Recording - February 2011 - 40

not isolated out in some other space, was vital to the overall vibe of the band. It is what music is all about—human interaction.

more, and when we got what we liked, then we started thinking about getting takes. To this extent, there were “take” commitments we agreed to as well. Just because we had unlimited hard drive space didn’t mean we were going to use it. Even though we were on Pro Tools, we treated the sessions as if we were recording to tape with limited real estate. That’s the beauty of tape. You know you are not laying “a take”—you are laying the take. Focus and performance was our prize, not overdubs and indecision. Gear—and relationships I mentioned manufacturers such as Royer and Sennheiser—our relationships with them are so important to the band and the producer. Go to the trade shows, find out when a rep is coming to your local music store, and go introduce yourself.

Develop good solid relationships now and it will benefit you in the future. If you want to try out a mic before you purchase, this is the best way to do it. They all have demo models to check out, and it is a great way to expand your network. We would not have had the choices available that we did, were it not for John Jennings at Royer, or Christopher Spahr at Sennheiser. They helped make this recording happen. Rogers and I spoke at length about this, and we didn’t choose the microphones because they were offered to us, we chose them because they were the best. The relationships just closed the deal that much more easily.

The take, not “a take” From here, we continued taking our time setting up, we tracked some, we listened, we made adjustments, we listened some

TECH SPECS
Mics and Signal Chains
INSTRUMENT Kick Overheads Front Mono Snare Rack Tom Floor Tom Room Stereo Bass Guitar Main Amps Leslie Cabinet Vocal Background Vocals (song dependent) Percussion MICROPHONE Royer R-122 (active ribbon) Royer SF-12 (stereo ribbon) Neumann U 87 (omni) Shure SM57 AKG C 12 VR (cardioid) Lawson L47FET (cardioid) Crown SASS-P MKII (stereo PZM) Royer R-121 (ribbon) Royer R-122 (2) (active ribbon) Shure SM57 (2) Lawson L47MP MKII (cardioid) Sennheiser MD441 (supercardioid) Lawson L47MP MKII (cardioid) Sennheiser MD441 (supercardioid) Sennheiser MD441 (super-cardioid)

Other Gear
Drums Bass Guitar

Getting to it In the end, we were in the studio over the course of nine days. The first day was entirely devoted to setup and listening, so over eight days we cut all the tracks for almost 13 new songs. Incredible, especially when you consider we played six gigs in this same nineSIGNAL CHAIN day timeframe. From studio to Neve 1066 into dbx 160 show, back to studio till the sun Neve 1066 (x2) comes up, that tends to be what Neve 1066 works for us. As a band, we love Neve 1066 into dbx 160 fully committing. We set up to play Neve 1066 in 5 minutes or less, anywhere, Neve 1066 anytime. It’s about plugging in and SSL 615e (x2) moving a room. Period. Tube-Tech MP-1A into Tube-Tech CL-1B We committed to the necessary Neve 1066 into Urei 1176 pre-production, committed to a Neve 1066 into Urei 1176 sound, brought in someone we trustNeve 1073 into ADL 1000 ed to help guide the ship, and Neve 1073 stripped away all the non-essentials. Neve 1066 We focused on the music, not on the Neve 1066 technology, and we limited our Neve 1066 choices so we could focus on what’s important, the song... and in the end, isn’t that what it’s all about? Rick Barrio Dill (dill@recordingmag. com) is a recording engineer, producer, and bassist for Vintage Trouble... learn more at www.vintage trouble.com. All photos by John Jennings except photo of band playing in room by Rogers Masson.

Recording

Ludwig 4 Piece Hybrid Fender Jazz / Ampeg B-15 Portaflex Fliptop Gibson Les Paul VOS & Fender Telecaster Fender Tweed Blues Junior & Custom Fargen Leslie Organ Cabinet Pro Tools HD 3 running Pro Tools 8, 24-bit/44.1 kHz

The tracking room. The band faced the camera position.
40
RECORDING FEBRUARY 2011

Vintage Trouble at the console. L to R: Rogers Masson (producer), Richard Danielson (drums), Nalle Colt (guitars), Rick Barrio Dill (bass), Ty Taylor (vocals).

http://www.vintagetrouble.com http://www.vintagetrouble.com

Recording - February 2011

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