Battle of mice named #2 heavy record of the year!

[dtrider]

just got my bova ball friday from a seller on this board. It sounds awesome

[weatherbox]

wow

[joel hamilton]

I just heard this (and MOoB) the other day - so. SO. Good. Her vocals sorta freak me out (in a really sexy way.) Nice. The drums... well. They sound like Joel recorded them. BIIIG. I'm definitely buying the record.

Which Moob record? I did "trophy" and Albini did "coward."

The battle of mice recod is the only one that I played on, and produced/engineered. The Moob record I just produced/engineered.

Glad you are digging it! They are really good people. I was in a band called "players club" with the bass player of Moob, but he played guitar in players club... cooper is his name.

[weatherbox]

Mice is definitely my favorite - it's the parts I like most of Red Sparowes and now, MOoB, crammed together with the big sweet crushing drums. Sounds like the studio experience was... intense.

[joel hamilton]

Mice is definitely my favorite - it's the parts I like most of Red Sparowes and now, MOoB, crammed together with the big sweet crushing drums. Sounds like the studio experience was... intense.

Yeah, it was. Both parties involved in the "fallout" were both incredibly cool towards me though, at all times, and we remain very good pals. The two of them cant be in the same room though... heavy vibe when that would happen. I just had to keep them separated and everything was cool that way.

FUN!

[parasitk]

Yeah, it was. Both parties involved in the "fallout" were both incredibly cool towards me though, at all times, and we remain very good pals. The two of them cant be in the same room though... heavy vibe when that would happen. I just had to keep them separated and everything was cool that way.

Sounds like there's no chance of a second album then? Bummer!

Also, any other info about the recording (tech stuff, all that geekery) would be great - I love the overall sound of this album!

[joel hamilton]

Yeah, it was. Both parties involved in the "fallout" were both incredibly cool towards me though, at all times, and we remain very good pals. The two of them cant be in the same room though... heavy vibe when that would happen. I just had to keep them separated and everything was cool that way.

Sounds like there's no chance of a second album then? Bummer!

Also, any other info about the recording (tech stuff, all that geekery) would be great - I love the overall sound of this album!

I didnt say anything about a second record or not.... just keeping two of the people out of the room at the same time... still totally possible that a second record will happen... I honestly dont know.

The whole thing was recorded totally haphazardly... that is why sometimes there would be like 2 or 3 mics on the drums, because I would think I was just putting the idea down... but we wound up keeping everything. Made it interesting to mix something that heavy with kick snare and room as my only drum mics... thank god for the neve 33609, the spectra sonics 610, a distressor, collins 26-1U, and a custom mcmartin limiter. On every song on the drums, that is what I used during the mix... Also I think I had some EQ on the room mic at some point on that record (aside from the obvious filtered moments)....
If anyone really wants to ask specific questions, I am happy to answer them.

[parasitk]

I didnt say anything about a second record or not.... just keeping two of the people out of the room at the same time... still totally possible that a second record will happen... I honestly dont know.

Well I hope it does happen. It's definitely one of my favorite albums bought this year!

The whole thing was recorded totally haphazardly... that is why sometimes there would be like 2 or 3 mics on the drums, because I would think I was just putting the idea down... but we wound up keeping everything. Made it interesting to mix something that heavy with kick snare and room as my only drum mics... thank god for the neve 33609, the spectra sonics 610, a distressor, collins 26-1U, and a custom mcmartin limiter. On every song on the drums, that is what I used during the mix... Also I think I had some EQ on the room mic at some point on that record (aside from the obvious filtered moments)....
If anyone really wants to ask specific questions, I am happy to answer them.

Was the mic setup on Bones in the Water one of those more minimal setups? It sounds so destroyed and heavy, but without a ton of cymbal/hat wash. I love the balance on it. What kind of kit was it and what were the drum sizes?

What was the synth/keyboard setup like? I've noticed all these quiet subtle sounds throughout the album, which I'm guessing could be synths? They really add a nice touch on headphones, and keep you discovering things on repeated listens. Did your modular make an appearance?

Did you use the Bova on anything other than drums?

Thanks!

[joel hamilton]

I didnt say anything about a second record or not.... just keeping two of the people out of the room at the same time... still totally possible that a second record will happen... I honestly dont know.

Well I hope it does happen. It's definitely one of my favorite albums bought this year!

The whole thing was recorded totally haphazardly... that is why sometimes there would be like 2 or 3 mics on the drums, because I would think I was just putting the idea down... but we wound up keeping everything. Made it interesting to mix something that heavy with kick snare and room as my only drum mics... thank god for the neve 33609, the spectra sonics 610, a distressor, collins 26-1U, and a custom mcmartin limiter. On every song on the drums, that is what I used during the mix... Also I think I had some EQ on the room mic at some point on that record (aside from the obvious filtered moments)....
If anyone really wants to ask specific questions, I am happy to answer them.

Was the mic setup on Bones in the Water one of those more minimal setups? It sounds so destroyed and heavy, but without a ton of cymbal/hat wash. I love the balance on it. What kind of kit was it and what were the drum sizes?

What was the synth/keyboard setup like? I've noticed all these quiet subtle sounds throughout the album, which I'm guessing could be synths? They really add a nice touch on headphones, and keep you discovering things on repeated listens. Did your modular make an appearance?

Did you use the Bova on anything other than drums?

Thanks!

The drum setup on bones in the water was one of the more minimal ones. I had to go back and listen to remember.. I think it was the bova, a U47 in front of me, an E602 in the kick, and one of my revox 3500's on the snare... I dont remember which one, but they are about the same.
The snare is a custom brass "pound cake" made by cake drums for me here in brooklyn. It is 1/4" brass sheet stock, rolled into a 14x5 1/2" shell with custom hardware. It weighs about 30 pounds. for real. The kick is a 24" slingerland. It is old, I dont know the vintage.. early 70's I think... redone by Cake for me as well.
Toms are crazy weird ones... I think a 12" rack and a 16" floor. Super reonant toms. I love those things. they are made by a secret company...

The synths are all over the map. A lot of the sounds were built in the box by Josh (the guitarist) on his laptop, but further processed by me through the modular or other various filters and gizmo's. Some of it was taken as MIDI from those sounds from josh, just so I could double them with the modular. Some were just from some of my analog synths, like a yamaha CS15 I love is all over that thing in the low end, and certain weird screeching noises as well. Some of the sounds are just heavily manipulated voice outtakes from julie... like if she inhaled really hard, and i time stretched it a million times, then sent that through an LFO'd filter in my modular to randomize it, then through my tube EQ with an 8 step sequencer made kind of like a custom tube based moog "murph" thingy... printed in and verbed out through a stereo spring or something like that, then just placed barely in the mix to "frame" the quiet moments in a weird, disconcerting ambience.... glad it worked!

I used the bova for chambering some of those ambient sounds through a JBL powered monitor, and I think for a room mic on the guitar for some o the clean stuff, like 8 feet back from the amps at chest height.... basically the same as when it was behind the kit because I am lazy when tracking my own stuff usually...

anything else?

[parasitk]

anything else?

Thanks again for taking the time to answer these questions!

The only other question I have is when you say the Bova was "aimed" at the floor tom, do you mean pointing down at the head, or pointing over/across the top of it?

//Chris

[joel hamilton]

anything else?

Thanks again for taking the time to answer these questions!

The only other question I have is when you say the Bova was "aimed" at the floor tom, do you mean pointing down at the head, or pointing over/across the top of it?

//Chris

Chris,
Pointing kind of straight forward over my right shoulder.

[trodden]

Cool info, thanks for that and the people asking the questions. The MOoB disk you did has been one of my faves, then Battle of Mice came along and i love it. Both versions of sleep and dream are great. I got the Triad one first so for some reason i favor it more? maybe the stripped back intro? anyhow, awesome songs, interesting recordings. Julie's voice has become one of my favorites.