12/29/2010 Mix, mix, mix

I am editing guitars. I love this. When I get them all trimmed up and get the signal path set, I just close my eyes. It is like the sound wraps its arms around me and pulls me through the song. The colors and shapes of the final product makes me happy. They are round and gritty. There is a creamy look to the colors and no frequencies that jump too far of the shape.

I really love the way the guitars on the album complement each other. Jordan played a Gibson Les Paul through a Marshall JCM head and my Vox 2x12 with Celestion Super Leads. I played a Telecaster through my Laney and my Vox, but coupled that with a Sunn 410s cab from the 1960's.

I kept the pedals to a minimum, minus a compression pedal. All those pedals degrade signal. I can hear it and it drives me crazy. Any effects can be done in post. I ran both through an A/B/Y box and went direct with everything. I recorded with a direct line, a Sennheiser 609, an Audix i5 (which was tremendously bright, btdubs), and MXL 990 condenser as the distance mic.

I am running Guitar Rig on the direct line. I love Guitar Rig. I use an Orange modeler for Jordan and a Vox AC30 for me. Mixed right, both guitars have a lot of personality and mirror the two different sounds Jordan and I have live. After that, I send all four tracks to a bus channel and a Chris Lord-Alge guitar plugin.

I ran Chris' bass much the same way. He used a 1950's reissue Fender P-Bass through my Laney head into an Ampeg 4x10 cab and also direct. I used a Shure SM57 on the horn and CAD bass mic on the woofer. I just really wanted the grit on the high end of the bass on the mic side. I ran it with a little drive to get a good aggressive top end. I wanted the low end from the direct line, because I wanted that silky smooth. The direct line went through a variety of plugins including Guitar Rig, compression, and a Sub Bass plugin that adds a sub harmonic in 30-40 hz range.

The drums are all done, thankfully. The quantizing in Logic Pro makes things SO easy. I close mic every drum and then the normal overheads. I love a good stereo image, but I also used a condenser mic in the center, 4 feet from the drums. My friend Dan Schultz told me about this and I love the result. The drums sound bigger and are more in-your-face.

I threw all my plugins out the window on this album and pretty much only used the Chris Lord-Alge drum plugin for everything. Those things are gold. Again, a tip from Schultz. I bus them all out to a Trident A-Range, Tube-Tech CL 18 to amp it up, and finish it off with a Stereo Spread plugin.

Now we are to the vocal recording. I am using a Neumann TLM 193 for the guys, courtesy of my friend Niki Caligiuru. It is sublime. I run it straight into my interface. I do not want anything to color it before it hits the hard drive. I have not devised a plugin plan for vocals yet, but I have a veritable arsenal of them. I am sure the Chris Lord-Alge vocal plugin will make an appearance!

So that was not at all what I intended to blog about. I wanted to write about something to get my mind off of mixing for a minute. Oh well! You tech heads will enjoy that!

12/22/2010

Wow, I have not kept up with this! Sorry! I have a lot to blog, but I am going to try to keep is short and to the point.

First off, GOSSIP! What whaaaaaaaat. Paramore lost Josh and Zac this week. Josh wrote a nice statement here. Not that any of this is surprising or unbelievable. Especially if you have anything to do with the music industry. This is all sadly very believable. I wish all the best to those guys. I am not a huge fan of Paramore, but those guys are great musicians in their own rite and I wish them the very best.

The RV is officially done with maintenance. That is exciting! New batteries, cables, wiring, alternator, shocks, water pump, pulleys, belt, hoses, radiator, new fluids in everything, and running and clearance lights...it's like a new RV! I am ready to finish the bunks, hang the tv's, wire in the subwoofers, install a "sewage release port funnel," and get it on the road! So I will be driving down to Orlando tomorrow to pick it up with the guys. I will also be visiting with Jeremy. He has a sweet Mustang that we are wiring up a CD player in.

We have some exciting stuff coming up! We are picking up a lot of touring and getting set pretty much until summer. It looks like we have some nationwide tours coming up (tentatively, because ya never know). I am ready to get back on the road and stay super busy with tour.

The record is coming along very nicely and we cannot wait to share it with you! It has some great stuff in it and I am very happy with how it is turning out.

Speaking of recording, did you go to http://www.facebook.com/paintmeirrational and look up the new Christmas song??? Because you should!