Thoughts on how to mix and record shoegaze-style music (My Bloody Valentine, etc.)?

[tremoloking]

Effects aside ... the guitar sound is about the most crucial element.

And that particular style is really all about the sound of an overdriven tube amp cranked to the point of speaker distortion. The interaction of the tubes and speaker are basically what defines that sound (MBV, Siamese Dream, Silversun Pickups, etc.).

All of which is pretty hard to accomplish without, well, tubes or speakers.

That's not to say you can't experiment and come up with your own variation or take on things. From personal experience, however, going amp-less and going direct just always winds up having kind of a "beer comercial" vibe to it, for lack of a better way to put it.

hah! 'beer commercial' vibe! i like that.

 

[tremoloking]

Don't be discouraged because of a lack of gear or large spaces at your disposal. Souvlaki and Loveless were great records because of the songs and performances and experimentation.

The "sound" of those records, and most records that people deem shoegaze, are different from one another if you listen to them. To me, as one whose music is often considered "shoegazer", the one aural link between all these fairly disparate acts is the use of spacial effects created by electronics. Reverbs and delays. If you make a rock or folk song, and drench it in delays and reverbs (especially the vocals), people will think "hey, shoegazer".

I would just have fun and experiment by adding artificial ambiance where it sounds good. One of my favorite tricks is to pitch-modulate a delayed signal slightly (like use an EHX Deluxe Memory Man or similar) to get some of that angelic halo of delay vibe.

Kevin Shields allegedly used some kind of cheap alesis processor to create reverse reverb effects for his guitar.

hey, i totally second that. that's some solid advice IMO. reverse reverb? COOL!