#getaway studio

I'm here in Haverhill MA for the next couple of days with Defeater as they begin recording a new record. It feels like yesterday we were in Europe working together (it was 2 years ago). The good news is what I shot then is something we've had a meeting about this morning and it will finally be coming out. The early indication is I'll be doing a short form version the band will release soon specifically online with a message, and a full length 40 minute release which will be going on my vimeo for people to check out (whether that goes in as 'on demand' for a small fee is something I am figuring out now). 

I'm spending today/tomorrow documenting the early stages of the songs they've been working on (Jake and Mike aren't here at the moment so Derek is writing bass parts). Later tonight we're hopefully heading to the Minus The Bear / O'Brother show near by (two of my favourite bands). All in all I'm having a blast here at Getaway Studios. On Saturday I direct a live release coined around Caspian's 10 year anniversary show in Beverly MA. It's a very important show for me because Caspian have been a band that have provided me with a lot of inspiration over the years. Shout out to my friend/mentor Ian McFarland for helping me make it possible. After that I head back to New York briefly before heading home on Monday. The work doesn't stop there though as I have one day off before directing a new music video for Funeral For A Friend, followed possibly the following week by directing a huge live show in the UK. 

It's all happening.

Someone on GearSlutz recently asked me how I recorded Have Heart's live show, so I thought I would include my response here.

Have Heart Live was nothing short of a giant cluster fuck. The sound people did NOT want to deal with me.  We knew the show was going to be pure madness, so getting near the band was pretty much not going to happen.  

I had to hang out near the front of house board, but they didn't have any way to split me off the mic signal before it hit the board. I got something after the gain adjustments, but before his effects. The tricky part was when the FoH engineer wanted to pull something down or push something up in the live mix – it affected my signal, too, so I had to monitor like a madman.

Another problem? It was Have Heart’s last show. Complete carnage. So on top of all the other difficulties, there were a couple hundred kids on stage, pushing mics over and causing, what we will call, a “less than ideal recording situation.”

Anyway, I took it back to the studio and started digging in.  As I suspected, it was a mess.  Even though the crowd was crazy loud in that room, I still didn't have enough of it.  Pat, god love him, didn't sing into the mic that much. It would have been fine for the DVD because you'd be able to see him pointing it out into the crowd but for the vinyl? Not going to cut it.

Bridge 9 toyed with the idea of having Pat come back into the studio to fill things in, but I pushed against the idea because it is, after all, a live record. I think it was about that moment in time, vocals or no vocals.  It would be weird for the vinyl to have vocals in spots where you could clearly see he wasn't singing on the DVD, never mind the impossible task of trying to "tone / vibe" match.

What we were able to get our hands on, however, were audio rips of some people who had been filming the show.  I had to be really careful with phase and exactly where I lined these up with my original recording.  I did some high and low passing to help tuck these into mix better.  This REALLY helped crowd volume and gave the whole thing a more three-dimensional feel.

With a live recording, some of your usual "go-to" techniques are going to fall flat on their face because of the excessive amount of bleed and phase problems you're going to have.  The trick is to be smart and conservative.  There is a good chance your guitars are going to have a ton of cymbal and vocal in them, EVERYTHING is going to have a crazy amount of sub-bass, and your vocals will be inconsistently sung into a painfully beat up old sm58 or something.

It's not about completely eliminating these elements though -- you just want to sort of massage them together, bringing the better elements forward a little bit more than you normally would. The elements that hurt will get pushed back a little further as well.   

My FATSO and my dbx162 both made an appearance. They are both adept at taking off that "digital" edge, if you will.  The transformer in the FATSO was crucial for rounding off that crazy sub-bass in a real musical way.

I have an unhealthy obsession with YouTube videos about recording techniques, gear and, well, basically everything else in life.

I once YouTubed videos about how to pan-fry the perfect steak. I'm sure if the steaks weren't old they would have been great instead of green (probably not).

Anyway. Here is a video from Zen Pro Audio's "Twisted Knobs" series. Right now, I want this EQ more than any other piece of gear ever made. It complements the Nail really well.