Call It Something Else

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:54 pm

Hello everyone, let me introduce Call It Something Else.

Call It Something Else
Written by: Dave Solar and Mark Vasquez
Performed by: Soulvasq

Soulvasq is:
Dave Solar: Vocals
Mark Vasquez: Bass, 8 String Bass, Archtop Guitar, Vocals
Phil Goodrich: Drums
Chris Gardner: Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Keyboards

All recorded in the front room of the band house to a Roland VS1824CD. Digitally transferred to .wavs and mixed in Sonic Foundary's Acid with Waves and PSP plugins. Mics were Sennheiser e602 & e604s, Shure KSM27 and SM57s, and a pair of Oktava MK012s. Keyboards triggered to Native Instruments' B4.

Thanks!

Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:52 pm

Sounds like a nice track production wise.

If I was being picky though i'd say that it sounds like it's being performed in a small room. Maybe try and spread the track a bit.

I don't know why but Ricky Martin was the first thing that came into my head from the intro! lol

Hope this helps;)

Posted: Thu Apr 10, 2008 2:35 pm

tobacco_slammers wrote:

Sounds like a nice track production wise.

If I was being picky though i'd say that it sounds like it's being performed in a small room. Maybe try and spread the track a bit.

I don't know why but Ricky Martin was the first thing that came into my head from the intro! lol

Hope this helps;)

Hey, thanks for your time! I really meant to get back here sooner, but started right up on another project, and had the usual amount of time wasted to crisis management.

It definitely was recorded in a small room, but a big part of why is sounds smallish is that I really don't like reverb very much, so I tend to mix very dry. I do agree that it sounds a bit compacted though, and could probably use some spread. I had come to the same conclusion while listening to it in my reference headphones a few weeks ago, but before I started tearing it apart and putting it back together, I thought I would get some outside opinions. It's good to see someone verify what I had thought.

Although I don't get the Ricky Martin reference, but that's probably because I've only heard two songs by the guy! But with the number of records he sold, I'll take a Ricky Martin reference ANY day! Very Happy

Posted: Fri Apr 11, 2008 2:53 pm

I really like your song -- I listened to it a few times actually. Smile

Perhaps just a tiny bit of reverb would be good, some that is barely noticeable.

Also, may I ask what mics you used to record the drums? They sound very good and I'm trying to find mics to use that achieve this kind of sound.

Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 2:03 pm

musician1 wrote:

I really like your song -- I listened to it a few times actually. Smile

Perhaps just a tiny bit of reverb would be good, some that is barely noticeable.

Also, may I ask what mics you used to record the drums? They sound very good and I'm trying to find mics to use that achieve this kind of sound.

Yeah, I'm still trying to find that happy medium between wet and dry. I'm definitely working with a lot more reverb these days, but my ears still crave that dry, discrete, clear sound.

The mics on the drums were pretty simple, actually. The kit was a Pearl Birch kit, I think it's an LX? The snare was an old Ludwig snare from the mid 70s, the cymbals were a variety of Paistes, and it was recorded in the front room of the band house, in which drums sound really good because there's so much low end in the room.

It was a Sennheiser e602 on the kick, Sennheiser e604s on the toms (just two toms, 13" and 16" floor), Shure SM57 on the snare (anything less would be uncivilized!), and a pair of Oktava MK-012s as overheads. I had a Shure KSM27 up for the room sound, but didn't end up using it because the room wasn't big enough to really do much in it.

I'm not a big fan of the e602 on the kick, I actually prefer the AKG D112 myself, and a friend has a Shure Beta 52 that I borrow a lot of times for recordings. The e602 sounds really good for rock recordings, but it sounds too modern and clicky for more versatile stuff. However, it's an awesome mic for live sound.

I'm also not a big fan of the e604s on the toms, but they're better than many of the alternatives while still being small and unobtrusive on the drums. Whenever I can I borrow my friend's MD421s for toms, but the little e604s get the job done and don't do an awful job at it. Like the e602, much better for live sound than recording.

I can't say enough about the Shure SM57, but then what is there to say that hasn't been said before? I never, ever use another mic on the snare drum because I'm always happy when I turn up the 57. I rarely use a mic under the snare, sometimes I'll throw a mic up and track it, and it'll either be one of my MK-012s, an AKG 451 or an SM81 (if I borrow it), but I'll almost never use any of it in the mix. Most of the drummers I record don't rely on the sound of the snares themselves all that much, it's all about that top mic sound to them.

The Oktava MK012s I've since replaced with a pair of Shure KSM32s. I still use the Oktavas for spot work like hi-hat, ride, percussion, acoustic guitars, snare-side mic, etc. They're great little mics, and as long as you get them in phase they sound really natural to me. I always call them "my ears", because whatever I mic with them tends to sound exactly the same way to me that it did in the room when it was recorded. This may or may not be a bad thing. If I'm working in a smaller room, or am worried about bleed I'll use these as overheads, a bit closer than I would normally mic. I try and get them in phase so the snare is in the center of the audio picture, with one pointed more towards the hi-hat and the other pointed more towards the ride, in the hopes that those cymbals will peek through everything else a bit more.

One thing I've come to learn by a lot of trial and error is that a good sounding room is a much larger chunk of a good drum sound than you would think. Even when you're close miking and using small-diaphragm condensers set fairly low, the room the drums are in makes a major impact in your drum sound. These days if I'm tracking something that's going to be a "master" take, it's -got- to be in a good room, it's got to be miked with large diaphragm condensers, and I'll run an extra kick mic to a PA system with all of the low end boosted and the top end rolled off to fill the room with the low end of the kick drum up just short of the point of making the snares buzz. This bleeds into the overheads a little bit, but the main reason I do it is because the drummer can feel it outside of his headphones and it definitely inspires better performances from them. And anything you can do to make a drummer inspired, comfortable and efficient in the studio, you should get a frickin' medal for Wink

Posted: Sat Apr 19, 2008 12:22 am

Wow, thanks so much for your lengthy reply, I really appreciate it. I've been contemplating either an AKG D112 or Shure Beta 52 for a kick mic for my set, a Yamaha Stage Custom Advantage, and I was taking a look at the Sennheiser e604s for the toms because I remembered using them live before, but I think you're right that they are better suited to a live environment. How do you feel about using SM 57s for the toms? Also, I know they're not the best, but I have a pair of Audio Technica AT2020 Condenser Mics that I'm using for overheads and such. I just recently got an Alesis io|26 interface so I can actually start experimenting with recording drums. Once I figure out which mics to get I will start experimenting with rooms. I have a smallish room in my house that is filled to the brim with crap that needs to be sorted but it makes it very acoustically dead, so I'm not sure if that would be good or not. I'd agree that a nice room sound is key to a good recording.

This topic sponsored by: