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View Full Version : Pipelineaudio's Low Budget Metal basics


pipelineaudio
04-14-2007, 02:33 PM
1. Have the guitarist and/or bassist play a scratch on the click, maybe vocals too, whatever the MINIMUM instruments required for the drummer to pretend to know where he's at in the song. Leave your self some room before and after each song. You will invariably find these morons didnt know how long their song was and forgot a chorus or something.

Edit the HELL out of the scratch track's so that the drummer has no excuse to screw up. Hint: if you do this right you may end up with keeper guitar and bass already

2. Record the drums in such a way that you are PRIMARILY focused on the later intelligeability of:

WHICH drum did he hit?

WHEN did he hit it? (and how many times)

This information will be CRITICAL later!!! Or did you really think the ripped heads, squeaky stands, and cracked cymbals they brought would actually sound good?

3. Try and get the drummer to play parts that say something about the song, about where it is in the song, use fills as exclamation points, not just random turkey gobbling trash...in short, try and get the drummer to sound like hes playing the same song as the rest of the band

Good luck - this is probably a lost cause

4. Get a GOOD idea of what type of bass guitar they want: silent and heavy? Korny and nonexisteny except for some trebly snap noises? Mid and beefy? Sabbath-y? Technical/ Harris-ish? Make sure you can get reasonably close to that sound in tracking (hint its probably the idiots fingers screwing it all up, start playing the song half speed and break it all down part by part)

Sadly, you really only need to get each part SAVEABLY good, twice, you can then edit those together and copy and paste them thru the song

Sad I know

Such is life

Get a DI, CLEAN from that bass, no matter if you also mic an amp or whatever else

5. Guitar

See: http://www.cockos.com/wiki/index.php/Guitar_Tricks_Part_1

MAKE DAMN SURE: You get a DI, put it after any wah pedal the guy's got but before any distorto-mangleizer whatever thingy.

Heres one with pics http://www.recordingproject.com/bbs/viewtopic.php?p=71524#71524

That DI track is going to save your ass! Bigtime. If you are also going to mic it, I'd have a look at this http://www.recordingproject.com/articles/article.php?article=25

If you can possibly, get the guitar player to accent certain hits, give the song some life...it wont sound like anything at the gains they usually play at, but because you got the DI track also, there are things you can do...

Again, all you really need to do is get each part twice, relatively sort of , kind of, almost, slightly fixable

edit, copy, paste, repeat if necessary

6. That guitar part is going to sound pretty lifeless all chopped up like that. Make a choken track...put a napkin betwen the strings and the frets to mute the strings and have the guitar player just hit the rhythm of the song with his pick, he neednt fret any notes...though the napkin insures that even if he does itll still be choked

You are aiming for a chick chick chickachick track that defines WHEN he hits the notes on his amp that is so gained out there really is no attack

Sadly youll probably end up cutting and pasting this together too

7. Wait till the band is gone and decide whether or not you should go record the guitar and bass yourself...get that all taken care of, edited and all that

8. Prepare your torture devices, and ready yourself for the singer...KILL any goat vibrato if you can, any vibrato at the front of the note (nervous, shitty singer) will make it REALLY hard to tune later...

KILL and tendency to slide up to/down to notes for every single note...you cannot make this sound good, there is technology, and there is magic...MAGIC would be required to fix the sliders at the beginning of each note

Suggest chanting, gang vocals on any action words - this is VERY effective, gives the bands' crowd a chance to "be part of the band"

Suggest harmonies that can or cant work, try different stuff

9. Get a hold of stuff the band likes on CD, and which parts they do and dont like, and throw out any tht are unrealistic to the bands' style/skill

10. Kill yourself, and end the suffering

Amberience
04-14-2007, 02:46 PM
Please refrain from calling me a moron, k, thx.

lol ;)

LOSER
04-14-2007, 02:51 PM
Can I also start at "10. Kill myself"? :D

Seriously sounds like a lot of work to me, unfortunatly you can't send those back to practice somemore, can you? Bummer :(.

todd24
04-14-2007, 03:15 PM
Number 7 is my favorite!

Good stuff.

sebas777
04-14-2007, 04:31 PM
The advice can save more than one innocent song.

On the other hand, calling your clients "morons" maybe one word too much (?). I know how hard it is sometimes to remain calm when recording some... individuals, but either you truly like helping people that are much less skilled as you are, or you should work *only* with musicians equally skilled as you are. Otherwise your mental and physical health sooner or later will be endangered :).

...additional recording tips:

DO:

Be as friendly as you can, encourage the people you record, build a good atmosphere, let your own energy, feelings transfer onto the band members to improve their emotional performance. Praise the people if they did/are doing something well.

DON'T:

Do not let them drink alcohol when recording to "loosen up"! The only person that could be allowed to drink is the singer, and even then it's the last resort if nothing else works...


DO:

Let them record 100% and with no click (!) if they seem to perform better that way, and if you can isolate the tracks well (or if the bleed is pleasant enough). Many amateur groups play much better together, and even though some errors are irreparable because of the recording method used, the overall "live feel" well compensates for their mistakes.

Diogenes
04-14-2007, 07:28 PM
3. Try and get the drummer to play parts that say something about the song, about where it is in the song, use fills as exclamation points, not just random turkey gobbling trash...in short, try and get the drummer to sound like hes playing the same song as the rest of the band

Good luck - this is probably a lost cause

BAWAHAHAHA! ROFLMAO... err... that's not funny...

At least it wasn't when I had to edit the drum tracks my son brought in from his "bands" stoodio trip.

Not funny... TRUE but not funny... :D

D

pipelineaudio
04-14-2007, 09:11 PM
DON'T:

Do not let them drink alcohol when recording to "loosen up"! The only person that could be allowed to drink is the singer, and even then it's the last resort if nothing else works...

Remember though this is budget metal, and I guess that Im approaching this from an american perspective

First you say be nice but second you say dont let em drink?

Drinking will be the LEAST of your worries. As a general rule, they are going to be smoking pot from before you show up till after you leave. Telling them they cant drink or smoke that is very much akin to telling them you sodomized their parents with razor blades then sprayed lemon juice in

IF you are lucky

Its also likely instead that these guys will be on meth

Micing stuff is hard enough without also having to make sure your gear isnt getting stolen


DO:

Let them record 100% and with no click (!) if they seem to perform better that way, and if you can isolate the tracks well (or if the bleed is pleasant enough). Many amateur groups play much better together, and even though some errors are irreparable because of the recording method used, the overall "live feel" well compensates for their mistakes.

I guess the goals matter a lot here for this one

If this tape does not have your name on it and is only for sending to other family members in lieu of xmass presents then yeah

But we now live in the age of " The Million Dollar Demo"

YOU are expected (and not just by the band) that every note on this recording is MORE perfect than humanly possible

Even if you only got 20 bucks for it

Yeah they WILL pay for their pot, getting them to pay the engineer is a whole different story

Letting the band TOTALLY suck is not in your best interest a lot of the time

Letting the band think they played a kickass album is

BUT

Even better is exposing a smart band to where their highpoints and lowpoints are

Almost without fail, soon after I record a new band I get a call

It goes like this "Dude, we just played last nite, everyone said we sounded like a new band!! They said it was our tightest show EVER!"

If I dont get that call I know, either the band was previously kickass, or I:

Totally

Royally

Completely

Without Question

Completely fucked up my job and no longer deserve to breath air

During the recording process, it is imperative to hear things like " THATs what you are playing there?"

I want to hear that the band hears each part in a new light

And the song as an organism

They DO find where their tough spots are

Even if I end up playing their parts for them, or find someone who can

When that CD is done, they have something to strive for

Some bands keep slacking, and the CD is an unrealistic painting of what the band "meant to do"

Other bands BUST THEIR ASSES inspired by whats on the CD to try and show it up

sebas777
04-15-2007, 03:04 AM
If I remember well, you have got some very impressive credits pipeline, including Shred Gods of my youth, haven't you ? That's why I'm kind of puzzled, reading those recent "budget metal" posts.

Yes, these kinds of edits and "fixing in the mix" are possible and are often expected from engineers by clients - but it doesn't mean one should spend his valuable time trying to rescue poor musicianship.

In fact this is a studio version of karaoke or even air guitar playing: paying for an illusion that they know how to play (and that the final demo IS what they really played in the studio), while they should practice more, or even better get themselves a teacher instead, and one day REALLY to become Musicians.

If all that hard work is going to be 20$ ? - well, then I want to better spend the time on reading a good book about managing a project studio more effectively...

PS. Yes, I tell the guys to not drink nor to smoke in the studio. And they obey, because that's a part of our deal.

PS2. But the posts are funny :)

lyquist
04-15-2007, 11:38 AM
I don't want anyone drinking or smoking where I record either.

pipelineaudio
04-15-2007, 01:17 PM
If I remember well, you have got some very impressive credits pipeline, including Shred Gods of my youth, haven't you ? That's why I'm kind of puzzled, reading those recent "budget metal" posts.

Two reasons really

1: Nowdays I worry a lot more about making little bands bigger, than trying to wring any money out of big bands who's labels already decided that theyd do the tracking at home for free and the mixing ONLY with one of the three flavor of the month mixer guys

and

2: Because this is mostly a response to lyquist's questions about recording metal


Yes, these kinds of edits and "fixing in the mix" are possible and are often expected from engineers by clients - but it doesn't mean one should spend his valuable time trying to rescue poor musicianship.

In fact this is a studio version of karaoke or even air guitar playing: paying for an illusion that they know how to play (and that the final demo IS what they really played in the studio), while they should practice more, or even better get themselves a teacher instead, and one day REALLY to become Musicians.

No doubt I agree with this and scream it all the time

But the fact is, the only people who have money to record, 99.99999% of the time are rich spoiled kids who would NEVER deign to practice their instruments, EVER

All their prep involves standing in front of a mirror with their guitar and making sure its hung at whatever height is the official cool one this week

I give them a CD that is what they meant to do...and the smarter ones will use it as a practice tool

But you are right, karaoke is a great word for it


If all that hard work is going to be 20$ ? - well, then I want to better spend the time on reading a good book about managing a project studio more effectively...

Im not sure where you are at...here the situation is pretty dire, but you are welcome to come manage one of the best equipped tracking systems in the world, none of us are businessmen, but we would be happy to have one


PS. Yes, I tell the guys to not drink nor to smoke in the studio. And they obey, because that's a part of our deal.

This is a tricky one...potheads usually claim to care about everyone else and respect blah blah blah

but tell them they cant smoke pot inside the control room with you?

Depends where you are I guess..these guys have no jobs, no careers, pot it their religion, and they find it REALLY insulting to be told to do ANYTHING about it

Some of them are a LOT worse than others, some will actually agree not to blow it in your face, but the hardcore trust-afarians will take offense and spread the word loudly that you are "the man" "the oppressor" and all other crap

You can chose not to work with these types, but you will often find that the type who arent potheads, have jobs not trust funds, and cant afford your studio time

sebas777
04-15-2007, 03:32 PM
First let me say, that I respect your work VERY MUCH - every time I watch your tutorials or read your posts, I learn something interesting.

Second... I agree with you about the difficult situation. Here in my country (Poland) it's also not easy to make money recording/producing music, but some people do achieve success with it.

I'm not a businessman either (MA in contemporary classical composition), but I learned the hard way, that it's impossible to run a studio without a good marketing plan (and... I've been asked to manage studios more than once in my life by fellow musicians, too ;).

Now a good news: a lot of people in Poland have very well equipped studios (mostly ITB, but with very nice outboard gear like Manleys, TubeTech, Weiss, Crane Song, and in bigger cities it won't be that hard to find Neve consoles etc) but they STILL can't achieve the "million dollar sound" you are talking about, and they (well, many of them do) deeply believe, that especially American engineers have a "special feel thing" they will never be able to copy, or some top-secret, custom-built, out of their reach priced gear, that makes best albums sound the way they do (read: "the magic beans"). That's why there's a LOT of work for you here, pipelineaudio, I mean it (hint, hint).

If you want to know what people in Poland listen to and how their productions compare I may send you a list of albums ;).

White Tie
04-16-2007, 09:51 AM
Do you find it necessary to hide the fact you're taking a DI from the guitar, to avoid a discussion about the "purity" of the guitarists "tone"?

I accidentally got embroiled in just that conversation with a guy recording next door to me - he was pontificting at length about how he hated "all that amp modelling crap" which wasn't "real" ...as he unloaded his shiny new £150 Marshall valvestate box of awfullness. I heard the recording later, it was pretty good. It had all been secretly re-amped through a pod, though ;)

pipelineaudio
04-16-2007, 09:59 AM
you can make a big production of micing it too to keep them confident

lyquist
04-16-2007, 02:23 PM
Well, as I expected, the metal guys never called me back. That is par for the course for this thing I think. I almost think that doing this for free is worse than charging a little bit, so I've decided to start charging $25/hour immediately. Too much headache not to.

White Tie
04-16-2007, 03:35 PM
Good call, fella.

If you don't charge, they'll think its worthless. The world's full of peeps like that, and you're better off without them.

scottdru
05-01-2007, 02:41 PM
but tell them they cant smoke pot inside the control room with you?

Hey . . . if you're going to be smoking some choice cheeba in the control room, I think it's only fair that you share with the band . . .

:D

Bubbagump
05-02-2007, 10:08 AM
2. Record the drums in such a way that you are PRIMARILY focused on the later intelligeability of:

WHICH drum did he hit?

WHEN did he hit it? (and how many times)

This information will be CRITICAL later!!! Or did you really think the ripped heads, squeaky stands, and cracked cymbals they brought would actually sound good?


Ooo, that makes my belly hurt from laughing. All I gotta say is true dat... then when you bring out the sludge mics (as I call my $10 crap mics I use for these sorts of situations) put them all over the place (man, this engineer is awesome... he had a mic for EVERY CYMBAL) and use them simply to trigger something... the client somehow thinks their crappy sounding kit recorded with crappy mics in a crappy room will work for them as they miss the replacement piece. "Man, that dude we went to really knew how to record drums... I got the same crappy setup and I can't get it to sound as good as he did."

Pipes
02-14-2008, 08:13 AM
...LOL.. One of the best threads ever.. Been there.. "To make diamonds out of shit" (With lousy pay or not at all...) ;)

the all new rob
02-14-2008, 02:56 PM
You had me at "required for the drummer to pretend to know where he's at in the song."

flight
02-14-2008, 04:59 PM
Telling them they cant drink or smoke that is very much akin to telling them you sodomized their parents with razor blades then sprayed lemon juice in



Maybe my generational thing is showing, but I thought telling them not to drink would be akin to saying that you WOULDN'T sodomize their parents with razor blades and lemon juice... and a Jalapeno and Tabasco chaser... But maybe I just don't understand metal... ;)

noisedude
02-14-2008, 06:10 PM
Tonight a Pipelineaudio thread has saved my life ........... AGAIN!

Thank god for people who know what they're doing AND have strong opinions on the world.

Thank god also for the UK smoking ban so the pot thing is never an issue any more.

the all new rob
02-14-2008, 07:23 PM
Mine too--I'd been using lime juice!

mschuster
02-14-2008, 08:17 PM
wow... any thoughts i had of making this recording "thingy" a paying gig just floated out the window.. i'm still shaking...

hand me a bottle of anything!