Peak on Purpose?

C

Catchmo

New member
I'm a bit curious about what all of you out there think about what I heard the other day.

A friend of mine was recently approached by an indie label guy with interest in signing and distributing his band. They already had an EP recorded and it sounded great... or so I thought. This band has a real vintage rock kind of groove e.g. british invasion kind of thing. Anyway this label rep told them that they were right up the label's alley except he wanted them to re-record their ep because it was too "crisp and clean." He told them to speed up a bit and peak the levels when recording. Peak the levels? Really? Well they did it and I guess it sounds okay but it sounds like it was recorded 50 years ago. I personally think this is a step in the wrong direction.

My question is: Has anybody heard of this practice before and is it really worth it to take out the fidelity of the sound like this?

Please ease my soul on this topic.
 
Catchmo said:
I'm a bit curious about what all of you out there think about what I heard the other day.

A friend of mine was recently approached by an indie label guy with interest in signing and distributing his band. They already had an EP recorded and it sounded great... or so I thought. This band has a real vintage rock kind of groove e.g. british invasion kind of thing. Anyway this label rep told them that they were right up the label's alley except he wanted them to re-record their ep because it was too "crisp and clean." He told them to speed up a bit and peak the levels when recording. Peak the levels? Really? Well they did it and I guess it sounds okay but it sounds like it was recorded 50 years ago. I personally think this is a step in the wrong direction.

My question is: Has anybody heard of this practice before and is it really worth it to take out the fidelity of the sound like this?

Please ease my soul on this topic.
Click to expand...

Short answer: No

It's possible this guy is a suit and not an engineer, and is using descriptive terms that have technical meanings he is unaware of.

Also, it's possible this guy merely wants to own the master, which would be a bad deal for you.
 
Yeah, I'll clip when recording. I'll be sure to clip the analog preamp and not the A/D converter...but yeah.

Would I slather it over an entire album? I'd have to hear the songs first to tell you. Probably not. I like to keep it to one insturment in one song every 2 years (give or take :D ).

But there is no rule against it.
 
Supercreep said:
Short answer: No

It's possible this guy is a suit and not an engineer, and is using descriptive terms that have technical meanings he is unaware of.

Also, it's possible this guy merely wants to own the master, which would be a bad deal for you.
Click to expand...

Acutally, this is a friend and not "a friend" meaning me. Our mutual friend has been trying to get them to let me record their next EP. The reason this troubles me so much is for two reasons:

1. I'm using a Korg d3200 digital 8 track and when you peak your levels on digital it clips not distorts. I don't know how to achieve that sound with what I have.
2. and most importantly I fundamentally disagree with this practice and if a "client" of mine were to come to me with this request I probably would decline it even if it meant getting paid for it.

Is it wrong to decline something like this based on pride?
 
Catchmo said:
Acutally, this is a friend and not "a friend" meaning me. Our mutual friend has been trying to get them to let me record their next EP. The reason this troubles me so much is for two reasons:

1. I'm using a Korg d3200 digital 8 track and when you peak your levels on digital it clips not distorts. I don't know how to achieve that sound with what I have.
2. and most importantly I fundamentally disagree with this practice and if a "client" of mine were to come to me with this request I probably would decline it even if it meant getting paid for it.

Is it wrong to decline something like this based on pride?
Click to expand...


1. Buy a nice tube pre

2. I always do what the band asks to hear the idea, or at least to show them and say "see this sounds like ass" But I do a lot of recording with distortion and I love it. It can give a nice contrast, but for every instrument for an entire album? Sounds like some dirty 70s punk stuff (which I've always like but I can agree its not the most appealing sound) I would just record it clean and then do some kind of distorting in mastering so if everyone agrees it sounds better clean you can leave it as such. You can always add distortion, but its almost impossible to take it out once its in.

Hope this helps,
-Barrett
 
Maybe things are just getting lost in translation...?

His meaning may simply be that they should record "hotter"...pushing things for a more intense vibe...and not so much that they specifically peak to the point of almost clipping digital gear.

Like on the front-end of the process, the levels and preamps and comps, etc...where it's not so much a question of the converters getting clipped...you can push things harder or lighter for a different vibe.

Back when tape was king, there was nothing unusual about watching meters hitting the red quite a lot, and with most analog gear even now, having levels “peaking” is not unusual...and there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that.
 
Supercreep said:
It's probable this guy is a suit and not an engineer, and is using descriptive terms that have technical meanings he is unaware of.

Also, it's probable this guy merely wants to own the master, which would be a bad deal for you.
Click to expand...

Fixed that for you. :)

For kicks, run one of the finished mixes through a tape simulator set for a bit of grit, and see what you think of it. A slightly grungier, lower-fi recording may not be inappropriate, but I'd rather do something like that and grit up clean tracks than intentionally clip, which is kind of retarded.
 
Catchmo said:
My question is: Has anybody heard of this practice before and is it really worth it to take out the fidelity of the sound like this?

Please ease my soul on this topic.
Click to expand...
You can certainly [SELF-CENSORED] up a recording in a big way by tracking too hot (something I come across so often that I don't even want to talk about it). And it will certainly make it sound "more crappy" and less "crisp and wonderful" -- But that said, there are plenty of ways to [SELF-CENSORED] up a recording during mixing that you can actually control.
 
I'm not sure how they did it but it is definitely the project as whole that they affected. Thank you for the suggestions. I feel a little better now that I know other people have done this to some extent. If these guys do end up using me I may tell them not to jump into this label just yet. It is their first offer I believe and I feel they are losing some of their presence the way this guy wants it.

Thanks again everybody.
 
Massive Master said:
You can certainly [SELF-CENSORED] up a recording in a big way by tracking too hot (something I come across so often that I don't even want to talk about it). And it will certainly make it sound "more crappy" and less "crisp and wonderful" -- But that said, there are plenty of ways to [SELF-CENSORED] up a recording during mixing that you can actually control.
Click to expand...



We can only hope that the person in question was suggesting a bit of analog style harmonic excitation on the transients for a bit more punch as opposed to slamming the converters and ........ using every dam bit !!!!! :spank:
 
Most people don't know a fucking thing about making & recording music, especially when the business side of the music business is speaking. That said, figure out what he's actually asking for, sonically-speaking, and then do what he's actually asking for, not what he thinks he's asking for. Everyone wins!
 
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