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One of the things that drew me to rock n roll, and also recording, is lack of rules. What fills this void is opinions! In my history, there have been sessions of amazing drum sets recorded with 18 mics on nuanced drummers with 4 or 5 cymbals. There have also been sessions with 2 mics on a kit that h...

Thanks for the info! I imagine that a lot of the darker sound has to do with your style and kit choices. Any tips regarding drums/cymbals to keeping the sound from being too "modern"/bright sounding? Record to tape! I always keep the snare mic from getting too much hi hat. I also generally don't re...

Hi, Sorry to dig up an older post, but I was curious if you did any EQing to your mics to give it that dirty/funky sound (which is fantastic!). I really like how dark (or maybe I should say "non bright") everything sounds, especially the hi-hat. Did you record to tape or digital? Great job I don't ...

Good dig! In fact, the timing is great: I'm just finishing a record with the mic set-up as described above. I recorded it drums/bass/guitar to 1/2 inch 8 track, 4 mics on the drums, then dumped it digital to finish with vocals (though some tracks have live vox to tape as well). I'm really, really pl...

I keep a bucket of rags right next to the tape deck for just such reasons.

True story.

You can hear the MXLs on the tune 'Bristol Takes Arms' and the tune 'BombsBombsBombs' over at http://www.myspace.com/theexeterpopes . That setup was just them as OH with a 57 on the snare and a Beta 52 on the kick, but super happy with it - a little dark. One MXL was about 2 feet over the flr tom fa...

Those drums sound great! Good timing on this thread as I just got a few new mics for overheads and new kick mic en route. Recording drums is always such an amazing mystery. Sometimes 6 mics sounds like shit and 2 mics sound fantastic, or not. Maybe it depends on the coffee that day... or the weather...

Thanks to the TapeOp forums, I finally built my own bass traps and got my room tuned up pretty great. This is the first finished tune, tracked on the newly obtained 8 track 1/2" - everything was done to tape except the vocals and lead guitar. I also made a quicky vid using iMovie. Pardon the YouTube...

We've unleashed a covers album in the spirit of the holiday - you can stream or download it all for free right here.

Happy Holiday, Tape Op.

Along these lines: I had a band replace a drummer halfway through a session. They argued over whether they should keep the old drummer's name on the credits (there was much animosity in the split) on the tracks on which he played. They ultimately didn't include his name at all even though he played ...

This thread reminds me of a great article about technology and the idea of something being 'good enough'. If you haven't read it, it's here. Instruments at Best Buy kind of fits into it, I'd say.

Not be the Debbie Downer here, but... I'd keep perspective on your role here. Specifically, you're a work for hire, and like it or not, their acknowledging your contribution to their recording is not guaranteed nor is it necessarily expected. I've played a lot of roles for recordings in various capa...

bannerj wrote:So, since mixing is such a contemplative process, what is the difference between working hard and over thinking?

For me: working hard = sense of accomplishment/relaxed... over thinking = stress/tense.

I mean, look at what's happened to this guy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGksmlTWCFE

They were massive at Lolla 08 - great, great songs and energy.