Production likes and dislikes
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Mr Mustache
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theshadowofseattle
- THE TAMPA BAY HERO
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Mr Mustache
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My friend's just recorded at EA not long ago, with Albini. I think they used Studio B, though. Still sounds fantastic. Albini is genius.Doog wrote:Depends on the studio and the size of it. Albini's Electrical Audio Studio have big 'verby live rooms of varying sizes, plus a dead room with no ambience.
http://electrical.com/studios.php
It's neat, you can hear what a snare sounds like in each of the 3 'verby rooms.
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.
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.
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plopswagon
- cutesy tag
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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...
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...
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!
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!
I really like how my voice sounds double tracked.. I feel like a fuckin' cheat for doing it sometimes, but it sounds phat. We did some subtle double tracking on the lead vox on the WK ep, just chucking a bit of the 2nd one in the mix for a bit of a thicker sound.bob wrote:I'm still surprised at just how many vocals are double tracked, there are quite a few albums where you don't really notice it until you purposely listen for it, or you listen on headphones.FatCat wrote:Likes
Double tracking
I love on Surfer Rosa how you can hear a faint lead vocal take in the background (I'm guessing either as spill from live band takes or possibly it was intentional) with the main lead vocal, and they kinda differ. Really fun to listen to.
ye-yeah, there's a cool "someone in the corner" vibe. the way he sings the chorus to "where is my mind" live can be heard really faintly in the background on the studio version. he just says "where is my mind" more times, a few of them spat out pretty fast.Doog wrote:
I love on Surfer Rosa how you can hear a faint lead vocal take in the background (I'm guessing either as spill from live band takes or possibly it was intentional) with the main lead vocal, and they kinda differ. Really fun to listen to.
Aug wrote:which one of you bastards sent me an ebay question asking if you can get teh kurdtz with that 64 mustang?
robertOG wrote:fran & paul are some of the original gangstas of the JS days when you'd have to say "phuck"