Sparkle?

I

iownrocknroll

New member
So I've been listening to a few "indie-esk" record recently.

The two are....Narrow Stairs by Death Cab for Cutie, and "Self Titled" Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band

Both bands are somewhat "main stream indie" both records were recorded analog, the Mystic Valley Band record was made in a house in a mexico where they setup a make shift studio.
Both of these records have great sounds, so the source is a lot of the reasons these records sound great, however they both a bit of sparkle?

Maybe I'm using the wrong word, but the there is this color and character to them....not sure what it is or how to get it, but it's something I CANNOT CAPTURE.

Any clue on how to get magic?
 
I'm no expert, as I'm just getting back into recording; but I love both of those records and know what you are talking about. A very important aspect to both of those records was *performance.* Chris Walla (guitarist/producer for DCfC) said that one of his only "rules" for the band when recording was "no one stops a take for any reason." The record was recorded live with a few overdubs here and there. Conor Oberst's self titled record was a bit the same. They recorded a lot of it live (if I remember correctly.) And Conor has been quoted as saying that when he's not working with Mike Mogis the performance is more important to him than "production." I guess what I'm trying to say is that both of these records relied heavily on the performance factor and less on the production side. That's not to say that the production was sloppy, Chris Walla, Conor Oberst, and Andy LeMaster (who worked with Conor as engineer and helped produce) are all very capable in the studio and know how to work their gear. Just my $.02.
 
The performance on both of these records does rock, and there are great sounds, they just have this overall presence that I cannot get...I think the mystic valley band cd was made ona Mackie mixer
 
Great ("sparkly" in some cases) core sounds, captured well, with obscene amounts of headroom. Then just get out of the way.
 
iownrocknroll said:
so shoot for the -18 range at 24 bit?

that'll give me that extra sparkle?
Click to expand...
It'll allow that sparkle to be captured if it's there... When tracking too hot (which faaaaaaaaaarrrrrrr too many people do), the first thing to disappear is that almost indescribable "sparkle" - Call it clarity, focus, sparkle, depth - Overdrive an input chain and it won't be there on the other end...
 
Massive,
I tried sending you a PM but your box is full. My computers firewall (all I have right now is a work computer) won't let me go to your site to find your articles (I heard that you have one/some) about headroom. Would you be able to go into more detail about this concept? Thank you so much.
 
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