okay, i know this is silly, but i have a client that has told me that they are going for a buzzcocks "steady's going single" era sound.
now i am fully aware of the whole "the only way to get that sound is to have the same people play the same gear in the same studio" thing, and i will be giving them the normal "talk" about that.
but regardless, i was wondering if anyone knew any stories about those recordings, or things that might at least help in getting the sound they are looking for. i am familliar with the buzzcocks, and so are they, so they should be able to provide me with whatever sound they are looking for before it gets to tape (disk).
i don't expect to get the same sound at all on my little 002 setup, but we'll see what happens.
Buzzcocks sound
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chris ryan
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johnmarkpainter
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Ahhhh... Singles, Going Steady is one of my all time favorite "greatest hits" collections. I could listen to "why can't I touch it" if it went on for days.
I would say it's all about dry dry dry and up-front tones. Those records and that era (early 80's) of no-frills punk rock style of production weren't so much about depth of field as they were about sharply defined sounds. Listen to the first Pretenders record as a great example of how that ethic can be combined with some slick pop production for a great sound that still sounds fresh to me.
Try solid state guitar amps too!
Tape on the drumheads. Pillow in the kick.
Not a lot of room mic ambience. If there is natural bleed from the band tracking together, then that's okay, but keep your mitts off the reverb! Also, don't go nuts trying to get the deepest, dubbiest bass guitar and kick drum sounds. Tight, focused, but not too big sounding. None of the tones should be really huge sounding. Try some HPF on most tracks. Make the bass player play with a pick and stay away from fancy basses with crazy active electronics and pickup scenarios. Go passive all the way (a P bass or a Rick 4001 is perfect!) and play aggressively.
And listen to "Why Can't I Touch it" over and over.
Other great examples of tight, dry and punchy records to reference or search for info on:
Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak
Television - Marquee Moon
Modern Lovers first album
Magazine (ex-Buzzcock, Howard Devoto's band of the same era. Does anyone but me remember Luxuria circa 88'-92'? )
The Vapors - New Clear Days ("Turning Japanese")
Joe Jackson - I'm the Man (this is one of the best of the bunch!)
Mission of Burma had a different take on that sound, and sounded unique because of it. The Ryko comp is a great reference.
EDIT: You don't expect to get the same sound with your 002 system? Come on! Give yourself some credit! With that 002 system, and a little bit of preparation, ingenuity and elbow grease, you and your ears can get any sound you want! Don't knock yourself out before you even start!
Roger
I would say it's all about dry dry dry and up-front tones. Those records and that era (early 80's) of no-frills punk rock style of production weren't so much about depth of field as they were about sharply defined sounds. Listen to the first Pretenders record as a great example of how that ethic can be combined with some slick pop production for a great sound that still sounds fresh to me.
Try solid state guitar amps too!
Tape on the drumheads. Pillow in the kick.
Not a lot of room mic ambience. If there is natural bleed from the band tracking together, then that's okay, but keep your mitts off the reverb! Also, don't go nuts trying to get the deepest, dubbiest bass guitar and kick drum sounds. Tight, focused, but not too big sounding. None of the tones should be really huge sounding. Try some HPF on most tracks. Make the bass player play with a pick and stay away from fancy basses with crazy active electronics and pickup scenarios. Go passive all the way (a P bass or a Rick 4001 is perfect!) and play aggressively.
And listen to "Why Can't I Touch it" over and over.
Other great examples of tight, dry and punchy records to reference or search for info on:
Thin Lizzy - Jailbreak
Television - Marquee Moon
Modern Lovers first album
Magazine (ex-Buzzcock, Howard Devoto's band of the same era. Does anyone but me remember Luxuria circa 88'-92'? )
The Vapors - New Clear Days ("Turning Japanese")
Joe Jackson - I'm the Man (this is one of the best of the bunch!)
Mission of Burma had a different take on that sound, and sounded unique because of it. The Ryko comp is a great reference.
EDIT: You don't expect to get the same sound with your 002 system? Come on! Give yourself some credit! With that 002 system, and a little bit of preparation, ingenuity and elbow grease, you and your ears can get any sound you want! Don't knock yourself out before you even start!
Roger
Buzzcocks sound
Nutone beat me to it, I had to register first! He's right, get the singles going steady sleeve (preferably vinyl, the pictures bigger!) and there it is. The studio is Olympic 1, and you can see them all set up playing together with a bit of minimal screening. Olympic was a very big, quite neutral room, the desk at the time was a Dick Swettenham custom (he later formed Helios). The band always used to swear their allegence to solid state amps, H+H being a particular fave. I can see SM7s on the toms, they were an Olympic favourite, I gave away my vinyl copy so I can't see too much other detail. As you rightly point out, being able to write great , punchy melodic pop songs gets you halfway there. One last thing, a lot of those great punk singles were "Porky Prime Cuts", mastered by George Peckham who certainly wasn't afraid of a bit of valve eq/comp across the master!
Let's make interesting records!
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rushofblood
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