Steve Albini sound?

mikethomasmusic · Post by **mikethomasmusic** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:57 pm

Hey everybody, I really love that real roomy reverb sound that Steve Albini is known for. I was wondering if anyone knew of any good plug-ins that would achieve a similar kind of sound? I remember reading somewhere online that Steve loves those vintage AXG BX20 Spring reverbs? I'm not sure if that is how he gets his signature sound or if it is vintage plate? Anyone know? I did a search for a virtual bx20 and I actually found a free plug in with a bx20 setting made by Hall of Fame that is currently downloading as I type. I'm guessing as a free plug in it isn't probably that good, so if anyonne has any better Ideas that would be great. I'm off to try this free bee.

Thanks.

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 4:13 pm

The roomy sound of Steve Albini recording is most often achieved by using room mics. ON drums he often uses an M/S pair in front of the drums in lieu of overheads. Add a pair of omni mics taped to the floor and you will get close-ish. On other sources add a room mic.

I suppose if using room mics isn't an option, you might try a convolution plug in, of which there are a few.

rhythm ranch · Post by **rhythm ranch** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 5:10 pm

Some info here.

RoyMatthews · Post by **RoyMatthews** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 7:14 pm

One of the biggest things that sounds "Albini" to me is a 30ms or so delay on distant room mics. For drums that is.
I'd suspect that most of the reverb you hear is from the rooms at Electrical Audio.

eh91311 · Post by **eh91311** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 2:04 am

Although the rooms at Electrical have a unique sound, the roomy drum sound is more dependent on the engineer (Albini) and how the mics are placed. Nirvana's In Utero recordings predate the current Electrical studios and a recent 2012 recording by Polish band Joe 4, recorded in a European studio by Albini both share similar sonic attributes.

losthighway · Post by **losthighway** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 5:59 am

RoyMatthews wrote:One of the biggest things that sounds "Albini" to me is a 30ms or so delay on distant room mics. For drums that is.
I'd suspect that most of the reverb you hear is from the rooms at Electrical Audio.

+1. That's totally a key to his sound. Sometimes it's only 20ms, but I remember him saying he delays them mostly to prevent any phase weirdness between the room mics and the overheads. Sometimes I think this sounds huge, other times it makes things seem kind of hollow in a weird way, but it's all Albini. He's probably being for real, as the decay time in both Room A and B at EA is so long you don't need delay for "adding inches", but it has helped in my little studio.

Another favorite of his, although not quite as distinctive, is using Josephson E22's on the top AND bottom of the toms. I remember in his tapeop interview he said that he never mics the bottom of the snare, and how it just doesn't make sense to him. Which is funny because he always mics the bottom of the toms, and I don't know many people who do that regularly.

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 6:43 am

I forgot about delaying the room mics.

Etienne P · Post by **Etienne P** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 8:32 am

Mike,

All of the above are very good infos on the Albini sound!
But as for your spring verb, I highly recommend you the ones made by Altiverb. I used them all the times (and I think they have the bx20).

They also have great rooms with a lot of character. Most of the times, I use them to simulate room mics (mono or stereo). There is plenty of paramaters to achieve this.
It may help you to have a "kind of Albini sound"....in case you don't record at his room, or simply a not that great sounding room.

hope it helps

kung_fu_elvis · Post by **kung_fu_elvis** » Sat Apr 05, 2014 6:08 pm

I just nabbed a Fathead from a user here which I love, and have been doing a lot of M/S acoustic stuff... but, drums m/s seems pretty damn cool.

Anyone do this often?

(I know, I should just try it, but, I'm a lame drummer, and don't have one quite handy)

numberthirty · Post by **numberthirty** » Sun Apr 06, 2014 6:52 pm

If we are talking roomy sound in terms of drum sounds, this is worth a mention -

http://www.fxpansion.com/index.php?page=3

A.David.MacKinnon · Post by **A.David.MacKinnon** » Sun Apr 06, 2014 7:34 pm

numberthirty wrote:If we are talking roomy sound in terms of drum sounds, this is worth a mention -

http://www.fxpansion.com/index.php?page=3

Is it though? I get where you're coming from but it seems to be kind of the opposite of what this conversation is about.

numberthirty · Post by **numberthirty** » Sun Apr 06, 2014 8:39 pm

A.David.MacKinnon wrote:
numberthirty wrote:If we are talking roomy sound in terms of drum sounds, this is worth a mention -

http://www.fxpansion.com/index.php?page=3
Is it though? I get where you're coming from but it seems to be kind of the opposite of what this conversation is about.

Seems like it depends.

If the initial post is talking bigger picture, you are right.

If we are talking about a specific instrument, I think that expansion pack would probably easier than trying to ballpark the room/studio's sound with delay and/or reverb.

A.David.MacKinnon · Post by **A.David.MacKinnon** » Mon Apr 07, 2014 5:11 am

Sorry, that came off a little pissier than I intended. You get what I was after though.

losthighway · Post by **losthighway** » Mon Apr 07, 2014 5:30 am

On the one hand if you had a smaller room you would probably try a digital reverb plugin to get the sound of a larger room. It could totally help.

On the other hand if you told Steve Albini you found a plugin pack that is the key to getting the Electrical Audio sound he would laugh a lot.

I do think that the overall sound of his records is informed by the "as nice a signal path as possible, as little post production trickery as possible" aesthetic.

numberthirty · Post by **numberthirty** » Mon Apr 07, 2014 10:05 am

A.David.MacKinnon wrote:Sorry, that came off a little pissier than I intended. You get what I was after though.

Man, that did not even come off that way. If the initial post is about that sound as something you can do on every instrument, you are totally correct.

If that is the case, we are having a reverb/delay discussion where virtual instruments are a non-issue.

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