Recording Session Photos

[alex maiolo]

Yay indeed, Mason!

Way to work with what you've got. You'll get good results with that SM7 on the guitars for sure.

-A

[endofanera]

Yay indeed, Mason!

Way to work with what you've got. You'll get good results with that SM7 on the guitars for sure.

-A

Indeed.

I'd be inclined to put those two drum mics you're using as overheads in a Glyn Johns configuration rather than way up high like that, but if that sounds good then go for it.

[scott evans]

I never had anything approaching an SM-7 when I was 19!

And those Old Museum pics... uh, HELL YES. Man that looks fun. Will listen later for sure.

[Mason]

I never had anything approaching an SM-7 when I was 19!

I love renting.

Thanks for the kudos/advice, all. We finished everything today, having in total spent three hours setting things up and six hours tracking. I've got the mixes now, and I'll be spending my evenings on them for the next week or so.

I'm indeed realizing that we should have done up a Glyn Johns/Recorderman thing on drums rather than XY, but I deferred to our friend who was helping us run things. It'll be alright, though. I'm completely impressed with how the songs have turned out.

I sort of chronicled the whole session on my stupid Tumblr thing: you can read it here and here if you're interested.

[MrWarandieBoy]

And those Old Museum pics... uh, HELL YES. Man that looks fun. Will listen later for sure.

yeah, it was super fun (especially as a drummer).

the only issue with the place was keeping the drums out of the piano mics, as the sound just goes up into the air and bounces straight past any gobos etc that you put up. in the end we had two atm450s in a regular spaced pair arrangement but relative close to the piano strings, then an at4050 under the piano in figure 8 mode with heaps of foam deadening underneath it to reduce any bleed getting into it at all. plus a heap of gobos around the piano. got a good sound in the end, but had to add a bit of room verb back in afterwards to make the instrument sound like eveything else.

another fun part of the session was an overdub of the huge pipe organ that we did on the final afternoon. the piano tuner came in to do his monthly tuning, and since we only had the one final overdub to do he sat down and waited while we did it. it's on the song 'timelapse', and the organ is mostly just 3notes repeating in a fast pattern for a couple of minutes. the poor dude looked completely confused (since he couldn't hear the rest of the song behind the organ part), just sitting there with this mouth agape. afterwards he came up and said 'so you guys are, like, minimalist?'.

best song to listen to in order to hear the sound of the room is the last track, 'last call'. alternatively, 'the sleeping trucks' is very roomy and has the actual room ambience for the piano since it was a much sparser track than the others and we didn't have to gobo it off as much / was able to use the room mics to a greater extent since they weren't just filled with drums.

[n.c.]

i'm listening to the ghost notes right now. very cool. Sounds good on my shitty work laptop.

awesome thread.

[alex maiolo]

Another vote for Recorderman/Glyn Johns.
They are similar. I usually use ribbons with the Johns method, and condensers with the Recorderman, but not always.
That, with a dynamic on the snare will usually do the trick. It's pretty magical, actually.

If you want your own "SM7" take an SM57, and clip the transformer. Tape Op did a great article on this. You can find it online.
It's not truly an SM7, but from what everyone says, you go way up in fidelity by getting the transformer out of there. You'll need a decent pre.
People who A/B the mics are impressed.

-A

[scott evans]

I recorded Thee Generalissimos this weekend at Sharkbite. Great session. I didn't get many pics but here's a few.

Check out that catering, bro.

[MrWarandieBoy]

Sweet looking studio.

Btw, that Ghost Notes album from the sessions in the concert hall shown on the previous page is out on bandcamp now. http://www.ghostnotes.incrementalrecords.com
(as an aside, some people might find the record a bit pricey, as we're in Australia and records are a lot more expensive here, plus our dollar is quite high at the moment)

[tallchris]

Police Teeth did some recording last weekend with Jackson Justice Long. He's a long time friend and former bandmate of mine (he played drums in Racetrack). He's been on tour doing drum tech work for a famous band, and just got a new space in Sodo in Seattle, just down from the arenas. One large room for tracking, though we were able to stash the bass cab in an unused room next door. We're really stoked about what we got so far.







More photos on the PT F'book thing.

[ldopa_chicago]

Fake Limbs recording at EA with Jon San Paolo!

















Full photo set here.

[garthplinko]

Great photos Bryan! Hope you're enjoying the experience and can't wait to hear some songs.

I'm mostly surprised at the placement of the mics being so far back for the guitar cabinets. I find I'm almost always mic'ing guitars close, probably from my experiences in doing live sound.

I was also surprised to see your drummer rocking the black dot Remos for heads. I don't think I've used those for toms ever. Can't wait to hear how they sound.

[ldopa_chicago]

Great photos Bryan! Hope you're enjoying the experience and can't wait to hear some songs.

Thanks Garth! I should have noted, the session was 11/5-11/6. We've booked mastering for February (at Chicago Mastering), so digital release will come shortly thereafter with vinyl following later, hopefully by April.

I'm mostly surprised at the placement of the mics being so far back for the guitar cabinets. I find I'm almost always mic'ing guitars close, probably from my experiences in doing live sound.

Agreed. I've never not close-miced guitars, but godDAMN, my guitar has never sounded better. And that's why Jon San Paolo recorded us and not me.

I was also surprised to see your drummer rocking the black dot Remos for heads. I don't think I've used those for toms ever. Can't wait to hear how they sound.

I don't know much about drum heads, but I can tell you that Nick knows what he's doing and the drums sound spectacular.

[benadrian]

I was also surprised to see your drummer rocking the black dot Remos for heads. I don't think I've used those for toms ever. Can't wait to hear how they sound.

The sound of the 70s. the drummer for Guitar vs. Gravity used to own a late 60's Lugwig kit. He put black dots on the toms and DAMN, it just sounded old; like every early 70s hard rock record.

[154]

You see those black dot heads on a lot of Zeppelin's live footage w/ the orange Vistalites. They are the step between Emperors and Pinstripes. That green kit is very loud and resonant, so I can see the benefit of him using those (plus they look cool!).

I was more surprised by the tom mics (considering the studio commisioned the e22s).

[Mason]

So excited for the Fake Limbs album

Because I'm an idiot: can anyone elaborate on how this mic arrangement works? Is it meant for blending the two received signals, or meant for panning? Or both?

[danielruder]

So excited for the Fake Limbs album

Because I'm an idiot: can anyone elaborate on how this mic arrangement works? Is it meant for blending the two received signals, or meant for panning? Or both?

You got it -mostly blending, although could be for panning.


Fake Limbs, JSP - can't wait to hear the recordings.

[endofanera]

I was more surprised by the tom mics (considering the studio commisioned the e22s).

Unless I'm mistaken, that's an e22 on the rack tom.

Of course, I may be mistaken.

[garthplinko]

[endofanera]

That's what I get for looking at the far away pics only.