That Steve Albini Drum sound

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peopleperson said:
Listen to the Pixies Surfer Rosa for example.
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Then listen to his next five years worth of records and you'll discover that the Surfer Rosa drum sound was the fault of a nameless and unsung second engineer in a London studio.

He's never managed a drum sound like that before or since.
 
ssscientist said:
This whole thread makes me laugh out loud.
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Your whole post makes me laugh out loud.

Steve Albini is not a recording engineer and never should have started passing himself off as one. He's a just a very smart guy who knows how to fool people, plain and simple.
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This post reminds me of the people who complain that Jack White or Kurt Cobain are terrible singers and guitarists. That might or might not be true (largely on depending on how you define "good" and "bad" in this context), but if they (Albini, White, Cobain) are creating something that people like the sound of, isn't that the only thing that matters? Maybe Albini's a fraud and not a real engineer, but he sure as hell does put together some damn good sounding albums. Maybe he's "fooled" me into thinking they sound good, but I don't mind being fooled like that.
 
nkjanssen said:
In Utero. They sound like drums in a room. That's what I like. Nevermind sounds like they used triggered samples. It's a matter of taste, though. Some people think Phil Collins' drums sound like the bomb.
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I'm not saying i like any of the Nirvana stuff in terms of how the drums sound - but that's not why i would listen to Nirvana anyway. someone said they liked bleech the best. me too. i really like In Utero though even though the drums sound bad to me. but to say they like drums in a room... anyway.
Yes the final product is the most important thing but this is also a forum where we discuss what's going on and overanalyse things so that we can learn something and develop our own styles and sensibilities.

I agree that its largely about the drummer and his drums and whatever but if you're the producer it's up to you to make the drums sound good. so if that means getting new drums, a new room, new mics, drum lessons, a new drummer, whatever then that's what it takes. a producer has to take some credit/blame for how things sound because it's his job to get the best perfomances out of everyone.
 
nkjanssen said:
This post reminds me of the people who complain that Jack White or Kurt Cobain are terrible singers and guitarists.
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Jack White can sing
 
ssscientist said:
This whole thread makes me laugh out loud.

Steve Albini is not a recording engineer and never should have started passing himself off as one. He's a just a very smart guy who knows how to fool people, plain and simple.

Now that he's got access to good microphones, good boards and good tape machines he has stopped measuring between microphones. No lie. He used to MEASURE between microphones to try to sculpt the sound. He has no ear, and has to reduce everything to a physics problem because that's something he can understand.

I agree that the drums on his records sound good. But that's not his fault. It's the drummer. A good drummer will sound good recorded on a cassette 4 track, and Steve Albini stopped letting his cloth ears get in the way a decade or so ago.

He saw an opportunity to bilk a supremely superstitious and terminally insecure profession --- the recording industry --- laid down a good rap, and got thru the door as a 'recording engineer'. The rest was easy.
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:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
 
i don't really think he so much has a sound, as has been said..... but the rooms at electrical make a lot of his material vaguely similar.

i love the kit on in utero, with the exception that the kick is lacking some subs, you can kiss my ass if you don't agree.

and, i don't see you tricking your way into being a household name. :rolleyes:
 
Did it really take you guys two years to come up with these replies?

.
 
haha!!! and he's got pretty damn good chops on the ol' six string as well. here we are just expounding on nkjanssens point!!! haha

Jacob
 
i think albinis like any other engineer. sometimes his stuff sounds ok sometimes it doesnt. thing that helps him is hes got a bad ass room and some bad ass gear. i bet most of us around here would get amazing sounds from the kit if we had a similar setup. for the most part i do think hes a bit overrated. damn dude has become the pope of recording for some reason i cant see. i will say the snare sound on shannon wrights newest album "over the sun" is pretty much the perfect snare sound imo.

also someone says he uses a neutral mic selection and goes for a natural capture of the source. i tend to think that using some 4038s or royer ribbons as oh tends to color quite a lot.
 
"just add 20ms delay on the room mics and call it a day"

:) heh if only it was that easy
 
ssscientist said:
Then listen to his next five years worth of records and you'll discover that the Surfer Rosa drum sound was the fault of a nameless and unsung second engineer in a London studio.

He's never managed a drum sound like that before or since.
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Except for the drum sound on PJ Harveys cover of Highway '61 Revisted, which urinates on every drum recording I've ever heard.
 
arpodthegreat said:
blue turtle, you said: "All the drums on Nirvana's "In Utero" album sound awesome!!!!"
i am a tolerant man but to say that the drums on In Utero sound awesome with that many exclamation points is crazy!!!! the kick sounds like rice paper. personally i don't even like Nirvana/Grohl that much but listen to In Utero and then listen to Nevermind back to back. i know Nevermind is a little to polished and overproduced and that Nirvana is grungy but common, which drums sound better? If you use In Utero as your reference you will sound like shit. try Siamese Dream or Melancholly era Smashing Pumpkins for good drums from the 90s
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in utero has some of the best vocal and drum sounds ive ever heard from an album.

period.

Nevermind is good too, but too polished for my taste
 
I really think the good sounds on Albini records are due to the players not the engineer. He doesn't care to make anyone sound any better than they are.

I have several different friends who have recorded with him, and another friend who has mixed a record that he engineered. My impression is that he's apathetic and lazy.

The bands who recorded with him said their tracks sounded bad because they put too much trust in his judgement. By the end of the process they said, they realized how little he cared the whole time. He wasn't making judgement calls at all. He'd just throw a mic up and hit record. If they didn't know how to get the sounds they wanted, he wasn't going to help them out.
 
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