Logic Pro wanting to sound like 1958

Question

I am recording a Rock Steady/Ska band that I play in. These will just be live 1 take recordings in our rehearsal space. I am treating the room with duvets very heavily and I will play around with the many mikes we have going through my Apogee Ensemble.
The Question. Any suggestions on how to get it to sound like it was recorded sometime in the late 50's or early 60's. The band does a great job already with their gear and exceptional playing but I was just wondering if there was a good mix of plugs I could use.
Thanks
-Allan

Answer 1

I've had a good success with recording a Rockabilly band wanting to make it sound authentic, but using just one mic (AKG C12VR) set to OMNI in front of the lead singer, with the band and amplifiers positioned around the studio behind him. And nothing else. Just light eq, compression, plate reverb and slap delay.
Surprisingly enough it gives exactly the right kind of sound, the double bass sounded distant and slappy, the drums sounded thin and roomy, the vocals sounded hugely above the mix. It all sounded like it was band playing in a room together in mono with loads of echo. Just the way they like it! Compared to the cd's they brought in to reference to, old 50's rock n roll and rockabilly it sounded just right! Of course you need more confidence in what you're doing to take this route. You need to know from the get go, that it's the right way to go. But when you see the band smile from ear to ear and say "FINALLY THE SOUND!" you know it's the right move and putting up more mics would be a mistake.
If it's your band then you have enough room to experiment to try something like this and it not matter too much if it doesn't come out right the first time around.
Personally if I wanted to make something that sounded like authentic ska, I'd look for a good condition 4-8 channel tape machine and use that, throw up 6 mics, ribbons where possible (as mentioned before), mix it quite roughly, the bounce it back and forth a bit, while doing some over dubs and it'll become nicely saturated and compressed. It'll cost about £300 for a decent tape machine and a load of tape, not much compared to your Ensemble!!!