 am

cgarges wrote:Some of the early REM stuff is live to 2-track. There are also a handful of commercial releases from those same sessions on various compilations. Basically, Mitch Easter and Don Dixon made the records, but saved a day at the every end of the session. When the multi-tracked, polished version of the record was mixed, they had the band play the entire album over, all live, with the benefit of having spent a month hearing good takes of the songs played back. They would usually do this while drinking a bit. (The last day of Reckoning got pretty out of hand, from what I hear, which is also evident by the released versions of "King Of The Road," "Tighten Up," and "Moon River.") But some of those takes actually wound up better than the ones they'd spent a month laboring over, so those made the actual album cuts.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Some of those are on Dead Letter Office, mebbe?

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