Blake Long
New member
Nevermind is one of my favorite sounding albums. Does anyone have some inside info on how it was recorded or mixed? What mics were used to record the drums?
Nirvana's Nevermind
- Thread starter Blake Long
- Start date
As far as I know Nevermind was recorder with a Shure SM57, an AKG 414, a Neumann U87, and occasionally a Sennheiser 421. The U87 was used on Lithium and the AKG 414 on polly and maybe Something in the Way also. THese mikes were then fed to a Neve console.
The guitars on bleach were miked with a Shure SM58, which is interesting.
And on In Utero...'"Kurt said that because mics are so directional, to get a surrounding sound you need to use many tracks or use an omnidirectional microphone farther away from the instruments to pick up the reverberation from the walls. The key was to use many microphones, a technique he had been trying to get producers to do ever since they had been recording. Old, large German microphones were taped to the walls, ceiling, and floor "all over the place"'
The guitars on bleach were miked with a Shure SM58, which is interesting.
And on In Utero...'"Kurt said that because mics are so directional, to get a surrounding sound you need to use many tracks or use an omnidirectional microphone farther away from the instruments to pick up the reverberation from the walls. The key was to use many microphones, a technique he had been trying to get producers to do ever since they had been recording. Old, large German microphones were taped to the walls, ceiling, and floor "all over the place"'
That particular Sound-on-Sound article is one of the best and most inspiring ones I've ever read, and I've been referencing it constantly for the past year.
I love this quote:
"Aside from a Marshall on just a few things, the amps that we primarily used were a Mesa Boogie, a Fender Bassman -- which is one of my favourites -- and a Vox AC30 for the cleaner overdriven sounds," Vig recalls. "However, there's not a lot of processing going on. Kurt had a Rat distortion pedal that he used on a couple of songs, and on a track like 'Breed' we just DI'd the Rat, we didn't go to an amp. We split the signal and we ran it to an amp, and we also took the DI and ran it right into the board so that it had much more of a fuzzy white-noise kind of sound to it. Then we blended the two together to get something that sounded cool."
For those who aren't familiar with this technique, take careful note. It works really well if you play around with it long enough. I've done it before with a Big Muff Pie and it really does give you a pretty classic Seattle Grunge sound.
I love this quote:
"Aside from a Marshall on just a few things, the amps that we primarily used were a Mesa Boogie, a Fender Bassman -- which is one of my favourites -- and a Vox AC30 for the cleaner overdriven sounds," Vig recalls. "However, there's not a lot of processing going on. Kurt had a Rat distortion pedal that he used on a couple of songs, and on a track like 'Breed' we just DI'd the Rat, we didn't go to an amp. We split the signal and we ran it to an amp, and we also took the DI and ran it right into the board so that it had much more of a fuzzy white-noise kind of sound to it. Then we blended the two together to get something that sounded cool."
For those who aren't familiar with this technique, take careful note. It works really well if you play around with it long enough. I've done it before with a Big Muff Pie and it really does give you a pretty classic Seattle Grunge sound.
Blake Long
New member
Thank you everyone. Very helpful.
MartyMcFly
New member
You know they have effect processors and amp simulators out there for guitars and Bass and keyboards so you can make your instrument sound like something your favorite band sounds like.
The question is this... do they have some sort of vocal processor that will make your voice sound like John Lennon's...or Bono...or Kurt Cobain? You know like a stomp box you buy from your local music store with a pic of you favorite singer.
The question is this... do they have some sort of vocal processor that will make your voice sound like John Lennon's...or Bono...or Kurt Cobain? You know like a stomp box you buy from your local music store with a pic of you favorite singer.
Whoopysnorp
New member
MartyMcFly said:
I think a Stephen Hawking simulator is fairly easy to come by.
BrettB
New member
There is a guy in my neighbourhoud who keeps telling everybody that all the guitars on Nevermind are samples to. Well fuck him! Idon't believe that crap. And so many people ove rhere believe. Am I naive when I say I don't?
Btw, As much as I like Nevermind, it is a fact that live Cd they released was quite crappy though.
Btw, As much as I like Nevermind, it is a fact that live Cd they released was quite crappy though.
VOXVENDOR
New member
Brett...
That was 1990, way back before Pro Tools and all of those things we have now... I mean there were a few editing things out there, but not anything near what we have now.... back then they would sample repeated riffs..On Nevermind, some of the guitar riff's could have very well been samples...
Now, I don't mean, they went out and bought a "guitar samples" Cd rom, but that they might have sampled riffs, that Kurt played, in songs that have repetative riffs, and then sequenced them so it would be the same every time.....
Take for instance, the chorus of Smells like teen spirit.. the guitars are looped there, it's a fact... If you listen closely, you will hear the same squeak just a milisecond before the 3rd beat of the second bar and fourth bar of the chorus, throughout the song....
So maybe that smells like teen spirit riff was put into a sampler and sequenced to play over and over....
It was still kurts playing... Just a different way of arranging it.. Remember, sampling is just a form or recording per se, and being able to play it back through a keyboard...
Im not saying that this is the gospel, im just saying that it's very, very possible.... especially that the "sample king" himself Butch Vig did the album.
That was 1990, way back before Pro Tools and all of those things we have now... I mean there were a few editing things out there, but not anything near what we have now.... back then they would sample repeated riffs..On Nevermind, some of the guitar riff's could have very well been samples...
Now, I don't mean, they went out and bought a "guitar samples" Cd rom, but that they might have sampled riffs, that Kurt played, in songs that have repetative riffs, and then sequenced them so it would be the same every time.....
Take for instance, the chorus of Smells like teen spirit.. the guitars are looped there, it's a fact... If you listen closely, you will hear the same squeak just a milisecond before the 3rd beat of the second bar and fourth bar of the chorus, throughout the song....
So maybe that smells like teen spirit riff was put into a sampler and sequenced to play over and over....
It was still kurts playing... Just a different way of arranging it.. Remember, sampling is just a form or recording per se, and being able to play it back through a keyboard...
Im not saying that this is the gospel, im just saying that it's very, very possible.... especially that the "sample king" himself Butch Vig did the album.
Guernica
Active member
.......i have also heard that Kurt used a "Small Clone" throughout that record as well.
..man does that open a can of worms with some people. Alot of "purists" would disagree with you....saying that the recording suffers from lack of integrity by sampling and looping parts. .....i dont agree with this but some do.
JakeFrederick
New member
Guernica said:.......i have also heard that Kurt used a "Small Clone" throughout that record as well.
..man does that open a can of worms with some people. Alot of "purists" would disagree with you....saying that the recording suffers from lack of integrity by sampling and looping parts. .....i dont agree with this but some do.
I think that's such bullshit, personally I'm not trying to prove anything about my ability to nail a song perfect in one take when I'm recording, I'm trying to create the best sound that I can. If that means sampling and using loops then so be it. That's like the old calculator argument in math class
Sure you should be able to do math in your head, but in practical terms when you're doing a test it's much more efficient and accurate to use a calculator!rhythmgtr5
New member
VOXVENDOR said:
I'm pretty sure that kurt wouldn't want something like that to happen on his record. He wouldn't have allowed vig to sample the guitar like that.
crosstudio
New member
kurt may not have been aware of the sample. if butch vig and whoever did the mixing/mastering are worth their salt, they heard a 'problem' and fixed the problem.
if i had a nickel for every artist who created a great, money making record that was just pop enough to make mainstream, and then denounced it while spending said money on drugs, i'd be rich enough to create a record label so i could make even more money off of said artist.
if i had a nickel for every artist who created a great, money making record that was just pop enough to make mainstream, and then denounced it while spending said money on drugs, i'd be rich enough to create a record label so i could make even more money off of said artist.