Does anyone know how to get a trashy sound

T

tuck

New member
Hey,
Im getting ready to have a recording session at my house and i want my recordings to sound somewhat like The White Stripes first album "White Stripes". Quite a few people have been suprised at me for saying this because im going analog even though i have acess to a digitial recorder but i dont what to. Im recording with a 14 cahnnel Mackie mixer to a 1/4 Stellavox reel to reel then to a Tascam 414 four track. Im getting quite a few mic.s or some im planning on mostly drums mics and overheads. im recording all at once in the same room. The room is pretty big and i want it like that but what i want to know is how to natualy make the recordings sound trashy. Thanks
Tuck
 
You want to know how to get a recording to sound trashy?

That's probably the easiest thing in the world to do--just have your girlfriend engineer the session. :)
 
Wow, I used to be an expert at making trashy recordings, but I can't tell how I did because I didn't know what I was doing.
 
feedback, room ambience

don't clean it up

compress the shit out of everything

that's my guess, but could be way off
 
Make the levels peak just that tiny bit and then compress. YEAH lots of compression. If you have an outboard vintage compressor use that.
OR use bad microphones and record normally. Use microphones that cost around £15!! This will give you a nice dirty signal that is in no way going to end up as an over produced track! Im pretty sure that you have to use tape for the sound you are looking for and to get that natural compression. It will just sound too sharp with digital you know.
 
Come on guys, it wasn't that long ago that we all sucked, was it?

The key to a trashy sound is cymbals. Specifically, bad sounding ones. Get cheaper cymbals. Cracked cymbals are wonderful.

Next, close mic the cymbals, like just enough so the cymbals don't hit the mics. Use stereo overheads too close together so you have phase problems.

Now the guitar tones have to be good. Why this is I'm not sure, but bassy muddy toneless guitars somehow take away from trashiness. So mic up a decent amp properly, but play in a trashy fashion. Open string chords and power chords are recommended; barre chords are prohibited. Chord progressions in unrelated keys are to be encouraged, such as D G E Bb. 7th and 9th chords are also verboten.

Bass should be played with a pick, which in no case shall be referred to as a 'plectrum'. Use of such verbiage shall cause said recording session to adjourn for a sufficient time for the offending party to be thoroughly beaten. Clipping at the bass preamp is recommended.

Vocals are best performed into a hand held LDC, in a fairly lively room. Background noises are helpful.

NOW you are ready to start overcompressing everything.
 
mshilarious said:
The key to a trashy sound is cymbals. Specifically, bad sounding ones. Get cheaper cymbals. Cracked cymbals are wonderful.
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I'll agree with that one for the most part.

Except I don't think you'll want cracked ones. Cracked cymbals don't resonate enough . . . and I think we want full resonation here. We want the trashiness of the cymbals to ring out and sustain in all of their crappy glory. Have your drummer hit them really hard and often, too.


stereo overheads too close together so you have phase problems.
Click to expand...

I'm kind of having problems with this one.


Now the guitar tones have to be good. Why this is I'm not sure, but bassy muddy toneless guitars somehow take away from trashiness.
Click to expand...


. . . and I'm also having problems with this one. Hmmm.


play in a trashy fashion. Open string chords and power chords are recommended; barre chords are prohibited. Chord progressions in unrelated keys are to be encouraged, such as D G E Bb. 7th and 9th chords are also verboten.
Click to expand...


Alright, you're starting to win me over again. I'm liking this. But you'll also want to be sure to crank the gain up on your amp as high as it will go. The more distortion, the better, right? Everyone knows that in order to have a truly powerful, thunderous guitar tone, all you have to do is add more distortion and/or crank the gain higher.


Clipping at the bass preamp is recommended.
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Absolutely, positively spot on. I might also ad: Play with REALLY OLD STRINGS.

And be as dynamic as possible. Make sure that no two "pickings" are the same volume. From time-to-time, be sure to just yank on one of your strings so it goes POP! in a very loud fashion. Do this at random times every so often.

Try and see how loud and how hard you can play, just for fun.


Vocals are best performed into a hand held LDC, in a fairly lively room. Background noises are helpful.
Click to expand...


Yea, yea. And everyone knows their voices sound great in a bathroom. That's why we like to sing in the shower so much. It just sounds so . . . good. And we all know louder is better, so be sure to sing as loud as you can in to the mic . . . and be sure to get right up on the mic as you do this. You know . . . just like all the rappers do.

Closets are also highly recommended, so as to get maximum sonic isolation and deadening qualities. Put as much of that Auralex foam and/or egg crates on the walls as you can, because everyone knows you just have to do that, you know?
 
chessrock said:
Except I don't think you'll want cracked ones. Cracked cymbals don't resonate enough . . . and I think we want full resonation here. We want the trashiness of the cymbals to ring out and sustain in all of their crappy glory.
Click to expand...

OK I should have been more specific. Just a little tear on the edge, not a crack all the way to the bell.
 
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