Just curious. My sister is their drummer/vocalist.

KJS

this link was just posted on stereogum so apres moi, le indie pop deluge...

my question relates to The Wedding Present.

Seamonsters is widely considered their best effort. I think even Gedge would agree with that but they didn't stick with that sound on future albums. Did you have to convince them of the type of sound you were giving them on Seamonsters? Were they resistant or did you see eye to eye on the recordings? He's been known to have disagreements with sound engineers and producers.

Making a record isn't an objective exercise like counting peaches in a basket. Objectivity has no place in the creative part of the recording process. In the technical side, yes. The equipment and the technique need to be appropriate for the job, and most of the time that means operating everything within its technically-correct specifications, and with two engineers in the band, that part is pretty easy.

I am convinced that any decent art (including records) is made with a measure of disregard for its audience. Good art is an almost entirely selfish pursuit, in that the artist is doing something unique to him, and any outside perspective (this "objective" one) would be ignorant and unable to judge it completely. Having seen many bands go through the process, I am convinced that making concessions to the imaginary audience (or any "objective" considerations) almost always weakens the record.

Good records are made by freakishly-obsessed people, driven to do what only they can do, and their thinking and processes are often "objectively" wrong. Objective measures are at best a benchmark of mediocrity and shouldn't be in consideration.

Much of the string recording for the Low records was done in Minneapolis by Tom Herbers, and I shouldn't get credit for it. Some of it I did, and yes, I just put a microphone where it sounded good and pressed "record." Room acoustics are critical for string ensemble recording, and I'm lucky that I get to work in good-sounding rooms.

What, in your mind, makes Goat a better record than Liar? Just better songs? Production? I've always thought Liar was far and away the better record so I was just curious what your take on it is.

I went to UMass Lowell as a music education major and they still offer a sound recording degree in the music department (most of my friends were in this major...and as a result, many people thought I was too). It is actually a music performance degree with an emphasis with in sound recording technology. You can also pursue SRT as a minor paired with electrical engineering or computer science. It is probably one of the few schools still actively teaching the art of analog recording. There are several projects which require students to cut and edit tape. Their senior studio is equipped with a 2" machine and all sorts of other neat equipment. They do also have digital equipment seeing as they are preparing people for a career that may include this technology.

UML also has a radio station, WUML, that despite taking a beating from the school's administration is still a great way to meet new people, hear cool music and practice your craft. Bob Weston's Live from the Fallout Shelter is still on the air on Monday nights.

Many of my friends have gone on to careers in the audio industry including post-production work (which earned one of them an Emmy), mastering and General Assistant at Avatar Studios in NYC.

I agree with Steve. Go for the university education. I have a few friends that went to NE Institute of the Arts (a 2 year trade style school) that I am positive did not get anywhere near the same experience as my friends at UML.

I am a poker idiot and therefore cannot ask any questions appropriate for this forum. Maybe when I get some courage later I'll post some sort of musical or recording related question. Or maybe I'll just ask what your favorite brand of peanut butter is...

Thanks for the info on the bands I'll get started on that list soon as I get paid next week.

1)how do you feel about Kronos Quartet? if you like them can you suggest anything in that neighborhood?

2) Just a comment, I liked some songs on Exit the Dragon by Urge Overkill a lot, do they suck that bad? I believe you though, That lead singer guy was pulling some rock star B.S. when I saw him at a small (really tiny) Club a few years back when he was touring that solo album of his.

3) You may direct me to your forum, but are there any specific techniques you'd suggest for recording vocals at home alone on run of the mill digital equip (Audio Technica at2020 into a presonus tube pre into a yamaha aw-1600, before you say anything I got it all on the cheap) ? I'm specifically having trouble getting good levels when it's mixed w/ a few other inst.

4)If my stuff sucks badly is their any cheap(inexpensive) stuff you can suggest?

Sorry to be so selfish y'all but I had to jump at the chance.

Thanks for the gear tips too, I was looking for a rugged and inexpensive tube head and I don't wanna lug this vt-22 around.

Hi Steve, just curious as to other music you're into, like electronic stuff....do you ever listen to any of this? Techno/abstract/whatever....doesn't have to be recent, go as far back as you like.

Steve, have you ever used old speakers as mics on kickdrums or bass cabs?

What mics do you like for drum overheads?

Ever heard any recording efforts by Alex Newport?

Do you read TapeOp?

Do you have any interest in football?

I have two questions. The First is about the albums you have recorded for the band the EX. These records have such a great vibe to them and capture them so well. Is there anything you can say about how the are in the studio?

And second, I once read that originally Fugazi recorded "In on the Kill Taker" with you, then both parties agreed they should do it again. Is there anything you can tell us about that?

Thanks!

Mr. Albini,
Thank you for your insights in this post, it is enlightening to hear the opinions of a more experienced engineer.

Anyway, a couple of questions, first two regarding "in Utero", I listened to the album a few weeks ago and picked up on a couple things.

I noticed in "rape me" the first verse that the drums play on, it seems that the snare was overdubbed, but the old snare line remained in what I am assuming are the overheads.
Was this an intentional thing? an afterthought? or something you just lived with? It seems intentional, because it sounds pretty cool.
Did dave grohl overdub hits a lot?
I use drum replacement software sometimes, but don't like to, it kills the dynamics of a song. better to just have a good drummer.

Whatever you did to get the KICK drum sound for that album, in my opinion, set the tone for the whole record. It almost has a "woody" sound (haha everyone laugh.... ok done.)
that, got me thinking of an clip I saw of the lord of the rings in post prod, where they built a wooden box with baffles, and reamped the dialogue, to get the tree dudes sound.
Was is something like that you did? if not, have you ever?

Final question,
I'm a Full Sail Grad, Certified Pro Tools operator, and currently freelance engineering... Do you have any advice for someone in my "newborn" position?
At the moment, I am just trying to do as much work as possible, meet as many people / bands as I can, and generally do good by everyone I come in contact with.


Thank you again for your posts, I've gained some insight and a few laughs. =)
Take it light.
-Joe Fitzgerald

LOL at all the people who signed up at a poker forum to ask Steve questions when he has his own forum at his website.

Do you ever watch documentaries about the making of famous rock records, or is that too much like work to be entertaining? I'm thinking specifically of the Metallica documentary where their label hires a therapist to help the band and producer work through their bad vibes and childhood "issues" so that they might be able to squeeze out a serviceable rock album. I know nothing about Metallica, but that is one funny movie.

Steve

Brightback Morning Light is the best sounding (production, quality) album in my opinion of the year so far. Have you had the chance to listen? Also, we need a new Dead Meadow album soon, those guys are making great records. Also, allow me to blow smoke up your ass and mention that the work done on Joanna Newsom's Y's sounds great.

Andy is quality. I'm glad he's still playing.

Well, The band Weeddeater just did an album here that was scheduled to take 5 days, but they knocked it out in 4, and I think we were done by 8pm every day. That's a pretty easy session. If you've ever seen them, you know that they have a unique and gnarly sound, but that sound is built-in, and I didn't have to do anything special. That one just sort-of fell off the truck complete.

If you mean small-ensemble string music, you might like Threnody Ensemble or the Rachel's. I particularly like their Music for Egon Schiele, but that's more piano-based. If you are more interested in ensembles with commissioned pieces, you might like some of Rova Saxophone quartet's recordings.

Yeah, they do. You probably don't even like those songs you think you like.


All this stuff should be directed to an audio/recording forum. Unless you want to talk about nailing musicians, Swingo or how bad Urge Overkill are, that's probably the place.

Waht m;usican gave the best bj. pics plzzz

There used to be interesting electronic music, before that became a synonym for a special kind of horrible dance music. I enjoyed quite a bit of this pre-disco era: Iannis Xenakis, Morton Subotnick, the White Noise, Silver Apples, Kraftwerk, Suicide, DAF, Tommi Stumpff, S.P.K., Throbbing Gristle, Whitehouse, Metal Urbain, Cabaret Voltaire, Tuxedo Moon, Factrix, etc. There is very little going on now that can compare to the either the creepy dread or the crazy inventiveness of the pre-sampler era.

I do admire bands like Wolf Eyes, and I had a single from Arcane Device that I liked, but honestly, dance music really destroyed the whole electronic genre for me, and I no longer even look for it.

Yeah, this thread has gone lame in a hurry.

I don't frequent forums much beside the digidesign user conference. I merely saw this as an opportunity to ask some questions I was curious about only weeks ago. Please excuse my hijacking of your thread.

Someone else in this thread asked you about the recordings with Rudimentary Peni that took place in the late 1980's. I had interviewed Grant from Peni back in the mid-to-late 90's for good 'ol fLiPSiDE and he mentioned that he remembered recording those tracks and how amazing they sounded. I know that Nick Blinko didn't take part in the sessions, but Grant and Jon are such an amazing rhythm section that I'm sure it was a blast for you to play with them.

Also, good 'ol Manny from Distortion Felix always praised your recording of them. He's one of the coolest cats in Silverlake and as down to earth as my local mechanic. I love that guy!

I don't know if you've heard 400 Blows, but they are a pretty amazing live band. They are also pretty out there like if you took Jaz Coleman from Killing Joke and had him front an early Black Flag that was influenced by the Melvins. Yeah, I know..maybe they have a time machine?

Anyways, enough of my verbage...Keep doing what you love!

Peace,

Cake

How did you get hooked up with Hum from Champaign/Urbana? What was it like working with them? Really no anecdote is too small, so go into as much detail as you please.

Thanks.

-JAK
----
http://wsahara.net/

Any truth to the rumor that you are mixerman?

I don't want to give the impression that I like angle shooting. Swingo is a ridiculous game, and in an attempt to incorporate elements of many other poker games, an element of angle-shooting was added for completeness.

A big part of the game is which cards you choose to expose when you separate your hole cards from your board cards. This was intended to mimic the angle-shoot of flashing a card to mislead a player. Mike Caro outlines one such play in his Book of Tells, and I recently had a French dude try something similar at the Aviation Club. French dude moved a big bet into the pot with the same hand that held his hole cards, intentionally flashing me a red Trey when the board had a four-flush in Clubs showing, trying to sell either a bluff or value bet of the bottom straight. I had to fold the top straight, because his other card was almost certainly the A.

In Swingo, everyone's boards are also in play for everyone else's hand, so you can make a deceptive play that forces player A to fold the card that would allow player B to beat you. Here's an example:

On the deal, you have a set of eights, a great starting hand. Once the boards and river card are out, you have bricked your full house draw, and only have trips.

Player A (who has never played Swingo before) has a probable four-flush in his hand, which he will complete with a spade from your board, and Player B is showing a pair of Deuces, which means a probable two-pair hand (knowing this takes some 'splaining, so just trust me), which he will fill with the 2 from player A's board if A stays in the hand.

Player B wants to extract value from both you and player A, but he cannot beat you if player A folds. He bets, you say "We both filled! Let's dance!" and re-pot it. Player A folds his flush, and in so doing, folds player B's boat. Player B knows you are not full, since none of your cards are paired in sight (a necessity for a full house in Swingo), so he makes a crying call. The angle is that taking advantage of player A's inexperience lost the pot for player B.

More than any other game I can think of, Swingo requires players to manage the betting behavior of their opponents, keeping key players in a pot while eliminating others. This is an area of the game ripe for angle shooting.

No, he gets paid a lot more than me.