- SSL Desks (British EQ)
- Often Very Compressed but Achieved via Layers of Light Compression and /or Parallel Compression (Not 1 Big Master Compressor)
- Mostly VCA Compressor
- Often Every Track is High Pass Filtered to Remove Low Frequencies Not Needed
- SSL G Master Compressor with 4:1, Fairly Fast Attack of .3ms (or Slow Attack of 3ms) and Fast Release (or Auto Release) of 0.1 with GR About 4dB
- Print to Tape was Still Fashion in the 80ies, 15iPs with EMI TAPE 815 (Modern Sound), also a Lot was Printed to Studer A80 RC or Ampex ATR 102, Either to 1/2 Inch or 1/4 Inch
- Automate Tracks, e.g. Raise Level of a Guitar in Chorus
- Often there was 1 Gated Reverb Where Snare was Fed = Lot, the Kick = Some and Toms = In Between, then there was 1 General Plate Where Everything Else was Fed into (Incl. Drum Bus)
- Other Studios has 1 Digital Reverb and 1 Chamber (Actual Room), i.e. Vocals Usually Go Through Chamber Whereas Instruments Incl. Drums Go Through Digital Reverb (Back in the 80ies Either Lexicon 224 or AMS RMX 16)
- Notice that in the 80ies Drums / Guitar Amps / Pianos were Recorded in Actual Rooms and Room Mics were used to Pick Up the Room Reflections, i.e. Some Big Studios had Large Rooms and there was No Need to Feed Drums into a Digital Reverb
- Voicers were Often Fed into “Rich Plate” Preset on the 224 or 480, e.g. Use “Rich Plate” Presets in Lex Vintage Plate (Instrument Plates Category)
- Often the Master was Only 16 Bit and Printed to 1/2 Inch Tape at 15ips (Sound from the Repro Head was Used to Optimise Mix in Mastering and the Head Bump is Important), Some Basic Compression on the 2-Buss
- also Synths / FX Processors / Samples were Only 16 Bit
- Main Outs (Italo Disco) had Always a DBX 163 Compressor
- Often an Apex Aural Exciter was Used
- Very Important that the SUB was Not so Important Back then, i.e. Don’t Put Too Much Energy in the Sub for 80ies Sound
- a Tip is to use the HD600 Headphones which have Not Much Below 100Hz, i.e. when you Mix at Low Volume via those Headphones you Get a Good 80ies Balanced Mix
- Favour the Kick as Lowest Instrument, i.e. Bass was Often Rather Natural and Thin (Never the Heavy Low End as Today)
- Less Heavy Low End also Allows More Separation and No Use of Sidechaining Kick vs Bass
Leave a Reply