sjoko2
New member
I've got a cord named Fred who'd been with me for ages. When Fred was poorly I was rooting for him. I'm determined to stop people from trying to execute Fred
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Alchemist3k
New member
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Scott Tansley
New member
I once read about someone asking steely dan about how they got that great kick drum sound. They responded by saying that they went out and found a good sounding kick drum and put a mic in front of it. Sounds to me like they did this very simple thing right again. Let me see, get a good sounding guitar plugged into a good soung amp and all the other good recording equipment that we all talk about is just icing on the cake. When I hear Steely Dan all I can hear is brilliant musicians playing great sounding instruments. I dont hear lucid converters or digital or analogue, just a good guitarist playing a nice guitar through a nice amp. Steely Dan can make any sound engineer sound better.
Blue Bear Sound
New member
Of course the musicians and their gear make a difference, but what I'm talking about is beyond that... SD records in general have a little sonic something on the guitars that other records don't have....
It's hard to explain other than saying more depth, more definition, more air around each note..........
I did email Nichols, not expecting a reply and of course, that is exactly what I got!
Bruce
It's hard to explain other than saying more depth, more definition, more air around each note..........
I did email Nichols, not expecting a reply and of course, that is exactly what I got!
Bruce
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Scott Tansley
New member
I was listening to Gaslighting Abie yesterday and although its clearly not a doubled guitar it was coming out of the left and right at about a 4 millisecnd delay accross the speakers.
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Alchemist3k
New member
Yeah I've used that technique before myself. It's quite effective at anything up to a 20ms delay before becoming noticable. Works particularly well when looking for that "big" guitar sound but not as good as several overdubbed of the same guitar and amp.
Sonic Misfit
New member
Bruce,
In reply to your question. Refer to the April 2000 issue of Guitar Player magazine where they did an interview with Walter Becker. On page 95 they list the studio gear. As such:
Direct from the article:
with the exception of rhythm parts - which were recorded direct - the tones on Two Against Nature were forged with a variety of amp/cabinet combinations. Bogner, Top Hat, and Bruno heads pushed various 4x12, 2x12, and 1x12 celestion-loaded cabinets, and Becker also used a Mesa/Boogie Maverick combo. For direct tones, Becker played through a Mesa/Boogie Studio preamp and Boss SE-50 multi-effector routed through high-end Massenburg preamps and compressors.
On Nature, Becker relied on several Sadowsky solidbodies - each sporting two DiMarzio singlecoils and a Sadowsky bridge humbucker.
There is a lot more information in the article, but overall, it sounds like a lot of high end guitars, amps, and gear in general coupled with people who know what sound they are trying to achieve.
I hope that this helps.
In reply to your question. Refer to the April 2000 issue of Guitar Player magazine where they did an interview with Walter Becker. On page 95 they list the studio gear. As such:
Direct from the article:
with the exception of rhythm parts - which were recorded direct - the tones on Two Against Nature were forged with a variety of amp/cabinet combinations. Bogner, Top Hat, and Bruno heads pushed various 4x12, 2x12, and 1x12 celestion-loaded cabinets, and Becker also used a Mesa/Boogie Maverick combo. For direct tones, Becker played through a Mesa/Boogie Studio preamp and Boss SE-50 multi-effector routed through high-end Massenburg preamps and compressors.
On Nature, Becker relied on several Sadowsky solidbodies - each sporting two DiMarzio singlecoils and a Sadowsky bridge humbucker.
There is a lot more information in the article, but overall, it sounds like a lot of high end guitars, amps, and gear in general coupled with people who know what sound they are trying to achieve.
I hope that this helps.
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Scott Tansley
New member
And like I said before
"just stick a good mic in front of it all"
The engineers job here was quite simple.....and pleasurable.
"just stick a good mic in front of it all"
The engineers job here was quite simple.....and pleasurable.
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Scott Tansley
New member
SD probly handled the mic selection and placement too. Then just hand the other end of the cable to the guy in the next room and say record this and call it guitar track 1.
Ok so now i'm really crapping on......sorry.
Ok so now i'm really crapping on......sorry.
Blue Bear Sound
New member
Sonic... great info - thanks - I'll look for that issue...........
Scott... I dunno - normally, I'd agree with that 100%, and while it's certainly true, I still suspect some "injected magic" on Nichols part.........
Bruce
Scott... I dunno - normally, I'd agree with that 100%, and while it's certainly true, I still suspect some "injected magic" on Nichols part.........
Bruce
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Simon Baker
New member
Sorry to digress Blue Bear but. . . have you guys listened to the lyrics, especially on 'Cousin Dupree'???!!! Coming on to your cousin is a bit . . . umm . . .err. . dodgey I think. Don't get me wrong, I love the album and all the stuff of SD I've heard. Just thought I'd have a laugh 
These forums are great 
These forums are great
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Alchemist3k
New member
Makes a change from the "fly in a jamjar" sound of "Reelin in the Years". I'm not really not a fan of the sound of the guitar tone on that track. 
Blue Bear Sound
New member
But even the guitars in "Reelin'" had that same "depth" or air around them..........
Velvet Elvis
Ahh humma humma humma
This is quite amusing...
I've yet to hear the actual tracks (though I have finally located someone who can loan me the CD)... but I already have this picture painted in my mind of these dry but big sounding clean tones... and lyrics of inbreeding ;-)
wow... what other thread covers that much ground?
Velvet Elvis
I've yet to hear the actual tracks (though I have finally located someone who can loan me the CD)... but I already have this picture painted in my mind of these dry but big sounding clean tones... and lyrics of inbreeding ;-)
wow... what other thread covers that much ground?
Velvet Elvis
Track Rat
Just Your Average Sized Member
How did we get on the subject of country music???
Velvet Elvis
Ahh humma humma humma
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Now that you mention it Track Rat... SD *IS* starting to sound like a country band...
Except you'd never find a country singer capable of working the word "Charlamagne" into a song.... I mean... that's like a three syllable word!
Velvet Elvis
Now that you mention it Track Rat... SD *IS* starting to sound like a country band...
Except you'd never find a country singer capable of working the word "Charlamagne" into a song.... I mean... that's like a three syllable word!
Velvet Elvis
Queue
Active member
Anybody who thinks "Cousin Dupree" is bad has obviously forgotten about (or never heard about) "Cousin Kevin" and "Uncle Ernie". 
Queue
Queue
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Alchemist3k
New member
OK just listen to Reeling. First intro bar starts nicely... dum de dumde dum deda dum dum.... the in come the bass and drums. The guitar sound then has anything but air imo...
flick forward to track "Midnight Cruiser". Really really nice guitar tone with loads of air. SD are like any other band... some tracks are better from a production standpoint than others.
Having just listened to some of their tracks on my studio monitors I realise that perhaps part of the technique is:
1) leading guitar lines are norally panned almost totally to the left speaker with the snare on both speaker but quite a muted dull snare sound. This leaves te higher frequences relatively free of congestion so allow the guitar space.
2) their style of music gives the guitar that space. their guitar sound is always a contrast to every other instrument used. e.g. trumpets have a smooth floating sound and play long notes floating up and down. The snare and drums are kept low in the mix and relatively flat sounding compared to modern recording. The high hat is kept low in the mix also. However, the guitar is often a bit louder with the thinner, more abrasive, light overdrive sound typical of single coil guitars. This contrast probably makes a difference.
flick forward to track "Midnight Cruiser". Really really nice guitar tone with loads of air. SD are like any other band... some tracks are better from a production standpoint than others.
Having just listened to some of their tracks on my studio monitors I realise that perhaps part of the technique is:
1) leading guitar lines are norally panned almost totally to the left speaker with the snare on both speaker but quite a muted dull snare sound. This leaves te higher frequences relatively free of congestion so allow the guitar space.
2) their style of music gives the guitar that space. their guitar sound is always a contrast to every other instrument used. e.g. trumpets have a smooth floating sound and play long notes floating up and down. The snare and drums are kept low in the mix and relatively flat sounding compared to modern recording. The high hat is kept low in the mix also. However, the guitar is often a bit louder with the thinner, more abrasive, light overdrive sound typical of single coil guitars. This contrast probably makes a difference.
R
RWhite
Well-known member
Another neat thread. Very good reading.
Only thing I can add - not long after Two Against Nature came out there was a piece in Rolling Stone, and I seem to remember a small side bar about the "Steely Dan Sound". The one phrase that stuck in my head fro it was: "massive amounts of compression"
Only thing I can add - not long after Two Against Nature came out there was a piece in Rolling Stone, and I seem to remember a small side bar about the "Steely Dan Sound". The one phrase that stuck in my head fro it was: "massive amounts of compression"
Chris Shaeffer
Peavey ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HA! 
I know it is a little off topic, but this...
Is an absolutely hilarious typo.
Take care,
Chris
I know it is a little off topic, but this...
Alchemist3k said:
Is an absolutely hilarious typo.
Take care,
Chris