The Cure production

[drew w]

I'm curious what you guys think of the production on The Cure "Staring at the Sea-The Singles"
Thanks for posting...

[elloweez]

Well, that album really varies alot production wise because it is a collection of songs over time. I really dont know anything about who or how those songs were recorded, but i do know that i dig the sound of the earlier stuff alot better. It definitly sounds like they used alot of diffrent studios over their carrer...not really sure though. The Boys Dont Cry album has a great sound to my ears. The songs on that album just have a great dark kinda slightly sinister vibe. Some good stuff came from that period when people were still kinda "punk" but figuring out that there was alot more to it then just screaming into a microphone. Not that i dont love that stuff too!

[dgochenour]

The Boys Dont Cry album has a great sound to my ears. The songs on that album just have a great dark kinda slightly sinister vibe.

totally agree. I'm gonna have to dig that record out tomorrow.

[wing]

it's a collection of singles over the years in the 80s, so production changed.

my favorites sound/production wise (and perhaps song wise) are boys don't cry, the catepillar, in between days, and close to me. i also love the dark drum sounds on the hanging garden. the cymbal sound on "killing an arab" is cool but almost hurts my ears after a while... it's just so trebley or something.

speaking of the cure, they actually were on the late late show with craig kilborn last night performing just like heaven! good performance, especially for them all being a bunch of old dudes. smith still has it goin on!

but didn't they claim to break up after bloodflowers? i wonder what's going on (though i heard they would get back together)...

[cyrusjulian]

I'm a little biased as the Cure are one of my fave bands, but I really liked all their recordings up until Wild Mood Swings. And coincidently, to my knowledge, that's when they started recording to ADAT's (although I think they mixed down to 1/2 " later) I think that's also when they started using Cubase for their keyboard parts. What's funny is that I didn't know any of these these things when that album was released but after I found out, it made me more determined to go the analog route or at least avoid computer based recording for live band situations (just my personal taste)

[wing]

I'm a little biased as the Cure are one of my fave bands, but I really liked all their recordings up until Wild Mood Swings. And coincidently, to my knowledge, that's when they started recording to ADAT's (although I think they mixed down to 1/2 " later) I think that's also when they started using Cubase for their keyboard parts. What's funny is that I didn't know any of these these things when that album was released but after I found out, it made me more determined to go the analog route or at least avoid computer based recording for live band situations (just my personal taste)

the cure recorded to ADAT?! i didn't know that...

that would explain a few things though. the older records do indeed sound different, and i've always loved the drum sounds on them, always so huge and thick and like a drill in your brain. is it partly due to close mic'ing?

i love the cure.

[concubine]

i don't know much about *how* the earlier cure stuff was recorded (idea for a future tape op article???), but i do know the first three albums were all produced (or co-produced) by mike hedges, who also did all or most of the 80s-era siouxsie records, among many, many other post-punk things of that era. i think everything the cure did, from the first album through head on the door, sounds incredible, and all the albums sound totally different from each other.

phil thornalley produced pornography (one of my favorites) which has a huge, amazing, atmospheric sound, that manages to be very artsy, very dark, very menacing, and texturally quite pretty, all at the same time. thornalley usually did a lot of more commercial sounding stuff back then (thompson twins, prefab sprout, etc...) so pornography was a bit of a departure for him. i always used to think pornography was pretty revolutionary until i heard wire's "154," and then realized it had kinda been done already.

i'm also a huge fan of the sounds on seventeen seconds and faith. few albums conjure up images of dense fog, rain, or blurriness with their sounds than those. really powerful stuff if you're in the right mood.

[vvv]

I hated the sound on Wild Mood Swings; didn't even much like the songs...

I thought Bloodflowers was a much better sounding record, and better material.

That song about "The Blood of Christ" on Head on the Door has one of my fave acoustic sounds ever. The Cure do flamenco!

Disintegration has some of my favorite drone key sounds ever.

[cyrusjulian]

Hi bluepxl,

Here's a link to the article where you can see what they used for "Wild Mood Swings" where it said they made use of ADATs. Like I said, I believe up until then, they had been recording to tape until that album. MAYBE that's why I too liked their drum sounds until WMS. Could also be Boris William's drumming since he wasn't on that album. (That guy rocked) Oh well, here's the link:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1996_ar ... 8b66e23283

Cyrus

[cyrusjulian]

Oh, and I think concubine had mentioned something about Mike Hedges also. Here's a link to a good interview with him regarding some of this techniques. (Wow, I never knew that Phil Thornally produced Pornography)

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun98/a ... 8b66e23283

Cyrus

[just like honey]

the cure hasnt broken up--- the just arent on fiction anymore... for a while they were going to be with out a record label and just release music through their website, but then signed with ross robinson?'s new label, thta guy who did the slipnot record. why, i dont know. their new album is coming out soon... its a double disc, the new cure record and roberts first solo effort... the cure side is supposed to be on the darker heavier side, i imagine another bloodflowers/disintigration... and roberts to be more acoustic and quiter... he supposedly started playing more guitar again, writing things on his four track, like he did before head on the door...

the performance on craig was a rerun from a couple weeks ago... the did two nights... one was 10:15 saturday night, the other was just like heaven. they do look damn good for being old. roberts lost some wieght. simon is such a rockstar.

anyone seen trilogy? it's brilliant.

jonathan

[jamoo]

I'm suprised no one has mentioned anything here about HOW they do what they do, recording-wise. For instance, I gave up a long time ago trying to get the bass sound on "Other Voices", but today I'd guess the part is doubled. I know for bass they've consistently used a Peavey 1000 head with the mids completely rolled-off, but the treble is maintained hence that "clicky" sound. The textured guitars are the ever-present flange/delay, often with the signal split between the clean & affected sound. At different times they'll use a flange on just about anything. The heavy analog string sound of the early days is the Solina or ARP Synth Ensemble. I have yet to figure out how they do that trick where it sounds like Robert is sucking his breath back in while singing---is that the slap-back vocal effect? I've heard it used amaturish ways, but done well it is wicked cool.

[cyrusjulian]

I have yet to figure out how they do that trick where it sounds like Robert is sucking his breath back in while singing---is that the slap-back vocal effect? I've heard it used amaturish ways, but done well it is wicked cool.

Hi Sonichue,

Can I ask which song are you referring to? Are you maybe thinking of a reverse reverb being used on the vocals on a separate track maybe??

Just a thought,
Cyrus

[drew w]

I was into the Cure for so long, it's kind of hard for me to seperate sentiment and song from production. Thanks for all the great posts and info so far...
d

[concubine]

I'm suprised no one has mentioned anything here about HOW they do what they do, recording-wise. For instance, I gave up a long time ago trying to get the bass sound on "Other Voices", but today I'd guess the part is doubled. I know for bass they've consistently used a Peavey 1000 head with the mids completely rolled-off, but the treble is maintained hence that "clicky" sound. The textured guitars are the ever-present flange/delay, often with the signal split between the clean & affected sound. At different times they'll use a flange on just about anything. The heavy analog string sound of the early days is the Solina or ARP Synth Ensemble. I have yet to figure out how they do that trick where it sounds like Robert is sucking his breath back in while singing---is that the slap-back vocal effect? I've heard it used amaturish ways, but done well it is wicked cool.

And let's not forget *heavy* use of six string bass (Fender bass VI) as a melodic instrument. I know they were using it for melodic parts (in lieu of guitar) as early as a few songs on "Faith," as well as on "Carnage Visors," and that bass practically defines the sound of "Disintegration."

You're right, they used TONS of flange/chorus and delay on the early stuff, even on the drums. Robert used one of those Roland Chorus combos back in the early 80s, (actually everyone in England did back then, it seems, even Johnny Marr). It's interesting because a friend of mine used to have one, and I could never get a decent sound out of the thing, and yet those things were just ubiquitous back in the 80s.

I also like the story of how in '78, Chris Parry (Cure's manager, owner of Fiction) made Robert buy a proper guitar to replace his Woolworth's special. So Robert went out and got a Jazzmaster, but then installed a pickup from the Woolworth's guitar right inbetween two two Jazzmaster pickups. Robert claims he used that cheap pickup for most of the guitar sounds on the first record.

The only other thing I can mention as far as the Cure's sound/production, is that I absolutely LOVE Steve Nye's production on "The Walk" EP. That's an incredible sounding work, with nice layers of analog synths.