pj harvey rid of me

[xonlocust]

we were listening to this in the van the other day and i've heard this record hundreds of times, but what struck me was the way the gtrs were recorded. i heard things for the first time that were always there, but were just made clear the other day, so simple - yet brilliant. many songs seemed to be in the granite room at pachyderm (unless they were retracked in the live room again) with the base gtr part as a marshall 4x12 with a good amount of room sound, and then lead parts were close miced combos, sounded like a 1x12 or something. i could be entirely wrong, but it seemed to me a great example of tracking for mixing. the base gtrs sat well in the front to back space relationally to the drums and vocals - sort of mid stage - then the lead parts advanced, obviously with the close, tight micing. it seems so obvious doesn't it? the lead is important, but really - how important is the chord stucturing of the base part? it's subservient to the vocal, and accordingly is tracked to mix that way. when the lead gtr comes in, it's tracked like a lead vocal and advances in the mix. so simple.

i also have been reading the wu-tang manual on tour and it is so amazing. i am so serious about that, you should definitely read that. soooo good.

[cgarges]

I love this type of recording. Don Dixon is realy big into this, too. This is usually one of the first things that come to mind when somebody mentions depth of field. What a simple concept: record the stuff you want in the back from farther away.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[mjau]

The drums on the Bonnie Prince Billy album Viva Last Blues are like that - somewhat distant and live sounding, while there's this tiny lead guitar that pops up throughout the album that sounds like it had a 57 just resting on teh grill, right up front.

[radiantbrian]

yeah, i'm starting to really appreciate how a good room sound on a guitar can make it more energetic. (or at least create a context to make other elements seem more energetic) you hear that in a lot of silkworm records (also albini recordings)

[AnalogElectric]

Albini really liked Pachyderm before opening Electrical. I was going to grab the CD and take a listen to see if I could spot out what room he might've used at Pachyderm but I can't find it right now (I really need to alpha my CD's). I worked freelance sessions at Pachyderm several times over the last decade and when talking to their house assistant engineers that have worked with me, I've been told (and shown) some of the techniques Albini used for several different albums in Pachyderm. The granite room is narrow but the ceiling is at least 20 ft tall. Steve liked to use mics that were close and really really far away then mix to taste. He used Pachyderm's Neumann CMV563's a lot for distant room mics.

I'd guess if everything sounds live, mostly tracked live, and the granite room was used then maybe the sliding glass door was slightly ajar or completely open on one side. Pachyderm also has mic lines running to their bathroom of which can get a nice re'amp'd slapback. I don't know if Albini was doing much re'amping at that time tho. If done correctly Pachyderm has the room to get it initially.

-- Adam Lazlo

[Leopold]

I love the drum sounds on that record. They sound like a kit not individual drums.
I saw the Ramones DVD where tommy mentions micing the guitars from six feet away on most of those early records and yet they still sound so in your face.

E