The Loudness Wars
|Even if you are deaf…and some of us are, you can see the difference in this example of modern “over” use of compression. When you learn to hear this destructive effect you cannot help but try to warn people about it. And this real-time metamorphosis of a song undergoing “too much” compression leaves a lasting visual impression. For anyone not quite sure what is actually going on when compressors or brick-wall limiters are in the wrong hands…
Go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ
ps… I know this is a demonstration of a maximiser sort of effect. But it is very close to the way people have gotten use to slamming mixes or individual tracks.
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16 channels of Apogee
|Chico has added 16 channels of Apogee ad-16x / da 16x to the studio. I was perfectly happy with the RME stuff, or so I thought. It sounds incredible. AB’ing direct from the tape through the console vs the new convertors made me very happy. It sounds very very close to what it counds like pre conversion, something missing with the rme’s, which seemed to effect the depth/width make the mix sound like they were wrapped in a thin blanket (in comparison). Hard to describe, but a vast improvement.
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This Horn of Afrika
|I met This Horn of Afrika through When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth. They have genres listed on their myspace page but I don’t think they can be easily defined. They use live loops and electronic samples through a blown-out PA amp alongside warbly bass blurps and shattered guitar textures. You’ll have to see them live at The Mohawk on July 9th with Transmography, Black Cock, Woodgrain, and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth. Or wait ’til we finish this awesome record.
Here are some pics in the meantime:
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Ray’s Realm Review
|Anything but cutesy. Black Cock gets another great review. Thanks. Ray
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Jude / Ross record released!
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Congrats to Jude / Ross on the release of their new record! This was a fun recording to make and we wish them the best. The reviews are starting to come in, here is one from sideonetrackone.com. Check them out on Myspace.
Says lead singer Michael Ross of the album, “Jude/Ross is the sound of a rock’n'roll band playing 10 songs in 26 minutes.” Couldn’t have said it better myself. And let me tell you, when you’re used to being bombarded with press releases bearing headlines such as “like Brahms meets Metallica in a blender!”, the idea of listening to something so unassuming is wildly appealing. And the general sense of those 26 minutes is just that: a tight rock quartet laying down skillfully engineered tracks that push with just the right amount of artistic leeway but never assume so much as to pass the 4 minute mark with a drone of a genius hook beating itself to death. Minimal overdubs and a clean Jon Brion-like softness give the record the feel of an on-the-porch concert happened upon by a rogue 8-track, put to tape by our good luck. Each melody is intricately reliant upon the guitar tracks that both carry the songs, and add an extra edge when called upon to spice things up. The album’s first song, The Knife, begins “in the morning I’ll awake on fire, and I’ll blame it on the sun” (take that Fire Island!) which segues right into what is perhaps the album’s true theme: “Be who you are, and you can be born again, and again.” Jude/Ross are very good at being exactly who they are, and it makes for beautiful permutations at every turn on this new album.
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How to align a tape machine for recording (Bias setup included)
|Part 2 in our “How to” series about recording with tape. Before you do the record alignment in this video, make sure to do a repro alignment using your MRL (see the repro alignment video). This video is kind of long, but I decided to leave in a lot of extra footage to provide as much info and guidance as possible.
Things you’ll need to complete this exercise are an MRL, a tone generator (we like the neutrik minirator for it’s portability and ease of use), and the overbias amount recommended by your the tape manufacturer. In this video, we used RMG 486 which required an overbias amount of +4 at 15 ips for our gap width (consult your manual or the internet for the gap width for you machine)
This process may seem complicated at first, but with a little practice you’ll get the hang of it! Feel free to leave comments or shoot me an email if you have any question / comments or suggestions! Long live analog recording.
oliphantscott@gmail.com
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Black Cock is dangerous
|Black Cock got another good review along with 10 other “very dangerous” bands. Thanks again to peacedogman. Check them out for the news on punk, metal, and obscure rock & roll releases.
http://www.peacedogman.com/csgdb09.htm
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Leatherbag news
|Leatherbag’s ep that I had the pleasure of engineering (Everything I Once Knew) is off to print. The ep was mixed and mastered by Seth over at Superpop. Congrats also for their upcoming ACL taping (April 30th) and their announcement of an ACL performance on the Friday of the summer music festival (details to come). These guys deserve the attention.
Plus they are getting great reviews with The Austin Chronicle (Earache!):
Nice work Scott… here’s the link. http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Blogs/Music
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Nice Rack
|These are terrible pictures but I’ve added a lot of stuff in the past couple months that brings Ohm to world-class status: a mint-condition 16-track 2″ headstack from JRF Magnetics; 4 Previs omni mics by Brandt Audio Devices, A 3/4″ maple hardwood floor to the tracking room (see pictures from a few weeks ago), a Wunder Audio PA4 mic pre, two Chandler Limited TG mkII Abbey Road mic pre’s, a pair of Purple Audio MC-77 compressors , a pair of UREI vintage LA-3A compressors, a pair of vintage dBX 160 VU compressors, and finally a DW Fearn VT-7 Stereo tube compressor. All of this spurred me to finish the custom Canare Star Quad cable snake box. And with such great analog front-end I added an even better Apogee AD-16X converter box in addition to my already stellar RME converters.
If you want Scott, Bryan, or me to help you make a timeless recording we’ll be here–with the good shit.
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