www.shortscale.org

[aen]

I dont like sweet beats. i like crappy sounding beats.
_________________
High quality, low popularity Ecstatic Fury
https://theronaldraygun.bandcamp.com/album/surrender-dorothy

[Mr Mustache]

[theshadowofseattle]

I like meat beats.
_________________

[Mr Mustache]

post whore

[Pens]

[James]

I just found out some guys on my AIM buddy list are friends with Albini, woohoo potential contacts
_________________
Shabba.

[Mad-Mike]

The key thing for me recording is I have to look at a song on a case by case basis, because while song X might do better with the guitars panned hard left and hard right, song y might need the guitar front and center and the bass where that guitar was in the last track, and so on. Of course, I have to be creative, since I use Quartz, and am limited to 4 tracks of audio, but have the happy glitch of "layering" other audio elements over each other.

likes
- Spontanious things that work out great - like winging a guitar solo right off the cuff and winding up with it sounding perfect, or some small reproducable electronic glitch causes a nifty effect.

- Good Stereo Panning, with good balance, no part of the stereo spectrum over poweres another

- Interesting new uses of technology - Krazy stuff like running guitars through a vocoder, or running the vocalist through a guitar harmonist pedal, sometimes theres some really wild effects for tunes that can be had by fooling around or using things in ways never intended by their designer.

- When the producer fully explains and communicates ideas - My last band used to record with a guy named Mike Squiers, the one thing I liked is before he did anything wild with our recordings, he'd ask us first, there was a lot of collaboration, and add things to the mix that really give it atmosphere. Rather than just being excessive ideas.

- Feeling the Raw Energy - A key element in this I've found is rawness, if it's over produced, the energy gets lost under the chorus and compression and other stuff. Some of the most energetic tunes I've heard have minimal to no production gloss added.

- The Sum Of All Parts Takes You Somewhere - The reason for production, the way I see it, is to help add and tweak the production, and part of this is the vibe of what's going on musically. A big part of this is effective use of sonic space, sometimes moving a guitar or something into another part of the sonic space can really change the dynamic.


dislikes
- Bad E.Q. - If the guitars are burning my ears, or the Bass sounds like the crock pot just boiled over onto a a celluloid floor and set it ablaze, or the drums sound like someone banging on a giant lead pipe (LAAAAAAAAAAARS!), then I can't stand it. Drums I'm especially bothered by, sounding like you're beating metal salad tongs with a screwdriver all the way through a song can get quite irritating after awhile.

- Over-Production - Guitars that always sound perfect and pristine, Mr. Roboto's guest spot on Bass Guitar, synths that just whine in the background and don't do anything else, that drummer run through 2000 rackmount effects to the point that he sounds more cardboard than the singer who's been looped through pro-tools a couple hundread times. Whatever happened to just getting the whole band in the room, and just letting it all hang out?

- Preconcieved Ideas - Basically, doing things because they are marketable or seem "cool" despite weather they fit or not.

- Bad Mixes - Guitars too far back, vocals too high and drums too high, see below's story for this...

- Digital Overdrive from pushing the sound level too far - I've had this happen on a live recording with a group of people I was playing a concert with, I wanted to strangle the person who was running the board, the guitars were too far back, the drums were too far forward, the bass could come in and out at random, and the singer was literally overdriving the darned board to the point that when you listened to the CD of the soundboard recording, there would be a crunch and crackle noise when his voice hit peaks of volume.

[plopswagon]

Where to start...

Likes

real sounds
as little processing as possible
mistakes
space
slop in the snare
GOOD SONGS! (a well recorded turd is still a turd)
a hearty, well written string part

Dislikes

Canned drums
basses that don't sound like a bass- you know all low end no balls no soul no WOOD!
bass drums that are all 'tap' -for years I thought Lars was using a sheet of plywood as a bass drum
over processed vocals
over layered vocals
syrup and disingenuousness

Pretty much all modern alternative rock, including, I am sad to say, most of the Course of Empire stuff... I love the songs (mostly) and live we were pretty amazing but the recordings...

[FatCat]

Likes

Double tracking
As little EQ as possible. I like getting a good sound with the gear we're using, and adding as little post-eq as possible. I'm a strong believer that you should be able to match your recorded tone live as well, and if you over process and over edit, you can't do that.

Dislike

Too much gain. I'm guilty of this because I play in a metal band and myself and the other guitarist are often fighting for a spot to be heard. Now for our rhythm tracks I use a 5150 with the gain at around 6, and use an MXR Wylde Overdrive to boost it up for leads. He uses a JCM 900 4100 with his gain set at about 7 using a tubescreamer for a boost. Sounds a lot tighter live too because it isn't a constant wall of poo.

autotune, vocalign, anything that helps the vocalist out. To hell with the vocalist! I had to do my tracks right so kiss my ass and stop sucking at what you do!

[James]

[euan]

What I really like when two part vocals are done at the same time with the same mic and the singers facing each other. That always sounds hot.

Oh and properly mic'ed/eqed snares. Motown for the win.
_________________

euan

[Doog]

[paul_]