Hi everyone. I'm fairly new to this site but I'm looking to stay for the long run.

I'm in the process of writing my debut album and based on a creative decision, I'm now looking to add that "vintage" tone/colour throughout every track, or in better terms, I'd like it to sound as if it was recorded from an old record.

Now I'm aware of the basics: adding vinyl hisses, tape emulations, distortion/saturation and for the majority of these methods, I'm somewhat unsatisfied and feel it only scratches the surface (maybe I'm wrong) For a more real representation, I'm asking whether I could better emulate it by running the tracks through some sort of filter or process, where I can really nail this sound I'm after. So I guess what I'm asking is: What are the characteristics of the music from vinyl records? What makes them sound vintage? I have not done my research prior, so apologies if these questions seem more difficult than they actually are.

Thanks to everyone in advance, I'll be sure to contribute back to the forum regularly.

 

Why not use one of these plugins?
https://www.loopmasters.com/article...s-plugins-vinyl-tape-VHS-and-more-in-your-DAW

 

RC-20 Retro Color.

https://www.xlnaudio.com/products/addictive_fx/effect/rc-20_retro_color

 

Briefly? 98.642% of LoFi plugins are garbage.
I basically tried a brick of plugins over the years, since certain tracks just feel like they should be given a rustic vybe, if only slightly, and the only "LoFi" ones that are still around are Mathieu Demange's RX950 (Inphoniks is the company,) which is a specific type of bitcrunching that I'm not sure would fit your needs, and Nembrini's Vintage Clipper which adds a stupid amount of warmth and grit, plus weight, to a track.
Aside from that, I tend to use saturation often (again, realistic amounts; it all adds up in a mix,) like Klanghelm's SDRR. Try using saturation in select frequencies and see if it helps or hinders what you're going for.
I've also found that setting up tape plugins across your mix, at reasonable/realistic levels, in all of the spots that they would actually occur in a physical session, is a good start. Additionally, check out some of the IRs at Pasttofuturereverbs; they've captured some IRs of Hi/Lo pass filters that were used for radio back in the day, as well as ancient preamps, vinyl IRs (you can judge whether they're what you want, as they're unique,) and tape IRs, all stellar quality and for stupid cheap prices.
Hope that helps...

 

How old should this recording be? You're talking about 1909 or 1984? You have to take into account which historical period you want to emulate, otherwise you risk falling into anachronism. Depending on the date you will have to use different procedures.
Your 2021 mix version will never sound realistically old by just adding some background pop & scratches

 

easiest way is to get a Boomer to sing on it. That's instant vintage.

 

I would ask you what could be your real motivation for trying to sound like a damaged vinyl or a overheated cassette, being both sounds not only horrible but uninteresting.

 

Some plugins can get decent results of course nothing can beat the real deal like recording your sound to an actual vinyl or tape experiment with eq, impulse responses i had some interesting results using impulse responses and eq matching

 

This is the right questions. It's the way those "vintage recordings" you have in mind were written, arranged, performed, recorded and mixed. It has very little to do with end format they were printed on.

50s teen pop, 60s brit wave, 70s disco and 80s synth pop may all sound "vintage" but they all sound vintage for very different reasons. And they sound "vintage" even if you are not listening them on cd master and not an old vinyl record. This is to say: there's no plugin or single trick that will your music actually sound "vintage".

 

This question of motivation is entirely eliminated as a legitimate query as the latter half of the post relies upon lanakazic accepting your statement that the desired effect that he's looking for is "[...] not only horrible but uninteresting." Selah.

 

Hello everybody ... ...

Just a small contribution ...

In my opinion ... I advise you to take a little tour here ... Quite interesting I think ...
[Free iZotope Vinyl Plugin Tips, and Tutorials | iZotope]

>>> https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/vinyl.html

And there for the software ... To get an idea ...
[Vinyl The ultimate lo-fi weapon]

>>> https://www.izotope.com/en/products/vinyl.html

[Free Audio Plug-ins - iZotope]

>>> https://www.izotope.com/en/products/free-audio-plug-ins.html

Good luck comrade ...

 

https://www.funkydown.com/downloads/shitty1.pdf

 

One additional and essential thing to consider if you really want your piece to sound like it was made around 50+ years ago.

The stereo field placement. Everything was reel-to-reel stereo 2-track and then 4-track, so on and so forth... You did not have micro-management on panning then like today.
If you listen to a lot of records (LP) and digital remasters for example with drums, bass, saxophone and piano and/or guitar, every instrument is regularly panned very left or very right. The sax may be in the right mostly with the bass or piano or the drums. Additionally, do a spectral analysis. You will find the frequencies differ substantially to today's mixing.
The easiest way is to do a live to 2-track reel-to-reel recording with two microphones and an analog desk. This is rare so everything else mentioned is probably the go.