Wild Flag - Romance - Letterman vs CD

Ron Obvious · Post by **Ron Obvious** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 8:35 pm

Well last night I saw a new band on Letterman - Wild Flag. They did a song called ?Romance? and I thought it was quite good. I?ve been around this industry since 1976 (Scully 16 track 2? - bio on website) and still do a bit of recording, so I wanted to check this band out a bit more. First I went to YouTube put on my good ?studio headphones" and listened to the song in 720HD. Again quite good sonically, except for the bit over distorted guitar of the lead singer. Loved the ?in tune? live bg vocals by the drummer and keyboard/bass player.

So of I go to iTunes land to buy the song - done. - I didn?t steal it.

Recorded song sounds like CRAP, WITH A BIG CRAP. Distorted drums with indie cheap guitar sounds. There seems to be heavy stereo buss compression where the kick breaks the whole mix up! The vocals are nice and the wacky panned melody/riff is cool.

Find out through their website where it was recorded. The Hanger in Sacramento,CA. Check website. They go on and on how they have all this great analog gear and don?t use ProTools to mix ?in the box?. Well then how come it sounds like utter crap then! They also state that this studio also only rents to ?...to qualified recording engineers and/or musicians with a working knowledge of the studio process.? The owner of this studio is John Baccigaluppi, who publishes "Tape Op" mag.

Come on young kids listen to the old masters! Are you really making your songs sound better than an old - punk album??? The Sex Pistols-bollocks, London Calling, Magazine, any Led Zep, any mid period Stones or Who, later Nirvana, etc.

I personally would much rather have downloaded the Letterman version, opened it in ProTools - cleaned the front and back with fades and I would be happy.

Just my view about of the ?sonic? state of the industry now.

Please don?t comment about the MP3-256k is not CD quality. Believe me it?s close enough! The Letterman YouTube HD 720 video is also at the mersy of the TV broadcast compressors and yet sounds PRO not INDIE zone.

tonewoods · Post by **tonewoods** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 4:47 am

I dunno...

I liked the record, and it seemed to fool a lot of other folks as well...
It was a #1 choice of "recording of the year" by the folks at Sound Opinions, not that that means a fucking thing...

Here's the Letterman gig...
I just love the joy of playing music that emanates from the band...

From a recording standpoint, I hold a lot of admiration for folks who can make a bassless band stand tall on tape...

chris harris · Post by **chris harris** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 6:21 am

Ron Obvious wrote:The Sex Pistols-bollocks, London Calling, Magazine, any Led Zep, any mid period Stones or Who, later Nirvana, etc.

There were plenty of old dudes at the time who thought that this stuff all sounded like shit and that it was ruining recorded music....

tdbajus · Post by **tdbajus** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 6:50 am

you are right about the vocals: AWESOME.

Wild Flag gives me hope that rock is not dead.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 10:36 am

My drummer, my drummer, turned me on to this stuff, and for a rhythm-oriented jazz-educated guy such as he to like it for it's pop melodies tells me how good he really thinks they are.

And I agree; I hear the Cars and Television amongst other more obvious influences.

I thought the sound stellar, me, altho' I do think there is bass onnit at times?

standup · Post by **standup** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 11:14 am

I watched the video, pretty good song. They looked nervous though, not too sure of themselves yet. I'm a bass player, so of course I'm sure the keyboard player is like "Oh, I'll just play bass lines with my left hand".

There's another video shot in a bike shop at SXSW that's a bit more confident.

I was getting a bit of Patti Smith vibe, maybe it's just the singer's bangs.

The drummer has some kind of magnetic power, she's intense.

behussey · Post by **behussey** » Tue Jan 03, 2012 5:34 pm

I'm just really glad these guys were finally on television. Even though they're pretty much indie veterans (http://www.mergerecords.com/artists/wild_flag), I don't recall any of their previous bands doing the late shows (?).

I'm going to assume they wanted it to sound like it did on record. The last Sleater-Kinney record (singer/drummer previous band) was nuts. Dave Fridmann was quoted to say that they wanted it that way--over the top. It's super-distorted and way hot.

I agree the live show sounds great, though. I may prefer it as well, but I think that's just how I like it!

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Tue Jan 03, 2012 7:41 pm

I couldn't finish the Letterman video. First I didn't like it and then I got bored. I'll take Zep any day of the week over that.

Post by **TapeOpLarry** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 7:29 pm

Carl, I think Led Zep broke up a while back.

Jitters · Post by **Jitters** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:36 pm

I'm a little late to the party here, but I really like this record and the Letterman clip is fantastic too. Can't wait to catch them live.

Snarl 12/8 · Post by **Snarl 12/8** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 12:37 am

TapeOpLarry wrote:Carl, I think Led Zep broke up a while back.

Touche. Van Halen with David Lee Roth is gonna tour this year though. DLR said it best, "Look at all these little kids, taking care of the music biz."

Nick Sevilla · Post by **Nick Sevilla** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 8:33 am

You mean to tell me the live show does not sound at all like the record?

WHAT A SHOCKER!!!!!

Seriously....

chris harris · Post by **chris harris** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 11:17 am

Van Halen will only further tarnish their legacy this year.

Jeff White · Post by **Jeff White** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 11:32 am

chris harris wrote:Van Halen will only further tarnish their legacy this year.

Van Halen should be a reality show. It would be HUGE!

Jeff

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Fri Jan 13, 2012 1:55 pm

ipressrecord wrote:
chris harris wrote:Van Halen will only further tarnish their legacy this year.
Van Halen should be a reality show. It would be HUGE!

Jeff

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Wild Flag - Romance - Letterman vs CD

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