Sufjan Stevens --Come on feel the Illinoise

[logey]

And from Dusted: "I think this [Illinoise] is the first record I recorded primarily in one place, and that was a studio in Queens, in Astoria, here in New York. I still used my antiquated 8-track recorder, which is a piece of junk, but that?s because I didn?t want to use an engineer at the studio, I wanted to do everything myself. So even though I was in this great studio, I wasn?t using their preamps or their ProTools setup or anything. "

http://www.dustedmagazine.com/features/383

This is consistent with my growing experience that the space is more important than the chain. The quality of your mics and preamps means nothing if you are recording in a bad sounding space. Unfortunately that is the hardest thing for most of us to come by.

[;ivlunsdystf]

Bingo.

Luckily Sufjan Stevens had the entire state of Illinois to work with... pretty roomy...

[Dubious]

i like to print compression when i record.. mainly because it effects the dynamics when im playing.. if i want a really compressed bass tone id prefer to dial it in and play the performance with the compression on as oppossed to trying to get the compression to sound the way i want it after... but this also depends on whether you use compression as an "effect" or as a mixing tool.. i tend to go more for the former.

i also liek to print compression as it saves me from havign to compress in the DAW later.. less plugins is always a good thing if you ask me.. and im limited in my settup so i cant mix out of the box.

incidently illionoise is simultaneously the worst name for a record and worst cover for a record i have ever seen in my life...

[trashy]

worst cover for a record i have ever seen in my life...

[matyas]

Just checked out this record (yeah, I'm late to the party) - but damn, it really is as good as everyone has been saying! Great songwriting, cool arrangements, incredibly clever lyrics - and it really doesn't sound like it was recorded with cheap gear! (And the cover is cool....)

[timbertrout]

I dig this record.

Some of the odd time signature stuff with trumpet/flute/marimba orchestration sounds like the theme from "The Price is Right." (That's meant as a compliment.)

Other things remind me of Philip Glass.

Some of the vocals remind me of Belle and Sebastian.

However, despite all the familiarities I find, it's still extraordinarily original.

[inverseroom]

Just got the record, finally. Amazing. Balloons instead of Superman. Very talented guy...that John Wayne Gacy song is devastating.

BTW, I like the Deerhoof too. And I always print effects while tracking.

[TheSwede]

It's great that he made this record that way, and with a certain level of naivety... I have always been drawn to the idea of the artist making a record "himself".. as in writing, recording and performing the entire thing. There are far too many people who tell you what you have is crap, and what you need is "_________", so I hope this guys work is a big slap in the face of these people.

So many have come down hard on digital, and the home recordist (In a way, say like Walter Sear), using "Digital Technology" as the scape goat in regards to why the big studios are slowly fading from glory. While I love and respect the history of recording and record making as much, if not more then most people, I must say that I love and respect good records more. Regardless of how they were made.

The main reason I got into home recording was to avoid the pony-tailed dicks who would rather be riding motorcycles or on their boat or some other activity acting like pricks while I had to track vocals or do some other difficult musical task... and charge me too much to boot. Nice wood decor and track lighting aside, I always felt I might as well pay my old gym teacher to giggle at me naked, and save dough.

The point I am making is that nobody seems to know what you want better then you, and affordable gear in the right hands is a great thing. He recorded that Michigan thing all by his lonesome, and released it himself as well and we are here jabbering about it now. Probably cost him $4000 in gear? Right on. We would all love to have the gear to make "our" record, but it seems like the lesson here is make good music, and "engineer" more then just plug in shit. I know that I have sat and tried to fix a drum take with every box I could find and afford, constantly thinking "All I needs Is a Fatso, and damn...". But it was always the playing. the Magician not the wand.

Kudos to the man with the funny Name!
[/i]