Drewcifer's Tone Zone

Here’s a question that just popped up on Facebook, and here is my answer:

Q: How do you deal with hi-hat bleed on a snare track?

A: Ah, grasshopper, this is an old and classic problem. Here are some solutions -

1) During tracking, use lighter, smaller, quieter hats. We have a set of sweet hi-hats in the studio that record really nicely. You change out snares and guitar amps and other sources to get better tones, why not hats and cymbals? We do. Those big klunky hats are loud and harsh, avoid them!

2) Discourage the drummer from bashing the hat and leaving it half-open all the time. Try to find an alternative part to that slushy awful open-hat thing (which I hate anyway, both musically and recording-wise), using a closed hat or maybe the ride instead. Drummers need to know that playing for the studio is different than live, and that less is more.

3) If you’re mixing something already tracked, gate the snare as well as you can, which will usually result in spill of the hat on the snare when the gate is open.To mask this, position the the close-mic’d hi-hat track in the center, OVER the snare. That way the hat mic will cover the bleed coming through the snare.

4) Replace the snare with a sample.

5) Ungate everything, throw your hands up and say, “Jesus, take the wheel!”

She’s the center of attention!

This vid reminded me of my best studio story.

Back in ‘88 I worked with Roger Waters on one session as he passed through Boston for a couple days. He was mixing some live stuff for a Westwood One radio broadcast. I worked on “Money,” and on the live tracks, only two tracks of the four-track cash-register sounds had been recorded. Why? Because the live show was tracked in stereo, but the cash-register sounds were in quad, meaning the two rear surrounds had not been recorded.  So we had to replace the missing ones.

We had an Otari 4-track, and Water’s assistant brought a half-inch 4-track tape of the sounds. Handling the hallowed tape with that legendary Pink Floyd loop on it was, as you can imagine, a breathless moment for me, and one of the highlights of my life in the studio. I had to manually fly-in the sounds, in-synch with the intro on the live performance. We did it basically one sound at a time, punch in, rewind, play it again, punch in again, etc. It was a  royal pain and it took a long time.

This was all before Roger showed up to hear what the assistant and I had done. After about five hours, Sir Roger glided (as if floating on air) in to the control room for a listen. He was wearing sunglasses indoors and overall exuded the elegance and grace of a real British gentleman. Aristocratic. Monied. Rock Royalty in the flesh. I noticed the Rolex on his wrist - it was worth more than my car. As we played back the track, he nodded his head and said, “Right, lads. Good work. Sort of grand experiment but this proves it CAN be done. Work in-progress and all that.” He was really polite.

And here’s the best part: At the end he asked me, “Drew, would you fancy a beer?” “Well, sure,” I replied, “but this is Sunday and you can’t get beer in Boston.” He said, “Ah, no worries,” and with that he called the hotel he was staying at, The Four Seasons, which was several miles from the studio,  and had ROOM SERVICE BRING OVER SIX HEINEKENS! YES! The guy showed up at the studio wearing the white hotel jacket, and delivered the beers on a tray. Did I say Rock Royalty? As I was motioning to hand a beer to Roger, he said, “No, those are for you. Nice work today.”

Then he spirited off into the night. I sat there, alone and basically dumbfounded, drinking a Heineken that Roger Waters from Pink Floyd had bought me.

What an unforgettable day that was.

Meek The Maverick with machines in 1960

 45 Years ago today, the year 1967 was just getting started. It was a year which would explode into radical cultural change, driven in great measure by new music. By the time ‘67’s “Summer of Love” was in full blossom, Jimi Hendrix’s “Are you Experienced” had been released in May, followed in June by the Beatles’ psychedelic masterwork,”Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” These were records with mind-bending sounds that had never been heard before (or had they?). Suddenly, the world was splashed with Day-Glo paint. The new hippie counterculture and it’s music were everywhere. Psychedelia had been TURNED ON and TUNED IN - in stereo!   

And Joe Meek missed it.

In an ironic true-crime tragedy, he had taken his own life on February 3rd 1967, in an apparent double murder/suicide. Why the irony? Because Meek was the British recording engineer/pop-music producer who absolutely and undeniably paved the way for how the groundbreaking records by Hendrix, The Beatles and others were recorded. Meek was one of the first producers to grasp and fully exploit the possibilities of the modern recording studio. His innovative techniques comprised a major breakthrough in sound production. Among these methods were physically separating instruments, treating instruments and voices with echo and reverb, processing the sound through his fabled home-made electronic devices, the combining of separately-recorded performances and segments into a painstakingly constructed composite recording.

At a time when many studio engineers were still wearing white coats and literally recording “by the book,” Meek, ever the maverick, impudently bucked the norm. He produced everything on the three floors of his “home” studio - which in itself was a radical concept - and was never afraid to distort or manipulate the sound if it created the effect he was seeking.

He pioneered studio tools such as multiple over-dubbing on one and two-track machines, close micing, direct input of bass guitars, innovative use of the compressor, and effects like echo and reverb, as well as sampling. Unlike other producers, his search was for the ‘right’ sound rather than for a catchy musical tune, and throughout his brief career he single-mindedly followed his quest to create a unique “sonic signature” for every record he produced.

Meek is credited with coining the phrase, “If it sounds right, it IS right!”

Responsible for many “firsts,” at least in the U.K., Meek was: 

• One of the first to experiment professionally with sound-on-sound overdubbing techniques (1951)

• The first to put microphones directly in front of and sometimes inside sound sources (1954)

• The first to intentionally overload preamplifier inputs and print “hot” signals to tape (1954)

• The first to use compressors and limiters in creative rather than corrective applications (1954)

• The first to build a compact spring reverb unit (1957)

• The first to “flange” sounds using two synchronized tape recorders (1958)

• The first to employ tape loops on commercial recordings (

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Meek

16 Microphones in two Minutes!

I like the RE20, the Beyer M500, and all the Neumanns.

On Sept 12 and 13, 2011, Tokyo Tramps moved in to 37ft productions in Rockland, MA to record their sixth CD. The mission was to do the record 100% live in the studio, vocals and all. Producer Drew Townson was captivated by the energy and “mojo” the trio has when they play a live gig, and wanted to get that across on record. “Basically I wanted to set up some good mics, hit the red button and get the hell out of the way,” commented Townson. “Just wanted to let the Tramps do that thing they do! What was most important was to make the band comfortable. The studio was set up as a hybrid rehearsal space/small-club stage. The audio was already recorded for the bonus-track, ‘Baby Let’s Clean the House’. We had a video camera, so we just took a short break and shot the little crude vid. Then we went back to tracking the CD!”

Hi Gear Geeks! Drewcifer REALLY REALLY likes the Retro Instruments 176 limiter. I knew even before I used it that I would like it, but what surprised me is how transparent it is! Didn’t see that comin’! Dynamically, as a compressor, it’s clean, fast and parametric enough to be an every-day, every-track tool. The 176 is not just a color-box or distortion-inducer. It’s the new, old, 1176. Imagine an more hi-fi 1176 that is subtly euphonic and has tons of soul! Sweeetness! Return to VKA

The Retro 176 is based on a Bill Putnam classic, the UA 176. The Retro 176 faithfully reproduces the sound of the 1960s original with new features for the modern recording studio. The Retro 176 provides one of the most desirable compression signatures in recording history.

•  Precision Knob scales for easy recallability 

• Continuously variable attack and release time 

• Four settings of compression ratio from soft compression to limiting (2:1, 4:1, 8:1, 12:1) 

• Wide-Range Sidechain Highpass Filter 

Time for a video-blog. Keep in mind the camera adds 10 lbs. :-o

Memorable Records I have engineered

HONEYTONED SOUL!

Back in 1989 I had the pleasure to sit behind the console with Producer Ron Levy to track an exceptionally good (but little known) LP for the Rounder label by Louisiana soul-singer Miki Honeycutt. Ron put a terrific studio band together for her - none other than Sugar Ray and the Blue Tones, selected a slew of smokin’ songs, flew Miki up from Shreveport, loaded us all in to Boston’s Newbury Sound, and hit the big red button. Miki then proceeded to burn the studio down! We tracked everything 99-percent live in the studio. I think the only overdubs were some backing vocals and we double-tracked the sax on a couple things. Miki was in a windowed booth in the large live-room, wailing her vocals in real-time with the band. I had a nice old U87 on her, pre-amped with an API 512 and compressed with a Tube-Tech CL-1A. From what I had been told, Miki had been a hard-livin’ gal in her earlier years, including a run with heroin addiction. Whether this was true or not, I don’t know, but judging by the beautiful ragged edge in her voice, I can believe it. This girl was no poser; she had lived the blues! It all came together that week in the studio, as we captured a 10-song snapshot of raw emotion and soul. Janice and Aretha would have been proud of this performance. Highlights are “Don’t Cry for Me,” the Ron Levy penned “Teardrops,” and her cover of the Box Tops’ “Soul Deep,” which may actually be better than the original. Go to Amazon right this minute and treat yourself to this lost gem!

http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Deep-Miki-Honeycutt/dp/B000000356/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1297521255&sr=1-1