As a kid I can remember looking at the back covers of my favorite albums and absorbing all the information that I could. I began to notice that many of them were made at Sunset Sound – Records like Led Zeppelin 2 & 4, Van Halen 1 & 2, and many of the albums by The Doors.
Recently I had the opportunity to re-record Van Halen 1 at Sunset Sound with the Los Rios Rock School in the original studio, with the exact same setup that was used when it was originally recorded. Oh, we also did it all in one day!
On the day we got to the studio in the morning, and Geoff (the house engineer) and I had everything set up by noon. This included setting up and miking the drums, amps and vocal mics. The band started tracking around 1PM, and by around 2AM we had the whole record recorded.
The students had such an incredible time recording the entire record live! We also had many opportunities to pass on the history of Sunset Sound to the next generation of musicians. We walked the kids through the entire setup of how Van Halen 1 was made, and though we were using Pro Tools instead of 2 inch tape, we showed them how were were going attempt replicating the sounds of the original recording.
Take a look at this video walk through of Sunset Sound, our setup used to recreate this iconic record, some clips of us teaching the students, and stick around to the end to see the kids playing and recording “Atomic Punk.”
Warren, if I already get your emails is there a way to get this link? (Without signing up again?) And I must congratulate you on finding a wonderfully unique way of bringing your wisdom to aspiring recordists / producers and mixing engineers. Very impressive how you show and tell procedures that make great results without spending a fortune. I have started thinking of you as the Jamie Oliver of studio technique!
Oddly…link now works! Yea!
nice i like this ,
<,, Ha,,,, Awesome stuff :D,,, One Question, with a HUGE ,, Q q q q ,,,,, Can we academy members get the raw stems for all songs ?
Here's where my great idea comes in,,, We have to purchase them,,, the proceeds could go to these kids, Houston, or the upcoming Florida catastrophe. Or recoup the expense of the whole recording process…
Ok, some ideas out there,,, and I can't wait to listen to and watch all the songs,,,
Hi @plap-disqus-7ef605fc8dba5425d6965fbd4c8fbe1f:disqus, that’s a really good question! I’m not sure with covers! I will have to check! Of course I’d love you guys to have the tracks and be able to mix them! Have a marvelous time recording and mixing many thanks Warren
You rock Warren,, I’m sure if it can be done, you’ll make it happen 😀