Recording - February 2010 - 40

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You’re free to submit an excerpt of a longer song if that helps! Send physical submissions to: Readers’ Tapes c/o Recording Magazine, 5408 Idylwild Trail, Boulder, CO 80301. Please be sure to include: a) a CD, CD-R, cassette, DAT, or MiniDisc with only one song preferably no longer than 3:30 in length (or tell us which track you want reviewed); b) a credit list (who did what); c) a list of equipment used. Remember that CD-Rs with unevenly applied paper labels, smudges, or scratches won’t play back reliably. PLEASE state which part of your contact info we can publish (address, phone, and/or email)—if you don’t tell us precisely, we won’t print anything at all. gear that he presently owns? We think that the answer is a resounding yes. The mere fact that he had enough tracks at his disposal to use multiple mics on the drums and yet chose not to, leads us to believe that Kemp achieved exactly what he set out to do with this mix. Would the song have benefited from the additional drum mics? Well, who’s to say? Had Kemp strayed from his lo-fi blueprint, the rest of the mix would certainly have lost its edge and a good measure of its appeal. What we can suggest to Kemp, and all of you other loyal readers out there, is that experimentation is never a bad idea, ever. We love the idea of using one mic on a drum set, so what about two, three? Knowledge is power, they say, and trial and error has led to some awesome discoveries (Sgt. Pepper’s, anyone?) in our field. In this spirit we would suggest to Kemp that his next recording use some different ideas and skills, maybe a more mainstream style project, not because of any flaws with “Fourteen” but rather as a learning experience. Summary: Go for it! Contact: Kemp Jones, jonesllk@bellsouth.net, www.followthecat.net. Mark Spinner Equipment: Apple 24" iMac with Digidesign 003 Factory running Pro Tools LE, factory plug-ins, Xpand!, and BBE D82 Sonic Maximizer plug-in; Samson CL8 condenser mic, Shure SM57, SM58, and Beta 58 mics; BBE Dual MaxCom compressor and Sonic Maximizer racks; Taylor 410 acoustic guitar, Ibanez Jem 777 electric guitar; BOSS DD-3 and DigiTech guitar effects; Marshall JCM800 tube amp with two 4x12 cabs. Kemp Jones Equipment: Yamaha AW1600, Audio-Technica AT3035 mic, Aria Pro II bass, Yamaha drums, Fender ’65 Mustang, Gibson ’65 145, Hohner Blues Harp, Dynaco speaker powered by Crown 150 power amp. Music: “Fourteen” is a male vocal rock song. Kemp did it all with some help from his son Lewis on drums. Recording: “Fourteen” is a garage rock style track with a bit of Neil Young, Kinks and Troggs in the soup. In his fairly extensive cover letter Kemp tells us that the song was essentially recorded while it was being written and that each sound source was awarded one track on his Yamaha multitracker, including the drums, which were recorded with one microphone. We’re told that this approach is rather different from Kemp’s usual method of bouncing and submixing tracks. As for the recording itself, well it’s pretty cool, if lo-fi, punky garage rock (not a putdown, by the way) is your thing. The vocals have a definite attitude, the electric guitars have excellent tone for the style as does the harmonica, and Kemp has done a pretty darn good job on his drums considering the fact that he only used one mic. We do hear some pumping from an overactive compressor on the acoustic guitar and the cymbals get a bit raw in spots, but it all sort of fits the vibe, really. Near the end of his correspondence with us, Kemp informs us that he usually mixes his material in a more highend facility alongside more seasoned engineers. In lieu of that he asks if we can recommend a purchase that might enable him to achieve better results in his home setting. Suggestions: While there is no shortage of fun tools that we could suggest that Kemp invest in, that’s really not our goal here at Readers’ Tapes. Rather, we are more interested in helping recording musicians achieve those better results by improving their skills and techniques, beginning with their most important tool, that being the ears. We have discussed the idea of intent on more than a few occasions in this column, and Kemp’s inquiries have once again brought it to our door. Could Kemp have achieved different results with “Fourteen” using only theRECORDING FEBRUARY 2010 Music: “Nearly One Year Ago” is a male vocal rock song, Mark did it all at his home studio. Recording: Mark has submitted a fairly solid effort here that is unfortunately suffering from some rather obvious compression and stereo-field issues. While the performances are fine overall, the amount of compression on the drums has flattened them out, and in the process, robbed them of much of their tone. We also couldn’t help but notice just how narrow the overall sound field is. Mark has piled the drums, bass, acoustic/electric guitars as well as the vocals right up the gut—hey, it’s football season, what can we tell ya?—resulting in a claustrophobic stereo field. So that’s the bad news. The good news is that his tracks are solid and the fixes are pretty easy to accomplish. Suggestions: Since no actual drums are listed in Mark’s gear list we assume that they were generated via a plug-in in his 003 system. To our ears the kit sounds as if it was treated with some sort of buss compression, rather than compression on each individual drum. If this is indeed the case, it should be easy enough to recall the mix and go back to the drawing board with a less severe compression ratio, as well as a faster release time. The result should be a re-awakening of the tonal complexity associated with a more natural sounding kit. As for the stereo field, ya got it, so why not use it? Panning out the electric and acoustic guitars alone would do wonders to open things up down the center, thus liberating the lead vocal. Mark may also want to consider some creative panning of his backing vocals as a way of generating some additional excitement in the mix. Summary: Lots to work with here. Contact: Mark Spinner, mspremium@bellsouth.net.

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Recording - February 2010

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