#re20

[jazznoisehere]

São Paulo, January 27, 1980

Jean-Pierre Jabouille (Renault RE20) Gilles Villeneuve (Ferrari 312T5) Didier Pironi (Ligier JS11/15-Ford)

[turtleriffic]

And another holy grail microphone in my collection. I’m done buying mics. This year. Maybe

[ewyband]

EWY BIG Q&A

hi!! recently i did a q&a on instagram about SLAD. unfortunately (or fortunately?) there were too many questions to answer purely on instagram stories without spamming. here's the ones i couldn't answer on instagram, answered here!

MERLOT, both in terms of my favourite composition and performance

my partner and i were on a break whilst they were studying abroad ("we're only on month 1 of 4"). I just kinda word vomited my feelings. I was feeling pretty depressed at the time I wont lie.

yes i DID!!! this EP was MADE for fun. i wrote the songs specifically to make fun songs to play live. (aside from HOLLOW DRUG)

"And I could be displaced from my home And it could be seen on all your phones Is it real? Or is it fake? Look close, do my arms look like legs?"

probs the most lyrically dense I've been?? i'm not sure.

first of all, thank you so much!! second, some songs i write it all in one day but others can take a week or so before i'm fully happy with how its sounding. that being said, i always end up changing something before recording (usually around a month after writing, but in the case of MERLOT, that was recorded only a week after writing).

if i had to just name one, it'd be Nirvana. I wrote a 3000 word essay on In Utero for uni and that genuinely inspired me to make these songs. I really loved how Nirvana performed and I thought 'man, if only I had songs like that where I'd have an excuse to go crazy' other influences would include Jeff Rosenstock (my #1 fav artist) and PUP (greatest live show I've ever been to) btw, thank u sm!!

yes,,, very much

unfortunately i havent learnt proper scream technique so all of my screams were done at the very very end of my recording sessions. i think it worked out because that meant i had a lot of pent up frustration

i will start by saying my uni lets me hire out all of these microphones for free (if you don't count the student loan) vocals: SM7b & RE20 (only on sociopathic leech) guitar: AKG C414 matched pair (acoustic and electric) bass: my takes were originally done with an RE20, pretty sure fern just DI'd drums: Audix DP7 + SM57 (for hi-hat) + C414 for room mic's

i'll try get this done tomorrow!

i was in a guitar lesson at uni and we were talking about chromatics in the blues scale. my guitar teacher suggested i try to make a riff using the blues scale and particularly the chromatic part. that riff ended up being the middle 8 section of RIGHTS TO MY WRONGS. the rest of the song basically acted as a vessel to transport this breakdown middle 8 section. hopefully it doesn't come across that way !!!!!! but that was the main idea.

it felt very natural. i'll probably continue to go this direction in my future releases.

its mainly a reference to SOCIOPATHIC LEECH! 'i could beat you with a bat'. i just wanted something that felt visceral and angry and i feel like izzie really captured that.

yes and no! brett romnes is a super nice guy and very fun to work with. i obviously had my own mixes so he could see what i preferred and essentially made it better. i think there ended up being 4 drafts before we reached a final master.

these were my original mixing notes! i think the only thing that really got lost in translation was i added some really subtle vocal distortion at the end of HOLLOW DRUG in my original mix. in the end, i feel empowered by brett because he made it sound like what i felt it should sound like in my head (DOES THIS SENTENCE MAKE SENSE!?)

after i wrote SOCIOPATHIC LEECH and RIGHTS TO MY WRONGS, i was like 'okay, this is the style we're going for, lets do some sort of project in this particular style' i was pretty dead set on an EP since i'd just done an album. so to answer your question, yes and no!

i wish i could put something significant here. im sure theres some psychologist out there who could tell me that the song represents something about me. i was feeling alienated at the time, hopefully this helps? "confess your sins to the crowd, no-one can hear you when you're talking so loud" is definitely about my frustrations with song meanings though

hi mikey!

this person was the GM for a cyberpunk TTRPG game i played in. i wanted to write a cyberpunk themed album at one point but i guess that one merlot line is the closest we'll get.

i have semi answered this question but I WANTED TO WRITE SONGS THAT WERE FUN TO PLAY LIVE !!!!! and i think it worked out in the end

THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO WROTE IN !!! MY ASKBOX IS ALWAYS OPEN!!!

[thekingofgear]

Thom Yorke's Guitar and Bass Pedalboard for The Smile's June 2024 Tour

A photo of Thom's pedalboard at Stadtpark Open Air in Hamburg on June 8, 2024. One can also see the back of Robert Stillman's pedalboard.

Thom playing his modified vintage Gibson EB0 at Stadtpark Open Air in Hamburg on June 8, 2024 (Stadtpark Open Air).

The Smile’s tour back in March was their first since the release of Wall of Eyes on January 26, 2024. However, much of that album had already been recorded at Abbey Road in early 2023. As such, a lot of the instruments used on the album were already known, since the band had testing new tracks on the road since 2022. Even so, the band brought plenty of surprises for the March tour, using the new gear both to play tracks off the album and for songs that are as yet unreleased.

The band’s setup for the latest July tour is quite similar to their setup in March, but Thom continues to experiment with new effects on the top row of his guitar and bass pedalboard. As we mentioned in our last post, his vocal pedalboard has remained nearly identical for the past few years. On this tour, it seems that Thom is particularly interested in experimenting with analog delays for his electric guitar. He already had an EQD Disaster Transport and an EHX Deluxe Memory Man XO back in March, but he’s now added a Fairfield Circuitry Meet Maude to the mix! (Thom’s Death By Audio Echo Dream 2 uses a PT2399 chip, which is technically digital but is meant function similar to analog delay chips, giving even more "analog" tones.)

Thom has also removed his EarthQuaker Devices Grand Orbiter V3 (he actually did so before the tour in March). That pedal was pretty essential to Bodies Laughing, so it seems unlikely that the band will play that track again, unless Thom has decided to use a cleaner guitar tone for the track.

The bottom row has remained the same since the Smile's Nov-Dec 2022 Tour (analysis of that board here). Those pedals provide his core guitar sounds, and are used consistently to perform songs off of A Light For Attracting Attention.

Complete Pedal List

Bottom Row, Right-To-Left:

Boss TU3 tuner (for bass)

Boss TU3 tuner (for guitar)

Boss RE20 Space Echo delay

Death By Audio Echo Dream 2 fuzz/delay

Pladask Elektrisk Fabrikat V3 granular sampler

Death By Audio Interstellar Overdriver

Earthquaker Devices Astral Destiny reverb

Top Row, Right-To-Left:

Earthquaker Devices Disaster Transport Legacy Reissue delay

Earthquaker Devices Plumes overdrive

Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man XO delay

Fairfield Circuitry Meet Maude delay

Earthquaker Devices Blumes overdrive

Origin Effects Cali76 compressor

Earthquaker Devices Hoof fuzz

As in the past, there also appears to be an Electro-Harmonix Hum Debugger hidden under the shelf at the back of the board (look behind the Blumes and Meet Maude). Thom uses the Debugger to reduce hum when using his vintage bass guitars with single coils.

The front edge of the Hum Debugger's silver enclosure and its footswitch can be just barely made out. The second image has increased exposure, revealing the "electro-harmonix" text on the face of the pedal.

Power Supply

Also note the evenly spaced white “blocks” in the shadows of the shelf. The white blocks are connections for power on The Gig Rig’s Distributor and/or Isolators units. These show that Thom is still using The Gig Rig’s Generator power system. Ed was the first member of Radiohead to use The Gig Rig’s power supplies back in 2014, when the company assembled their first custom pedalboard for Ed. Thom switched over around 2021, when The Smile played their first show on a Glastonbury live stream. The power supplies are clearly visible on Thom’s NPR Tiny Desk board from November 2022 as well.

Zooming in to get a better look at the Gig Rig power supply units.

Patchbay

All of The Smile’s custom black plywood pedalboards are fitted with patchbays at the back. A patchbay is just a set of jacks, which allow external cables to be plugged into the back of the pedalboard instead of connecting the cable directly to pedals on the board. The other side of the patchbay is connected to the first and last pedals in the signal chain with normal patch cables. This makes it way easier to set up the board, and also to swap out an entire pedalboard if there’s a mystery problem (as mentioned in our March Rehearsal Setup post, Thom and Jonny each have a (nearly) identical backup board).

Bass Guitar Signal Chain

The exact sequence of the guitar chain is too complex to guess at, but based on previous tours it’s possible to have a good guess about the bass signal chain.

Bass Guitar

Patchbay (input)

Electro-Harmonix Hum Debugger

Boss TU3 tuner

Earthquaker Devices Blumes

Origin Effects Cali76 compressor

Earthquaker Devices Hoof fuzz

Patchbay (output)

DI Box (sends signal to amplifier and FOH mixer)

Fender Super Bassman amplifier

Here's a bonus photo of Thom playing his vintage Fender Jazz bass during Read the Room at the Northside Festival in Aarhus on June 6, 2024 (photo by Joshua Mellin via Flood Magazine). Thom previously used his modified vintage Gibson EB0 bass for the song, but he's been using the Jazz Bass since the start of the March 2024 tour. His Hum Debugger pedal probably helps when he's playing this guitar, since the instrument features single coils.

[technician-the]

the Electro-voice model 664, also called the EV664, was a microphone made in the 1950s and 60s. It was the leading microphone for live vocals in the 1960s.

Designed and made in Buchanan, Michigan. The 664 was nicknamed the “Buchanan Hammer”, after a legendary demonstration where a salesman used the mic to drive nails into a board, then plugged the mic back in and finished his presentation.

the mic weigh several pounds, and had a body made of un-plated die-cast zink. the thickness of the casting made the mic almost indestructible, and because there was no plating rust (or even dents) can be sanded away and then the microphone can be polished back to a factory shine. As a result these mic's tend to look much younger then their true age.

The lettering stamped on the side of the microphone is the instructions to wire the connector, which is useful because it is not standard.

These microphones pioneered the Variable Depth (or variable D) concept. The fin hides a long, winding, internal passage, which is used to make the microphone more directional, and improve its frequency resonance.

After the success of the 664, Electro-voice introduced the 665 and 666, studio versions with matte finish and different connectors.

in the 1970s all these microphones were replaced the RE15 (a smaller mic better for hand held stage use) and RE20 (A direct refinement of the 664, and an incredibly successful radio microphone). The RE20 still in production.

[saltcover]

A maior loucura que eu quase fiz pela Cover, e não foi na fase pós-2010

Por volta de 2009, um colega do meu antigo trabalho iria para os EUA, e muitas pessoas encomendaram que ele fizesse compras diversas. Por muito pouco eu não pedi pra ele comprar um microfone Electrovoice RE 50. O exato microfone de parte dos repórteres do jornalismo da Globo, que também usam Sony, AKG e Beyerdynamic. Um dos que usavam desse microfone era Luiz Fernando Silva Pinto, correspondente em Washington DC. A Globo usa esse modelo desde os anos 70, quando ele ainda era prateado. Bom, se tem imitador do Silvio Santos que vai atrás do Sennheiser MD-405S, porquê não? É, na verdade até hoje só eu pretendi fazer isso. Quaisquer outros grupos de humor que satirizam reportagens de TV usam microfones aleatórios. (O que tem de mais o RE 50? Ele é muito resistente a poeira, umidade e água, além de ser meio grosso, facilitando ser segurado com luvas de frio. Dizem que o apelido desse equipamento é "The Hammer". Preciso pesquisar quantos repórteres usam esse microfone nas famosas coberturas de tempestades e furacões da TV americana onde os repórteres se molham todos.) Embora a EV tenha distribuidor no Brasil, para microfones eles estão mais focados no RE20 (microfone do Emílio Surita no rádio) além de sistemas de alto-falantes (que aí já não me interessam, cansei de PAs, meu antigo emprego só investia nisso...) Embora já tenham estado bem presentes na TV brasileira, com microfones como o RE10 (microfone fixo de palco no SBT, antecedendo microfones gooseneck para a mesma função), RE15 (repórteres da TVS), RE11 ("Papai eu quero me casar"...), PL80 (diversos programas do SBT até 1984 mais ou menos) e outros. Gooseneck é o tipo dos microfones das CPIs em Brasília. A propósito, o RE20 custa DEZ VEZES MAIS do que microfones feitos para PCs, como os HyperX. Essa eles não explicam.

[spiralfucker]

From now on I’m going to refer to my dreams for my mic selection. Had a dream last night I used an RE20 for harsh vocals so I’m going to be using that and telling the engineer the idea came to me in a vision.

[coffeebreakexpresso]

René Arnoux Renault RE20 Turbo

[frenchcurious]

Jean-Pierre Jabouille (Renault RE20) 2éme du Grand Prix d'Autriche - Zeltweg 1980. - source Carros e Pilotos.

[klemcoll]

Hopping to Victory

Here is Nelson Piquet having a bit if a light moment in downtown Long Beach during the United States Grand Prix West on March 30, 1980 with his Brabham BT49. This race was an opportunity for the normally-aspirated Ford-Cosworth-powered Brabhams to make up ground on the turbo Renault RE20 with which René Arnoux had won the previous two races in Brazil and South Africa. In practice Piquet was ahead…

[experimental-reminiscence]

Experimental Reminiscence [8:52, .WAV, 48 kHz, 24-Bit] Final task of course at Elektronmusikstudion EMS 2022.

Presentation:

Due to my work with graphics and digital imagery, I early became curious about AI-generated images. When the Midjourney service became available, I signed up for the beta version and started exploring what was possible. I quickly got hooked on rendering images of different environments with elements of plants, appliances, and synthesizers, among other things. The rendered pictures gave me a sense of "phantom nostalgia" – a sense of a place and time that never really existed. These images have been the basis – as a reference point and source of inspiration, a feeling to start from – in my exploration of the Buchla and Serge systems at EMS, and in the recording sessions in my own studio.

To have a structure to relate to, I asked the artificial intelligence for a graphical score for the instruments I intended to use and the AI ​​responded with an image of various blocks and little squiggles. To further concretize and set up a framework, I decided that the piece should stick to the C Minor scale, keep a tempo of 72 BPM and last about 8-9 minutes. I measured the blocks in the score to 159 Bars and divided them into color-coded sections in my DAW. This became the map that I related to in the cutting and mixing process.

The recordings were done as individual explorations and improvised jams. Instruments and effects used are: Serge System in Studio 6, Buchla 100 Series and small 200 system in Studio 3, Buchla 200 in Studio 4, EMS SYNTHI A, Buchla Easel Command, Korg MS20 mini, Synthstrom Audible Deluge, Empress Reverb, Roland Space Echo RE20, Earthquaker Grand Orbiter, EHX Bad Stone, Meris Polymoon, BOSS BX16 mixer, Reason 12, Eksperimental Sounds Ouroboros, Reverb AK11, and FX3180, FabFilter ProQ 3 EQ, field recordings of crackles and bubbles with Zoom 4Hn.

The hardest part during the process has been letting go of the idea of ​​"traditional" music and finding a form that feels good. I wanted to explore all the instruments involved and let them have a role in the piece which easily became cluttered and bordered on chaos, but I think in the end I managed to balance just right on the edge of cacophony.

[obsessiveviewer]

OV394 - Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) – Guest: Joe Shearer (Midwest Film Journal)

In this episode, I welcome my friend Joe Shearer back to the show to review Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse! Become a patron for exclusive audio content at Patreon.com/ObsessiveViewer.

  Timestamps

  Show Start – 00:28

Introducing the Guest – 01:30

Summer Movie Talk - 02:50

Joe's Recent Reviews - 26:42

  Review – 38:45

  Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – 46:09

Spoiler Review – 1:11:48

  Closing the Ep – 1:55:00

  Related Links

  My 2023 Chain Link Viewing Project List

My 2023 Podcast and Writing Archive

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

Free Time (2023)

In A Good Way (2023)

The Smell of Money (2023)

Project Home (2023)

3D Printing the Future (2023)

Not Just a Picky Eater (2023)

Mike’s Band: As Good As It Gets

Our Theme Song on Spotify

  Joe Shearer’s Letterboxd

White Men Can't Jump (2023)

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

Unwelcome

Mafia Mamma

Joe’s Writing on Midwest Film Journal

Medium Cool: A Movie Podcast

  Help Support the Podcast

Official OV Merch 

Obsessive Viewer 

Obsessive Viewer Presents: Anthology

Obsessive Viewer Presents: Tower Junkies 

    Mic Info

  Matt: ElectroVoice RE20 into RØDEcaster Pro II (Firmware: 1.2.2). Processing: High Pass Filter, DeEsser, Compressor, and Master Compellor enabled. Recorded in the Living Room

Joe: Tonor USB Microphone

  Episode Homepage: ObsessiveViewer.com/OV394

Check out this episode!

[gasnewsletter]

Two Round Robins - Interview & Studio Tour

Gear List

Synths & Grooveboxes

Teenage Engineering - OP-1

Teenage Engineering - PO-33 KO

Teenage Engineering - PO-35 Speak

Teenage Engineering - PO-20 Arcade

Monome - Norns Shield

Monome - Grid

Bastl Instruments - Kastle Drum

Korg - NTS-1

Korg - Monotron Delay

Nintendo - Gameboy Color + Arduinoboy

Recovery Effects - Instrument 01

Alesis - Micron

Yamaha - VSS200

Tape Stuff

Tascam - Porta Studio MK II

Sanyo - Dictaphone

Sanyo - Pocket Corder

DIY Cassettone

Loads of tape-loops

Pedals & FX

Electro Harmonix - Memory Man 2

Boss - DD-7

Boss - Looper

Boss - RE20 Space Echo

Boss - Tremolo

M-One - Effect Unit

Controllers

Akai - MPK mini

Native Instruments Maschine Mikro MK2

Interface & DAW

Audient - iD4

Logic - Pro X

Instruments

Acoustic Guitars

Deering - Banjo

Mandolin

Violin

Lapsteel (modified)

Electric Guitar

Kalimba

++ small musical toys, instruments

----

Who are you and what is your relationship with music?

I live in Ljubljana, a capital of a very small central-Europe country called Slovenia.

I started making music in my early teens. Coming from a non-musical family, it was your usual "Dad bought me a guitar" story that through trial and error and some basic lessons transcended into a music-making love affair, that seems to roll on.

I never really bothered with playing other peoples stuff, like most of my peers did, but I'd rather strum away and try to find my own thing from the very beginning.

From your usual early-teen metal phase I moved on to alt-rock and then it kinda jumped into all sorts of genres. In my early 20s I started doing film scores for smaller movies and various other media. This helped me to become quick in the various technicalities of music composition and production.

After my job at SAE Institute sadly ended, I moved on and did a lot of freelance work within the music field, before getting another regular 9-5 job in another media educational institute, which still provides my main income.

It's hard to survive only with musical output in Ljubljana, Slovenia especially if you come from a rather non-privileged background. So having a regular salary definitely helps that when you focus your creative energy on making music, the output is strictly what you decided to be.

What's the one thing in your studio you can't live without?

It's a hard question since every synth or music making gadget, at some point, is like a little baby that you can't live without. But thinking of it logically...

It's probably my laptop.

Thinking with heart however, I'd probably go with TE - OP-1 or Monome - Norns Shield.

What's your process?

Since I consider myself a newcomer into the intriguing world of DAWless jamming and ambient music, I tend to find my process to be constantly shifting.

However, what I seem to revolve around is texture. I start with texture - may it be a sample, synth or a field recording. The initial sound and colour has to draw me close enough that I can just sit and listen for a few minutes, enjoying the soundscape.

I learned slowly (and I still do) that I need to take time with each new sound element, processing it and still keep enough space within the atmosphere to let the piece breathe naturally. I was guilty (and still am at points) of doing the newbie mistake of adding and adding different harmonic layers, melodic ideas until all that is left is an asynchronous mess.

I still have a long way to go until I'll be comfortable enough to call myself anything close to a sound artist.

How would you explain your style?

I'm drawn towards a sound that sounds nostalgic, innocent and broken so I guess my style would be considered in the brighter spectrum of ambient music.

Taking a lot of ideas from nature and childhood, I try to create something that I would consider warm, beautiful, calm but at times chaotic. A lot has to do with gear that I own (or at least aspire to own) that I just enjoy the sound of and believe that such sound will push this initial style into a firmer ground as well as new territories.

Norns was something that changed my style as exploring. It's scripts forced me out of my comfort zone of quantized based music. It helped me understand that emotion is not grid-locked and my (now more open) mind found ways to conceptualize the uniqueness that came out of that little machine.

A similar breakthrough were tape-loops as well. There is no doubt in my mind that my style will evolve and something I consider now to be groundbreaking will look like a mere happy accident that kind of happened.

Has this journey of building a hardware setup changed the way you think about music or life in general?

Definitely!

The thing I really disliked when my creating was only based in a DAW setup was getting home from work and having to open my laptop yet again, staring at the same screen and making something that seemed I made a million times before. With this typical DAW fatigue I started losing interest in creating electronic music and found that strumming away on an acoustic instruments was a far more satisfying creative session.

But soon enough, the limiting sound that strictly acoustic instruments produce pushed me to search for alternatives. Once I got myself an OP-1 everything kinda changed. I took it to the park and found out that I really enjoy noodling on these portable synth around the beautiful scenery and I just let these droney textures take over.

I always knew that music has a healing effect on me, but making something that seems so naturally slow and evolving really adds it to a new level. Ambient sessions have now become far more therapeutic.

Music making (at least in this context) is now a far more meditative experience that makes me more relaxed than it used to with just creating a track in Logic Pro and now I come out of it far more satisfied.

What’s your ONE tip on music-production or creativity?

Be bravely slow.

I did a lot of music with a mindset of being quick is the only right way. But now I find that this tends to push me back into making the same stuff over and over again.

But taking time and really enjoying the process is a way more rewarding experience, giving you a sense of yearning for more exploration. You take this feeling and let yourself be hungry for a new session or better yet a new exploration into the whole unpredictable world of sound. This will then make you excited whenever you sit back with your gear just to noodle around and most importantly have fun doing it.

A book/movie/article that fueled your creativity?

Huh, a hard question since a lot of books, movies and music inspire me, but if I'd have to put a finger on it I'd say probably Steinbecks "Grapes of Wrath". I took a lot of themes from that book and used them in lyrics for a folk inspired EP I'm working on.

Another book that greatly inspired my sense of trying to mix emotion with a unique take on creativity is Danielewski's "House of Leaves". I absolutely adore that book.

Do you have a question in mind that you think I should have asked?

 "What is your current dream gear?"

Anything by Ciat Lonbarde

---

Friends, this is a past issue from the G.A.S. Newsletter. Every Tuesday and Friday a new artist is featured.

[thekingofgear]

Hey all, currently obsessed with Jonny's guitar tone during the "From the Basement" rendition of "Bodysnatchers." Specifically during the bridge from about 2:30 he begins using what sounds like an echo or delay alongside a mini dive bomb of sorts. He repeats it several times during the bridge. Any help on recreating this sound and tone is much appreciated.

On the From The Basement performance of Bodysnatchers, Jonny's only effects are his BOSS OD3 overdrive and his BOSS RE20 space echo. The OD3 is set for a mid-gain overdrive. The RE20 is set for a slapback delay, meaning there's only one repeat at a pretty fast delay time. Jonny doesn't adjust his pedals at all during the song, which allows him to walk over to Ed and/or Clive at live shows. Both pedals are part of the signal chain that only runs to the "normal" channel of his 1990s Vox AC30TB amplifier.

Like on the album version, Jonny's guitar is panned hard right and Ed's guitar is panned hard left. In fact, Jonny and Ed's live parts during the bridge sound identical to the album version, though Ed's effects sound slightly different. In the bridge, Jonny fingerpicks octaves that follow the main instrumental melody played by Ed. He usually plucks the lower note of the octave on the beat and the upper note of the octave on the off-beat — perhaps you are hearing those lower notes as a dive bomb? Or maybe you're hearing Ed's guitar as Jonny's? Ed is using his trademark collection of compression, overdrive, delay and reverb during that part of the song, which can make it sound much wider than a single guitar part.

Jonny, Phil, and Thom during the bridge of Bodysnatchers on In Rainbows — From The Basement. Jonny’s OD3 and RE20 pedals are visible on his board.

[technician-the]

older photo of a collection of unusual looking microphones, and a shure sm57.

the electro-voice 665's (second and third from the left, bottom row) are the stand out mics of the vintage chrome set. deep and powerful, they are the precursor of the re20 that's currently ubiquitous at radio stations.

The Shure 55 'Fat Elvis' (far right) also sounded okay, but I never found a particular use for it, and traded it to a local studio.

the martini shaker on the far left is a microphone I built myself out of telephone parts (and a martini shaker). lots of fun, but kind of impractical as I could never find a microphone stand it fit in.

The blue spark (gold paint, second to the right on the bottom) was my most used microphone until recently. it's been replaced by my DIY tube microphone, and a Blue Bluebird, which is essentially the same microphone, but nicer.

[openscene]

This week I have been working with a young band to cut a song for their new release. They have been cutting their own demos on a cassette four track but wanted to do one in studio as a lead in to the rest of the album. We spent a bit of time talking about guitars at the start. The feel was start with Nirvana - Bleach style sound; thick but loose with lots of drive. After playing with a few sounds, we locked into a slightly driven AC30 top boost and then used a JHS Pack Rat to really drive the amp. After some back and forth on different Rat models, we settled in on the 'Caroline' mode that offered a lot of gain with some overtones not present elsewhere. For microphones, I used my trusty pair of an Ear Trumpet Labs Edwina and a Sennheiser MD421 II on the AC30. I like the similar but different tonal qualities of each, especially in the top end when dealing with distortion. It really allows it to sound like two different amps in a lot of ways. For the drums, I stuck to my normal array of microphones. Sennheiser e902 on the kick, e905 on the snare top, e904 on the rack and floor toms, SM7B on the hats, and a matched pair of Lewitt 140AIR condensors as overheads. I like this set up for a rock band as it allows me to run live off the floor and get good sounds, plus it feels a lot like how I would engineer it live. If I were to change anything, I would have lowered the overheads a bit to more closely mic the cymbals as Sam is a bit of a hard hitter. I also ran an ElectroVoice RE20 as a room mic; I originally had considered using a large diaphragm condensor like an ETL Edwina or Rode NT1A from my arsenal but, in a smaller room like mine, liked the idea of being able to be more unidirectional and aim directly at kick drum from across the room.

While we tracked the guitar and drums live off the floor, we tracked bass and vocals separately. Sam played my Fender Jaguar bass and we put it through a SansAmp Bass Driver DI and a vintage Traynor MonoBlock II into a Traynor TC1510 cabinet with the EV RE20 on a 10" speaker. We dialed in a slight drive sound through the Bass Driver, but tried to keep it somewhat clean and smooth to contrast with the high gain of the guitar.

Since picking it up on the cheap second hand, the EV RE20 has also been my go to mic for vocals in the studio and we again went with it for this one. Rick doesn't particularly sing loud but is fairly consistent in his volume and cadence, so getting takes wasn't difficult. Overall, we cut three full takes and a couple of partial takes to go through. Largely, the final vocal line was taken from two main takes with occasional words or lines from others, but again his singing was consistent so it was fairly easy to choose the best takes for the final track.

Sam, Rick, and I spent about the last hour or so really dialing in a working reference mix so we could come back to it with fresh ears the next day. The biggest direction from the band was to get the guitar most present in the mix. Mixing the two mics together, we got a really aggressive sound that needed a touch of taming on the high end. Once the bass was added, it really thickened and added punch to the mix. We mixed the drums to this, starting with overheads and then adding the individual channels. I have a tendency to set kick very high in the mix, so I tried to be aware in my placement of this. Sam and I differ in our preference of snare sound, so I tried to find a happy medium between his like for high end and my beefier preference. Ultimately, it is a bit thinner than I prefer but still has a lot of presence from the overheads.

The vocals is where we spent a lot of time creatively. We started with some EQ and the Abbey Road J37 Tape Saturation plug in to get a bit of a fuzzy sound. We tried some different reverb sounds to give space, but ultimately ended up working with the delay in the Greg Wells VoiceCentric plugin to get where we wanted. I like this plugin for vocal compression, so it ended up being a good way to get both on the vocal chain.

After leaving it to fresh ears, I played with the mix a bit and changed some compression settings the next day. I went back to the EQs on the kick and snare but the band to be more my taste but the band ended up preferring where we were previously and we changed it back. We added more delay and I cleaned up a bit of EQ in the Master chain while adding some loudness and compression on the final mix. Overall, it was a quick job on a scrappy song but we all ended up with something we were happy with and the band will be releasing it on time for their show on Saturday, October 11 at Gobblefest 30 here in Sydney.