Two days in the mansion

Just some photos for now, as I'm too tired to type it all out. But five songs into the rest of the Bellflur record, and I'm really happy. Things are sounding great.

We've used different drum setups on most every song, and we're tracking more live than we have before. It's working nicely. Day one was 5-5-5-6 and Rhythms of Waking and Sleeping, both with Hunter's new Mapleworks kick. Rhythms was his Mapleworks snare, 5556 is the Big Black. Kick mics are e602 inside and ATM25 in the hole, both into 2108. Snare side is Beyer M201 into V276. Bova is into the V76, GT MD1a switches between mono overhead and room mic, through the DRS1 and sometimes the MC77. TM2 in front of the kit, mainly in omni, into V76 and sometimes Sta Level slow attack/fast release. Rooms are KSM141s in omni, toms are M179s, all into the Sytek. Yamaha CP70 into Ampeg B25/1x15 cab mic'd with SM7b into V276. National guitar into Pro Jr mic'd with Beyer M88 into Altec 1566a and sometimes Drawmer 1968me. Bass (guitar and synth) both into V71 and sometimes the Sta-Level.

Tracking Complete!

Not Bellflur, of course, we've still got a couple eons left on that one.

No pics, but rundown on the past two days...

Vocals - "normal" vocals are all the TM2 through either the M76 or V276, depending... the 276 is sort of "harder" sounding and meaner, the 76 has the big bottom end and feels generally softer. Always through the StaLevel, usually sorta cranking. EQP1 inline all the time too, usually boosting a couple db at either 100 or 200db and a slight boost at 8 or 10db depending on the song. I keep the lowpass engaged on the TM2. Sounds nicer to me without the highs there, made up on the Pultec thingy. There were lots of non-normal vocals. One has a normal vocal panned hard left and the main is through the Copperfone. Another is awesome. Singer is up the stairwell singing into an intercom - the Bova Ball is at the bottom of the stairs, and in the kitchen, there's an SM7b on the other end of the intercom. Super mean.

backing vox were generally Beyer M88. A scream on one track is Dex holding the EV SpaceLazer 5000 into a cranked v276 into a cranked StaLevel.

Organ was done very simply these past two days - Beyer M201 over the Leslie into the V76. Last session with organ was KSM141s on the side horns through the 2108 with the TM2 out front into the 1566a driven into distortion.

Kazoos. Yeah, heck yea. We doubled them up because we're always pushing the envelope of modern recording. There's an acoustic kazoo into Beyer M201 while I'm playing the electric kazooka DI'd into a 76. Resisted temptation to put it through a wah-wah.

Basic Tracks Down

Three pretty solid days of work. We put down the bulk of six tracks with just lead vox, keys, and some additional guitar parts to add in the coming week. We did indeed swap out the Vox for the Super for most of the main parts, but did lots of overlay with the AC30 for more snap, as well as a couple Leslie tracks. Relied pretty heavily on the two Gibsons for most of the main guitars with the Tele coming in on a few rhythm tracks and a couple flourishes. The Super was generally run straight in, the AC30 with a Beano Boost inline. Micing was pretty varied, but in general, the M88, Crowley & Tripp, and SM7b were the main go-to mics. KSM141s made a few appearances, the I5 once, and the EV 642 SpaceLaser5000 in one case. One track was done with heavy fuzz using the homebuilt Tele + barge Bee-Ba + Sound City with the SM7 in a 276. The Mercury m76m was definitely the primary preamp, with the Phoenix DRS generally #2 and almost any track using the Crowley mic was into the Altec 1566 slightly overdriven. Acoustic parts were done 451/m76. I'll dissect a song or two later... too much right now to type out as I'm wiped.

Bass was mainly direct v71/Sta Level; a 70s Ric was the #1 bass. We used the Tele on one track and an Ibanez semihollow on another. One track was done live through the Ampeg B25; others will be reamped later in the week.

Drums stayed as they were - the Jazz Fest snare never left the stand. For the last two tracks we changed out to the 26" kick - one was a White Stripes sounding stomping sort of song, the other more Spaghetti Western country, for which we dampened the kick a little taping a foam ring to the batter side and a felt flap on the res head. Micing changed for these tracks - 4047s came down, replaced by 141s in omni as stereo rooms on the floor and the Bova as a mono omni overhead. MD421 on the outside head, ATM25 on the batter, TM2 moved in to emphasize kick.

Coolest thing was doing tracks fully live - acoustic guitar and main vocal in one mic, a couple of us gathered around another singing backups. All moving into a hallway to record handclaps together. Just finding nice sounding spots, setting up a single mic, and playing to it. Lots of bleed. Sounds like... music!

Mixing & Prep ... back to life, eh?

Cranking through the Bellflur EP mixes - we were racing against the clock as we were using demo plugin EQs that expired within a week. Not the most ideal way to work. But with my two EQP1s down, we were short equalisers. Drums are sounding insane. Too insane. Have to reign in that low end...

Just finished prep for tomorrow's session with a group. We're using my li'l Gretsch kit for most of it - we may swap out to the 26" for something. Looks like the Jazzfest will be the primary snare, with the Oyster subbing in on a track or two. Dex retuned the kit for me today with his fancy planar torqualising tensionometer and fuck! It sounds amazing again. My tech notes:

Kick In is the ATM25 into the 2108 35/5, Kik Out SM7b into Sytek @ 3.5. FOK is the good ol' TM2/V76/EQP1 (got one working) w/ the 76 at 24/11:30/12 and the EQP1 +2 at 100 +4 at 5khz. OHs are 4047s in modified Glyn Johns formation into the Tele 276s. Rear room is GT-MD1A into Altec 1566a. Snare top M201/2108 35/7 / snare bottom I5/Sytek 2/inverted. Toms are M179s, floor in hyper and rack in cardioid to deal with cymbal placement. Both into the Sytek.

Guitars, thus far I've set up the AC30 in the side hallway for main rhythm tracks. We may swap out for the Super depending on the playing. The Vox is mic'd with an M88 into V76 18/4:00/5:00 and the Crowley & Tripp mic into the DRS pad in -40/2:00.

Got the Leslie and ES330 set up as well. He said he wanted late period Beatles, and dammit, I can do that. Also amazing what the basstraps did for the weird echoes in the room...

Also, happy birthday to me. Bought the URS Neve EQ and put in an inquiry with VK on a pair of Calrec AM16 33609s... yeah, like I can afford those...

note: I *hate* the compressed tonal range look thing in pictures. Don't think I do it because I like it. It's because the one thing it actually is good for is showing detail in shadows for technical documents. Fuck that garbage everywhere else.

note II: A few nights ago heard a band play called The War on Drugs who despite the shitty name are pretty amazing. Singer does the Dylan/Boss thing without sounding like a ripoff, meanwhile the band is massive walls of shimmering beautiful double drummed sound. Nice.

Neato video

Tom made a pretty spiffy li'l video from various footage he's been sneaking at sessions, placed to one of the demo roughs of Insect. See it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUMCq_fx_Vo

(I like teh car door dings as an opening sound effect, too.)

Back in Ready for Action

No posts for a month +. Three bands were in, but due to a number of technical difficulties it's been an unproductive spring thus far. The console went back due to a number of intolerable build issues/malfunctions, most notably. By the end of the week though we will hopefully have our new ProTools HD system up and running, and the search for a new snappy location goes on. Seen a couple potential spots, but nothing perfect yet. Er, nothing perfect that hasn't been purchased by developers to be razed and replaced with shitbox yambo stainless steel luxury condo (w/ health club) living. Damn them. There was one seriously cool building in Arlington, I think from 1929 and kinda reminded me of a tamer version of the Child's Building from Coney Island, but it's obviously out of the price bracket. And I think it's being torn down to make way for a CVS to sell hair gel and birth control to the people in the new ZOG or whatever it's being called future luxury highrise around the corner.

Hot Cider, Hot Fire

Four Bellflur tracks are that much closer to done after a pretty good night. Redid a lot of vocals in a new style - we'd been feeling a lot of the parts felt a bit awkward, and then Carlos says he'd really like to try and do some of the vocals in more of a Sparklehorse sort of style. Ok, I thought, sounds fun, let's try. Started with an MD421/m76 and the Copperphone/DRS, switched the 421 with the MD1a. Summed into the Sta Level at it's fastest release, pretty slammed, finally into an EQP1 just putting in 1.5db at 5khz and attenuating 15khz 6db with a pretty wide Q. It's going to need a de-esser after that compression, but the sound is pretty darned cool. And it finally fits! Hurrah. Did a bunch of Tom's backing vocals too, mainly the MD1a or my new OmniMouse, which I'm thus far enjoying, DRS all around.

Had to add a couple samples as well. We didn't have the proper adaptor, and felt too lazy to go find a flashdrive, so hey! Let's just mic the laptop. Why not?

Emily and Susan arrived a little later, we're happy they arrived at all, as the roads were coated with ice. We all just about maimed ourselves every time we walked outside which was equal parts comedic and inconvenient. They did violins over a few songs, the O-Mouse in the middle through the DRS, and then each with their own overhead/spot. One was KSM141 - 2108, the other TM2 - v76. For a couple parts we had them play together into the Bova Ball. Their vocals were done two ways. Some parts both sang into the MD1a together, a few we pulled two mics, adding in a 4047 with the two mics about two & a half feet apart and the vocalists facing one another. I am tired, and another group in tomorrow. Resting time.