Gettin' some Bleed going

[vvv]

As a bedio recordist, I still like to get a "live" kind of sound, as though a band is playing, instead of just little old me.

(I actually had a guy critique the drum-sound here as too live ...)

I especially love, and miss getting, the cool kinds of bleed like the snares on Gutterball's first, the old Motown stuff, etc.

I mean, as beautiful as it is, I admit Exile on Main Street is a bit much.

Sometimes, a multi-band compressor on drum two-mixes can help; the room on the drum track loops can sound like bleed when it's put into a global reverb in a mixdown.

And I'll often do a loud play-back into a smashed LDC mono track (typically sans vox, altho' I might re-think that) and bring it up in my mixes, just to get that simultaneously-played sort of sound and vibe.

Any other hints toward such result would be appreciated.

Anyone else live to bleed?

[BOWIE]

If you can't get the real thing, sometimes using the same (or just slightly different) reverb setting on several different tracks will give the illusion that they are in the same room.

"Look At You Lieing There" (cool song BTW) doesn't sound too live at all, but the room is kinda crappy so, I can see the argument for it being too live.

I'm a nut for room sound and bleed but if the room isn't good, I picking it up as much as possible.

[thieves]

If you can't get the real thing, sometimes using the same (or just slightly different) reverb setting on several different tracks will give the illusion that they are in the same room.

yeah, this is basically my go-to reverb technique, as my recording technique tends to be all overdubs

[drumsound]

I'm not sure if you're recording actual drums or not...This could work either way. Place a room mic (or two) for your drum tracking. Leave it up and use it for everything else you record for the song. Put amps and percussions, and whatever at different places in the room, but leave that room mic in the same place. The different instruments, at different spots will excite the room and that mic differently, just like if they were all played at the same time to that mic.

[Dr Rubberfunk]

I recorded some drums recently that were one of the last parts to be tracked, and wanted to get a bit more of the 'band in a room' vibe going, so I sat the snare (on it's side) atop one of my monitors and played back just the bass track. I used my little Beyer LM55 - hung over the snare drum, right by the wires - rolled off most of the bottom end from the mic channel and hit record. Instant snare buzz and rattle through the whole track, with a little mid range bleed from the actual bass part, all of which helped the drums and bass sit nicely together, like they'd been tracked at the same time.

You could combine the idea with drumsound's technique by leaving the snare wires on whilst recording the other instruments - the amps would certainly get them a rattlin' and a buzzin'

[Spindrift]

Try to not use headphones when overdubbing for some (or all) of the instruments/vocals. The bleed you get from your monitors will give you some of what your looking for.

Things to keep in mind when doing this:

- Mute you current mic to avoid feedback

- Vary the position and angle of your mic relative to your monitors

- You don't necessarily want the full mix bleeding onto every track. The buildup can be too much and lead to phase problems. Try muting different instruments for different overdubs.

- A little bleed goes a long way. On actual multiplayer sessions, engineers would baffles and positioning to minimize bleed.

- Not all bleed is good. On a multiplayer session, an engineer will position the mics so the bleed enhances the original sound rather than fights it. You need to make sure yours is doing the same thing.

Hope this helps.
Adam

[vvv]

Some great stuff guys; lotsa good idears.

As I work mostly with loops, I reckon I should get a cheap snare just for this ...

I often intentionally record guitars with the monitors blasting for just this reason.

Of course, I sometimes get headphone bleed in the vox if I'm not careful, and that usually is not as likeable.

But I really like that snare idear, kinda like the upside-down of the old "snare on the monitor for reinforcement" trick.

[Dr Rubberfunk]

Some great stuff guys; lotsa good idears.

As I work mostly with loops, I reckon I should get a cheap snare just for this ...

I often intentionally record guitars with the monitors blasting for just this reason.

Of course, I sometimes get headphone bleed in the vox if I'm not careful, and that usually is not as likeable.

But I really like that snare idear, kinda like the upside-down of the old "snare on the monitor for reinforcement" trick.

Yeah, a cheap snare off ebay could be a handy purchase - maybe look for a cheap 'old' snare (70's / 80's) and you could end up with a better sounding drum than a cheap new snare, but any snare will get you started with the buzz!

[vvv]

I live by the words, "Buzz is everything."

And I'm not that big of a Melvins fan.