Strangest Studio Techniques U Ever Used?

[Jay]

I've just started overdubbing a LOT of instruments to a two track mix of my album. I'm going to keep going till it's a big half-hour sort of harmonic cloud and then I'll remove the original album tracks. It's been done before but it's fun.

The result will be co-released by every major record label simultaneously. Totally.

[DUC]

I once berated my drummer to get off his lazy ass. Does that count for anything?

[trash180]

Once, in a fit of Post-My Bloody Valentine inspiration, I pointed my two guitar amps inward...face to face. I mic'd it with an Omni in between the 2 speakers, and kicked on the vibrato!

It pretty much sounded like guitar.

Jason

[MoreSpaceEcho]

Hi y'all, i'm killing time at the day job, so please excuse my long-windedness.

I was helping my friends the Common Cold with the recording of their latest, "Bleep Bleep Bloop". I had them all go out in the room and make something up while i started and stopped the 16 track at random. I would record for 30 seconds or so, rewind 10 seconds, hit record again. I was also varispeeding it, and switching between 15 and 30 ips. We recorded 8 minutes or so. On playback it was alright but not terribly compelling. So we flipped the reel over, i had them go out and make up another jam, this time i just let the tape roll and dropped it in and out of record every two bars or so. MUCH BETTER:) We made mixes of it forwards and backwards at both 15 and 30, i dropped all of 'em into my computer, spent all of 20 minutes cutting them together and that's what's on the record. I forget what they ended up naming it, but if anyone actually has the record, you'll know which one it is:)

On a track for my bands' forthcoming record, the singer felt that her backup vox on the choruses were "too boring", so we put my homemade "reverb tube" up to the speakers with a 57 in the other end, and rerecorded the vox thru that. better, but still too boring in her estimation. so we then employed the "spinning mic" technique from an old tapeop, and rerecorded the "reverb vox" a half dozen times, spinning the mic at different speeds each time. it sounds cooler soloed than it does in the mix (of course), but if you care, it's at
www.transformedman.com/rowdelicate/sad.mp3
the parts after the acoustic guitar breaks.

and those are the only interesting things i've ever done with audio:)

cheers,
scott

[markpar]

The girl's voice reminds me of the Sundays (that's a compliment ).

I like the effect! Sounds cool!

All that backwards stuff is cool too.

-mark

[MoreSpaceEcho]

markpar,

thanks! somebody else mentioned the Sundays thing too. i don't really know them so i'll take yr word for it

there's no backwards stuff on that song. it's the snare track thru an old mxr limiter pedal. that's all it does, but it does that well! should be a review in the next issue.

anyway,

Once, in a fit of Post-My Bloody Valentine inspiration, I pointed my two guitar amps inward...face to face. I mic'd it with an Omni in between the 2 speakers, and kicked on the vibrato!

It pretty much sounded like guitar.

Jason

yep. i just did the exact same thing, with the exact same result.

a guitar track

cheers,
-scott

[uqbar]

I had a vocalist that wasn't loosening up enough to give the right performance. So I started giving instructions like, "Now sing it like Lou reed would sing it, now do Mick Jagger, now David Thomas", etc. He started having fun and loosing up (and for a while we were both busting up laughing). When we got back to reality, his style was much more relaxed and energetic. And vocal impressions takes are a scream...

[I'm Painting Again]

i like the vocal impression story.

speaking of my bloody valentine, i would love some insight from people about thier sound, or links to articles on the subject..

thanks.

sky

[I'm Painting Again]

that bit about mic'n up that fro was off the hook though!!

[tiger vomitt]

the afro thing was pretty cool. the song, i mean (i was recording it for someone else's project being done here). the end result had the samples cut up into rhythmic chunks which we sequenced into beats. no other sounds were used in the song, or piece or whatver you'd call it

[soundguy]

there was a tapeop article on MBV, I think. highlights mentioned 24 tracks of vocals, drawmer compression, moving into the studio and spending years on the record. I think in the big picture, to make a record like loveless, you more or less have to be born with the intention of doing so, I dont think people learn to have style like that. If anything, the fact that shields hasnt done a damn thing since might be testament to that fact, you'd think someone with that much creativity would have a blistering career after a record as mindblowing as loveless, but alas, he made the record and so far as time tells, he's done.

dave

[MoreSpaceEcho]

I think in the big picture, to make a record like loveless, you more or less have to be born with the intention of doing so, I dont think people learn to have style like that.

dave

well put.

[jimbo]

a few of the many techniques i've used recently:

1. we were recording a song and trying to give the percussion some importance, but were intentionally straying from the standard drums/cymbals stuff. so i took some drum malletts and started playing them on the back of my acoustic guitar - found the right spot for the best sound per hit, and mic'd with a 57 parallell to the guitar (like mic'ing a snare shell). then instead of cymbals, i took a sm58 and rubbed it back and forth on my carpet (or maybe it was the fleece blanket) - sounds like the most fluid shaker yuv ever heard.

2. needed a guitar solo to really bite and come thru the wall o sound guitars and keys for this 'garage-type' rock band. so i took one of those smokey amps, put it inside an empty coffee tin, and mic'd the opening with a 57 and a little further away with a sd condenser. it screeched and bit like a mo-fo.

3. another cool band i was recording - had this sort of heavy surf rave up song - real fast tho. the rythm gtr playa has a part in the chorus that sounds like a siren. so to accentuate it, i set up the two gtrists with an amp each pretty much facing each other. one of them played swells up and down with sick delay and overdrive (he was supposed to be the "engine") mic'd with a bullett mic. the other dude played the siren part again (different gtr and amp) with a 57. i stood on a stool between them and swung a 58 back and forth between the two. with some m/s phasing and eq, it sounds like an ambulance doing donuts in the desert.

i try and do weird shit like this every time i fire up the recorders - keeps me on my toes.
-jimbo

[I'm Painting Again]

doughnuts in the dessert..hahaha!!

[markpar]

so i took one of those smokey amps, put it inside an empty coffee tin, and mic'd the opening with a 57 and a little further away with a sd condenser. it screeched and bit like a mo-fo.

I bet that sounded awesome. Thanks for sharing!

-mark