Recorded in a bigtime studio last night

[JD01]

That's really cool, mate.
They have a lot of old shit there that's probably gathering dust! Did they even have a vinyl press?

Actually, I think they do. All that ancient tube/tape gear actually works and you can use it...for a fee. A reel of tape is like 350-400 dollars. That's 30 minutes of music. No thanks, I'll stay with unlimited 1s and 0s.

The guy tracking vocals in video 4 sounds British.

Lol he definitely isn't. He's a boozy smoker.

Greg, do you own a pair of trousers

You mean jeans? Yeah, lots. But it's summer, and it's triple-digit degrees. I'm not fucking wearing jeans unless there's a damn good reason to.

Just mentioned it 'cos every pic you've ever posted you've been in shorts! I'm normally in a wooly jumper.

Looks like you've had a great time there though.

[Greg_L]

Just mentioned it 'cos every pic you've ever posted you've been in shorts! I'm normally in a wooly jumper.

Looks like you've had a great time there though.

It's an interesting place. The engineer going through his workflow was impressive. He bounced from in the box to hardware and back seamlessly. I had no idea wtf he was doing. Patchbays are witchcraft to me and he kept jumpering things and turning knobs and flipping switches and I was just like....

[JD01]

Just mentioned it 'cos every pic you've ever posted you've been in shorts! I'm normally in a wooly jumper.

Looks like you've had a great time there though.

It's an interesting place. The engineer going through his workflow was impressive. He bounced from in the box to hardware and back seamlessly. I had no idea wtf he was doing. Patchbays are witchcraft to me and he kept jumpering things and turning knobs and flipping switches and I was just like....

I noticed that he had a pair of those Distressors that Tad is really into.

[Greg_L]

I noticed that he had a pair of those Distressors that Tad is really into.

Yup. I don't know how much he used them, if at all, but they were there.

[vomitHatSteve]

*30 seconds of silence* Buncha crap

[WhiskeyJack]

I want to watch these at work but i am scaredi a will miss something. i will save them for after work tonight.

[WhiskeyJack]

Nice i just watched them all greg. What a cool spot. All kinds of stuff that reaffirms the fact i am ok with the digital process. The recording sounds really good too. Interested to hear the rest of it buddy. And i am 100% sure i have seen the room your buddy was tracking in before somewhere else. That shingled roof thing over what must be the iso booths sticks out like a sore thumb. Looks very familiar.

Thanks for sharing.

[Greg_L]

Nice i just watched them all greg. What a cool spot. All kinds of stuff that reaffirms the fact i am ok with the digital process. The recording sounds really good too. Interested to hear the rest of it buddy. And i am 100% sure i have seen the room your buddy was tracking in before somewhere else. That shingled roof thing over what must be the iso booths sticks out like a sore thumb. Looks very familiar.

Thanks for sharing.

Yeah while the experience is great, and their gear is awesome, I'm not sure we can't do the same or better just the way we do shit at home....or at least with the time and budget we're spending at that studio. But I haven't heard the final product yet. Maybe it'll be fucking amazing. It's just basic punk rock mixes. We're not doing any layering or special studio tricks. It's the very basics - drums, bass, guitars, vocals. No extras. I even wanted to record my leads as part of my rhythm tracks, like I'd do it live, but I got voted down on that. Leads are overdubbed. Fancy!

[rayc]

Nice tour. THe Do the Pop CD is fabulous by the way.

[JD01]

I'm not sure we can't do the same or better just the way we do shit at home....or at least with the time and budget we're spending at that studio. But I haven't heard the final product yet. Maybe it'll be fucking amazing. It's just basic punk rock mixes.

I'm definitely interested in your opinion on how it turns out.
Your punk mixes are great and I can't see anyone specifically doing anything that you couldn't...

Although getting you to overdub you lead parts might be something you wouldn't do at home.

[Greg_L]

Nice tour. THe Do the Pop CD is fabulous by the way.

Ha thanks. I also learned that The Who did some demo tracking in the same studio I'm working in, and they stole their tapes and have never been back! So good. Keith fucking Moon. I'm making noise in the same space that Keith Moon was once in. It doesn't get much better than that for a hack like me.

I'm definitely interested in your opinion on how it turns out.
Your punk mixes are great and I can't see anyone specifically doing anything that you couldn't...

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this. I think it's all about the budget. How much difference could there possibly be between me recording my myself doing a two minute punk blast through my gear at home, vs myself and my gear at a studio? It's the same source - me, my guitar, my amp and cab. The source sound is the exact same thing. The only thing different after that is the room, recording gear, and skill using it. How much difference do mics and preamps make on a close-mic'd cab splooging out 130db? The room is negligible in this scenario. Yeah it's cool being in "The Big Bopper room", but we're still just close miking a cab. So I'd say little to no difference with mics and preamps and room. Where there could be a big difference is in how much time is spent on mixing, and how much big fancy outboard gear gets used. Maybe we bounce it out to tape. Maybe we bring it back in through vintage Neve channel strips. Who knows? I do actually know - we're not doing any of that. All that is 100% dependent on budget. I'm not spending any money on something that might make .01% difference in a dumb punk rock mix that's gonna get put online and pretty much no one will listen to anyway. And the drums. The basic raw drum tracks don't sound that great to me right now, so something has to be done about them. Again, maybe that's budget. They went in and recorded the drums live in one little block of time and that was it. More time (money) spent on drums would definitely yield better results. I do 100% believe that drums and vocals could be done way way better in there than I could do them at home. No question. I'd love to track drums in there through all that shit with some time and budget. I am sitting in on the final mixing though. Not that I know how to use any of that shit in that studio, but my ears still work.

Although getting you to overdub you lead parts might be something you wouldn't do at home.

Lol. I do that all the time. Left rhythm, right rhythm, lead in the middle. Three guitar tracks. I hardly ever record my dumb leads as part of the rhythm track. I wanted to though for this project. I wanted to play it like I play it live.

[JD01]

Nice tour. THe Do the Pop CD is fabulous by the way.

Ha thanks. I also learned that The Who did some demo tracking in the same studio I'm working in, and they stole their tapes and have never been back! So good. Keith fucking Moon. I'm making noise in the same space that Keith Moon was once in. It doesn't get much better than that for a hack like me.

I'm definitely interested in your opinion on how it turns out.
Your punk mixes are great and I can't see anyone specifically doing anything that you couldn't...

I've spent a lot of time thinking about this. I think it's all about the budget. How much difference could there possibly be between me recording my myself doing a two minute punk blast through my gear at home, vs myself and my gear at a studio? It's the same source - me, my guitar, my amp and cab. The source sound is the exact same thing. The only thing different after that is the room, recording gear, and skill using it. How much difference do mics and preamps make on a close-mic'd cab splooging out 130db? The room is negligible in this scenario. Yeah it's cool being in "The Big Bopper room", but we're still just close miking a cab. So I'd say little to no difference with mics and preamps and room. Where there could be a big difference is in how much time is spent on mixing, and how much big fancy outboard gear gets used. Maybe we bounce it out to tape. Maybe we bring it back in through vintage Neve channel strips. Who knows? I do actually know - we're not doing any of that. All that is 100% dependent on budget. I'm not spending any money on something that might make .01% difference in a dumb punk rock mix that's gonna get put online and pretty much no one will listen to anyway. And the drums. The basic raw drum tracks don't sound that great to me right now, so something has to be done about them. Again, maybe that's budget. They went in and recorded the drums live in one little block of time and that was it. More time (money) spent on drums would definitely yield better results. I do 100% believe that drums and vocals could be done way way better in there than I could do them at home. No question. I'd love to track drums in there through all that shit with some time and budget. I am sitting in on the final mixing though. Not that I know how to use any of that shit in that studio, but my ears still work.

Although getting you to overdub you lead parts might be something you wouldn't do at home.

Lol. I do that all the time. Left rhythm, right rhythm, lead in the middle. Three guitar tracks. I hardly ever record my dumb leads as part of the rhythm track. I wanted to though for this project. I wanted to play it like I play it live.

Yeah - I suppose at home. You're using a raging Marshall into either the same or similar mics that you're using in the studio. What preamp is goes into is going to make next to know difference.

Your drum sound you get at home is fucking great though... and you say that this one isn't up to much right now. I've had a go at mixing your raw drum tracks and they're really good as they are - didn't actually need much mixing as such. So what are they doing thats "better"?

[Greg_L]

Yeah - I suppose at home. You're using a raging Marshall into either the same or similar mics that you're using in the studio. What preamp is goes into is going to make next to know difference.

Your drum sound you get at home is fucking great though... and you say that this one isn't up to much right now. I've had a go at mixing your raw drum tracks and they're really good as they are - didn't actually need much mixing as such. So what are they doing thats "better"?

I've heard a lot of stuff come out of this studio with this particular engineer at the helm and it all kind of sounds the same to me. I think I could hear a local band's demo and say "yup, I know where you recorded that and who did it." For as pro as this studio is, it's also where all the cheapo punk rock bands go to record if they don't record themselves. So there's kind of the same "fingerprint" on all these demos. I know this engineer knows his shit though, so it has to just come down to budget. He's giving them what they pay for. You wanna record seven songs live in three hours? No problem. Knock it out and how it sounds is how it sounds. I get that and that's what most of this stuff sounds like.

So "better" is subjective and how much better things can be solely depends on how much time you can spend setting up and really nailing everything as much as possible. For drums, things like room mics and overheads and outboard compressors can make a really big deal on the final sound. Just setting up all that shit can easily use up the allotted time block for a session. $300 just to set up mics and tune a snare drum? No one wants to pay that. So I think this guy knows this room and when bands come in he knows where to put the drums and mics and get passable results in their budget and time frame, and they just roll with it. Whereas with a truly pro budget pro recording, they might spend a week or even an entire month just on drums alone.

[WhiskeyJack]

[mention]Greg_L[/mention] [mention]Lt. Bob[/mention] Reading all this makes me want to ask the question of at what decibel level do you need to run a close mic'd amp at in order for the room to be part of the equation? I would think the room only really becomes part of the equation if you are using room mics? Yes?

[Greg_L]

@Greg_L @Lt. Bob Reading all this makes me want to ask the question of at what decibel level do you need to run a close mic'd amp at in order for the room to be part of the equation? I would think the room only really becomes part of the equation if you are using room mics? Yes?

My own impressions: The louder you go the more the room gets activated. My room shakes and things have literally fallen off the walls at times. But how much of that gets back into close mics depends on the mic itself, and the distance, and stuff like that. I'm pretty confident that I could take a cab and put it in any room and close mic it with cardioid dynamics and the room doesn't matter. Close cardioid mics being hammered straight-on mostly ignore the room. As you back the mics away from the cab or if you use ribbons or omni mics the room will come more into play. Even close-mic'd, a ribbon mic will pick up the room from the backside because they're a figure-8 pattern mic.

Obviously a room mic's job is to pick up the room so the room sound will play a huge role in what that mic "hears". That Johan youtube guy demos a lot of really cool amps and cabs...and makes them all sound exactly the same because he always mics his room and it's always the same room. The room sound overrides or at least imparts a huge effect on the final sound. I personally don't often bother with room mics for guitars.

[Tadpui]

Dang, that place is massive! What, do they own a whole city block or something? There are so many rooms that the rooms have rooms!

[Greg_L]

Dang, that place is massive! What, do they own a whole city block or something? There are so many rooms that the rooms have rooms!

Yeah it's like a weird maze inside that never ends. But from the outside it doesn't seem like it's that big. And I haven't even explored the whole thing yet! There's a second floor and more live rooms to look at.

[Greg_L]

I recorded in a different bigtime studio yesterday.

https://www.wireroadstudios.com/

This place was serious. It was like a hotel in there, they had staff and interns and showers and catering...the whole spread. This is the kind of place where major film scores happen and tv productions might do voice-over work. And of course, Beyonce records there. Her omnipotent presence is everywhere in Houston. Lol. Bands record there too, but I've never even heard of this place and it's right in my town. This place is so high-budget I've never even heard of it. Local nobody bands aren't booking this place. I was looking at their huge roster of bands that have worked there...nothing I've ever heard of. Lots of country bands and rappers and blues acts and stuff like that. I'm thinking this is a place for the super-slick mega-produced modern radio type sound.

Anyway, why the fuck was I there? One of my bands was selected to be on this compilation album covering Really Red, an old school original Houston punk band. Jello Biafra has re-released their original recordings and there is a renewed interest in this first-wave band from Houston, so someone thought "let's get bands to record covers of their songs for a compilation". I don't know who's idea this was or who is paying for it, but there we were in this major studio.

We set up live in Studio A - a large live room. The drums were in the live room, the amps were iso rooms...not booths...actual isolation rooms. These iso rooms were the size of a NYC apartment. There was also a fucking grand piano in the same iso room my amp was in. That's how big these iso rooms are. Separating my iso room from the live room was a triple-level sliding glass door that I'm pretty certain you couldn't break with a sledgehammer. This door took both hands and little help from your bodyweight and gravity to slide closed. My amp, as always, was full roar and with that door closed it was little more than a whisper outside the iso room. The other guys set their amps int he other iso rooms and I couldn't hear them at all without headphones. So drums live in the live room, amps in iso rooms, we tracked live with headphones in the live room. We did five takes and kept #4. That was that. No punch-ins, no overdubs. Then the singer laid down his vocals in one of the iso rooms and we were done. I didn't stick around long, I needed to get back home to watch my Saints beat the stupid Cowboys. I took a little dumb video of the facility.

[BBvideo=560,315]https://youtu.be/lPwoAVlytgA[/BBvideo]

[BBvideo=560,315]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV3RjS-DM8Q[/BBvideo]

[rayc]

Nice walk. How did the Spider box sound?
Seinfield? Loathed it. They were too good at creating that world.

[Greg_L]

Nice walk. How did the Spider box sound?
Seinfield? Loathed it. They were too good at creating that world.

What? Seinfeld was fantastic.

The Line 6 cab sounded fine. It had Vintage 30s in it. I can work with that.