How to Record a Band in 27 Minutes

How so very naive of us to only post about sessions that go flawlessly. We paint the inaccurate picture of tranquility, that aside from a problematic snake, the recording studio is nothing but sunshine and ribbon microphones.

The scene is last Sunday. The We-Verb staff, already tired from a long-term project session the previous day, show up to record an emo-hard-core band. At first glance everything appears normal, kids setting up drums, someone banging around on drums, also instructing placement, of aforementioned drums. You would think that this person was in fact, the drummer... think again.

The real drummer was in Pleasanton, at work, and would not be arriving to the session until several hours later. For those of you unfamiliar with the ideal recording chain, it's drums, bass, guitar, vocals... all elements tracked separately for sonic isolation.

Yes, it is at this point that the band informs us they would like to track guitar first. Begrudgingly, we mic up the cabinet, give each other the "Oh shit" look, slink into the control room, quadruple checked that the click was playing and clearly audible, and pressed 3 on the numeric keypad.

[Let this be a lesson to you rebels! Just because that piercing rhythmic click is slicing through your headphones directly into your brain DOES NOT mean that you have to play your instrument in time with it! That would just be silly.]

We managed to track two, 2 minute songs, and proceeded to track bass guitar DI.

Shortly after we have spent a couple hours with guitar and bass, doing multiple takes and various punching in, we then hear the drummer is en route. We proceed to mic the kit, taking up all 9 working channels on the snake. The drummer arrives, sits down, we start recording... about 20 seconds go by and he stops: "I can't play to this." (OF COURSE HE CAN'T PLAY TO IT. The entire session is referencing a foundation track that is full of wayward rhythm changes. That is why, my friends, you start tracking with DRUM AND BASS FIRST.)

So then a request meekly surfaces: "Is there any way we can record and all play at the same time?"

With a half an hour left in our session, we all break off and scramble with inputs and musician placement. Making quick decisions on what mics to take off of the drums to free up inputs, moving baffle walls between the drummer and the guitarist, shoving the lead vocalist into the storage room with an SM57, plugging the bassist DI in the control room, and trying to figure out what input has been changed to what in Pro Tools.

Yes, we did track the two songs they had wanted to track with the band playing simultaneously. Coincidentally, it is the exact two songs that were the catalyst for this We-Verb post, because I am procrastinating on mixing them.

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Now that the semester is over, we actually have time to post here! We have some backlogged recording sessions to detail, the best being the track that Will played drums, bass, and guitar! (AKA: We heart tube amplifiers!)

Also, our DIY audio projects are almost complete: We painted our Green Ringer Octave pedal, and will be posting about the long term, multi-mod Crybaby wah pedal.

We are going to dive right in to building our own preamps, via Seventh Circle Audio. To answer your question: Yes, yes we are in fact, so badass, that we build our own preamps.

I might accidentally post a Top Ten Albums of the Year list... because you all should at least know what is worthy of the music industry offerings. And like the economy, this was a frugal musical year.

Most importantly, PRO TOOLS 8 COMES OUT THIS WEEK. You can expect that post to contain nothing but random characters on the keyboard, because I'm going to be so excited and speechless that no articulate language will be able to escape my fingers.

In The Studio: Vocal Mic Shootout

So in addition to being slightly obsessed with Pro Tools 8, I have now added another irrational inanimate object into my constant-thought-rotation: RIBBON MICROPHONES.




See the skinny mic that looks like it has ears? That is our Royer R-121... sigh. (From Left to Right: CADGXL3000; Royer R-121, M-Audio Nova, and Neumann U87)

If I elaborate it's probably going to sound like a porn script, but seriously: Warm. Supple. Soothing.

Ok, think of a person who you love, and how you feel when they hug you really close... if you could make that a filter and add it to audio, that is exactly what a ribbon microphone sounds like.

Well, I guess we used some other microphones too, the Neumann, the CAD, and an M-Audio mic. The M-Audio I'll post only for comparison, because it definitely has it's own flavor. Since this isn't a post about an album review, I won't tell you what to think, you should decide for yourself:

(Also, I should say that unless noted otherwise, any audio clips posted will have NO effects added to them, sans an EQ3 that cuts everything below 125Hz... just to make sure that these MP3's don't sound shittier than they already do.)
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Neumann U87


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CAD GXL3000


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M-Audio Nova


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Royer R-121


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It should also be noted that we found a fantastic set-up to capture vocals:



Will faced the carpeted walls (there is an official, and less concise, name for these that escapes me at the moment) and sang into them while standing on the green board... it captured a full and lush sound while eliminating a good portion of the room.
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*** Coming Soon on We-Verb: ***

- More electrical engineering geekiness in all of it's glory! We have moved on to several modifications of a Dunlap Crybaby wah pedal. It's going to kick ass!
- Maybe an entry about miking drums? Maybe.
- Will has lunch with Colin McDowell from McDSP on Friday!!! This is probably the pinnacle of awesome.

In The Studio: Guitar Mic Shootout

So recently we booked some studio time at Foothill College, for an intimate 1-on-1 with Pro Tools HD (and a Control 24) and a decent mic cabinet... which includes a NeumannU87, an AKG414, and a RoyerR121 (a ribbon mic!).

First on the agenda was a mic shootout for the guitar. We went a little overboard with this one:


Seven mics at once, the two pencils are a Neumann KM184 (black) and Will's CAD something (I forgot the model number, but it's the silver pencil mic). From back row left to right, starting with the boxy looking mic is the AKG414, NeumannU87, CADGXL300, Rode NT-1A... then kind of in front (the black boxy looking mic below the Neumann) is the Audio-Technica AT4050.

Call us overzealous, call us ambitious... but a more accurate description to call us would be "really fucking excited". Here are some highlights, with comments to a minimum so you can hear for yourself:

(Note, I know MP3 is definitely not the ideal format for critical listening, I will figure out how to embed a .wav file soon!)
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Neumann U87
A classic mic! Sounded very vintage on the guitar, with a great transient response.

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CAD GXL3000
Very clear and bright. Hardly any artifacts.

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AKG 414
Warm. Awesome. Not that I had a favorite or anything...

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A.R. in action:


When it's vintage, you totally have to show off:



*** Coming soon: In The Studio: Vocal Mic Shootout... also known as 'How Blythe Fell In Love With Ribbon Microphones' ***