gear and minimalism

[sorenbartek]

i've been wondering... what's the least amount of gear you would need to make a good "rock" recording?

let's assume you have a recorder, instruments, cables. the basics. now you need a mic or two or five. so what would be the least amount and type of gear you would use to record say a typical GUIDED BY VOICES song (or something similar)?

[timbaier]

let's assume you have a recorder, instruments, cables. the basics. now you need a mic or two or five. so what would be the least amount and type of gear you would use to record say a typical GUIDED BY VOICES song (or something similar)?

With a few 57s and/or 58s, sounds like you would already have enough to do an "Alien Lanes and before" style GBV recording. Probablly a compressor and a delay for the vocals (even stompboxes will do) also. ALthough I think that Bob has often done his vocals at an actual studio (Cro Magnon). Maybe....

[theslumlord]

Sometimes having to much gear can be a distraction. Some of the best stuff I've worked on is when I didn't have a lot of gear to choose from

[bedbug]

Good thread. There was a while where I felt like I was just collecting gear, and not really doing anything with it. Everytime I bought something, I'd be all "okay I've blank, but now I need blank." Anyway ...

If doing live drums, I'd definitely invest in a pair of overhead condensor mics. Something like the Oktava 012s or the Marshall 603s. Huuuuge difference over a 57 (as far as drums are concerned), and cool for acoustic guitars and vocals as well.

If your limited on inputs (like many of the VS recorders are), I'd look into a mixer too.

Other than that, I think it's probably technique over anything. I believe Alien Lanes and Bee Thousand were just mics plugged straight into the 4 (8?) track, no preamps or anything. I could be mistaken though.

[Mark]

Of course they had preamps. Jeesh They were built into the mixer on the Four Track (a hard concept to grasp I know, seeing as how pre-amps over there only come in Mackies and rackmounted boxes. Apparently).

[Bear]

You really don't need a lot for that style. I used to do very similar recordings (still do, when that's the sound I'm looking for), and me and a friend recorded an entire CD's material with an sm58 and a mini-disc four track. And that's it. It was all we had at the time, but we made the best of it. Actually, I'll have to post some of those songs sometime now that I'm thinking of it. That setup doesn't sound as bad as you might think. Just takes a little creativity and patience.

[clodock]

i would do it one mic in a room style. I would find the best room I could and do the whole thing live. I love good one-mic recordings, and since we're talking minimalism here, that would seem to be the ultimate minimalist set up.

[Jay]

It'd be fun to use a small condenser over the drums and 421s on everything else, going to 4-track cassette. If you want to get super-lo-fi-gbv, use a TR-505 drum machine.

[Al]

YES! to minimalism. and Yes!...even 4+8 trak portastudio recorders have preamps!

[signorMars]

i recorded an entire EP with an sm58 preamped through a behringer mixer. we used Reason for the drums, though. it came out sounding a lot better than a lot of records local bands payed hundreds to thousands of dollars for. it didn't sound like a 2 millon dollar sony records mixed by lord-alge record, but it sounded pretty good.

if you're curious to the sound: www.mp3.com/seelivetigers

--ross ingram

[Bear]

Signowmars:

I'm digging the songs, and they indeed sound good for being so minimalistic. Thumbs up.

[JGriffin]

The absolute least amount of gear to get a good rock recording?

"Louie Louie," the Kingsmen. One mic. Mono tape recorder.

[biasvoltage]

I got into an argument with some audiophiles once over my claim that Louie Louie as recorded by the kingsmen was an audiophile recording in its truest form... the point of audiophilia (ostensibly) is to recreate electronically the original event. Well, Louie Louie sounds like a bunch of drunk guys throwin it down in a Frat house. It sounds like the actual event in its acoustic space and can transport you there visually. "but it's mono!", yeah, well, when I'm passed out on the floor with one ear to the carpet, things are pretty mono...


One good mic, one good recorder with a well rehearsed band that can handle their balances between themselves is all you need. Not that I've ever been able to acomplish that. Didn't the cowboy junkies record their big record in a church with a single stereo mic and a 2-trk?

[eeldip]

i remember a few years back, louie louie came on the radio, and instead of switching it, i gave it a real listen.

holy fucking shit, can those guys play. the drumming on that is one of my favorite all time rock moments...

are they tight? are the loose? perfect. really a perfect recording of a perfect performance.

[JGriffin]

I'd tend to agree with you on that one, in the same way that the old Sinatra records are--recorded with one mic, and the singer stands right up on the mic and steps away when he's not singing to let the band come through. Sort of a "Dogma95" approach, although I think those guys go a bit far with the whole "nothing artificial" thing (it's a film-makers group with an extremist approach to filmmaking, for those of you with better things to do than chase down radical film weirdos--which really oughta be all of you). When you think about it, that's the only way to accurately represent the event--unless the singer is right up against the listener's ear, there's no way he or she would ever be heard above a rock band unless you redefine "singer" as "an instrument consisting of a person, a mic and an amp or PA speaker." The audiophiles were probably just peeved that you were asking them to practice what they preach--most people with a fundamentalist bent like that will get that way. They were likely also offended by the Kingsmen's refusal to use Monster cable despite the fact it hadn't been invented yet.

np: "Telegraph Melts," Jandek