Recording EP- Advice?

[XLR]

Thanks Harvey. I just bought one of the Frontman 15 watt amps based on your posts.

Happy lemming here.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

... And f you listen really closely, you can hear the sound of a herd of lemmings rushing out to buy a bunch of cheap, solid state toy Fender amps.

Uhh, Daisy,

Have you actually tried it? We did, and it sounds great. We run the Frontman directly into a Marshall 1960 bottom with 4 Celestion Greenbacks, and the sound is killer; very heavy, very thick, in overdrive mode, and a good clean sound when you need it. Is it a toy? Maybe, but it's a very good toy for us.

Sometimes, companies screw up and actually put out something that goes way beyond its intended purpose. That's the case with the 15 watt Frontman, at least, for us. We bought 3 of them; got one for $25, one for $40, and one for $20. If you look at our equipment list, we have a pretty decent selection of 50 and 100 watt name brand tube heads. We don't take spending money (or making equipment purchases) lightly.

As many of you know, I don't make equipment recommendations lightly. And I'm no shill for Fender. You don't want to take my recommendation? That's fine. Why don't we wait and hear from a few people that try it and see what they say, before we start calling them and the equipment names?

 

[Daisy]

Good for you.

Have fun with your vast collection of 20 dollar amps, then.

I'm just messin' with ya.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

Well, 2 of our 4 Marshall 100 watt tube heads were picked up at a garage sale for $20 each, as was a Traynor 50 watt tube head at a flea market for $20.

But I guess those would be too cheap for you, too.

 

[WhiteStrat]

Well, 2 of our 4 Marshall 100 watt tube heads were picked up at a garage sale for $20 each, as was a Traynor 50 watt tube head at a flea market for $20.

But I guess those would be too cheap for you, too.

Let me go garage sale and flea market shopping with you. Really. I'll buy lunch and gas.

 

[WhiteStrat]

... And f you listen really closely, you can hear the sound of a herd of lemmings rushing out to buy a bunch of cheap, solid state toy Fender amps.

Well then I'm a psychic lemming. And a foolhardy one at that. I bought mine two years ago as a practice amp for my son, and if I remember correctly, I paid $69 for it.

 

[RAMI]

psychic lemming.

Thanx Whitey!!! You just named my next CD.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

Good for you.

Have fun with your vast collection of 20 dollar amps, then.

I'm just messin' with ya.

Daisy,

Ya know, I've been sticking my neck out here for about 7 years, trying to explain things to people, help them make better recordings, and making recommendations about equipment I run across that they may not know about. And just about every time I do, somebody will give me grief about it. It's really getting old to me. It seems this is no exception.

You call them "cheap, solid state toy Fender amps", and anybody that might wanna try it is a "lemming" for listening to my suggestion. You're not interested in trying it, but you're ready to blast anybody that is interested. It's an insult to me and to a lot of people here. I don't make recommendations lightly, and if I didn't believe it's a great sound, I wouldn't have said a word about it. But you hafta jump in and make a nasty crack about it.

So, in this Home Recording BBS, I'm gonna leave all future suggestions about mics and equipment to you, Daisy. That's it for me. I've put up with crap like this for 7 years here, and I'm just tired of it. I've taught people how to test mics, build phantom power supplies, explained what goes on inside mics, made suggestions, and explained things here for years. No more!! I've had it here.

 

[pipelineaudio]

Harvey, I'm working on an audio mythbusters type of project right now, and I feel your grief.

 

[Randy Yell]

Just a point or two to make then I'll move on. Daisy, if you would take a gander at the name of this site. This is Home Recording not we have tons of fricking money to spend making recording. A few people here seem to forget the fact that most people here just don't have the money to have an unlimited budget for recording and musical equipment and their stock answer to just about every problem is to buy something expensive which very few people can afford. Top of the line equipment is a very nice thing to have for sure but it's just not possible for most of us tyvm and when someone recomends something that is actually doable for most people one of the gearsnobs usually pisses in the recomendation usually without even trying it. You tell me whose advice is useful, the person recomending something that people can actually try or some know it all suggesting, a) that trying something usable is a waste of time or b) the only way to solve the problem is to throw money at it that they don't have. I know the stock gear snob response to that is people should find another hobby but that is the wrong response, this is actually Home Recording.com and I don't care if people are trying to record out of a boombox with a built in mike those are actually the people that this site is for not elitist sobs who want to look down on other people because they themselves have access to top shelf equipment.There is nothing wrong with having nice equopment, it is everyone's dream but for most of us it is only a dream. If all you have to say to someone is to shit on their equipment or tell them the only way to get good results is to spend thousands of dollars which they don't have then you are being totally useless and might as well just keep your opinion to yourself and stfu. This forum is about helping each other and if you are not part of the solition then you are part of the problem. When you begin to harass people that are giving advice that people can actually use then you are nothing but a troll.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Harvey, please don't let the likes of Keith get to you like that. If you're going to let some straw break the camel's back, please let it be a far better straw than some flake falsely posing on here as a transvestite singer from Nashville because he's afraid of being himself.

You should also know by now that there is an unfortunate and unfair (and completely idiotic) bias on this board, that if it's not a Paul running through a Marshall or a Mesa, it's a piece of shit, and that Fender is nothing more than something they used to put on the ends of automobiles.

Didn't you know that everybody and everything is supposed to sound exactly the same? Pauls through Marshalls, gain up, hard-panned. Vocals down center. Drums don't matter because they'll be replaced by computer anyway. Keyboards and horns are forbidden. Flatten them like lasagna noodles and lay them on top of each other and call that mixing. Then try and make that piece of crap mix sound good by mangling it with a MBC, and throw the results against a limiting wall that nets you a whole -5dBFS of pure distortion.

Anything else is just wrong.

G.

 

[Superhuman]

I've done this a few times (as a guitarist/home recordist - I'm no engineer!) - from a home recording point of view make sure the drummer plays to a click in the studio. Get the engineer to set up a 4 bar click intro on a separate track so everything starts exactly where it should (not just where the drummer 'thinks' it should!) - this will also help you get the correct bpm and time signature for setting up the new project in Reaper. Try if possible in the studio to get any of the deep editing (eg drum doctor etc) sorted because it's the kind of thing that will wreck a non drummer/engineers head (I'm sure it wrecks engineers heads too!!). Also, I would try to get a raw take of every track and a take with some EQ and compression etc (if the engineer has time) plus a stereo wav of each song with the full kit. The stereo take will help you to free up some CPU power when you are tracking your guitars and bass etc. at home, then when you have all everything else recorded you can import the individual drums tracks for a full mix. I'm not an engineer but that is what I do... then I would probably bring everything back into the studio and have an engineer do the mix and master.

Re V-drums, I've been trying to get my drummer to invest in them for years but no joy - I think its a mocho thing with the big double bass kit and all the cymbals... now that he moved to the UK he is finally considering it as we can still record via midi with studio quality. Pain in the arse trying to convince him though!

 

[iqi616]

Harvey, please don't let the likes of Keith get to you like that. If you're going to let some straw break the camel's back, please let it be a far better straw than some flake falsely posing on here as a transvestite singer from Nashville because he's afraid of being himself.

You should also know by now that there is an unfortunate and unfair (and completely idiotic) bias on this board, that if it's not a Paul running through a Marshall or a Mesa, it's a piece of shit, and that Fender is nothing more than something they used to put on the ends of automobiles.

Harvey, I agree with Glen. Don't take it personally - if anything it's a compliment because it shows recognition that people pay attention to what you say because it's never BS.

Glen, you're right about the bias on this BBS. It's the aspect I like least about homerecording.com. There are lots of gems that get derided around here because they bear the word Behringer or similar non-U label. Frankly, it's worse than high-school because at least teenagers haven't developed mentally beyond the stage where the wrong sneaker is social death. Almost everyone around here is over 20 years old and should have out-grown that mentality.

 

[XLR]

I'm just messin' with ya.

Man, you don't know when to quit.

 

[jazzbass66]

Just joined after lurking for the last year or so.
First thing I do is search the threads for a Harvey Gerst post.
It would an absolute pity that one nasty little small minded itch of an antagonistic member could drive away such a talented and truley knowledgable contributor.
On one of my main forums when there is an antagonist the majority of the knowledgable band together and refuse to comment or reply to that username.
Basically they are absolutely ignored.
It works fairly well.
Hope you continue to post Mr.Gerst.
I take your wisdom with respect.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

For those of you still following this thread, here's what I'm talking about:

Since I was the one making the statement about the 15 watt Fender Frontman driving a Marshall cab, I guess I need to "prove it". These are some very rough mixes from a new album Alex is working on. Each song has the heavy left and right guitars going into a Fender Frontman to a Marshall 1960A cabinet.

I will be taking these tracks down on Wednesday, since it is from an unreleased album:

track 1

track 2

track 3

Hopefully, these tracks will end this discussion.

 

[chamelious]

Those samples sound pretty damn good man. Its without a doubt an excellent recomendation and i may have to give it a whirl after hearing that.

 

[pipelineaudio]

track 1

track 2

track 3

Hopefully, these tracks will end this discussion.

Pwnt

Awesome work!

 

[solaris1982]

It's a shame Daisy has been banned and can't hear how wrong (S)he is.

 

[chamelious]

Well im sorry this thread got turned into what it did but thankyou to everyone for the advice.

One of the songs is tracked and i've been messing around with a mix of it while im waiting for our singer to come back in. I'll post it up tonight for you guys.