Hmm I remember reading some interview with the engineer (i think) for that album in one of my stacks of EQ mags. I'll see If I can dig it up.

edit: Never mind, it was on recording the guitar and bass for the album. But from reading what he said about the guitar and hearing the album, it doesn't sound like anything special or out of the ordinary. He's a good drummer and it sounds like they ran the mics through a collection of Vintech X73's and 473's and then straight into Pro Tools.

Feldy likes to mix in the box. My friend Anthony Catalano worked on this project. He is in the credits for "Digital Editing" which means auto-tuning the shit out of all of the vocals. I know for kick mic they used a SM-7A. Snare was done with beta 57 and md421. Compress the living shit out of everything until it has no life whatsoever. John has every plugin known to mankind. Couldn't tell you what else was used...none of it should be something you look up to. that album sounds like all the rest of the crap feldman mixes. i know he had at least 5-6 plugins on EVERY channel.

steve

thanks alot man

rudedogg wrote: Feldy likes to mix in the box. My friend Anthony Catalano worked on this project. He is in the credits for "Digital Editing" which means auto-tuning the shit out of all of the vocals. I know for kick mic they used a SM-7A. Snare was done with beta 57 and md421. Compress the living shit out of everything until it has no life whatsoever. John has every plugin known to mankind. Couldn't tell you what else was used...none of it should be something you look up to. that album sounds like all the rest of the crap feldman mixes. i know he had at least 5-6 plugins on EVERY channel.

steve

What are you talking about? That album pops. I think the compression he uses helps the album jump out of your speakers. If his stuff sounds like crap I'd like to know what you think sounds good. Post some links.

for that style of music, i really like the thrice album "artist in the ambulance". pretty much anything that andy wallace mixes i like. i am also a big fan of the mars volta recording and queens of the stone age.

i really like i think for the punk/screamo scene that my absolute least favorite recording is finch "what it is to burn" mixed by mr mark trombino. it hurts my ears to listen to it. i do however love jimmy eat world records he worked on.

i like snares that sound like snares, and kicks that sound big and in your face without the artifacts of over compression.

if you like tiny pings of a snare and terrible sounding kicks, then have feldman mix your album.

steve

nevermind

Gotta go with Rudedogg on this one. I thought the USed last album sounds much better than this latest release. That song "in love or death" - I dont like the snare sound. It is thin and sounds like ass..

I will also agree that Thrice's last album is a must have.. Great production. Check out their earlier albums as well.

Also kudos to Queens of the Stone age.. Unique sound Great songs- Check Josh's Old band out- Kyuss as well - Fuckin shit rocked.

I am hoping this whole Screamo thing just goes away soon. One band That MTV is just craming down our throats is My Chemical Romance- God that band just plain sucks....

thats odd. i thought the drums on in love and death sounded much more real, then felmans previous work. i personally like the way they sound, may it be they sound fake at points, they are just so damn powerful. just my personal opinion. i liked the snare on feldmans other work better but i think i sounded less "real" ya i do like the drums on thrices album, but that whole cd seems to have this crackling sound. i thought it was just my cd player but i have tried it on a few and it does that. same with the "he is legend" album.

feldman has a lot of tricks to make the drums sound the way they do. i know he will sound replace the drums and mix in sound replaced kick and snare in with the real kick and snare to bring those out, i don't think that is anything new that most people don't do. keep in mind this is all second hand information from a friend of an assistant that worked on the album.

don't get me wrong. john is a great guy, i've met him twice, but i just think his work sounds so over produced and fake. but he is working with some really talented people. despite what anyone may think, the used guys are quite accomplished musicians. their bass player is possibly one of the most underrated bass players i've heard. he is always tearing it up and it fits really well in the context of their music.

steve

logamos2001 wrote: thats odd. i thought the drums on in love and death sounded much more real, then felmans previous work. i personally like the way they sound, may it be they sound fake at points, they are just so damn powerful. just my personal opinion. i liked the snare on feldmans other work better but i think i sounded less "real" ya i do like the drums on thrices album, but that whole cd seems to have this crackling sound. i thought it was just my cd player but i have tried it on a few and it does that. same with the "he is legend" album.

I've never heard any "crackling" on either of those albums and I thought the He Is Legend CD was very well engineered and mixed, for the record. I love anything Dukiewitcz (no idea how to spell his name) gets his hands on, for the most part.

serious??? wow, that is odd. i love how he is legend was done, but possiitvely, its mixed to loud or something. for sure its there

i've experimented with the feldman drum sound, and this is how you do it. Find some dynamic sample of a bright snare drum, and replace the hits with the samples so that there is absolutely no hi hat bleed. EQ the crap out of the upper mids so that it almost hurts your ears, and then compress it to high hell. Then use a gate reverb really short, and then re-compress, so that you just have this shrill burst of high energy. He actually has some more natural sounds on the new ones, but he still uses the same sound it seems on most of it. For toms give them a lot of high energy too, don't use too much distance on the overheads, and mix the overheads really low. Don't use room mics. Gate everything so that it jumps out at you instead of sounds like a kit in the room. Roll all the boxiness out of the kick and then raise the Q so it takes a pretty big chunk out of the low mids and lows, and then hype the click a little bit so you can mix the kick lower in the mix but still have it thump

K

Thanks for the advice. Hopefully I won't get anybody saying, make me sound like that Used record, but if I do, I'll be prepared :D

logamos, have you been listening to it in an ipod? i've been noticing that when i listen to stuff on my ipod that is really hot, i have to turn the volume way down when it is going into my car stereo or else i get a lot of digital distortion.

steve

oi have not, my friend has the actual album and i have listened to it on different setups. it just mixed to loud or something, its so odd. like when there is a part where its just guitar ringing out, its noticable!

and thanks gumplunger, i really appreciate ur insider info

crackling

It sounds as if it was mastered to tape. Maybe even a mix of a few different medias mixed together.

Nick

Here is what i don't like about fieldman (altho its not just him). He gets a band like the used, who have an AMAZING drummer (i actually think they are all great musicians), with an AMAZING sounding drum kit, and then he goes and uses sound replacer. GRRR!!!!

I have to agree that the drums on the Thrice album sound amazing. Other albums with great drum sounds (IMO) are:

Armor for Sleep - What to do When You're Dead ("emo")
Underminded - Hail Unamerican (hardcore)