Subatomic Pieces is dead.

chris harris · Post by **chris harris** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 4:53 pm

Yep. After many years, it became pretty laborious to prop up Subatomic Pieces and I got bored with it.

So, I've got a new band, called Depth & Current. This time it's a real band, where each member contributes and works towards the common goal of kicking some ass from time to time.

This music is a little heavier and a little darker than what Subatomic Pieces was. Depth & Current has been described as "indie rock", "stoner rock", "gothic grunge", "psychedelic", etc... I just feel like it's a little more rock and a little less pop than what I've been involved with in the past.

We just finished our debut EP, Arms. We'll be releasing it soooo illegitimately in May, including ZERO barcodes and custom, DIY laser etched and engraved cardboard packaging. But, for now, it's currently streaming in it's entirety at http://www.myspace.com/depthandcurrent
Alternately, you can find our band page on Facebook by searching for: Depth & Current. You can stream the whole EP there as well.

I hope you like it!

Chris

chris harris · Post by **chris harris** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:38 pm

Oh shit.... I totally forgot to talk about the recording part.

This one was all recorded, mixed and mastered at my home studio. I used a lot of pretty average gear, combined with a few choice pieces. I feel like my experience and the great sounding living room I was able to track in are things that better served the recordings than any piece of gear.

Some select gear that was used extensively on this project:

Neve Portico preamps
FMR RNP
Hill Audio Multimix (x2 for 32 channels)
SSL Alphalink converters
Cascade Fathead II mics
Symetrix 501 comps
MCI JH110B 1/2" 2 track mixdown deck
UAD-1 cards with frequent use of the following plugs: 1176LN, Neve 33609, LA2-A, Plate 140, Roland Space Echo, Precision De-esser and the Precision EQ and Limiter.

I think that there was only one song where drums were tracked in stereo. A few songs only ended up having 2 or 3 drum tracks up at mix time. Typical drum tracking setup was:

bass drum = D112 > kickpad > Hill preamp > converters
snare = sm57 > Hill preamp > converters
rack = mk012 > Hill preamp > converters
floor = mk012 > Hill preamp > converters
mono OH = Fathead II > Neve Portico > converters
mono FOK (room) = Fathead II > Neve Portico > converters
mono bright FOK = akg c3000 or SP c1 or CAD e200 > FMR RNP > converters
far room destruction mic = MCA SP-1 > FMR RNP > Symetrix 501 comp > converters

Bass was usually:

clean = MIM Jazzbass > Whirlwind DI > Neve Portico > Symetrix 501 comp > converters
amp/dirty = MIM Jazzbass > Big Muff > Fender Bassman > Avatar 2x10 cab > md421 > Neve Portico > Symetric 501 comp > converters

Electric guitars were mostly:

Eastwood Guitars Stormbird > homemade big muff and/or Death By Audio Supersonic Fuzz Gun and/or Keeley Modded Ibanez Analog Delay > either silverface Fender Twin, or Epiphone Valve Jr. > Fathead II > Neve Portico > converters

Vocals were usually:

Cascade Fathead II > Neve Portico > patchbay mult > one to Symetrix 501 comp > converters, one to Ibanez Analog Delay pedal > Symetrix 501 comp > converters

That's all I can think of. The songs were all mixed OTB through the Hill mixers and passed through the MCI mixdown deck with a feed from the repro heads back to the converters.

minorkeylee · Post by **minorkeylee** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 6:12 pm

Nice. Dig the drum sounds.

xonlocust · Post by **xonlocust** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 7:07 pm

subatomic pieces wrote: bass drum = D112 > kickpad > Hill preamp > converters

impossible, we all know the D112 makes every bass drum sound like a clicky kickball.

kidding of course - sounds great, drums in particular!

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:01 pm

Shit, that subject line made my heart pound. I don't even know you from a hole in the wall but it was going to suck to hear that you'd died.

Corey Y · Post by **Corey Y** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:51 pm

Snarl 12/8 wrote:it was going to suck to hear that you'd died.

I was thinking the same thing, glad it's just some new music you're sharing with us!

Sounds good, I like the songs. Good mix, I like the tones as well. What was the room like that you tracked the drums in?

chris harris · Post by **chris harris** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 11:56 am

Thanks guys!

Corey Y wrote:What was the room like that you tracked the drums in?

I'll try to snap a pic of it this week and post it.

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 10:08 pm

Snarl 12/8 wrote:Shit, that subject line made my heart pound. I don't even know you from a hole in the wall but it was going to suck to hear that you'd died.

same here, dammit.

Slider · Post by **Slider** » Mon Apr 27, 2009 11:13 pm

RefD wrote:
Snarl 12/8 wrote:Shit, that subject line made my heart pound. I don't even know you from a hole in the wall but it was going to suck to hear that you'd died.
same here, dammit.

Yeah I was freaked too. Hmm I guess I still have feelings after all. I think I'll stop and smell the flowers and not kick the dog on my way out tomorrow morning.

chris harris · Post by **chris harris** » Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:06 am

Sorry guys!

But, I assure you, if I returned from the grave to announce my death on these forums, I wouldn't put it in the "Listen to My Stuff" forum.

akg414 · Post by **akg414** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 1:57 pm

What kind of bass sound did you get using a 421 on the bass cabinet? Did you find it provided enough low end? what about the other frequencies?

And me too - I'm Glad YOU're not really dead

chris harris · Post by **chris harris** » Wed Apr 29, 2009 2:18 pm

I had the big muff blazing on the amp. I honestly didn't even want a ton of low end on that track. I figured that the amp would give me the fuzz and the DI would give me the low end. But, in the end, I got gobs of low end out of the 421 on the cab. I'd guess that the amp/DI balance in the mix for most songs ended up being 90% amp/ 10% DI.

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Thu Apr 30, 2009 8:04 am

Big Muff tone stack bypass (on a slider switch on the back on the original ones) makes that pedal sound great to me.

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