Surfer Blood and inexpensive recording

[Shellacattack]

http://pitchfork.com/news/36919-rising-surfer-blood/

Since I really like this album, I was excited to read this. From the link above, regarding their debut album Astro Coast:

"...We went into a studio and recorded some drum and some bass tracks. I was disappointed with the way the engineer was approaching the vocals and guitars, so I kind of took it over. I was living in an off-campus apartment in Boca Raton at Florida Atlantic University, and that's where most of the vocals and guitars and all the overdubs were recorded. It was all recorded on Chinese microphones and a cheap Pro Tools rig."

If you're unfamiliar with them...

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSeAwowu8GE

[Gregg Juke]

It's still all in the song, the performance, and the simple things like good recording techniques, right?

GJ

[chris harris]

I think that's a great way to make a record. And, at my studio, I enjoy working on projects like this. I like it even more when I get the tracks back to mix. It's been my experience that when working like this, the drummer and bassist usually come in well prepared to knock down their parts. If the songs are arranged, the parts are worked out, and we have a decent scratch guitar and vocal, we can fly through rhythm tracks. And, I usually find that guitarists and vocalists are much more particular about their parts and much more interested in experimenting. I understand their desire to do these things on their own to have time to try different things and get it right.

Hell, I even do consulting sessions at my clients' home studios sometimes to make sure I'm getting good tracks to mix.

[fossiltooth]

True! The fact that you do not need the fanciest gear in the world to make a kickass sounding record is not news! This has been known for decades. You won't realize it if you're religiously following Gearslutz or the Womb and all the undercover marketers that lurk at those places, but you'd be crazy to do that anyway!

All you need is someone to work with you who gets your aesthetic, and has the skills, ears and patience to help you realize your vision. If you have one of those in the band, then god bless you.

But most bands don't have that. Or, even if they do, they sometimes realize that they could do even better with help. Or they realize that they would simply enjoy working on and playing their own music if they weren't also the one obsessing about EQ curves and compression ratios and vocal levels and whether or not they're wearing themselves out on the songs.

Yes, it's true. Gear is boring. It's people that matter. Never let anyone prey on your gear insecurities. Make great records, and if you find people who can help you make great records even better, hire them.

(Disclaimer: This was written by someone who sometimes uses tons of fancy gear. And sometimes doesn't. Also: I just wrote an article about this very topic.)

[hogfish]

That is a great song........

[ithoughticouldrelate]

I agree with the performance bit. I saw these guys live and while I didn't necessarily dig the music a ton, they were definitely a tight band, tasteful, good musicianship. No real secrets. If you'd have thrown up mics at the show I saw, you'd probably have gotten near album-ready tracks, compared to listening to a bit of their recorded stuff (and that's not a knock at the band ? it's a compliment!).

[HotDogKnight]

I agree with the performance bit. I saw these guys live and while I didn't necessarily dig the music a ton, they were definitely a tight band, tasteful, good musicianship. No real secrets. If you'd have thrown up mics at the show I saw, you'd probably have gotten near album-ready tracks, compared to listening to a bit of their recorded stuff (and that's not a knock at the band ? it's a compliment!).

That's really funny, as I saw them about 3-5 months after the release of the album, and thought it was classic "Made-in-pro-tools-in-a-bedroom/get-a-band-and-play-it" scenario. They were pretty loose... REALLY loose. Things that sounded tight on the record were all over the place with the other guitarist (not the singer/leader).

I'm not crazy about the mixing/mastering of the album. It seems like the worst parts of the brickwall/crazy compressed guitars from all the screamo or metal derivative the kids have tricked themselves into thinking is unique. My ears definitely aren't the greatest, but to me it's sound compressed that the flatness of the interface/mic/preamp/whatever just takes me out of the song/moment.


Ironically I just pulled my Surfer Blood shirt out of the dryer as I typed this.

[ithoughticouldrelate]

That's really funny, as I saw them about 3-5 months after the release of the album, and thought it was classic "Made-in-pro-tools-in-a-bedroom/get-a-band-and-play-it" scenario. They were pretty loose... REALLY loose. Things that sounded tight on the record were all over the place with the other guitarist (not the singer/leader).

Haha, I saw them last month, so maybe they've gotten better? Who knows...I hadn't heard of them before so I don't really have much to compare them to as far as their progress over time.

[chris harris]

How do you end up with the t-shirt if you didn't like the album or the show?

[HotDogKnight]

How do you end up with the t-shirt if you didn't like the album or the show?

The shirt is the cover of "Unknown Pleasures" with shark fin outlines in the graph. It's a pretty awesome shirt.