Old 10-13-2014, 03:09 AM   #1
Feverdreamer
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Default Hello Bamboo - Skipful Of Herons.

https://hellobamboo.bandcamp.com/alb...pful-of-herons

An album I recorded and mixed from my band Hello Bamboo. It's pretty weird, along the lines of Ween/The Frogs, although it doesn't really sound anything like them.

Recorded in our practice room on a MOTU 8pre into Reaper. I borrowed 414s for the drum overheads. There was a D112 on the kick and the rest of the mics were 57s. Some of the vocals were done on the Wasaphone ("Nice Cool Glass Of Water" and "I Like Sailing") which is really cool for a character mic.

Some of the songs have no bass, but heavy guitars, which was a bit of a challenge but I think it sounds good.

Some of the songs also have 2 drummers, which were recorded at the same time, because it's more fun that way.

"Michael Barrymore's Family..." has a track of ultra distorted drums/guitar through a bitcrusher running all the way through. It's really low in the mix, and it sort of flicks in and out like a broken radio. You can't really hear it but you notice it when it's gone.

For "Got So Fat" there is a weird sound all the way though, which was from when I put up the Wasaphone during the drum recording. The track wasn't needed but I found that if I distorted it and added some phaser and a slight 100% wet delay, it gave a strange sort of squelchy, watery ambience to the track. Seeing as it's mostly drums and distorted bass, it helped balance it all out a bit.

For "Tonight" the drums, guitar, and vocals were all recorded at once, with the vocals going through a PA. I figured that was the best way to get the right performance out of the singer, especially when he goes apeshit at the end. It needed to be unplanned, there needed to be an element of uncertainty about when the music stops. It was a nightmare to mix thouugh. Loads of vocal in the drum mics and vice versa.

There is also a horrible (intentionally) fake crowd sample on it. When the song stops and the singer is crying, the crowd suddenly cuts out, as if he is suddenly alone. But there is still delay on his voice, so it sounds like he is still on a stage. Then the delay cuts out and it's like he's just alone in a room, crying his eyes out. I thought that was hilarious.

I'm really pleased with it. I love doing my own band. Because it's so odd it means I can try out all kinds of weird experimental shit.

Last edited by Feverdreamer; 10-20-2014 at 01:57 AM.
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Old 10-13-2014, 03:59 AM   #2
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Hey fd just listened to mainly nuts and seeds, gets pretty damn tasty from 1:40 onwards. second listen even better. that 1:40 to the end is a hot minute
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Old 10-13-2014, 04:35 AM   #3
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Yeah that's when the octave guitar kicks in, which is the closest that song comes to bass.
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Old 10-13-2014, 12:04 PM   #4
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The link doesn't seem to work, it literally copies "https://hellobamboo.bandcamp.com/alb...pful-of-herons" to my address bar, instead of the full link.
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Old 10-13-2014, 06:32 PM   #5
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Man, that's some good stuff! Really enjoying the listen. Some fun, funny attitude there. And nice recording too. You should be proud.
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Old 10-18-2014, 09:18 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by FadingMusic View Post
The link doesn't seem to work, it literally copies "https://hellobamboo.bandcamp.com/alb...pful-of-herons" to my address bar, instead of the full link.
It should work...it has for other people? Maybe just try hellobamboo.bandcamp.com

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Man, that's some good stuff! Really enjoying the listen. Some fun, funny attitude there. And nice recording too. You should be proud.
Cheers! Yes we are often billed as a "comedy" band, but we're not trying to make anyone else laugh, just ourselves. We basically just dick about until something makes us laugh so much that we have no choice but to make it into a song!

The recording wasn't ideal, as it was in a practice room. I could have done it in the studio where I work, but I feel that when we do that we lose some of the vibe. Everyone is a bit more relaxed in the practice room. More comfortable to just let go and mess around. With something like this, the vibe and atmosphere is just as important as the sound quality.
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Old 10-19-2014, 09:28 AM   #7
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Listened all the way through, every song from start to finish.

Loved every second. All of it. Every moment.

Yeah, Zappa or Ween come to mind, but not in a derivative way at all, just as sort of a "if you like this, you will like this..." kind of way.

Pork-ork-ork-ork-ork-ork-ork-ork...

The more I listen, the more I love this. Just brilliant guys. Please send my sincerest kudos to the others in your band.

Fantastic!

PS - Yeah, your link doesn't work. I suspect people have just figured out to strip off that last part. Just click on it, you'll see.
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Old 10-20-2014, 01:59 AM   #8
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Originally Posted by kindafishy View Post
Listened all the way through, every song from start to finish.

Loved every second. All of it. Every moment.

Yeah, Zappa or Ween come to mind, but not in a derivative way at all, just as sort of a "if you like this, you will like this..." kind of way.

Pork-ork-ork-ork-ork-ork-ork-ork...

The more I listen, the more I love this. Just brilliant guys. Please send my sincerest kudos to the others in your band.

Fantastic!

PS - Yeah, your link doesn't work. I suspect people have just figured out to strip off that last part. Just click on it, you'll see.
Thank you so much! Be sure to like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hellobamboo

I have changed the link now, seems to work fine. Does it work for you?
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Old 10-20-2014, 06:01 AM   #9
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Thank you so much! Be sure to like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hellobamboo

I have changed the link now, seems to work fine. Does it work for you?
No facebook for me unfortunately (or fortunately depending on who you ask). The link is fixed now, yup.
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Old 10-20-2014, 06:43 AM   #10
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No facebook for me unfortunately (or fortunately depending on who you ask). The link is fixed now, yup.

Cool, thanks for the heads up!
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Old 10-25-2014, 03:20 PM   #11
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So much to not expect. don't know what's gonna happen next and i totally love that. you guys have an insanely good approach to putting your tunes together.
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Old 10-26-2014, 01:30 AM   #12
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So much to not expect. don't know what's gonna happen next and i totally love that. you guys have an insanely good approach to putting your tunes together.
Cheers man! It tends to come a lot from improvisation,just messing around until something sticks. Then I tend to tighten things up arrangement-wise. Taking the absolulte chaos and stupidity, carving into something that resembles a "song".

But then I have to make sure, when I'm recording it,that we don't lose any of the vibe. It needs to be a recording situation where everyone is comfortable to mess around.
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Old 10-26-2014, 08:56 AM   #13
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i'll second the comment above, that 1:40 out on the first tune is indeed tasty! great goove! something really nice about hearing real drums! love the graphics, esp the fishhead.
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Old 10-27-2014, 02:06 AM   #14
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i'll second the comment above, that 1:40 out on the first tune is indeed tasty! great goove! something really nice about hearing real drums! love the graphics, esp the fishhead.
Cheers!

The artwork in the Bandcamp header was from our album Fish And Bird, drawn by a guy I know called Chris Nash. We wanted just a really nice picture of a fish and a bird. And he did just that. He's really talented.
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Old 10-29-2014, 01:54 AM   #15
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I just love the production and vibe. So many modern recordings just have all the life zapped out of them. This sounds great. You definitely made the right choice recording in your practice room.

"Get it Out" is playing now, and it reminds me of Velvet Underground.

I like the production on your solo stuff too. Do you use real drums for that too? I've tried doing rock stuff myself and although I'm getting better at it, it still sounds like it's been recording on a computer and not a real band, I wonder if it's possible.
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Old 10-29-2014, 02:03 AM   #16
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Originally Posted by Dream Of Sleeping View Post
I just love the production and vibe. So many modern recordings just have all the life zapped out of them. This sounds great. You definitely made the right choice recording in your practice room.

"Get it Out" is playing now, and it reminds me of Velvet Underground.

I like the production on your solo stuff too. Do you use real drums for that too? I've tried doing rock stuff myself and although I'm getting better at it, it still sounds like it's been recording on a computer and not a real band, I wonder if it's possible.

Thanks for listening!

Yes, "Get It Out" was intentionally made to sound like Velvet Underground. The lead vocal is sort of a Lou Reed parody, so I tried to make the production fit that. Used minimal mics on the drums and kept them mono. Lots of saturation and hard panning on everything. Glad someone picked up on that.

My solo stuff is a mixture of things. For my latest album, "The Sprawl", it's mostly real drums. I sometimes use BFD for drums, but I don't program it, I tend to play it on a MIDI keyboard, to keep it loose and sloppy. It suits them music more I think. But when I use this for drums, I don't tend to use all the multi-mic options. I try to keep it is minimal as possible, maybe just using the room mic, kick, and snare. I don't use any of the processing within the software. I just bounce the drum tracks to audio as soon as I can. From there I will sometimes send them to cassette on my 4-track, then back into Reaper. Or through a guitar pedal. Or through a speaker or amp. Anything to make them sound less like software!

I can go into more detail about specific songs if you'd like?
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Old 10-29-2014, 02:41 AM   #17
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I can go into more detail about specific songs if you'd like?
I might take you up on that offer at some point. But that's a lot of great info for now and gives me some things to try. Thank you!
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