Confessions of an audio whore...

[Harvey Gerst]

So, right after I recorded those kids (see the "I usually don't post here, but..." thread), I get a call to do a heavy metal band called Grace Failed. Also pretty talented.

In between these two sessions, I'm also mixing a New Age band, featuring all kinds of percussion instruments, a sitar, and East Indian chanting. And doing a bluegrass mandolin recording for an artist in Boston to add to her new album tracks.

Here's a sample of the metal band:

Grace Failed - Breakdown

Anything for a buck.

 

[joeym]

Ha...! Great recording, Harvey.
Drums sound fantastic. It's got the right kind of energy. How were bass and guitars recorded?

Joey

 

[Harvey Gerst]

Ha...! Great recording, Harvey.
Drums sound fantastic. It's got the right kind of energy. How were bass and guitars recorded?

Joey

Believe it or not, the bass was just plugged directly into the board and I used a little high end boost off the board's eq. Both guitars were run through two Sansamp TRI-O.D. boxes direct to the board.

I'm very pleased with how the drums turned out.

 

[moresound]

I have to admit Harvey the drum tracks are very good and sit in the mix extremely well. Great job!
Tell me the microphone and preamp used in the vocal chain along with everything else used in pre and post production.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

I have to admit Harvey the drum tracks are very good and sit in the mix extremely well. Great job!
Tell me the microphone and preamp used in the vocal chain along with everything else used in pre and post production.

I had the Neumann TLM103 set up to do vocals, but we finally decided to use the Beyer Soundstar MK II for the main vocals and the TLM103 for background shouts. Other that an RNC to keep the levels from clipping, that was about it.

 

[moresound]

I had the Neumann TLM103 set up to do vocals, but we finally decided to use the Beyer Soundstar MK II for the main vocals and the TLM103 for background shouts. Other that an RNC to keep the levels from clipping, that was about it.

OK. Great, thanks Harvey
A very simple chain.

 

[PoeticIntensity]

Drums sound very interesting on this one... I love how it's so different from the usual offerings of the drum samples normally used in this type of music. They're very acoustic-sounding, and people usually compress the life out of drums in metal music, trying to make them sound un-natural. Nice refreshing change, while still maintaining the power.

I listened to this through headphones, and for whatever reason, the cymbal coming in hard-right sounds brittle.

Love the recording, Harvey.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

Drums sound very interesting on this one... I love how it's so different from the usual offerings of the drum samples normally used in this type of music. They're very acoustic-sounding, and people usually compress the life out of drums in metal music, trying to make them sound un-natural. Nice refreshing change, while still maintaining the power.

I listened to this through headphones, and for whatever reason, the cymbal coming in hard-right sounds brittle.

Love the recording, Harvey.

Thank you. That might be an mp3 artifact. I'll check the mastered wav files. I was very pleased with the overall drum sound.

 

[squibble94]

Pretty cool. It's sounds like the vocals (screams) need some more compression. Everything else sounds pretty good. How many mics did you use on the drums? It sounds kind of roomy for this genre. The snare could be fatter.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

Pretty cool. It's sounds like the vocals (screams) need some more compression. Everything else sounds pretty good. How many mics did you use on the drums? It sounds kind of roomy for this genre. The snare could be fatter.

Since I was primarily the engineer on the session, and only acting as a "quasi-producer" when called upon, that was the sound they wanted.

There were 9 mics on the drums: kick, snare, hihat, hi tom, mid tom, low tom, floor tom crash OH, and ride OH.

 

[squibble94]

Since I was primarily the engineer on the session, and only acting as a "quasi-producer" when called upon, that was the sound they wanted.

There were 9 mics on the drums: kick, snare, hihat, hi tom, mid tom, low tom, floor tom crash OH, and ride OH.

Hmmm that's strange. The drums don't sound close mic'ed. But if they were happy with it, then alrighty.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

Hmmm that's strange. The drums don't sound close mic'ed. But if they were happy with it, then alrighty.

I did add some reverb on the snare, toms, and overheads; maybe that's what you're hearing. But everything (except the overheads) was very close miked.