Robert Johnson

[Girl Toes]

Can any one tell me more about the recording techniques and equipment used to record Robert Johnson?? All i know is he sang into the corner.

[1chroma7]

a lot of the early stuff was recorded directly to record (acetate? i think this was after the time of wax cylinders but i could be wrong here)...this was before tape recording. i imagine he sang and played into one ribbon mic, not sure what brands were available in the pre-1950 era...on a vinyl compilation i have there is a illustration on the cover of rj singing/playing into one mic in a hotel room (facing into the corner as mentioned above) with the recording engineers in the next room. to get that sound today it might be interesting to try recording directly to one of those home vinyl lathes...would probably take a ton of work to get a good sounding output! not to mention an expensive process.

[lanxe]

are there vinyl lathes that are affordable today? every thing i have seen cost a lot. but i am interested in those methods as well.

[AGCurry]

Why would you want to get that sound? I love Robert Johnson but think it's a crying shame he was recorded so poorly. He might as well have played through a telephone. Listen to Jimmie Rogers, who actually made a lot of records BEFORE Johnson recorded in '36 and '37. The fidelity is much better, undoubtedly because he recorded in good (real) studios with good rooms and state-of-the-art equipment.

The weakest point in the signal chain was very probably the cutting equipment, especially in his San Antonio session. I doubt that a mobile cutter would be too great. And it sure sounds like a carbon microphone...

[leigh]

This thread reminds me of an ad I wanted to run in Tape Op for a (non-existent) book called Recording Secrets of the Mississippi Delta, to see how many people would try to order it.

Leigh

[stillafool]

I rember having read somewhere (can't remember where) that the only reason he played by himself is because recording technology wasn't good enough to record a bunch of people at one time -- or maybe that was Charlie Patton. This musicologist said that blues musicians of the day almost always played with other people in front of an audience. I don't know if it's true because I have recordings of Rachmaninoff that are from the same era where he plays piano with an orchestra.

[stillafool]

Come to think of it, though, a piano was probably easier to record in an ensemble because it was alot louder than a guitar. And most of the ensemble blues/ragtime bands that I know of from that period featured pianos and vocals, with guitars in the background. And they didn't have mixers back then, either. Just one microphone and that acetate thing. Had he recorded with an ensemble, alot of the nuances of Johnson's playing would have been lost. However, I think alot of the Rubato off-rythm stuff Johnson did would have been cleaned up a bit if he had played with others.

[numberthirty]

Most articles I've read guess that by facing a corner either Robert was trying to keep anyone from stealing his style(didn't Eddie Van Halen do that when he first started tapping?) or to get a more mid-range heavy tone. One article even went so far as to suggest he was trying to get close to electric tones that were still a few years off.

[whiskeyblood]

Im sure I can't offer anymore technical info than what has already been suggested but I'd just like to point out that despite the "lack-luster" sound of the Robert Johnson recordings, they are still some of our greatest gifts since the invention of recorded sound. In addition to several lifetimes worth of inspiration and lessons to guitar players and songwriters, the crackling, nasaly, and even sometimes unintelligable recordings of Robert Johnson prove that there's much more to a great recordings than just clean, clear tones going to tape. There have been millions and millions of recordings done with FAR better sound quality than Robert Johnson's that don't have a fraction of the life that his do and I doubt he had the option of multiple takes until he nailed it just the way he wanted. That being said they are probably some of the most honest recordings of music to date. There's my two cents.

[stillafool]

I personally think the recordings sound like shit -- even for the time. I listen to alot of oldtime blues -- Blind Blake, Son House, Tampa Red -- and the Robert Johnson takes are some of my least favorite recordings, in spite of the performances.

[tiger vomitt]

i think those are really pretty cool sounding recordings. if i listen close there is an impression that he is in the room with me. it's kind of creepy. maybe it is because they are a little unintelligible - it make me use my imagination more.

you know, people should really be glad he was recorded at all. there's what, one picture of the guy in all of the world? or is it 2? i feel like the world got lucky getting what we did of the guy. his playing is genius by any standards. he almost slipped thru the cracks.

[Scodiddly]

This is interesting:
http://www.guitarseminars.com/ubb/Forum ... 04431.html
Have we been listening to sped-up recordings all this time?

[The Tallman]

O.K., this is vague - but stay with me. About 15 years ago some band had an AOR hit with "Mojo" in the title or lyrics. The intro was a Robert Johnson recording that segued from Johnson's old recording to the name-that-band recording. The Robert Johnson jumps out full of life: that unremembered band comes off sounding sonically flaccid like it was squashed down with way too much compression. It's a striking demonstration of how far along things haven't come. I did a quick Google to identify this record to no avail. Anyone?

[percussion boy]

I rember having read somewhere (can't remember where) that the only reason he played by himself is because recording technology wasn't good enough to record a bunch of people at one time -- or maybe that was Charlie Patton.

Not to mention amazing Duke Ellington recordings from the late 1920s -- which were undoubtedly also done to one mic.

Maybe it's more about a lack of access to good recording facilities for musicians in the South in that era?