Salut, Kerble. I like this. My contribution is not so much tricks/tips, but more inspiration/anecdote.


Grandaddy - "Rode My Bike To My Stepsister's Wedding"

Several years ago, my friend converted his house into a recording studio (for the most part). People still lived there, but they just lived around all the recording equipment. There was a live room in the basement, a control room upstairs, and the other rooms were used as needed.

One of our first projects was a compilation/soundtrack to a movie, Sleeping Off Stolen Dreams, that we recorded entirely in the house. We asked our friends to record a song each for the album. Jason, the dude in Grandaddy, is from our hometown, and he agreed to contribute.

He showed up sans band on the day of the recording and said he was just gonna sing and play piano. We had an upright in the living room, so we put a few mics up, let Jason practice a bit, and then we all sat in the control room as he recorded "Rode My Bike to My Stepsister's Wedding."

When Jason was done, my friend went out to take the mics down and noticed Jason had put a photograph of a woman and a man on the sheet music holder atop the piano. The man's face was all scratched out. When my friend walked into the room, Jason quickly put the picture in his breast pocket.


I really like this song.

kerble wrote:1)
David Bowie's ""Heroes"".
the vocals in this song, which we've discussed here before were recorded with three vocal mics, one close, one medium distance and one far. all of them were set on gates, so as he sings louder, the more mics become active and you get more of the room. the quiet verses are really controlled, and as he starts to holler, it really soars.

Wait one second, kerble. Are you saying that on the vocal for David Bowie's "Heroes" there were different sets of gated mics, each one triggered by the increasing volume of Bowie's vocal?

Because it seems like you're saying there were different gated mics, each set to be triggered at a different volume, as his vocal got louder.

Let's be clear about this: on "Heroes", there were three different vocal mics, each gated to be triggered at different volumes depending on how loud Bowie sang. Just so we're clear. About it. Is there an amusing thread anywhere that might shed some further light on this technique?

I know one: the crazy overloaded drum sound on Keith West's "On A Saturday", recorded by Abbey Road-tastic Geoff Emerick. Emerick recorded Ainsley Dunbar's kit then played it back through studio monitors at a really overloaded volume, and re-recorded this to tape through a pair of AKG C12 mics. That's straight from the horse's mouth.

Great thread, Faiz.
Ok, i have one (question)

Dr. Dog - Say Ahhh

i fucking love how everything in the recording sounds. *especially* the vocals. any trickery here, or just recording into a tape recorder?