Recording - October 2013 - 20

In praise of drums
I will always love drums in a real live room.
Even though I use programs like XLN Audio
Addictive Drums and Toontrack Superior
Drummer, it’s hard to beat the force of nature that
is a good sounding kit in a good sounding room.
What’s more, even if you end up adding some
samples to fill out the sound later, drummers love
to feel the power of their kit in the room. And creating that live backbone will only help the rest of
the band when it comes time to do their parts.
Unfortunately, what some drummers don’t love is
the click. I can totally relate to this—nothing kills
the vibe more than just listening to ‘tap, tap, tap,
tap” for 4 minutes straight. It’s like foreplay to a
metronome... no one would ever get laid.
In this case what I would suggest is scratch tracks. Have the
band set up in the control room looking out to the live room, so
they and the drummer can make eye contact. Stash the amps in
a coffin, iso booth, bathroom, whatever, you don’t need to keep
these tracks in the final. Give the singer a mic and have the
whole band play along while the drummer plays. You can of
course just have the bassist play, or the keys or guitars, what
have you. The important thing here is that the drummer is able
to vibe off of something that’s actually musical, not just the click.
The other big plus is that some of those scratch tracks might actually turn out pretty darn awesome. Being that whoever is playing
with the drummer isn’t thinking about their own parts, overanalyzing or getting nervous about
their time in front of the big red
light, those takes may have the
feel that you so loved about
them live.
This same control-room
recording approach can
work for the other instruments
as well. Or perhaps you have
the ability to record the guitar
player next to the MIDI keyboard player; or the singer
with the acoustic guitar
through a windowed gobo.
And as for putting in plug-ins
or outboard gear to assist in
creating that space—oh boy,
can that be a fun time!
Compression to the rescue
A primary player in this process is compression, which can really aid in getting everything to snap just right, the way it hits you
live. For example, it’s important for the drummer to sound present
and (particularly in a hard rock band such as mine) like he’s hitting
the drums hard and loud, consistently. That’s compression.
From there, however, if you don’t compress the vocals, they
won’t get above the wall of guitars, bass and drums. Compress
them too much and the singer will sound flat and lifeless and will
probably not want to sing or attempt a great delivery. It’s important to remember that too much compression—or the wrong
kind—can make things small, thin and dull.
So before you start adding this bittersweet compression, or really
any effect, you have to consider how it sounds to the musicians. That’s
an incredibly vital part of the psychological battle. You don’t always
have to stick with how they wanted it in their headphones, but you
won’t even get to the mixing stage if you can’t get them to perform.
For example, I can’t sing with too much compression on my
voice—it makes me feel squashed and like my voice can’t soar.
Then I’ll get depressed, irritated and grumpy. I won’t pull a good
take, I’ll just stew and sulk. Luckily, once while I was sulking, I
devised a way to avoid the pitfalls of hearing myself compressed
20

RECORDING October 2013

while still using the benefits of compression. To
get inside my own head I created two separate
compression chains for my vocals. The first one
incorporates very light compression; enough to
keep me from peaking but not enough to make
me feel clamped. Once I’ve ripped through that
track, I sing the second on a track with a higher amount of compression. Singing to the original track, I don’t hear my voice beaten down
by the compressor as much and can deliver a
solid performance instead of feeling or sounding uncomfortable. Furthermore, doubling or
even tripling the vocals can give a full and rich
sound that better emulates the intensity and
punch of a live show.
Eq and reverb
As far as eq is concerned, I’ve heard differing opinions on this.
If you have the right mic, placement, space and instrument, your
need for eq will be minimal. However, the subtle nuances of how
those instruments work together and how they sit in the spectrum
may push your fingers to peak and dip where necessary.
The only real guideline here is to be cognizant of that spectrum
so that no instruments are trampling or muffling other ones. For
example, decide where the kick will sit: above the bass guitar or
below. This dictates who owns the low end, so to speak. In most
modern music, especially rock, the bass guitar takes the lower of the
two. These decisions will require an understanding of the music and
instrumentation and again,
the consideration of how the
band want it to sound while
recording. [For more on this
topic, see this issue’s Mixing
Workshop.—Ed.]
That consideration is perhaps most obvious with timebased effects or effects that
alter the timbre of a sound,
like distortion. Now, if you
have the space like Rich
Mouser, who works in a large
live room with 35-foot ceilings, stick some mics up and
play with time-based effects.
If not, there’s certainly no
shortage of plug-ins.
As a singer, I like to have
barely if any reverb on my voice while singing. I want to know
exactly how I sound, not how I sound in more ideal conditions.
Ultimately, the double or triple of my voice ends up having more
reverb to smooth it out, and more compression too. The eq is
placed more drastically so that the vocals don’t get muddied in
busy parts. But when I’m singing, it’s whatever works to create that
magic, that energy, that vibe. End of story.
Some singers have opinions completely opposite to mine, and
sing their best when they’re positively drowning in reverb.
Regardless of what effects you’re going to play with, work with
the singers on finding what allows them to perform best.
Regardless of how you make it happen—whether that be à la
Ed Cherney with the big red light, or with half the band in the
control room—it will be your own creativity, technical ability and
sense of the music and the band that will help turn a live band
into a studio band and produce a recording with that elusive
live magic you were striving to keep.
Eleanor Goldfield (goldfield@recordingmag.com) is a writer,
tech, studio manager and performing artist currently working in
the Los Angeles area. You can learn more about her current
music project at rooftoprevolutionaries.com.

http://www.rooftoprevolutionaries.com

Recording - October 2013

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