Please help me analyze the sound of this early 80's track

[KermitPickle]

I doubt that this will be of interest to more than a handful of people here, if that, but:

I was browsing a post on the WFMU blog archives and ran across a track from an oddball private press record from the early 80's--I guess you'd have to call it "new wave Christian choral/rock"? So if that doesn't scare you off, I think it's actually kinda interesting-sounding, churchy lyrics aside:

http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/TC/Blogpost5/ ... f_Only.mp3

Apart from the catchy melody and guitar playing, I actually like the production on this. Maybe I listen to too many diy records, but I quite like the dry/non-boomy drums and the way everything sounds really clear and focused. I guess I hear a little bit of reverb on the vocals, but not much else in the way of ambiance/reverb/effects.

There is zero information on the web on this record apart from the WFMU post above. Can anyone offer some thoughts on the kind of space this might have been recorded in? I'm pretty ignorant about studio acoustics. My non-educated guess would be an acoustically dead, dry room, but I don't really know, honestly. Any ideas? Does anybody still record in a space like that these days?

[JWL]

There is some ambience on the guitars as well, but whether that's the room itself or effects is impossible to say.

The trend through the 70s and into the early 80s was to make studios dry, so that's probably how this was and the effects were added during the mix. This is nothing more than conjecture, though.... I wonder if you could find out who was in this band and contact them, maybe figure out where it was recorded?

I think there is a lot to be said for that older-school approach of keeping rooms on the deader side so you can add ambience in the mix.... that said if you have a great sounding room with some vibe to it that can be great, if inescapable if the particular room sound doesn't match the intent of the recording.

[KermitPickle]

Thanks--that's what I was thinking, I'm glad I'm not totally off-base. I'm going to look more into sound treatment on the deader side of things...I guess I like that sound!

And yes, I'm trying to track down a copy of the actual record itself--there might be some info on there. I tried writing the guy on WFMU who posted the track in the first place, haven't heard back (yet).

[Gregg Juke]

Yes, very dry. I'm not even sure about any ambiance on the "acoustic" guitar parts; I'm not sure if that is a direct electro-acoustic or just a tinny, twangy clean electric, but it sounds DI'd to me. The lead has a tiny bit of 'verb, I think. Bass sounds direct to me too; of course it's hard to tell, but there's a certain quality (or lack thereof) that DI'd bass has, and it sounds like that.

Funny-- The whole thing kind of evoked The Shaggs to me, if the could actually sing, play, write and perform, and recorded songs of an evangelical, rather than esoteric "there's a happy unicorn in my kitchen" nature...

GJ

[Nick Sevilla]

Drums. Recorded dry. Probably 4 mics or thereabouts.

Bass - probably a DI maybe a fender Jazz.

Rhythm and lead electric guitars, thru some smallish amplifier, not DI, just not
a particularly interesting tone. Very common with indie recordings.

Vocals definitely thru a LDC of some ilk. Which one? Who knows.

Reverb is during the mix. Sounds like a rackmount Yamaha or similar.

I don't or can't hear any delays. The mp3... oh how I hate thy format.

Cheers

[KermitPickle]

Ah, this is great, thank you all. I'm gonna keep hunting on ebay for a copy of the LP, now I'm even more curious.

This does make me wish I had a space that I could do some real acoustic treatments on...hmmm...

[Judas Jetski]

There was actually a pretty vibrant, underground of DIY Christian "alternative" music in the late '80s & early '90s--much of it fairly unique, most of it not preachy at all. Until the big labels got involved & tried to make everyone "Jesus things up" to boost profits (thereby killing the scene completely).

This is more early-80s, but to me it's kind of emblematic--Daniel Amos "Shedding the Mortal Coil"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nluNOMa1nSw

[Judas Jetski]

Actually--I wasn't clear about this in my last post--the thing is, there was virtually NO money and NO support whatsoever for most of these bands. The majority opinion was that rock and roll was inherently evil, and of course the outsider minority didn't have any money. So while there was strong support from a small contingent of die-hard fans, there was no serious money available. There was also active opposition from the various established authorities.

End result is that even the recordings considered true classics of the genre were recorded in someone's garage or what have you. Makes for some interesting listening.

[Gregg Juke]

Shout Out to another Daniel Amos fan, JJ!

I still play my cassette tape of the classic "Vox Humana."

GJ