It's Finally Off My Plate!

[sigrant]

Much of my Summer has been spent in a nightmare album production scenario!
-multiple sessions
-multiple formats
-multiple mix locations
-no budget so I had to master, (which I hate because I suck at it)
-I also played on the sessions, (all live takes- no overdubbing)
-The intern/second is the only one who made any money off this gig

I'm happy to report that the album has been sent off to press and will be released in September. A preview of track 2- "Scatterbrained" can be found Here, (128 kbps MP3 Format).

It's very aggressive modern jazz, this particular track was recorded to 1" 16-trk, then transfered to DAW and mixed via analog console, (Harrison MR4), to CDR master.

Total album recording budget: $500.00.
(Thank God it was only a 6 song EP)

[Ombudsman]

This kind of music really isn't my bag, baby. But it's well recorded and the link on your site works well (read: everyone else should take note of this small but important detail...make it easy for people to listen to your tune).

Cheers!

[dynomike]

Also not a fan of this style. The recording came out great though.

Can you go through your drum set up? Including mics and the drums also... they sound really good. Sounds like clear heads on toms though, which is odd for jazz. Is there a lot of compression on the snare and tom mics, or are you just hitting really hard?

The drumming is really excellent at the end. Thats one thing I like about open jazz... its a lot of fun to drum to. Your left foot must have been getting tired though, its pretty steady on the 8th note pulse.

I would have liked to hear some more defined bass... was that a fretless bass through some funky fx? Its pretty unique anyway.

mike

ps. don't worry too much about the mastering... I don't hear any noise issues/serious distortion/pumping and sucking.... I've heard worse from so called mastering houses.

[sigrant]

Ok DiyMike, you asked for it...

First of all- thanks for the kind words. Now to answer the questions at hand...

DRUM TECH
Yamaha Maple Custom drums. A 7 piece set with 8", 10", 12", 14" & 16" toms; a 22" kick and a 14x6 steel snare that I made myself. The Cymbals are Zildjian K-Custom series which have a fast decay that is intended for jazz and more acoustic-type music. The Kick has a front head with an off center hole for mic-ing and the only padding I use is a Remo Muffle-O on the beater head. Good ears DiyMike- the toms are clear pinstripe heads more often heard in rock and fusion drumming. I'll explain why down in the "Musicology" paragraph.

STUDIO TECH
Unless otherwise noted- the signal path for all instruments was: Mic -to- console, (Harrison MR4), -to- Tascam MS16 tape machine, (1" 16-trk).

Drum Mics:
-SM57's on all toms
-Octava Mk012 on snare, (top)
-Rode NT5 pair on overhead, (traditional x/y pattern)
-And my secret weapon... an EV ND868 on the kick

...and the overheads skipped the console and ran through the HHB Radius-10 tube pre direct to tape.

I don't know if you care about the other stuff but since I'm here...

Guitar:
-Sennheiser 421 on the Mesa Boogie .50 cabinet, (set one notch off of "M")
-DI out of the amp

Baritone Sax:
Some kind of Audio Technica clip-on mic on the bell that runs through a big FX pedal board then off to a Carvin AG100 amp.
-AKG C3000 on the Amp
-DI out of the amp
-PPA LD2UBE mic on the sax, (for dry, un-effected horn)

Bass:
Just like the sax setup- an acoustic, 3/4 scale, upright, double bass running through an FX board- then off to an Ashdown bass amp, (I think it's a 150 watt - loud as hell anyway).
-AKG C3000 on the amp
-DI out of the amp
-AKG 414C on the bass

...and the 414 ran through an Avalon 737 pre/comp/eq/magic box before bypassing the console and heading strait to tape.

MIXDOWN
Good ears again DiyMike- there is compression on the toms and snare- I don't have those session notes with me but I usually use about a 3.5:1 ratio on both- but MOST of my drum sounds usually come from the overheads, and the toms and snare are just brought in enough to add articulation. In this session- using the NT5's as overhead mics caused me to push those tom and snare tracks a little more than usual. Typically I like to use 414's as overheads because their large diaphragms get more warmth from the toms & snare- but this was my first time using NT5's and I had to see how they performed.

Except for the bass pre- all compression was applied at mixdown. All compression was handled by my Tascam DM-24 which I use for automated mixing when I'm in studios with no built-in automation.

For the mixdown I was actually mistaken in my original post- this particular track was mixed from the tape machine, but most of the other tracks on this album were first transferred to my DAW- which I still route through a console as the tape machine does, but I get to skip the transport hassles and tape wear by using the DAW instead. Anyway- this track went from tape- to the DM-24- to a Tascam CD burner, (sorry- don't remember the model in that studio). No other gear was used outside the DM-24.

MUSICOLOGY
Yes- those are rock drums. And much of my jazz playing is rock contaminated. And the traditional bass and sax use extensive FX on otherwise traditional instruments. The point of this group is to write jazz tunes- but play the hell of 'em. In the true spirit of jazz- we bring our baggage, (rock aggression), to the table and throw it into the music. We could just play all-acoustic jazz tunes for the dinner crowd- but we can't stand that crap. Don't get me wrong- we love ALL of the classic artists of the genre, (even a few modern ones), but that aint who we are. It's probably more appropriate to call it fusion- but that term has odd connotations too- so we just call it "21st century modern jazz". For a more exaggerated example of my rock-influenced jazz drumming- you can sample track 5 from the album here, (128 kbps MP3 format).

Ok- I think that was long-winded enough. Wait- I may as well plug the studio too since I'm here- check out Studio-V in Seattle, WA.

Thanks again for the encouragement- sg

[jajjguy]

i listened, heard a horribly imbalanced stereo image with phase problems everywhere, went and cleaned my ears out, and i still hear it that way! Other things sound ok, so whatever may be wrong with my ears, I think this recording still has some bigtime phase issues and stereo image problems. This kind of thing can sometimes come across as exciting outer space psycho confusion, like on Hendrix' Electric Ladyland, but it isn't working for me. I just feel like there's something wrong with the recording. Sorry.

[zoetrope]

Reminded me of Dixie Dregs but grungier. Some interesting stuff, especially when the sax comes in. Nice blend of sounds there.