Drum/bass sound on "In Bloom"

[Seventh Wave Studio]

That Nirvana song sounds different from the others on the record. I know overall the band did not like the production of the record, but "In Bloom" I just love the sound of the drums and bass. So dark, so primitive, so dry, yet still of a great fidelity and up -front.

Any info on that setup? Anything would help!

[billiamwalker]

i don't know much about the production of nirvana cd's but i do have an interesting fact about dave ghrol's kick drum.

not sure about the mic positioning and stuff but i do know that while in the studio he had a thick-round piece of cardboard in front of it (it was the shape of a kick drum without the heads on it). Kind of like the technique used when you place a kick drum in front of another kick drum to add to the depth of the kick.. I'm sure that helps with the whole quality and dryness of his drums.

[Electro-Voice 664]

Could be the difference in basses, Gibson vs. Ibanez?
Its an older song right?
Maybe they had come to some sort of finality on the tones they wanted.
I used to think this record was really slick and mainstream in production, now I think it has as much to do with the song writing as anything else.
....and I always thought it'd be Mudhoney

[toilet tunes]

dont remember the bass stuff. but In the book come as you. the were talking about mr. vigs mixes the label wanted slicker stuff so they brought in dude (mixed slayer i think) he used triggers on kick and snare.dont know if that helps.

[knobtwirler]

dont remember the bass stuff. but In the book come as you. the were talking about mr. vigs mixes the label wanted slicker stuff so they brought in dude (mixed slayer i think) he used triggers on kick and snare.dont know if that helps.

You're talking about Andy Wallace, who actually has stated that he would no longer work with Slayer for some reason, but this was one of the main reasons Nirvana accepted to work with him. Yes, if Andy Wallace has worked on a mix, he will always punch up the drums with the use of samples as a sort of EQ because he knows what works interms of drums in a mix. However, not to take away from the bands he mixes, most of the time the stuff just sounds amazing by the time he gets it and he has little more to do beyond pushing up the faders and doing minute automation rides for about 12 hours. Listening to that song, I hear a real aggressively compressed kick drum breathing beautifully with the tempo and a snare that has a gated reverb on it and a pretty obvious sample sound that is great. The bass tone is solid, and sounds like an amp signal is in there. As for the overall reverb on the drums, most of it could be room mics where they did the drums, like the hihat seems to have as well as the cymbals. The close miced kicks and snares undoubtedly have some Lexicon 480L on them. I can totally see Nirvana pissed about how good it sounds.