There seems to be a good bit of interest in the making of this album by those of us who have been fortunate enough to hear it. Could anyone at Electrical (sorry--I don't have the album in front of me to see who was involved besides Steve) please take some time to describe some of the elements involved? I, for one, would like to know how the musicians were arranged in the studio and how much, if any of the album was overdubbed. It is a gorgeous piece of work, by the way, and I think anyone involved should be proud. Her new album is fantastic as well. Thanks so much.
Chris Garges
Charlote, NC
Nina Nastasia s " The Blackened Air"
2I'll second that... One listen and five minutes later I was buying tickets to her show next week...
Nina Nastasia s " The Blackened Air"
3Does anyone have any idea why the aversion to this topic? There have been a few requests for any sort of information regarding this album and not one response from anyone at Electrical. I've read that Steve was quite happy with her first album, which is now out of print. He also recorded her most recent album in Europe, but still no information about "The Blackened Air." Curious.
Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC
Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC
Nina Nastasia s " The Blackened Air"
5Bump.
Anyone...
from Electrical...
at all?
Even on the aversion topic (athough I guess that would be self-defeating, wouldn't it?).
Chris
Anyone...
from Electrical...
at all?
Even on the aversion topic (athough I guess that would be self-defeating, wouldn't it?).
Chris
Nina Nastasia s " The Blackened Air"
6Steve said something about how the music and the performers were so good that a paraplegic monkey (or some other equally inept engineer) couldn't have made that record sound bad, unless they were trying really hard. I'm sure there's some skill involved in mic placement etc., and of course they were in a decent room, but still, that's what he said. You'll just have to trust me on that one.
Nina Nastasia s " The Blackened Air"
7OK Chris,
Here is what I learned after speaking to Nina:
1. She knows little about the technical side of music but is eager to learn.
2. Though she does not know the name of the mic used to record her vocals, her description of it leads me to believe it was the Josephson 700A.
3. Her live performance sounds amazingly like the records so Steve was probably correct saying that the recording was quite easy (I know it was all done "live" in the studio). And, by extension, my description of some of the mics her band uses on stage might be of some help to someone. Here are the ones I remember:
Vocals: Something from the Shure Beta series (not too sure which one).
Violin: Beyer M88
Kick Drum: EV RE20
Overheads: Shure SM81's
Here is what I learned after speaking to Nina:
1. She knows little about the technical side of music but is eager to learn.
2. Though she does not know the name of the mic used to record her vocals, her description of it leads me to believe it was the Josephson 700A.
3. Her live performance sounds amazingly like the records so Steve was probably correct saying that the recording was quite easy (I know it was all done "live" in the studio). And, by extension, my description of some of the mics her band uses on stage might be of some help to someone. Here are the ones I remember:
Vocals: Something from the Shure Beta series (not too sure which one).
Violin: Beyer M88
Kick Drum: EV RE20
Overheads: Shure SM81's
Nina Nastasia s " The Blackened Air"
8Thanks for the replys, guys. I was just curious, that's all. Judging by some discussion I've seen here and elsewhere, other people are curious, too. I got more curious when no one ever talked about it. It's not like I'm putting together a Nina Nastasia cover band and I'm building an adobe room and I have to know all the details so I can fool myself into thinking it would come out the same. I just love the sound of that album and I just wanted to know a little bit about what went into making it sound the way it did. I'm really more interested in where everyone setup in which studio for such a great-sounding, live feeling album. Between the sizeable ensemble and the dynamic differences in some of the instruments, there could be some interesting challenges. Maybe it's silly for me to have bought the Beatles Anthology or the Real Frank Zappa Book, but I've learned something from both.
Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC
Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC
Nina Nastasia s " The Blackened Air"
9cgarges wrote:Maybe it's silly for me to have bought the Beatles Anthology or the Real Frank Zappa Book
dude, you sure as fuck got that right!
regards,
jet.
Nina Nastasia s " The Blackened Air"
10A few bits of info that might help:
Jay Bellerose’s drums — actually, Electrical’s Ludwigs mostly — were placed in the Kentucky room, that room right between the control room and the main room. The sliding glass door would often be opened a bit to allow some bleed into the other mics, depending on how loud Jay was playing. It also helped the band hear each other in the room, as opposed to just in the headphones, which they liked. Steve will have to respond about the mic setup when he has time.
The rest of the band sat in a semicircle, facing the control room. Dave Richards, the bass player, was at seven o’clock. He had two mics on his upright, one (name pending) maybe two thirds up the fingerboard, the other, I believe an RCA44, sticking up from the floor, close to the f holes. I’ll get Dave to add more details when he can.
Dylan Willemsa was at nine o’clock standing up, the microphone hanging pretty much straight down from a boom, pointing to the top of the viola maybe five or six inches away from it, I think. His viola was recorded with a Lomo 19a-18, and it sounds so good it makes me squeal like a hot lobster.
Stephen Day was at eleven o’clock, the Coles 4038 pointed at the bridge of his cello, maybe ten inches to a foot away, as he recalls it.
Nina was at one o’clock, sitting. I don’t remember what was on her acoustic guitar, which was a Taylor except for the one time she used an old Martin acoustic for the song Rosemary. Nina’s vocal mic was not a Josephson C700, as it was for “Dogs”, but a Lomo 19a-13. In some ways I like the Josephson better. It sounds more like I hear her in real life, clearer, I guess. But she was doing a lot more strumming on The Blackened Air than on “Dogs”, and the Lomo picked up much less of that.
Gerry Leonard was at four o’clock, sitting barefoot at his homemade pedal board, which sat on the floor. He stands up for his Bowie gig, and he has a new-fangled knob contraption nowadays. Both look pretty cool. His and Dave’s amps were in the dead room off to the side of the Kentucky room, but I think he had another little amp out in the main room, maybe a little Fender or something. I’ll try and find out. Gerry was also miked (mic’d?), for his acoustic guitar and banjo. I don’t remember what he used.
The only overdubbing was Gonzalo Muñoz, the musical saw player, who was rehearsing with the Cirque de Soleil at the time and could only fly in from Montreal for the last two days. He recorded Desert fly live with Nina, but most of the others were overdubs. Run, all you… was recorded with a very fragile and expensive stereo tube condenser mic which I held in my hand and moved around a little while Gonzy was playing — this all looked ridiculous to Steve and now looks kind of ridiculous to me, too. The other tracks were done with a mic positioned beneath the arc of the saw, and perhaps an ambient mic as well. I don’t remember.
I believe there were one or two ambient mics in the background, too. The room is fairly large, and the band only occupied an intimate corner of it.
Hopefully these details will help. They might need some clarification/contradiction, which I invite Steve to assist when he has time.[/url]
Jay Bellerose’s drums — actually, Electrical’s Ludwigs mostly — were placed in the Kentucky room, that room right between the control room and the main room. The sliding glass door would often be opened a bit to allow some bleed into the other mics, depending on how loud Jay was playing. It also helped the band hear each other in the room, as opposed to just in the headphones, which they liked. Steve will have to respond about the mic setup when he has time.
The rest of the band sat in a semicircle, facing the control room. Dave Richards, the bass player, was at seven o’clock. He had two mics on his upright, one (name pending) maybe two thirds up the fingerboard, the other, I believe an RCA44, sticking up from the floor, close to the f holes. I’ll get Dave to add more details when he can.
Dylan Willemsa was at nine o’clock standing up, the microphone hanging pretty much straight down from a boom, pointing to the top of the viola maybe five or six inches away from it, I think. His viola was recorded with a Lomo 19a-18, and it sounds so good it makes me squeal like a hot lobster.
Stephen Day was at eleven o’clock, the Coles 4038 pointed at the bridge of his cello, maybe ten inches to a foot away, as he recalls it.
Nina was at one o’clock, sitting. I don’t remember what was on her acoustic guitar, which was a Taylor except for the one time she used an old Martin acoustic for the song Rosemary. Nina’s vocal mic was not a Josephson C700, as it was for “Dogs”, but a Lomo 19a-13. In some ways I like the Josephson better. It sounds more like I hear her in real life, clearer, I guess. But she was doing a lot more strumming on The Blackened Air than on “Dogs”, and the Lomo picked up much less of that.
Gerry Leonard was at four o’clock, sitting barefoot at his homemade pedal board, which sat on the floor. He stands up for his Bowie gig, and he has a new-fangled knob contraption nowadays. Both look pretty cool. His and Dave’s amps were in the dead room off to the side of the Kentucky room, but I think he had another little amp out in the main room, maybe a little Fender or something. I’ll try and find out. Gerry was also miked (mic’d?), for his acoustic guitar and banjo. I don’t remember what he used.
The only overdubbing was Gonzalo Muñoz, the musical saw player, who was rehearsing with the Cirque de Soleil at the time and could only fly in from Montreal for the last two days. He recorded Desert fly live with Nina, but most of the others were overdubs. Run, all you… was recorded with a very fragile and expensive stereo tube condenser mic which I held in my hand and moved around a little while Gonzy was playing — this all looked ridiculous to Steve and now looks kind of ridiculous to me, too. The other tracks were done with a mic positioned beneath the arc of the saw, and perhaps an ambient mic as well. I don’t remember.
I believe there were one or two ambient mics in the background, too. The room is fairly large, and the band only occupied an intimate corner of it.
Hopefully these details will help. They might need some clarification/contradiction, which I invite Steve to assist when he has time.[/url]