an ambitious project(for me)

wesley tanner

wesley tanner

New member
okay, so I've decided I'd like to do a sound-a-like production of the pixies' "dig for fire." I'll begin when I return from vacation (friday), working off and on until I am satisfied. I'll of course start with the drums, so starting there, does anyone have any advice as to techniques to get the sound of their kit? I will not use samples for this (defeats the purpose!). I have many kits, cyms, snares, etc, available.

I was going to start with a 414 on the snare, xy oh's, and a d112 on the kick, with a LOT of work going into minimizing bleed on the kick and snare... thoughts?
 
I know there's a lot of stuff floating around on the web regarding Albini's work with the Pixies.

You'd have to do some digging and searching, but it's out there. You might even try his web site at: www.electrical.com Maybe try his forum there and see if you have any luck.
 
I'm not familiar with that record in particular, but Steve will typically for rock drums use mics on both side of snare, inside and batter side of kick, and top and bottom of toms (almost always his Electrical mics from Josephson). Also, either spaced overheads or M-S config out in front of the kit, and room mics placed on the floor behind the kit 20 or so feet back and digitally delayed 20ms. Batter side kick mic is usually a Shure SM98 and is run off a ducker keyed to the snare so that it doesn't pick up as much on snare hits. Each pair of tom mics is bussed to one channel on the recorder, or all toms are sent as a stereo pair of channels if there are a lot of them. Room mics are typically omnis (like his Altec 150s or some Earthworks) place on the floor to create a PZM type of pickup (I think...I've read somewhere where he explains this in detail). Of course, he uses large, great sounding rooms for drums, so what you are hearing is the sound of the well-tuned drum in the great sounding room. This may be one of the most important parts of his sound. He never uses compression or EQ as a rule, only if the source needs it. Bob Weston (fellow engineer/bassist in Steve's band Shellac) says he has never seen Steve use compression on the drum bus.

Oh yeah, he hates the SM57.
 
Here are some links to get you going:

http://www.electrical.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=157&highlight=#157

http://www.electrical.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=158&highlight=#158

http://www.electrical.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=88536&highlight=#88536

http://www.electrical.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=68973&highlight=#68973

http://www.electrical.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=879&highlight=#879

Also, search recforums.prosoundweb.com under the "Members" section for user name "electrical"...that is Steve's user name on that forum. He also has lots posted on rec.audio.pro, but you have to work a little harder to dig that stuff up.

Here is a link to a lecture he gave to a class at Middle Tennesee State University's recording program: http://www.mtsu.edu/~nadam/downloads/downloads.html

A picture of the drum set with mics for recording Neurosis, I think the "The Eye Of Every Storm" record: http://www.electrical.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=363&highlight=neurosis

Pictures of the setup, including drums, for Don Cabellero's American Don...drum mic choices and setup are a bit different than Neurosis setup:
http://www.electrical.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=20

(both of those drumkits are set up in the "Kentucky" room at Electrical Audio)

I hope this helps!
 
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AWESOME! Thanks a ton... I know i've got my work cut out for me-- there's a ton of stuff going on, and it all sounds awesome. thanks for the links, i'll keep you posted on what I get done.
 
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