One of my favorite reads TapeOp Magazine (free subscription!) posted this video of theDaptone Studios on Facebook and as a big fan of their "sound" I felt inclined to share it on the blog.
Reverb (an online audio community/resource) did a video interview of the famous Daptone House of Soul Studio. Known mainly as the studio for Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings the Daptone House of Soul has contributed to many huge hit records.
From Reverb's website:
"From Sharon Jones to Amy Winehouse, Dap Kings to Bruno Mars, the old-school soul and R&B revival that's taken place over the last 15 years can be largely attributed to one small, no-frills analog recording studio in Brooklyn, NY. Armed with a dynamite house band, genuinely gifted producers, and a choice collection of gear and instruments, the Daptone House of Soul in Bushwick continues to churn out hits at an alarming pace. Reverb caught up with Daptone's Neal Sugarman to talk shop and find out what it is about this room that constantly pumps out gold and platinum records, almost as if that were the easiest possible thing to do.............The records that come out of this studio have a definite energy, and a classic vibe you'd typically have to dust off a 50-year-old record to hear."
In the video Daptone's Neal Sugarman talks shop with Reverb about the all analog studio. He mentions and shows some of the gear/techniques used to capture the "classic" Daptone sound. He says "over 75% of the tracks are recorded by the same band of musicians".
The gear that immediately drew my attention are:
- The Trident console (In the early '90s, I did many recordings on a Trident at Palm Tree Studios, NY),
- The 16 track Ampex tape machine,
- The Orban Reverb (haven't seen one in many years),
- The RCA compressor
- and of course the vintage microphones.
Here's the video:
TapeOp did a written interview with Gabriel Roth and Bosco Mann of Daptone Records back in 2007. You can read it in Issue #59.
I plan to pay the Daptone House Of Soul a visit soon.
