EQ Magazine - July 2008 - (Page 23)

humming morphs into a fuzz-guitar line. What is that? The humming turning into the guitar is exactly what it sounds like. It’s an AKG BX20 spring reverb gradually washing out Ben’s singing. The BX20 is one of three different reverbs I default to. It’s a four-foot tall cherry wood box—it’s the largest spring reverb ever manufactured! The vocal follows the fuzz guitar line. Then, it’s just a matter of crossfading the two tracks in the mix. “I Will Possess Your Heart” is reminiscent of Pink Floyd in spots. There’s an ambient bed of sound underneath the entire track. Is that a synth? That is a loop that Ben did with a delay pedal and a couple of the organs at Jason’s studio in Seattle. Then, there are actual organs later in the song, and a lot of delays on guitars, but it’s essentially a single guitar performance. “Pity and Fear” opens with tablas and an Ennio Morricone-esque guitar. Are those tablas sampled into a loop? No. That’s just some drum machine Ben got from India. I have no idea what it is. It’s strange. I guess they have these little drum machines over there with speakers built into them that are loaded with tabla patterns and onboard sitar drones. You can adjust the pitch of the tabla independently from the tempo—which is cool. It sounds really good. “You Can Do Better” sounds like a Pet Sounds homage with tons of reverb. There are no artificial reverbs on anything except the vocal—which is from the BX20—and the Hammond A-100 organ’s onboard reverb. Everything else is from the room. We did a lot of that song at Robert Lang Studios in Seattle. He has this huge concrete basketball court—a 40' x 40' x 40' room that’s perfect for enormous echo. We recorded the snare drum in there with a couple of room mics positioned ten feet away. That’s it. We did the bass guitar and sleigh bells in that room, as well. How many vocal stacks are we hearing there? There’s only one vocal for the entire song—except for when Ben sings, “holding on to.” That’s a multitracked four-part harmony. Is the lushness of the reverb on “You Can Do Better” something you think you could achieve with a plugin, or do you absolutely need a real BX20 or a large room? When I did my solo album with Warne Livesey [Midnight Oil, Julian Cope], he used a BX20 impulse in Audio Ease Altiverb. It sounded really good, but it didn’t sound like my BX20. Some plates and springs are just [sighs]—well, there is nothing quite like them. It’s one of the few effects the digital world still hasn’t perfected. I’m sure there will be 90 developers filling my inbox with angry emails after reading this, but there is something about a hardware reverb that allows it to not get in the way of what’s happening in the song. When reverbs—especially springs and plates—move into the digital world, they become larger and more present than their natural counterparts seem to be. It’s a really weird thing, and I don’t know why it’s that way, but every time I use a digital www.soniccircus.com serious studio infrastructure Toll Free: 1 - 8 8 8 - S C 4 - G E A R (724-4327) Representing the best in new analog and digital recording equipment, Sonic Circus has the world’s largest showroom of API, Neve and SSL consoles, as well as choice vintage outboard gear and microphones. We provide expert service, support, and integration to project studios and commercial facilities worldwide. Matrix The New is here! call for details NO MONTHLY PAYMENTS & NO INTEREST FOR 3 MONTHS. For qualiﬁed applicants.* Client Spotlight G e t M pressed ! The elysia Mpressor Approved 500 Series Deals All Month Long Create A Palette Of Tonal Colors- The Rack Is On Us! Call or visit us online for details Apply Online And Get Fast Approval Derek Trucks Takes delivery of The Kinks Neve 8048 Console. www.eqmag.com EQ JULY 2008 23 http://www.soniccircus.com http://www.soniccircus.com http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - July 2008

EQ Magazine - July 2008 Contents Talk Box Sounding Board Louis XIV, Four TET and Steve Reid, Can Your Record Go Gold in the Digital Age Tool Box Death Cab For Cutie Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drum Heads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Propellerhead Reason 4 Sony Acid Pro 6 EDAX Audio Labs VTP-100 M-Audio Profire 2626 Tape Simulator Shootout Tape Simulators Sounds Room With a VU: Infrasonic Sound Recording Company, Los Angeles, CA.

EQ Magazine - July 2008

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