Early R.E.M. drum sound??

[JGriffin]

*glowers at n00b*

*high fives MoreSpaceEcho*

*takes MSE and inverse aside for a gentle chiding*

now, now, boys, be nice, you were new here once too...

*laughs anyway*



...by the way, the gated snare reverb on these records is definitely a product of its time but is nowhere near as over-the-top as some other records released those years...

[MoreSpaceEcho]

*punches dwlb in stomach*

welcome rdgentry. post away, we're a friendly bunch.

[thekeepsake]

man am i stoked on this thread. r.e.m. has been my favorite band for many, many years. life's rich pageant is my favorite record, reckoning a close second. oddly enough, i've never tried to imitate that kind of drum sound. bass sound on the earliest records perhaps. i'd be interested to hear what insight anyone has if they do end up posting.

[JGriffin]

*swipes MSE up the side of the head with original vinyl copy of Bon Jovi's New Jersey*

[syrupcore]

*begins to grow suspect of everything dwlb has ever written now that he knows he owns an original vinyl copy of Bon Jovi's New Jersey*

[MoreSpaceEcho]

seriously! can you believe that guy?!??

*considers own vinyl collection. grows suddenly quiet*

[cgarges]

Got this response from Mitch, with the possibility of more later:

"If 'early' includes Murmur and Reckoning, it's sort of interesting because Murmur was a charmingly antiquated drum booth approach, then Reckoning made great use of the Dixon cardboard box fake binaural head. [Dixon often uses small-diaphragm condensers on either side of a tape box for binaural recording. -CG] Plus there were amusing techniques like decoding the bass drum on the booth sessions with a Dolby A to get rid of hi hat leakage. Anyway, Dixon is in the studio today so I'll ask him about his memories of specific mics. Chronic Town is sort of funny too, because I used SM7s overhead and 414s on the kick and snare because I sort of had no EQ then and needed the brightness of the 414s on those drums... "

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[rdgentry]

sober now and taking my glowering like a man...

*retreats beneath kitchen sink with a dusty bottle of bushmills*

[winky dinglehoffer]

Got this response from Mitch, with the possibility of more later:

"If 'early' includes Murmur and Reckoning,

To me, early is the first single on Hib-Tone. Arguably the best REM record ever. Take it all the way back, man.

[cgarges]

To me, early is the first single on Hib-Tone. Arguably the best REM record ever. Take it all the way back, man.

It seems my ability to conjure up that information is deficient. Here's what else I found out from Mitch:


>super-ancient (Radio Free Europe single): uh, not sure...
>
>Chronic Town: 414s on BD and SN, probably EV CS-15P on toms, and
>SM7s overhead. Then, white noise derived from a radio was keyed to
>the snare to generate brightness! No room mic. these sessions were
>done in a tiny garage with hard walls.
>
>Murmur: recorded in a dead drum booth because Bill liked the idea.
>The studio, Reflection, was a pretty standard 70s pro studio with a
>big main room, drum booth, various movable goboes, and a couple of
>corridors which could be used as recording spaces. BD: RE20, SN:
>451, toms:? OH: probably KM84s. We got horrible leakage from the hi
>hat into the bass drum, which is sort of mysterious, but the hi hat
>was really loud, so we decoded the BD track through a Dolby A as a
>sort of expander to roll off the HFs in a dynamic way. On Radio
>Free Europe, we recorded another snare with a room mic & compression
>to get an interesting sound.
>
>Reckoning: Drums moved to the big room, and largely recorded with a
>fake binaural head which was a cardboard 2" tape shipping box & 2
>KM84s. The close mics were probably the same as Murmur but much
>more use was made of the room because of the fake head technique.
>
>Nothing was recorded with compression except that snare overdub.
>The really old stuff was done on a Quantum console with limited EQ,
>whereas Murmur and Reckoning were done on an MCI 600 series, which
>has a good-sounding 3-band EQ.
>
>Also, on Murmur you hear the juxtaposition of an EMT plate and early
>digital reverbs, like the Lexicon 224 and 200. The plate did the
>nice-sounding stuff (but set very short), and the digital reverbs
>were for the "effects" sounds, due to their graininess. Also on
>some tracks the drums were sent back out into the studio via some
>big EV Sentry speakers and re-mic'ed for some space and texture.

Hope this helps!

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[apropos of nothing]

Good stuff, Chris. Thanks for the info.

[mjau]

Good stuff, Chris. Thanks for the info.

Hell yes, agreed.

[cgarges]

Be sure to thank Mitch. He's probably reading this. He would have responded but he's waiting for his new membership to be approved.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[JGriffin]

He would have responded but he's waiting for his new membership to be approved.

Meanwhile the spammers continue to run amok.

Are you no longer a mod, Chris?

[cgarges]

Are you no longer a mod, Chris?

I am, but new membership apporoval requires authorization from an administrator. I'm just a moderator for "People Skills" and "Listening." Hillary and Ryan are working on a new version of the website that is much more difficult for spamers to access. It doesn't look or behave any differently, so don't expect any major changes. In fact, it might be up already. I'm not sure.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC