Check out these tunes...

[Shawn Simmons]

Here's a couple songs from an album I just finished at my studio.

http://www.explone.com/audio/slipknot_final.mp3

http://www.explone.com/audio/out_of_town_final.mp3

http://www.explone.com/audio/speed_of_light_final.mp3

http://www.explone.com/audio/arms_around_final.mp3

Enjoy!

shawn

[dynomike]

I'm listening to track 1 now. The mix is good. Sparse instrumentation works in its favor here.. everything is very clear and up-front. Drums are super dry! A little too dry for my liking.. but a lot of that has to do with the low tunings too. The acoustic sounds nice and meaty. The synth in track 1 is nice. My only real beef is the low-thuddy drums, but thats opinion.

This is certainly remedied in track 3. Different snare? That track sounds great! The bass guitar especially kicks.. do you remember the setup for that track for bass? Probably a picked p-bass or something.. but what amp is making that nice drive?!

Who mastered this? Its nice and loud without losing attack or adding too much distortion. Not that I credit this solely to the mastering engineer, good job.

The mono hard pan drums in track 4 sound sweet! Don't hear that enough these days. One or two mic situation? Name those mics, please. This sounds like a good band. Its always a pleasure to record a band that already has the skills. The arrangements are nice. Like the girl background vocals. I don't hear that often enough either.

As you can tell I like it, good job. Thanks for posting, and give the band a high five.

[Shawn Simmons]

Drums are super dry! The synth in track 1 is nice.

Actually, they're not dry. It's just a really short, dark reverb. Something I've been getting into lately. And I LOVE the low tuning on the drums. Totally fits the mood of the song, IMHO. No synth either, that's a pedal steel.

what amp is making that nice drive?!

Yes, it's a P-Bass, mid 60's I think. Played thru an Ampeg combo amp with a single 15". A very good sounding amp, for what it is. I can't remember if we used any pedals. We did on some songs but not on all of them. We also ran the bass into a Fender Bassman head then into a Marshall cabinet. We used that on some songs too.

Who mastered this?

Mastered at RFI in Seattle by Ed Brooks. This record was also mixed to 1/2 inch analog tape, which makes a HUGE difference in the overall volume/punchiness.

One or two mic situation? Name those mics, please.

4 mics actually. A U-195 on the kick, a 57 on the snare, a Coles directly over the kit, and another Coles about 6 feet out in front of the kit but slightly to the right (hi-hat side). All thru Neve preamps. I love that sound too. I'm pretty happy with it for how little time we spent on it. Those were originally going to be "scratch" drums to be replaced later but we got used to them and they sounded too badass to change them.

Thanks for the kind words.

shawn