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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Recording Corner »

Permalink Anyone out there "hate" recording?

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As much as I hate the technical aspects of recording I sure look forward to getting the new songs started. Hopefully the chaos starts next month!

The Kahuna Kings

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447

https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases

Last edited: Dec 24, 2017 11:15:37

surfgtrnut wrote:

That's why we never finished a Twang Twisters cd, never could get the energy of a live show.

Yesterday, we spent four hours on a session that was singularly unproductive. People in comas could accomplish more in ten minutes than we did in four hours. In this case, it was recalcitrant equipment. My friend, Cactus Andy, whom also fills the very large shoes as bassist in the Lug Nuts, was engineering the session, but something was not cooperating. I suspect the recording interface may be on its way south, but we tried the same hardware going into GarageBand (instead of Ardour) and got some great sounds.

We did get one track done and the drums are usable from that track, while the ultra clean Gretsch (pictured below) sounded more like a Strat going into a very ratty Marshall, than a bright Gretsch being recorded clean. The bass likewise sounded like someone that decided to bring Hendrix’s fuzziest sounds to the bass guitar.

I came out of that session more exhausted than I would have had I spent four hours breaking up granite with a teaspoon and shoveling it with a fork.

Long ago, when recording was first becoming a consumer product, I had a Boss BR-8. It was noisy and the only way I knew of to harvest recordings was to run them out the headphone jack, but I sure had fun with it. Set in a rhythm, play a rhythm guitar part (which may we’ll never make it to the finished product) then add a bass line, following up with your lead work. I used to do multi-layer Les Paul style recordings and had a lot of fun. If someone could bring that level of simplicity back I’d reach for my Master Card.

photo

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

The Hang-Ten Hangmen is putting together full-length LP and during the studio time I was in a state of utter bliss...well, aside from sitting through the control room set-up for the drums. Tedious!!

Lorne
The Surf Shakers: https://www.facebook.com/TheSurfShakers
Vancouver BC Canada

shake_n_stomp wrote:

The Hang-Ten Hangmen is putting together full-length LP and during the studio time I was in a state of utter bliss...well, aside from sitting through the control room set-up for the drums. Tedious!!

I see you have one of the '68 Custom Vibrolux Reverb amps. I have the Deluxe version of the same series and find it's quite nice for Surf. I changed the value of the negative feedback resistor and recovered the headroom to stock levels. Wonderful amp.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

synchro wrote:

shake_n_stomp wrote:

The Hang-Ten Hangmen is putting together full-length LP and during the studio time I was in a state of utter bliss...well, aside from sitting through the control room set-up for the drums. Tedious!!

I see you have one of the '68 Custom Vibrolux Reverb amps. I have the Deluxe version of the same series and find it's quite nice for Surf. I changed the value of the negative feedback resistor and recovered the headroom to stock levels. Wonderful amp.

Honestly, for the rooms I play (because surf-instro is a smaller audience here up north) I could easily play a 65 RI or 68 Custom DR. But I do enjoy the Vibrolux. Los SJ play the Blackface RI of the Vibrolux so there is a pretty good testimonial right there. Sometimes they use 65 RI DRs, too.

Lorne
The Surf Shakers: https://www.facebook.com/TheSurfShakers
Vancouver BC Canada

shake_n_stomp wrote:

synchro wrote:

shake_n_stomp wrote:

The Hang-Ten Hangmen is putting together full-length LP and during the studio time I was in a state of utter bliss...well, aside from sitting through the control room set-up for the drums. Tedious!!

I see you have one of the '68 Custom Vibrolux Reverb amps. I have the Deluxe version of the same series and find it's quite nice for Surf. I changed the value of the negative feedback resistor and recovered the headroom to stock levels. Wonderful amp.

Honestly, for the rooms I play (because surf-instro is a smaller audience here up north) I could easily play a 65 RI or 68 Custom DR. But I do enjoy the Vibrolux. Los SJ play the Blackface RI of the Vibrolux so there is a pretty good testimonial right there. Sometimes they use 65 RI DRs, too.

Likewise. I'm doing good to have more people in the audience than watts available in the amp. Of course the small crowds reduce the odds of being hit by the rotten fruit they're flinging . . . Smile

The Custom series have a stronger midrange than the blackface RIs. I have both a DRRI and a '68 CDR. Both sound good, but I'd say that the '68 is truer to the brown face amp sound which was common in the earliest Surf.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Just stumbled onto this thread, via a Google search of all things. I had a question about recording and somehow wound up here. Anyhow, the responses are interesting. I am in the midst of recording and am having a blast. I really enjoy tracking and mixing, always have. This go-round, I am basically doing all the engineering myself and I own the gear so there are practically few limits in terms of time or money. In the studio before, once the (literal) tape was running, we were really under the gun.

At any rate, it is puzzling to see how many people genuinely do not like it. Wonder why?

SSIV

I like it. It's what I do for a living, but not music. Music recording is strictly for fun, and for my own stuff. Blood Reef practices in my basement (above ground) so it's easy to just sit down and record. I have a Tascam 32 1/2" 8-track open reel recorder, but I never use it anymore. I do 16 tracks Presonus into the computer these days...

Now, MASTERING is a bitch, and can never end. I just want it to mix and master itself!

Daniel Deathtide

I wouldn't necessarily say that I hate recording, but there are definitely times when it totally frustrates me. My band got together last weekend to record some new songs, and compared to the sessions for our first LP (see report here) it was considerably harder and less fun.

The reasons for this were quite diverse:
1. We record live together as a band, which mean if one person screws up, everybody has to start over.
2. We only had new songs on the schedule, while on the LP session a part of the songs had been part of the live set for a pretty long time, so we had phases which were less demanding.
3. The decision to record was quite spontaneous, so we had less time for individual preparation.
4. We did not have as much band practice in the last months as usual.
5. The situation of recording is very different to rehearsing or playing live. With the quick sequence of songs in a concert, once I am warmed up, I'm good. With recording it is playing one song, listening back, deciding whether another take is necessary, and then playing again or starting a new song. So I hardly get as much into the playing.

So in this case most of the frustration came from lack of preparation and a tight schedule. But it is also about the general approach: Is it about "nailing" the songs as they are played live or is it more about seeing where you can go with the material? How do you deal with problems: Do you postpone/drop songs in favour of others? Can you come up with spontaneous rearrangements that are easier to play?

Los Apollos - cinematic surf music trio (Berlin)
"Postcards from the Scrapyard" Vol. 1, 2 & 3 NOW available on various platforms!
"Chaos at the Lobster Lounge" available as LP and download on Surf Cookie Records!

One suggestion on recording a live band in the studio, is to rehearse the hard parts of the song being recorded, then run through the whole song a few times to warmed everybody up. Then record a few takes. Usually the first few takes will be the best and take 63 the worst. Don't kill yourself. Its either hot or not. Try another day if not. The hard part is the arrangement of the song. Once everybody is on board its Surf City.

Surfer_Joe_1961 wrote:

One suggestion on recording a live band in the studio, is to rehearse the hard parts of the song being recorded, then run through the whole song a few times to warmed everybody up. Then record a few takes. Usually the first few takes will be the best and take 63 the worst. Don't kill yourself. Its either hot or not. Try another day if not. The hard part is the arrangement of the song. Once everybody is on board its Surf City.

My personal policy is three takes, as a maximum. If it doesn’t come together in three takes, I prefer to do it another day. Usually, I do a play-through once before we press the red button, then it’s go.

I’m fortunate that the other two guys in my band are great players, reliable and more than capable of holding up their end. We usually end up with a usable recording on the first or second take, because everyone holds up their end.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

I'm revisiting this after initially commenting almost 3 years ago. Happy to say that I'm back at it full force and it all feels good again. Not happy to say my perfectionist tendencies are there in full force also!

synchro wrote:

Surfer_Joe_1961 wrote:
My personal policy is three takes, as a maximum. If it doesn’t come together in three takes, I prefer to do it another day. Usually, I do a play-through once before we press the red button, then it’s go.

^This is what I need to learn right here.

As Joe Walsh once said: "The good thing about Pro Tools is that it give you the ability to fix anything. The bad thing about it is that makes you want to fix EVERYTHING."

I also agree with Jeff of Crazy Aces earlier in this thread where I wish I could either be the engineer or the performer, but not both. Well said Sir.

Last edited: Feb 12, 2019 21:08:26

I enjoy recording because it's like watching the cake bake from the inside.

The best engineer/producer I've worked with to date used to pound the table and insist that the first take had to be a good one and if it wasn't then subsequent takes would be inferior no matter what. 'First take captures the energy.' He would go 2-3 takes at most and then move on to another part/instrument etc...only coming back if something was bad enough to warrant doing over again.

At one session things were taking longer than desired and a couple of players had 'red light fever' ie they just couldn't shake the thought that they were being recorded and had to be millimeter-perfect. And so the engineer said 'This is just a practice take' but was, of course, actually rolling tape. He said it before take after take after take of clams. Eventually we all were punch-drunk and saying in unison 'This is just a practice take' before every attempt and we were busting a gut laughing in that in-joke manner common to bands.

When tracking demos at home I'm merciless in wiping out a bad take. I rarely punch in and/or comp anything unless I'm getting tired and know that I have 2-3 good long sections I can comp.

PS - it'd be nice to have a 'like' button on this forum.

Last edited: Feb 13, 2019 08:51:43

I like Yes

Yeah I think another thing is you always think you can do better and re-record a lot as well. So we kill the good stuff maybe.

You have to be really organized and warmed up - much like Fiction Writer needs a beat sheet and plot board to get through a rough draft. Or a artist sketches out a pencil outline before hand. There are people that do not need training wheels like that being the have a lot of experience etc - but starting out No

I started getting into recording in 1994 with a borrowed 4 track cassette tape recorder. Then got a 8mm tape machine (Big Mistake) - Then VHS 8 track and now digital mixers - none of which I had time to mess with. I did use them when I had a band like 20 years ago now. I know its a time killer - Just setting up my workstation as I speak and finally have time now to use all this stuff. But wow 24 years is that slow or what. But I had a lot of turmoil in my life as well so - whatever Laughing

I know the world doesn't need anymore songs - but that's not stopping me - Lets see 25 years from now I'll be ? In a nursing home Uh-Oh

chillybilly wrote:

I enjoy recording because it's like watching the cake bake from the inside.

The best engineer/producer I've worked with to date used to pound the table and insist that the first take had to be a good one and if it wasn't then subsequent takes would be inferior no matter what. 'First take captures the energy.' He would go 2-3 takes at most and then move on to another part/instrument etc...only coming back if something was bad enough to warrant doing over again.

At one session things were taking longer than desired and a couple of players had 'red light fever' ie they just couldn't shake the thought that they were being recorded and had to be millimeter-perfect. And so the engineer said 'This is just a practice take' but was, of course, actually rolling tape. He said it before take after take after take of clams. Eventually we all were punch-drunk and saying in unison 'This is just a practice take' before every attempt and we were busting a gut laughing in that in-joke manner common to bands.

When tracking demos at home I'm merciless in wiping out a bad take. I rarely punch in and/or comp anything unless I'm getting tired and know that I have 2-3 good long sections I can comp.

PS - it'd be nice to have a 'like' button on this forum.

Many are the stories of producers whom demanded take after take, and then ended up using one of the first three takes for the finished product.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

Not hating it right now! Great tone and cutting new ground!

The Kahuna Kings

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447

https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases

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