Inspired by Norman Petty and Sam Phillips, studio owner Dean Amos has lovingly built a perfect recreation of a 1950s recording studio — right down to the dimensions of the pegboard! We eavesdrop on a session at Sugar Ray’s Vintage Recording Studio to find out why it’s still valid to record an entire band to tape, with one microphone.

Sound Engineer Lincoln Grounds and the band reveal the challenges they faced when recording this way. In this experiment rockabilly band Race With The Devil record in a variety of vintage styles. Starting with only a single microphone in the live room, more microphones are added throughout the session.

Compared to modern multitrack recordings, we see the differences and challenges faced in recording music the way they did back in the 1950s. See the interviews and session in the video above and download the recordings at https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/recording-50s-style