Hot Club in the studio; working a single mic live show

Archtop Eddy

How did Django and the Hot Club record in a studio, and does or doesn’t this apply to us today 70 years later. 

To expand this thought: Fapy has been known to use ribbon mics in the studio to get the original Hot Club sound. I enjoy the way Django's Tigers use a single mic to capture their sound during live performances. And I understand that old timey bands and bluegrassers often "work" a single mic. What do you think of this sound (say vs using Bigtones, AERs, Schertlers, etc.) Is it worth the effort during live performances? Also, is it useful to try to mimic Django and the Hot Club's setups while recording in a modern studio?

Any thoughts, anyone?

Jack

Ch'top,

I'm not sure if this is what you're after, but here goes. I think there is something to be said for going after the sound of the QHCF recordings, but not necessarily the sound, if you know what I mean. That is, the way they were recorded has a certain appeal (to me, at least), but I don't think we should still be aping every last chord form or riff. And a bunch of folks could certainly stop adding reverb to every last track to no ill effect.

Best,
Jack.

Josh Hegg

I for one can not stand reverb. It just kills me. I have some recordings from France that would be great if the reverb was not at 10! I like a dry recording so you can hear the the instruments. Any way.... My 2¢

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Ando

Hola Archtop, I have a little digital recording set-up at home (on a Linux computer) and am facing exactly this question of how to record a group. One mic? Ten mics? I'm going to try the one-mic approach first, with a simple electret condenser signal-boosted by a pre-amp. Cursory reading suggests that having someone in headphones listen to the mix as someone else moves the mic around as the band plays a sound-check is crucial. I guess you'd want to bias the input in favor of the soloist, but what happens if you have more than one soloist?