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At the fadeout of "The Beast and Dragon Adored", it sounds like the close mics get muted, and all that is left is the room mic and/or overheads. It's a pretty good study of what those distant sounds add to an overall drum sound. The room sound seems fairly unadorned...not radically eq'd... not "flam...

Random bass tips to help parts "sit", (assuming it's an overdub). Just to give you background, my method is to use a DI (UA 2108 Hi-Z input). I use a pick and flat wounds. I only reamp later if I want to get Chris Squire or Carol Kaye tones. Pod or Fender Blues Jr works nicely for that. OK - now to ...

Stumbled across this, thought it was worth revisiting http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopic.php?t=8494 The groundrules... "Here's a thread where you can name drop like we all want to do, but won't admit it. Who have you worked with, met in a restaurant, talked with on the phone, jammed with, park...

The magic of Bee Thousand & Alien Lanes... They capture two seemingly opposing vibes simultaneously. 1) An absolute unironic devotion to the power of Rock. The vocal and instrumental performances themselves are the most convincing post-70's examples of arena rock I can think of. The chorus to "Tract...

Re: Cyndi Lauper

I'm thinking of the solo on "Time After Time"...It really sounds synthy to me with the terrible pitch wheel bending...

But other than that, yeah, She's So Unusual is Da Bomb.

A diffused sound is key. And the only way is distance miking -- In my experience digital reverb totally massacres jingly percussive sounds (everything from tamborines to shakers to sleigh bells). Think about how they woulda done it did it back in the 60's: I'd bet the sleigh bell player stood next t...

Ultimately what this thread comes down to is "what are the signature sounds of music you dislike? What are the signature sounds of musical styles that are out of fashion?" Not entirely. For instance, I love Steve Miller's "Rock'n'Me", but those Chinas sound so Ass. Just a bad choice on the drummer ...

Top 10 List - The Instruments of Ass.

10. DI Acoustic Guitar
9. DX7 Rhodes (or the like)
8. Smooth Jazz Chime Tree
7. DX7 "Cyndi Lauper" Harmonica
6. 8" or smaller toms
5. Ringy Piccolo Snare
4. Simmons Drums
3. Fretless Bass
2. Splash Cymbals
1. China Cymbals

Ben Kweller's On My Way is pretty uncompressed sounding as well. Especially the vocals. Anyone ever notice how the songs on the older Belle & Sebastian Albums vary wildy in volume? And the new B & S sounds like it was mastered through a distressor with compression off, but Dist 3 on. I mean it actua...

I at least back off the mic a good 2-3 ft for the double. But then, sometimes the intended double is better than the main vocal. Another approach to doubled lead vox to eliminate problem above... 1) Record each take with the exact same setup 2) Comp the best lines from the two takes onto another tr...

Reminds me of the terrible reverbed-out reissue of "Carry On My Wayward Son." from 10+ years ago.

Total Sacrilege. It's like they ran the entire mix through an SPX-90 Hall Reverb setting.

And now it seems to be the only version that ever gets played on the radio. Sad.

And though his career jumped the shark after about 1982 or so, I still crank up the radio when I hear "Uptown Girl". I mean, yes, the song is cheesy as hail, and yes, it's stupid... but that rhythm track kicks ass, with all its Spector-ish-ness and handclaps. Probably the best-sounding, most convinc...

With all this BJ-worship, perhaps this discussion should be redirected here:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39019

PS Don't write off "The Nylon Curtain" either. "Pressure", "Laura", and even "Allentown" still rock.

I dig this record. Some of the odd time signature stuff with trumpet/flute/marimba orchestration sounds like the theme from "The Price is Right." (That's meant as a compliment.) Other things remind me of Philip Glass. Some of the vocals remind me of Belle and Sebastian. However, despite all the fami...

moved.