Getting this Chicago vocal sound...

[brassplyer]

Chicago's "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" Is the basic ambience of the lead vocal achieved largely by being in a very dead, anechoic booth?

What would you do to achieve this kind of sound?

Thanks

https://youtu.be/7uy0ldI_1HA

[Gray_Wolf]

On 8/8/2016 6:33 PM, Brassplyer wrote:
> Chicago's "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" Is the basic ambience of the lead vocal achieved largely by being in a very dead, anechoic booth?
>
> What would you do to achieve this kind of sound?
>
> Thanks
>
> https://youtu.be/7uy0ldI_1HA
>

I really like it. It's hard to believe the distaste for reverb I've acquired lately.

[Frank Stearns]

Brassplyer > writes:

>Chicago's "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" Is the basic ambience of the
lead vocal achieved largely by being in a very dead, anechoic booth?

>What would you do to achieve this kind of sound?

Not sure what you're really trying to get...

This vocal is a little buried, but every so often you can hear the room tone pop
through. Sounds like an overdub in an empty studio, no baffling behind, with
ceilings a little lower than optimal -- you can hear those short-duration slaps from
surfaces not all that far away, such as the ceiling and the walls behind. (And no,
that's not the reverb; that's a little weird in and of itself.)

Long ago I read the history of the production of this album and durned if I can
remember all the details. But the band had just signed, given a producer they'd not
worked with before, and it was cut rather hastily -- IIRC; corrections/updates
encouraged.

Remember, this was done in the very early 70s; production techniques were a little
raw (which some people like). All in all not a bad album from a "new" band in that
genre.

However, to me, sonically, this album suffers; possibly not a great console (early
op amps, perhaps? 40-50 transformers in the signal path from microphone to final
mix?). Perhaps the tape machine had been poorly aligned or was an early Scully or
MCI rather than a Studer or Ampex. The spectral balance is good, but it just feels a
little "strangled" to my ear (and I do have the original, not just this Utoob
version).

If you want a dry sound, get a good microphone in a good room, with high ceilings,
deadening baffles behind the vocalist. Then you can add various delays and reverbs
in post (some perhaps quite short in duration) to get what you want.

Frank
Mobile Audio

--

[Scott Dorsey]

In article >,
Brassplyer > wrote:
>Chicago's "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" Is the basic ambience of the lead vocal achieved largely by being in a very dead, anechoic booth?
>
>What would you do to achieve this kind of sound?
>
>Thanks
>
>https://youtu.be/7uy0ldI_1HA

I don't know if you can tell from the youtube, but on the record it sounds
like it's a big studio with close-miking. You can hear a little of the
ambience, but what you don't hear are any close-in reflections that make
things boxy.

A lot of the sound here is from the vocalist himself... he's got a little
fry in there, singing very very loud, probably with the microphone up high
to cause him to force his neck up high.

Listen to how the room sounds on the first "As I was walking down the street
one day." It's not dead at all, it's a great room.

Notice also how everything else except for the horns are equalized to fit
around the vocals. The piano is almost muffled after the introduction
ends. Some of what makes the vocal come across isn't actually part of the
vocal at all but how the vocal fits into the rest of the mix. The brass
steps all over everything but that's the point...
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[brassplyer]

On Tuesday, August 9, 2016 at 9:10:02 AM UTC-4, Scott Dorsey wrote:

> I don't know if you can tell from the youtube, but on the record it sounds
> like it's a big studio with close-miking. You can hear a little of the
> ambience, but what you don't hear are any close-in reflections that make
> things boxy.


Any guess as to what mic they were using?

[Scott Dorsey]

Brassplyer > wrote:
>On Tuesday, August 9, 2016 at 9:10:02 AM UTC-4, Scott Dorsey wrote:
>
>> I don't know if you can tell from the youtube, but on the record it sounds
>> like it's a big studio with close-miking. You can hear a little of the
>> ambience, but what you don't hear are any close-in reflections that make
>> things boxy.
>
>Any guess as to what mic they were using?

Not really. It doesn't have that peaky forward U87 thing going on, and the
top end isn't really very open. If I had to emulate it, I'd probably grab
an RE-20 for my first try.

Notice the spoken vocals are much more forward sounding than the main vocal.

I'd be surprised if Mix didn't have an article about this album.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."