EQ Magazine - March 2009 - (Page 13)

Apollo Sunshine (left to right)—Jesse Gallagher, Sam Cohen, and Jeremy Black. guitars were recorded using a combination of a direct box through an Ampex tube preamp, and an ElectroVoice RE20 placed up close on the speaker cabinet. Capturing the electric-guitar tones required a trinity of mics routed through a Purple Audio MC77: a Nady RSM-1 positioned a couple of inches from the neck to grab the sound of the strings, a Shure SM57 placed directly on the amp’s speaker cone, and a Beyerdynamic M88 set down about six inches from the back of the cab to cover some of the low frequencies. When it came time for vocals, the band liked the “up close and personal” approach. Lead vocals were tracked with the Lomo, and Cohen and Gallagher sang harmonies simultaneously into a Royer R-121 ribbon. “We’d often record the background vocals four to six times—each time moving to differ- ent positions away from the mic to capture various senses of space,” says Black. “We ended up with a huge layer of vocals, and we intensified the effect by panning each track differently in the mix.” A sense of whimsey directed the tracking of “Brotherhood of Death,” where the rhythm tracks were soloed, played through the monitors, and then recorded again through a portable cassette deck with a built-in mic. The cassette tracks were slowed down a bit (using the unit’s limited vari-speed control), and the result was deemed cool enough to port over to Pro Tools. Some strings and a baritone sax part that were already recorded on the “clean” digital tracks had to be slowed down to match the “dirty” cassette-recorded drums and bass, and then the vocals were tracked. “It’s definitely not a full-spectrum sounding tune,” admits Black. “But the dirty, yet crisp mishmash of lo-fi and hi-fi really makes the song jump out at you.” After their stint at Old Soul was complete, each band member took a copy of the tracks to their respective home studios to review and enhance. Black added even more percussion at his Coyote Hearing studios in Oakland, California, and these, along with the Cohen and Gallagher additions, were auditioned at Headgear Recording in Brooklyn, where the musicians compared notes and started creating the final mix. “We spent a lot of time on this album, because we work very democratically to make sure everyone is happy, as well as to make sure nothing falls through the cracks,” says Black. “All the details can really be a pain in the ass, but I think we ended up with a stellar album.” www.eqmag.com MARCH 2009 EQ 13 http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - March 2009

EQ Magazine - March 2009 Contents Talk Box Sounding Board Mr. Scruff Apollo Sunshine Al Schmitt Toolbox Third Eye Blind Kind of Blue Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drum Heads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Ableton Live Vocal Tools Gadgets & Goodies Room with a Vu

EQ Magazine - March 2009

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