Recording method of vintage Moogs

[AndresC]

Hi! yesterday I was speaking with a friend who mentioned that early moogs where recorded by passing them through a valve amp and then with a mic. I am doubtful about that, but I really don't know.

I'm sure many most have done it that way, but was it really the common practice?

In present days do anyone of you mic up your moog? If yes, what type of amplifiers?

[MC]

More often than not they recorded direct not through a valve amp. Valve amps have a very limited bandwidth that would chop all the top end off.

Valve amps colored the sound way too much, they might sound good for lead patches but not for brass, strings, or pads. I have a suspicion that the lead synth in The Cars "Just What I Needed" was recorded through a valve amp.

Also they were designed for the miniscule output level of a guitar pickup - Moog output is much hotter and will drive the amp into severe distortion.

Valve amps are good for EPs but very limited for synths.

[ColorForm2113]

I've put my micromoog through (never recorded tho) my '63 epi tube amp for leads and it sounds really nice smooth with a little bit of crunch. It doesn't really color the tone either since there is no tone controls or eq on the amp.

[AndresC]

Thanks for the replies, I also believe most should have gone direct to preserve most of the frecuencies.

Still, by experimenting many interesting results can be achieved.

[EricK]

You know, I think an answer like this can go many ways. It just depends on if you are are looking to color your sound or not. If you are, you can run your synth through a tube amp, limit yourself to those frequencies indicative to that particular cabinet, and record that. Of you can run straight in if you are a purist. I used to be a purist, but aside from a rack fx processor I have (good for 80s bright metal guitars if thats your thing) I only own a talkbox and EXH bassballs that is not a Moog effect. Well, theres also the roland cube bass amp that I sometimes used as a processor before I got most of my foogers.

But some people are about using a Moog and then adding so many efects its not even sounding like a Moog anymore. It just depends on what your goal is for the track.

Thats pretty much all I can say, my answer about as ambiguious as it can be.



Eric

[marktobik@gmail.com]

i would say probably the majority of moog's have been recorded direct into the board or thru a DI.

[gtivr6fan]

DI is the way to go for the purest. I use a Radial Pro D1, it's passive with a -15db pad. You could use the balanced output to record directly, and then use the 1/4" thru to an amp that is mic'ed, then blend the two together, just a thought. If you are going the direct box route, do yourself a favor and spend a little extra for quality. The Radial was $90, small price to pay for great sound.

[AndresC]

Ok so yesterday I took my voyager to the studio of this guy who really likes to experiment with the various instruments he is recording.

I can't recall precisely the connections, but he passed the voyager trough an Orange tubes amp. Instead of micing it, he connected the lineout from the amp to a direct box and then to the recording interface.

I have to say that it blew me away! I realized how much I need a tube amp to pass the voyager's signal, its beautiful!

I own a Presonus Bluetube which has a tube on it, but the sound resulting from it hardly ever is useful. I asked the guy what was the reason for it, he mentioned that the distortion from preamp tubes works differently from the distortion from power tubes, which was the case with the Orange.

Oh another thing, he also passed the signal through an analog spring reverb... DAMN!

Wish list:

- Tube amp
- Spring reverb