How To Record Drums Like The Beatles In 1963

Every now and then someone asks about getting that vintage sound that bands like The Beatles got way back in the 60’s. There’s no mystery to how that was done in terms of microphones, but the other gear that was used makes all the difference in the end.

This video by Boulevard Recording shows you not only the microphones that were used for recording the drums on that first Beatles album back in 1963, but also the signal path and drums. You can then hear what it could sound like today, which is pretty close to my ears.

One thing I like here was that the vocal mic that would have been in the room was not overlooked, since it made up a part of the sound. That means that you’ll have a kick mic (an STC 4033A ribbon) , an overhead mic (an STC 4038 ribbon), and the bleed from the Neumann U48 vocal mic, into the Telefunken V72 mic preamps in EMI’s REDD37 desk into the Studer J37 tape deck.

Check it out.

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