Sounds of the psychedelic 60s rock

[scobbah]

Ciao everyone!

I have tried to find some information in the forum but I am still not satisfied, hence why I turn to you personally.

I am a great fan of psychedelic music from the late 60s and early 70s, especially such by Pink Floyd (Ummagumma from 1969) but also worthy to mention is the music composed for Kenneth Anger's masterpiece 'Lucifer Rising' (1972 if I am not mistaken) - a flick which I would recommend to anyone who is into psychedelic flicks.

Anyhow, keeping this sort of music in mind, I am asking for your guidance.

How can one give a sort of 60s touch to one's tracks in the respect of 'quality'? By quality (as I could not find any better word for it), I mean that vintage 60s 'unpolished' sound. First, indeed one ought to use instruments from the 60s and furthermore the recording techniques which then were in use in order to achieve a 60s sound - but how can one give such a vintage touch to one's own recordings today by only using software? I am requesting techniques and, if possible, recommendations of plug-ins I should have a look at (preferably freeware as I am student). Again, keeping techniques in mind, I am well aware of the importance (at least what I consider as of importance) of using sort of '60s effects' on the instruments in use, but I am more curious if there are any post-production tricks (i.e. EQ the recording in a certain way) or such to get that vintage sound? Are there any major tricks when it comes down to mixing techniques one should keep in mind when trying to achieve a 60s vintage sound? I have so far used Pink Floyd's 'Ummagumma' as a sort of reference, but I would like to hear other people's opinion on this one.

I find it rather difficult to explain what I mean here, but I hope you understood me. Else, please let me know and I will try to elaborate further.

Also I am looking for sample libraries with a niche towards the vintage sound of the 60s, whether it is a ROMpler or just WAV samples. I had a look at Ueberschalls '60s a GoGo', but I am more interested in weird guitar licks and playful organs rather than choirs and drums. Would anyone recommend me having a look at something else?

Thanks in advance!
Cheers.

[Rangtangtang]

The obvious one is it must be recorded on Tape.

[scobbah]

The obvious one is it must be recorded on Tape.

Indeed it is. Would it perhaps be a good idea to invest some money and buying a tape recorder? The idea of making it a sort of last step of post-production sounds pretty reasonable to me. What kind of tape recorder would that be? Is it possible to get a decent tape recorder which suits my needs and which would not cost me a fortune?

[BertKoor]

Akai, Pioneer, Revox, Sony, Tandberg, Teac... they can be had very cheap these days

[scobbah]

Akai, Pioneer, Revox, Sony, Tandberg, Teac... they can be had very cheap these days

Looks affordable to me. I have no experience at all with tape recorders. I suppose I would not buy from eBay due to the fact that I live in Sweden and very few items posted at eBay would suit me due to shipping fees. It would be great if I could get a few suggestions on which models I should look for, thus I could make a few posts around here in Sweden announcing my interest.

I would prefer suggestions on models which would not cost me more than lets say $200, yet they would do the trick for me - i.e. recording my digital work to tape and then from tape to computer in order to give that 60s vintage touch to some of my music.

Thanks in advance.

[rockstar_not]

Don't bother buying any hardware just yet.

Try Kingston's compressor/distorter Retroband (there's a free version to try) on the main bus.

With Floyd, it's almost always a necessity to use some slow chorused or flanged electric piano.

Roll of the highs on everything, etc.

It shouldn't be that hard with modern gear.

People told me I got a decent 60's/70's psychadelic vibe on this track I did for the KVR Vurtstock song competition back a year or two ago:
http://rockstarnot.rekkerd.org/songs/ne ... tstock.MP3

That was all done with modern gear/freeware software plugins. Some of the synth stuff might be too bright to be authentic 60's, but the EP sounds pretty right on to me. It was one of Mr. Ray's models.

-Scott

[Edward4K]

Prescription electronics experience pedal does the backward tape effect pretty well. There are a lot of options out there. Some plugins, such as vinatage warmer, can add subtle distortion to your songs/individual tracks and get you 90% of the way there, when it comes to warmth. As for reverbs, i think your best best is to go with a convolution-style reverb and than get the impulse responses for real plate and spring reverbs. For echos and tape effects, Soundtoys echoboy and crystallizer are absolute monster plugins. It all depends on how much money you want to spend, but I would start small and go bigger only if you have to.

[Rangtangtang]

VHS recorder might work at making your mix sound more 60's analog. Iv got one Iv hardly used and I did buy some blank tapes for it too just in case, that are ready if needed. One of those DVD/VHS recorder ones might be the go if you had to buy one. Pinkfloyd was recorded at the Abey road studio along whith many others. Nebula is quite good for getting some of those authentic sounding vintage gear especialy whith EQ and microphone. But, you do need make sure you got all the instruiments you need in the first place, whether real or sampled.....mmmmmm.....You can learn a lot from the pioneers in how they did their recording.

[scobbah]

Thank you everyone for your replies! You have been most helpful.

rockstar_not: Indeed your clip sounds vintage to me. I enjoyed it - very well done.

About the idea of using an old VHS recorder as for post-production... I actually own an old VHS player, although it is collecting dust these days, and I am sort of frisky about trying this out. Needless to say, my knowledge in electronics in the respect of tape recorders and such (as mentioned above) is quite limited.

My VHS player has the following inputs/outputs: RF Out, Aerial and Scart. How can I, in practice, carry out this idea? What cables/tricks do I need and how should I connect things?

Thanks in advance.

[Waker]

...The floyd sound is very compleks and plain weird... Get this book for a start : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Guide- ... 071194301X

It's a very basic Rough guide to what kind of gear the used.... Especial the synths.

But basicly it's Piano, Rhodes, Organs, VSC3, Moogs and other stuff...Leslies, Binson echoes and plate reverbs.

The guitar stuff is even harder, because you can get the gear. You can even get software version of most of it. Some even free. But it's the techniqes and Gilmour's unique sense of melody, that is hard to get. Check this out : http://www.mikesguitarsite.co.uk/gear/pink_floyd/

I don't know of any single sample library which will get you even in the ballpark for this.....

Rolling of highs, using retroband or/and Voxengo tapebus or something like it would be a good start.

Getting two scart to triple phono caples should do the trick. Just use the red and white for audio.