Bunky Moon

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Mon May 09, 2011 1:30 pm

I've got some great photos. Need to dig them out and put them on facebook.

CG

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Mon May 09, 2011 8:41 pm

Special 24-hour preview of our version of Frank Zappa's "King Kong" is now up at www.reverbnation.com/bunkymoon for all to enjoy!

Happy belated Mother's Day.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

casey campbell · Post by **casey campbell** » Tue May 10, 2011 7:58 am

nice groove on maybe im amazed.

how did you get that cool ringy verb thing off the drums on hypermobility around the 35 second mark?

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Tue May 10, 2011 7:50 pm

casey campbell wrote:nice groove on maybe im amazed.

Thanks!

casey campbell wrote:how did you get that cool ringy verb thing off the drums on hypermobility around the 35 second mark?

It's something ringing in an open channel, but I can't remember which one. And I don't think it was something actually on the drumkit, like a floor tom mic. Like, it MAY have been the bass pickups getting the drumkit and going through some effect pedals, but I'm not sure. I do remember hearing it and thinking, "Oh yeah, don't clean that up!" and I'm glad Mitch left it in at the mix. I'd have to get out the multi-tracks and listen to the again to remember. It's a cool sound and one that happened pretty much by accident. It's not an effect that was applied to the drums afterwards. There wasn't really much of that at all except for "Country." Not in largely-noticable amounts, anyway.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Dan Phelps · Post by **Dan Phelps** » Wed May 11, 2011 3:05 pm

Chris,

This stuff is super cool. I particularly like the snare sound...sort of hollow and "thwocky" in a really appealing way. I like the rack tom "klang" as well. Can you talk about the drum setup and how they were recorded?

Thanks!
Dan

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Wed May 11, 2011 9:48 pm

There were differences for each tune, although more in the actual setup than in the mic selection. There were two basic tracking sessions and the mic setup would have been similar, but probably not totally the same for both. Changes were made to the drums, sometimes minor, sometimes major.

Some of the "klang" that you hear is distortion. Any consistency you hear is in my left hand and my preference for slightly ringy, rattly snare drum sounds ("Country" being the exception). There was a lot of snare drum changing going on.

I can get extremely specific about specific songs because I have the track sheets right here in front of me. Here are the generalizations I've found:

First tracking session 11/5, 11/6/09:
Kick- 414EB- API 512C - Vocal Stresser (Compex) compressor
Snare- ATM450 on top, SM98 on the bottom, combined through AT8681 - API 512C - Distressor (for peaks) *I chose the ATM450 because I did brush stuff on this session and the 450 works great for brushes or sticks.
Mono OH- Coles 4038 - API 312
General floor tom area- Lawson L47FET - API 312
Spaced pair OH- Neumann KM184s - Neve 1272s
MS Room- AT 4050s, cardioid mid - Syteks (BB)
Drumkit distortion (under the rack tom)- Shure SM77 - Daking 52270 - SansAmp
Drumkit corregated plastic tube (center of kit, above bass drum)- AKG 451E - Daking 52270

Looks like that wasn't really changed at all. Bass drum on this session was a 1965 14x18 Slingerland, toms were 8x12, 14x14, and 16x16 round-badge Gretsch, snares and cymbals were all over the place. There were also octobans on the kit on this session. That weekend, we cut "Boris," "Maybe I'm Amazed," "Space Oddity," "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" (not on the album), "Hypermobility," "King Kong," and versions of "Country" and "Maybe I'm A Leo" that aren't the ones that we released.

There are photos from this session on our facebook page. (Please "Like" us, if you go check it out.)

Second tracking session 6/13, 6/14/10:
Kick- D12E - API 512C
Snare- Blue Mouse on top, ATM450 on the bottom, combined through AT8681 - API 512C
Mono OH- Coles 4038 - Neve 1272
General floor tom area- Sennheiser e602 - API 312
Spaced pair OH- Neumann KM184s - Neve 1272s
MS Room- AT 4050s (cardioid mid) - Syteks (BB)
Drumkit center (above bass drum)- EV635A - Sytek (BB)
Drumkit distortion- the above mic was routed to a Sans Amp and printed separately
On "Country," I taped an SM98 to the inside of a four foot-long heavy cardboard poster tube and pointed the other end of it at the snare drum. (Sytek preamp)

Kick was a 17x20 Noble & Cooley CD Maple, except on "Mealy Mouth" and "Fat Old Sun," where it was replaced by a 1960s Slingerland 10x26 marching bass drum. Toms were 9x12 and 14x14 Noble & Cooley CD Maples and possibly the 16x16 round-badge Grestch floor tom. Again, snares and cymbals were all over the place, but I can tell you what specific snares I used on which tunes if you want. We cut everything else on these two days (except for the overdubs).

The mix wasn't anything too outrageous. I think there was a Chandler EMI compressor on the snare and probably Neve VR compressors on the kick and overheads. Maybe the room mics, too. At different times, various elements of the drumkit were bussed to different combinations of ADR Vocal Stresser, Gates SA39, and DeltaLab DL5. Sometimes, those were bussed into each other, too, I think. The kick drum went through a Pultec EQP1A and some low end coloration was added with the Mutronix Mutator. There was a little bit of console EQ on other stuff, but nothing major. I'm really not sure what we used for reverb when there was reverb. I did suggest the use of the Effectron modulation for "Boris" and the combination of AMS delay and Cooper Time Cube on the snare drum on "Country." I also remember suggesting use of the Thermionics compressor for something (I love that thing, but I can't remember what we used it on-- maybe it was the stereo buss compressor on one tune or something). Mitch set the rest of it up and I didn't pay much attention to that. I think there's a dbx 162 across the stereo buss for most, if not all of the record.

Hope that helps.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Dan Phelps · Post by **Dan Phelps** » Thu May 12, 2011 1:01 am

Thanks, Chris...I love these kind of details. I was specifically referencing Boris for the snare sound, but I was digging the tones across the board. Looking forward to getting to listen to the whole thing.

Dan

Gregg Juke · Post by **Gregg Juke** » Thu May 12, 2011 6:19 am

Outstanding notes. Very cool.

GJ

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Thu May 12, 2011 6:42 am

Thanks, guys! I'm happy to provide any information I can. None of this stuff is sacred to me or anything and we're very proud of the record, I think especially since it was so easy to make.

The snare on "Boris" was a 6x13 maple Pork Pie snare drum that I had custom built about ten years ago. I engineered a session that the Southeastern Pork Pie rep played on and he had this one snare drum that just sounded exceptional. Every time he put it up, I asked him which one it was. He was going out of town for two weeks right after the session, so he let me borrow it. At the end of the two weeks, I walked into the local Pork Pie dealer, put the drum up on the counter and said, "I want one just like this." So they ordered me one. I'm not sure of the ply configuration. Seems fairly normal, maybe like 6 or 7-ply. It's got tube lugs and the only sort of thing I specifically requested was that they put one of the old strainers on because they had just changed to a new type of strainer and I liked the ond one better.

It's a great drum. I can really lay into it without it totally taking over, but it also doesn't seem to choke or crap out at high volumes. It sounds terrific in high-volume situations, but it's not a high-volume drum. It also works great in quiet situations and it's a very versatile in terms of tone and tuning range. All the jazz guys around here want that snare drum. Like, there's basically a waiting list in my will for it! But it IS indeed a great drum and I love it. It probably gets more use on gigs than any other snare drum I've got. I usaully keep it at a medium to medium-tight tension on top, fairly tight tension on the bottom, medium to loose snare tension, regular coated and snare side Ambassadors on it (Renaissance Ambassadors sound great on it, too) and regular, cheapo Gibraltar-type snare wires. I do prefer the 20-strand snares to the 16 when I can get them, but they're a little harder to find in the 13" size.

One thing I can say about the "Boris" mix is that there's a little bit of the original old, two-rackspace Aphex Aural Exciter across the drumkit on that one and it really changes the character of the drums, especially the cymbals. There's an early rough mix that we're releasing as a bonus cut for people who pre-ordered the disc and the cymbal sound is notably different on there. That rough mix sounds more like the vintage cymbals that are on the kit, whereas the album mix has more "sparkle" up-top.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Thu May 12, 2011 6:45 am

By the way, I can't remember if I mentioned it or not, but if any of you do buy the CD, you techy guys are gonna love the album credits. We're trying to maintain the tradition of the greatest prog bands of the 70s with the album credits.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Thu May 12, 2011 4:13 pm

Great schtuff!

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Fri May 13, 2011 9:32 am

Nicely done!

By the way, just wanted to give everyone a heads-up that we're going to be doing another sneak preview tomorrow (Saturday) at our Reverbnation Page. It'll only be up there for 24 hours, so be sure to check it out tomorrow while you can.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Sat May 14, 2011 9:33 am

Our version of Deep Purple's "Maybe I'm A Leo" is up on Reverbnation today. It's up there 'til midnight tonight (EST), so be sure to check it out while you can!
www.reverbnation.com/bunkymoon

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Sun May 15, 2011 5:38 am

We're doing one more preview tomorrow (Monday). The album comes out on Tuesday. If any of you guys near Charlotte feel like doing something Tuesday night, we're having a CD Release Party at The Evening Muse/ We're playing two sets, one at 7:30 and one at 9:30.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Sun May 15, 2011 9:42 pm

"Space Oddity" up on Reverbnation and Band Camp.
www.reverbnation.com/bunkymoon

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

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