Sean at KeyOfGrey.com is organizing a music collaboration project. I’ll be taking part in this and hope you will too. The more contributors the better this will turn out. It’s still in the brainstorming stage, so if you’re interested in not just talking about making music but actually making some too, get over to Sean’s site and get involved.
Check out this great video on copying, remixing and outright stealing musical ideas. Part 1 of 4 to be released.
I just watched this interview with Mastering Engineer Greg Calbi on the subject of the Loudness Wars. It turns to a bit of a rant but he makes a lot of sense. I think my own mastering skills just improved having watched this.
If you have the time, spend some time on YouTube and watch some more of the interviews with him.
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Maybeshewill is one of my favorite post-rock bands and they’ve started working on their third LP. They’ve posted a few updates on their site (read part 1, and part 2) but there hasn’t been much info for a while and nothing specific about the gear and techniques. I decided to give Jamie Ward (Bass, Engineer, Producer) a little poke to find out what’s going on behind the scenes on the new record.
Hi Jamie
I was wondering if you could share some info from the production side of things on the new record. What’s the progress?
We’re still at a writing stage in the record but we’re not too far off now. We’ve had two recording sessions so far. One for drums for a few tracks at a studio called Seamus Wong where I do some engineering and one for guitars for the single we’re putting out (To the skies from a hillside) at my home studio. On previous albums before I joined the band Maybeshewill have recorded everything themselves with whatever gear they could get their hands on and wherever they could. These sessions have been a bit of an explorative venture. I can record drums fine at my home studio but it’s pretty dry so tracking in a larger room was a bit of a no-brainer.
We’re doing more recording sessions in September. I think I’ll try a few more room mics on the drums this time see if I can bring out even more ambience.
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What’s the guitar tracking signal chain?
For the single we used mostly used John’s Gibson 335 into my friends Marshall JVM, into our toured-to-death Marshall AX cab. I miked it up with 2 (Shure) Beta 57′s one into my TLA C1 and one into my SSL X Logic Alpha Channel. One of these has much crisper high end and one has much fatter low end, no prizes for guessing which one’s which.
In the past the band have used distortion pedals into a Plexi and also Guitar Rig so the sound is a bit of a departure form the previous album’s guitar sounds. At the time I just thought “Lets get the best gear we have together and make it sound as rad as possible”, the tone is slicker but perhaps not as punk, a less gritty aesthetic than the pedal distortion on albums previous. We only had one day to get it done so there was no time for indecision. I don’t take D.I’s either, I like to make commitments.
How about Bass?
I don’t really have any decent bass gear so it was just Squire P-Bass into my SSL, then the SansAmp plugin. That thing sounds great but has a slightly boomy low mid so I find myself having to multiband it.
Any cool electronic stuff going into this record?
Yes I think this will be the most electronic sounding Maybeshewill record, some tracks are perhaps a little dreamier sounding. The single is probably the least electronic track on the album but that’s just how it fell.
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Any tips for recording post-rock in general?
Record your drums in a big or at least fairly reverberant room. I think having that air around the kit is essential in sparse atmospheric music and reverb just won’t really do it my opinion. Triggering room mics is nice but I can never find a decent kick room sample. The Slate snare room samples are sweet but there’s something odd about the kicks, I find them a bit plasticy and boomy. Adding these over an already nice room ambient sounding kit can make things sound really lush.
I think with a lot of post rock band it’s important to capture the band live as interaction and moments are very important, with Maybeshewill however there are a lot of electronic elements so we have to be fairly strict to the grid and record each part separately.
Do you have any studio upgrades planned? Any gear your lusting for?
I’d like to get a 1073 clone, maybe one of the Vintech ones, just to have one channel of super awesomeness. Spending all that money on something as plain as a preamp kind of bums me out a little though, for that money I could buy 2 synths or a different amp or something. Things like that are much more satisfying things to spend money on really. I think the quality of instruments/amps makes more difference to the sonics than things like preamps but It certainly doesn’t hurt your recordings to have a few nice pre’s.
What’s the post rock scene like? How are the fans?
I don’t really know how to answer this. Like with any scene there are a handful of great bands and a heap of imitators. Hopefully the Maybeshewill sound is identifiable enough for us not to be classed as imitators.
I think people who might be into post rock are looking for something challenging and unusual so I would say fans of the genre are open minded people. Meeting anyone who is into your band and has made an effort to come see you is always a humbling experience.
What bands are you guys into?
Between the band we listen to quite a wide range of music. I think we generally agree between bands we like and don’t which is quite important really when it comes to trying to write together. Band’s I’m really digging at the moment are Caribou, Arcade Fire, Four Tet and Codex Leicester.
Any bands you’d love to be on tour with?
I’d like to go on tour with And So I Watch You From Afar again. They’re good friends of ours so touring with them is pretty lively and they are totally amazing every night.
Excellent. Thank you good sir.
Find Maybeshewill online
Their site http://maybeshewill.net
Twitter http://twitter.com/mybshwll
Myspace http://www.myspace.com/maybeshewont
Here’s Jamie’s studio myspace (with gear list) http://www.myspace.com/parkfarmstudios
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If you haven’t yet heard of Joey Sturgis, you might be too old you will soon. He is very quickly becoming the CLA of my generation and the go-to guy for modern hard rock. His success has earned him a lot of fans and even more critics. Recently he started releasing drum and cymbal sample libraries from some of the records he’s done. Over the weekend I had the pleasure of interviewing Joey via email.
When did you start recording and producing?
I started recording when I was about 19 years old (2004). I played drums in several bands around that time and it came time for us to create a demo, so I learned what was necessary to do it on my own. My friend had a make shift recording studio in his garage and he lent me the key.
What gear were you using back then?
We had a custom built pc running Windows 98SE, the interface was an Aardvark Q10 (PCI based). We had Behringer preamps and a Behringer mixer. It was the worst of the worst.
Wow, that’s pretty ghetto even for 2004, ha ha. You must have been doing something right though because it wasn’t long before you were making records for Rise Records, producing The Devil Wears Prada, Miss May I, and Attack Attack! among others.
Yeah after The Devil Wears Prada got signed from the EP I made for them, the label owner caught wind of me and took some interest. Prada came back to me for the full length. The album was successful and then i went on to do a few more projects on my own before helping to realizing the creation of before their eyes with a few members of past bands I had done demos with prior.
Soon after that, they were signed by rise and once again Craig was seeing my name. At this point I think he saw real potential in me and decided to give me a call. He suggested managing my schedule and helping me get bigger better projects. I was hesitant at first but decided to go for it. The first email i sent him was this list I had fathomed up, almost as a joke, of demands I wanted from him. Things like “I want to do a Metal Blade cd, I want to work with Adam D” etc. I knew those things would never happen but somehow Craig helped make every single thing on that list happen. So for that I am extremely grateful.
Which bands have you worked with in the past year or two?
In the past two years I have worked with:
Kramus
[amazon_link id="B0027M5018" target="_blank" container="" container_class="" ]The Devil Wears Prada[/amazon_link]
[amazon_link id="B003YNJU56" target="_blank" container="" container_class="" ]Miss May I[/amazon_link]
For The Fallen Dreams
The Color Morale
[amazon_link id="B003D5A42S" target="_blank" container="" container_class="" ]Asking Alexandria[/amazon_link]
[amazon_link id="B002TTJZ2O" target="_blank" container="" container_class="" ]We Came As Romans[/amazon_link]
Of Mice And Men
Before Their Eyes
I Am Abomination
Confide
[amazon_link id="B003ELNVAS" target="_blank" container="" container_class="" ]Attack Attack![/amazon_link]
[amazon_link id="B003TX47CC" target="_blank" container="" container_class="" ]A Plea For Purging[/amazon_link]
The Devil Wears Prada again
Miss May I again
Asking Alexandria again
Let’s Get It
Popout
In the past year you went from running Nuendo to a full Pro Tools HD 3 rig and back to Nuendo a few months later. What were some of the reasons for moving to PT HD and what made you decide it wasn’t right for you?
I wanted to move to PT HD because that is what most of the professional world was working on. Some of my clients were reaching such a big status that there were several talks of having multiple name producers on projects, and in researching these people I discovered they were all in PT. I figured if I wanted to be included, I had better step up now. I had 1 year to prepare ahead of time. Also, in researching PT in general, I discovered some of the advertised features sounded great (like track gaurantee, and better use of DSP). The biggest feature that drew me towards PT and the one I still miss today is Elastic Audio. After learning PT, and even getting the hang of its quirks and bugs, I began a few of my “big projects” of the year in PT. Everything was going smooth with the audio end of things…. then came keyboards. I do most of my production effects, and all of my keyboards using plugins and virtual instruments. Unfortunately, I have to say that Avid does not win on this one. It is so picky about plugins and plugin stability that you might as well mic a keyboard amp… Seriously. I had to move on, because most of “my sound” comes from post production, and PT wasn’t giving me any stability during post production. Some projects actually stopped opening towards the end. I had to rebuild from raw audio in Cubendo to finish.
What is your current studio equipment list?
Computers:
Intel i7 980x Extreme 3.33 GHZ 64bit 6-core with HT
6 GB Triple Channel DDR3 Memory
1 Intel SSD Extreme (16 GB OS drive)
3 Western Digital 640 GB SATA 3.0′s (System, Sample, Record drives)
Intel Core 2 Duo Q6600 2.26 GHZ 32bit 4-core
4 GB Dual Channel DDR2 Memory
3 Western Digital Drives (OS, System/Sample, Record drives)
Mac Pro Dual 64 bit Xeon’s 2.26 GHZ 8-core with HT
8 GB Triple Channel DDR3 Memory
2 1TB Drives
Mac Book Pro (random stuff)
Sony Vaio Laptop (for drum editing when i’m traveling)
Interface / Word Clocks:
RME Fireface 800
Apogee Big Ben
Mic Pres:
API 3124+
2x Presonus Digimax D8′s
Great River ME-1NV
Mics:
Audio Technica AT3035
Audio Technica AT4040
Audix D6
Audix i5
Beyerdynamic M201 TG
Neumann KM184 (Stereo Pair)
Oktava MK012 (Stereo Pair)
Rode K2
2x Sennheiser MD 421 II
3x Sennheiser e604
Sennheiser e609
Shure SM57 w/ Grenelli Mod
Shure Beta 52
Shure Beta 58
Shure SM7b
probably some other’s I’m forgetting…
Monitors:
ADAM A7
Presonus Central Station
MISC:
2x Monster Power 3500 Power Conditioners
4 or 5 LCD monitors
3 or 4 keyboards (on my desk, because I dont like KVM’s)
3 mice (on my desk! haha)
Axiom Pro 49 Midi Controller
Kaoss Pad
Hundreds of cables
Lots of software
Your production and mixing style is very modern and polished. For some reason it seems to polarize opinions on the internet. Countless arguments and flamewars have been started at the mere mention of your name and techniques. Why do you think that is?
It’s human nature. I think anyone involved in this industry has their own idea of how things should sound. Listeners have their own taste in what they want to hear. Fans are the result of these two things matching. It doesn’t always match, and it doesn’t need to. At the end of the day, I’m just a guy that helps these people be creative and entertain other people. There’s definitely a lot of in-between stuff that could be said, but at it’s core its an age old concept. We’re all just trying to make people feel something by what we create. I think the criticism helps me to grow. At the same time, criticism is just the result of a personal opinion. Everyone’s got their own opinion. In the end, you’ve just got to do what YOU think is right.
Why do you think so many young guys, new to recording, try to copy you and get your sound? Is this weird for you?
I think my sound is “popular”. In the 90′s you had literal pop-music, and it had a certain sound to it. Well, I think what I’ve done today is created the “pop” sound of these up-start heavy bands (metalcore/hardcore). If these band’s have fans, its inevitable that there will be people who want to produce music with a similair sound. Parts of this are weird for me, because I sit in my control room day in and day out listening to the sonic characteristics of what I’m working on and I’m thinking, “I have a long way to go to make this sound right.” But in terms of producing, I am content. I am always struggling sonically. From a sonic perspective its weird, but on the production end of things I can definitely see the correlation. My productions just sound heavy man! It’s the “it” factor that people are after. Many of my clients always tell me “just put the sturgis on it.” They’re talking about that “it” factor when everything comes together and makes the song slam.
Are there any engineers or producers you look up to and inspire you?
There are several. I am very inspired by Jason Suecof, Adam D, Andy Sneap, Chris Lord-Alge, Ross Robinson, and many more. All for different reasons.
On Joey Sturgis Dot Com you’ve started putting up drum and cymbal samples for sale. Tell us the story behind these.
After Steven Slate put out SSD, and I had quite a long time to live with them. Life moved on and people started to pick these sounds out from all the productions using it. Early on, I began to feel I should be making my own stuff. When I started getting pretty decent at it, I decided to see what would happen if I tried to sell it my self. My approach is a little different, and the cost is very low. It seemed to catch on with some people, so I’ve kept it going. I think its cool that I can share the exact same sounds I’m using in my mixes.
How many more sets of samples do you plan on releasing?
Well it’s up in the air because I just wait until I have something good enough and then release it. But I don’t plan on stopping. I sample everyone’s kit but the turn out isn’t always great. I could use a drum tech you know. Hint hint.
Are you only going to add samples for the most recent (and future) projects you’ve worked on or will you dig into the sample library for previous projects over the years?
I have slowly begun to dig into the older stuff. The problem is, nothing is labeled very well from back then, and even with contacting the band members, they often have no idea what we actually used either. It becomes a questionable product at this point, because I can’t even tell the customer what the cymbal is. I have some real gems, but can’t release to the public for reasons such as, only recorded hard hits, or lost the multiple session so I can’t go back and remix anything.
Anyone that’s been following you on Twitter knows that your schedule is crazy. It’s not uncommon to see you still mixing at 5am to meet deadlines. I’m sure you love every minute of it. Any tips for keeping the quality level high while working all day, everyday?
Ears:
First and foremost, Turn your monitors down. Then turn your monitors down some more. Learn to seperate what you hear. Most of the time I’m listening to timing, editing, pitch, or something else. Not the mix. Listen for mix when you and the song are ready. Until then, listen for what needs improvement to become ready… I spend a few months getting to that ready state. Then the actual mix takes about 30 minutes. If you’re mixing for hours and hours, you’re going to get lost in all the relativity of volume and frequencies and end up with something thats leaning too much in one direction.
Mental:
Be appreciative. When I start to edit something I just think about how the money I am earning has put this roof over my head and fed me earlier that day. It really comes full circle when I finish things and just feel grateful to be lucky enough to do this for a living. When you think about things in the way that none of what you have would exist without these people who you are sharing a creation with, you really gain a lot of patience and determination. The mental stability that comes from this is what makes it possible.
What is the typical production schedule for a band coming to work with you in your studio?
The first week or so is pre production, scratch & click tracks, drum sampling, and drum tracking. Then there’s a long editing process where I build the final production ready drums. This means quantizing actual performances / sample replacement, or completing samples and programming. Then the drum mix is made and printed. At this point we’re around the 1/3 or half way mark and from here we alternate guitars + bass with vocals (instruments one day, vocals the next, repeat). If there are keys, we do them on vocal days instead of vocal editing, and I hire someone to edit the vocals for me. On the last day we either have a whole album ready for post production, or a whole album ready for vocal editing. Once vocal editing is finished, post production begins. This all happens after the band is long gone. The post production and mixing period is always solo for me. I send the songs out one by one to the band and we correspond over email. Then the final is sent off. This whole process takes about 2 – 2.5 months for every band. It should be noted that after the 1.5 month mark, I am already starting something else. So at any given time, I am working on 3 or 4 completely different things each day.
Do you have any advice for young engineers trying to be the next Joey Sturgis?
Everyone says this, but learn the basics and the fundamentals. After you’re book smart, you’ll still need experience time to vibe with what you know. I’m still learning how to approach the sonics of every day things like kick drums and snares. Also… don’t take anything for granted, and appreciate what you have.
Are there any bands you’d like to work with in the future?
I want to record BTBAM (Between The Buried and Me), haha. My favorite kind of project is the one that takes you around the world, and to another world. I love mixing as many different sounds and styles as possible. Bands like that can put any kind of weird stuff in their music and it will work. That’s what I enjoy most. I would also love to record something like Dimmu Borgir or Behemoth and finally, Dragonforce. =]
What’s next for Joey Sturgis? A day off perhaps?
Actually you are exactly right. A month off actually, for the first time in three years. After that I finish off with Asking Alexandria and then another Sumerian project to be determined (most likely Born Of Osiris). Then hopefully a studio remodel.
Head over to http://joeysturgis.com to get yourself some kick ass drum samples.
This is a guest post from Geoffrey Granka of Fresh Produce Productions. Find him online at www.freshaudio.ca and @gmgranka on twitter.
You might not know Relic the Oddity, but if you like Canadian Hip Hop (read: good hip hop), you’ve heard his work already. Fresh off his work in Shad’s TSOL (an album that Eye Weekly calls “infinitely playable”), he had some time to answer my nagging questions.
What are some of your most successful projects that people would know you for?
The work I’ve done with Shad is where people may recognize me from: (When This Is Over – production; The Old Prince – production, mixing, feature emcee; TSOL- production, mixing, feature emcee). I’ve also done work with Sev Statik, Braille, Surreal, Fresh I.E., and Manafest to name a few.
How did you learn the ropes? Did you go to a recording college?
Actually, I applied when I was fresh outta high school to Fanshawe College for their audio recording program, but failed to make the cut. I had a couple of mentors, Adam Messinger, and Rob Berger who were running a couple of studios I used to work out of every so often. These guys laid the foundation for me, showing me the fundamentals of tracking, mixing, gear selection etc. Most of all that I’ve learned since then has been from reading books, or trial and error.
What got you into beatmaking?
Remember the movie Beat Street? There’s a part in there where this guy Kenny gets an opportunity to use some gear to make beats. Seeing that when I was a kid, I was like “Man, I gotta be like that dude“. Sounds strange, but it’s funny how seeing such a small thing when you’re young can affect your life.
How do get in touch with most emcees that end up using your beats?
I used to rely purely on word of mouth. One man knows a next man, who knows a next man who needs beats… that was usually the way it would go. A lot of it still works that way, but now, since everyone and their uncle is a producer, I kind of have to use whatever resources I can. The internet has been a great tool. Being not only a producer, but also a emcee/D.J./singer/songwriter and working to get my own music out there has helped a lot. Networking at shows and making new conneks/building relationships is key.
What was your first drum machine?
Me and my friend Nate used to make beats using a Commodore 64 (for all you young heads. Google this) and a 4 track cassette recorder. Ping-ponging 2 track mono loops off of that thing was fun… but the sound was garbage. We eventually bought an [Emu] SP1200, and had that running 8 outs through a small Mackie board to a Fostex 1/4″ reel.
Not only good for Duke Nukem apparently.
What’s your current recording set-up like?
I used to use a lot more outboard gear than I do now. (Gates/limiters/compressors/EQ’s) But I’ve simplified my equipment down to a Presonus Firepod and a Mac G5 running Logic Pro. (although I like the FirePod as an interface, I can’t recommend it because of some of the issues I’ve had with it. not sure what my next interface will be, but I can tell you, I’ve been looking anxiously at the Alesis Master Control .. that thing is iLL! ) Until just last week I’ve been using a set of M-Audio BX8 monitors (which I have nothing but good things to say about ) but am giving a set of Yamaha HS80-Ms a go right now. They sound great, but I’m still not sure how my mixes will translate in comparison to the M-Audios. I am a lover of drum machines/samplers. I still have the SP1200, and a Esi 32, but also use a ASR-X Pro, a MPC 2500, and a old Prophet 2000 as a midi controller. I also have an Akai 1212 board, which I use as a patch bay for the SP. My secret weapon is an old Apex 430 mic. It’s a dinosaur, but tracking vocals for hip hop/r&b seems to be what it was made for. I’ll probably get a new mic eventually, but I will never get rid of this little gem.
Do you have any one particular piece of gear that you use all the time?
MPC 2500 has been my best friend for about 2 and a half years. Before that it was the ASR-X. can’t live without either of em.
Do you have any dream clients?
Not really. A dope emcee is a dope emcee, and a good singer is a good singer. If I had to pick someone though, it would more than likely be Black Thought, Elzhi, or Phonte. I dig what these guys are doing.
Is there anything wrong with modern music today that you’d like to fix?
Although there are genres of music that hurt my ears, and make me want to pull my eyelids off, I think music is not the problem. If I were to fix something, it would be the hearts of the people running the industry. It sucks to see any art form suffer because of capitalism.
As a producer, what current producers really catch your ear lately?
I gotta say, I miss Dilla. He was an innovator. My man Rich Kidd is hella dope. Oddisee is also becoming one of my favourites. Exile of course. M-Phazes. Many may not know either.. but my boy T-LO, (Shad’s DJ) has got some hidden heat. Also from T-dot, Die-Rek is crazy with it.. Gigs is dope, and Lyve is a guy to watch for as well.
What projects to you have coming out that we can keep in ear open for?
I’m currently working with Wio-K (you know him from Kardinal’s song “Ol TIme Killin”) on a EP that is gonna be nuts, set for digital release in the next couple of months. I’m in the middle of completing my next album, and finishing up an EP with producer Scarlem D, also set for digital release before the summer’s over.
Speaking of networking: You can get at Relic online at your choice of 5 social networking sites:
www.myspace.com/relictheoddity
www.twitter.com/RELMcCoy
www.soundcloud.com/rel-mccoy (you can find some free joints here)
www.facebook.com/relmccoy
www.soundclick.com/relictheoddity- I got some beats there for cats to peep, and have recently dropped the prices to clear out the archive… so get at me!
And you can check out his free album here.
