Hippie Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 If y'all would be so kind, I would like to hear your tricks/tips on how you guys/gals those Lo-Fi sounds on stuff that you've recorded. What do you use? signal chain?, etc. Thanks in advance, -Hippie In two days, it won't matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sbrock1san.rr.com Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 I send signals through a Sansamp PSA-1 amp simulator or an ART Tube Channel, then back into another track. The Sansamp is really effective on drums and synths, and it has knobs for all of it's controls and an effects loop. It's been a great investment. Long live lo-fi ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzz Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 here's a few use one tube condensor mic for the whole band and maybe on more for the lead singer.....i believe this is how they did it before hi-fi. running things (like everything) through a guitar amp and mic the amp. crank yer preamps untill they crackle and boast all the "un-hi-fi" frequencys. have fun "fuzz" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael saulnier Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 How about taking your recording on a DAW, make a mono mix, put a phone up to the speaker, call another line, and record the result with a boom box! Can't get much more "lo-fi" than that! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif guitplayer I'm still "guitplayer"! Check out my music if you like... http://www.michaelsaulnier.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzz Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 good one guitplayer! that could be a very cool "effect" for a break down in a very hi-fi track. i will have to rember that peace "fuzz" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spookmuzik Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 Radio shack contact mics. Record to cassette at the same time as you multitrack. Post your recording on mp3. Lofi stream it, then record the output of your computer speaker with a dictaphone. reduce the sample rate without dither. megaphones, walkie talkies, telephones. Keepin it Reel to Reel http://www.dusty45s.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip OKeefe Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 and to that last list, I'd add paper towel cardboard tubes... stick a cheap mic into one and point it at the source you want to mic. One more thing - cheap mics. Carbon mics work great if you want a LoFi sound. Phil O'Keefe Sound Sanctuary Recording Riverside CA http://members.aol.com/ssanctuary/index.html email: pokeefe777@msn.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzz Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 and to that last list, I'd add paper towel cardboard tubes thats great! in the building our studio is in there is an old school "intercom" basically it is a system of tubes that go though the building where one talks though a hole on one end and the other puts their ear to the hole on the other end to listen. we have made drum loops with the drums in the basement right next to the "intercom" and put a tube condenser mic on the other end with fantastic results. so in short.....yes tubes rule (in more ways than one)! "fuzz" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F7sound - Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 I took a 1" speaker, reverse wired, sent it to a preamp, and cut vocals with it. Talk about a cheap microphone.... Also, I use a Radio Shack FM transmitter ($40) and pipe signals (synths, bass, vox, GTRs...) through it to various radios (some vintage tube types - others cheezy solid state) and record what is coming off the radios. Highly recommended! Michael Oster F7 Sound and Vision http://www.f7sound.com Michael Oster F7 Sound and Vision http://www.F7sound.com http://www.regurgitron.com http://www.LaptopNoise.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. Gauss Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 hard to find these days, and sadly mine got stolen, but get an old boombox with a built in stereo mic, automatic level recording, and line out jacks. mine was an aiwa. then you can use what ever medium you like to record on. works great for a super squashed drum room mic too. if you can't find a boombox lots of camcorders from the 90's will do the same thing, but cost much more. put it on a tripod as a drum overhead. oh and don't forget the trusty shure bullet harp microphone. enjoy... -d. gauss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F7sound - Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 I forgot to mention one of the ultimate lo-fi devices.... microcassette! Built in microphone and slow tape speed. Cheap but effective lo-fi. Michael Oster F7 Sound and Vision http://www.f7sound.com Michael Oster F7 Sound and Vision http://www.F7sound.com http://www.regurgitron.com http://www.LaptopNoise.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gearmike Posted May 3, 2001 Share Posted May 3, 2001 Recently I got a really cool room sound when recording drums. I was walking around the drum kit with a new Sony Mini-DV camcorder. The drummer was going full bore and I was about two or three feet from the kit. It came out amazing! just added a little kick drum from the multitrack and that was the sound! The stereo mic imaged well, and the limiter on the camcorder just made the drums huge! -Mike Seriously, what the f*ck with the candles? Where does this candle impulse come from, and in what other profession does it get expressed? -steve albini Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisencocasema.net Posted May 4, 2001 Share Posted May 4, 2001 Compress audio files to MP3 with low bitrates. It will sound like Daft Punk straight away http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/wink.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippie Posted May 4, 2001 Author Share Posted May 4, 2001 Thanks! I've been doing print screens on all these ideas, and putting them into my "studio book", (a collection of articles, etc.) Got any more? Hippie In two days, it won't matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. Gauss Posted May 4, 2001 Share Posted May 4, 2001 hire the troggs as your backing band.... -d. gauss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetrecords Posted May 4, 2001 Share Posted May 4, 2001 Take the top head off your snare, hold it up to your face between you and the mic for lead vocals (snares 1" from the mic). Make sure the snares are 3/4 tight AND place a mic pointing at the drum from behind your right ear for CLARITY otherwise enunciation's lost. -AMAZING for screaming choruses... Sorry... but you asked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderton Posted May 4, 2001 Share Posted May 4, 2001 If you have a non-floating point audio editor (e.g., Sound Forge 4 or below), normalize down to something like -60 dB, then normalize back up to 0. You'll get this incredible stairstepping of the waveform that is a cross between aliasing and distortion. Works well on drums. I wrote this up for Keyboard a while back, in a column that contained other low-fi techniques. Logic has a plug-in that does something like this...I think it's called Bit Smasher or something like that. You can also go to: http://www.mda-vst.com and get a WHOLE LOT of cool VST plug-ins for...FREE! Yes, absolutely free. No trial periods, expiration dates, no strings at all. I think their bit reduction plug-in is called Decimator. I've downloaded a bunch of their plug-ins; of course, their Bandisto isn't quite as cool as the Quadrafuzz (major self-serving plug here http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif) but multi-band distortion is a great lo-fi technique for drums. What really makes me laugh is when people spend $400 on a TDM plug-in to sound "lo-fi." Lo-fi is a state of mind caused by (usually) an intersection of poverty and inspiration, not something you buy in a box. The people who are talking about recording through cardboard tubes and stuff have the right idea! Craig Anderton Educational site: http://www.craiganderton.org Music: http://www.youtube.com/thecraiganderton Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/craig_anderton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F7sound - Posted May 4, 2001 Share Posted May 4, 2001 "What really makes me laugh is when people spend $400 on a TDM plug-in to sound "lo-fi." Lo-fi is a state of mind caused by (usually) an intersection of poverty and inspiration, not something you buy in a box. The people who are taking about recording through cardboard tubes and stuff have the right idea!" I gotta say... I own and use Digi's lo-fi plug (not quite $400, but...). It really is versitile, and I've found it much more useful than I first thought I would. Also, it comes as a bundle with "recti-fi and sci-fi" so it's not just the bucks for only a single plug. It's not a replacement for cardboard tubes, cheap mics, and tiny microcassettes. It's just another tool to get something done with. PLUS, you can automate it's settings. That opens up a whole new jar of sonic disintegration! Try that with a cardboard tube... :-) Michael Oster F7 Sound and Vision http://www.f7sound.com Michael Oster F7 Sound and Vision http://www.F7sound.com http://www.regurgitron.com http://www.LaptopNoise.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notape_dup1 Posted May 4, 2001 Share Posted May 4, 2001 Record the whole band with a piece-of-shit radio shack mic, then mix down to a micro-cassette deck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hippie Posted May 5, 2001 Author Share Posted May 5, 2001 Originally posted by Anderton: If you have a non-floating point audio editor (e.g., Sound Forge 4 or below), normalize down to something like -60 dB, then normalize back up to 0. You'll get this incredible stairstepping of the waveform that is a cross between aliasing and distortion. Works well on drums. I wrote this up for Keyboard a while back, in a column that contained other low-fi techniques. Logic has a plug-in that does something like this...I think it's called Bit Smasher or something like that. You can also go to: http://www.mda-vst.com and get a WHOLE LOT of cool VST plug-ins for...FREE! Yes, absolutely free. No trial periods, expiration dates, no strings at all. I think their bit reduction plug-in is called Decimator. I've downloaded a bunch of their plug-ins; of course, their Bandisto isn't quite as cool as the Quadrafuzz (major self-serving plug here http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif) but multi-band distortion is a great lo-fi technique for drums. What really makes me laugh is when people spend $400 on a TDM plug-in to sound "lo-fi." Lo-fi is a state of mind caused by (usually) an intersection of poverty and inspiration, not something you buy in a box. The people who are talking about recording through cardboard tubes and stuff have the right idea! Wow, Thanks Man!! In two days, it won't matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. Gauss Posted May 5, 2001 Share Posted May 5, 2001 "recti-fi" i use rectum-fi. the plug-in the degrades the signal to where it sounds like it's coming out of yer ass! -d. gauss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emile Posted May 5, 2001 Share Posted May 5, 2001 Use headphones as mics. Just stick a pair in front of something and crank the gain. The opposite is funny too. Use a microphone as a speaker by pluging it in the headphone jack. Sizzly! Emile Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.