Hey, I Could Use Some Opinions for an Article...

[Anderton]

More great stuff!! Thanks everyone.

 

Phil, great call on the L5 -- Wes Montgomery's main axe, as I recall.

[MrKnobs]

Originally posted by Anderton Noise gates -- that huge gated drum sound that was so popular back in the 80s

You need to get out more.

You're thinking more specifically of gated reverb for the 80's sound.

Most pro soundmen (at least in country music, where I mostly work) gate at least some of the drums, especially now that gates are frequency keyed and have hysteresis controls.

Nothing tightens up live drums like gates.

Terry D.

P.S. Having objected to one of your stereotypes, I guess it's only fair to put up some of my own:

Taylor Acoustics: Country music, either EQ'd into a "shaker" (just the attack, no tone) for uptempo stuff, or EQ'd fat with lush 'verb for fingerpicked ballads.

Hand wired PTP uber-expensive boutique tube amps: Doctors, lawyers, other professionals who don't actually gig.

9mm Glock: Favored by rappers everywhere, and used all too frequently.

SansAMP Bass pedal: About half the bass recordings you've ever heard.

Leslie Tone cabinet: Retro rock, jam bands, funk. Nothing sounds like the original, or is quite so difficult to carry up the stairs at the back of the club.

BOSE PAS: Bands playing small clubs who have been traumatized by bad soundmen in the past. Sorry, couldn't resist!

Huge, square Sennheiser vocal mikes on stage: Stevie Nicks wannabees.

Shure 55S mike - Absolutely required for rockabilly

Shure 520D - Standard for blues harp everywhere

Shure SM-10 - Used by country singers everywhere, esp. after Garth Brooks

[Lee Flier]

Originally posted by MrKnobs You need to get out more. You're thinking more specifically of gated reverb for the 80's sound. Most pro soundmen (at least in country music, where I mostly work) gate at least some of the drums, especially now that gates are frequency keyed and have hysteresis controls. Nothing tightens up live drums like gates.

I'm sure Craig realizes that. In fact, pretty much everything mentioned here has made itself useful in other applications besides the ones mentioned. But the point is they have come to be associated in many people's mind with a particular sound, mainly because they were overused/abused in a way that attracted a lot of bandwagon jumpers.

[Anderton]

 

You're thinking more specifically of gated reverb for the 80's sound.

 

 

Actually, a lot of times there was no reverb used. Instead, room mics were set up at a major distance from the drums and fed lots of compression. Then they were gated.

 

The "gated reverb" preset on digital reverbs came later, but I don't know how many people actually used those on records...the room sound was the biggie (Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins), as far as I recall.

[MrKnobs]

Originally posted by Anderton The "gated reverb" preset on digital reverbs came later, but I don't know how many people actually used those on records...the room sound was the biggie (Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins), as far as I recall.

That seems unlikely, given that the Phil Collins stuff sounds exactly like a close miked drum with a cut off reverb tail. I suppose they could have used both close and room mikes.

And you're right, they didn't have gated reverb presets back then, what they did have was regular reverb and gates.

And that's what they used on the records, from what I've read. Though I wasn't there at the Phil Collins sessions, so who knows.

*edit* Your comment piqued my curiosity, so I did a bit of Googling. Here's one article about Phil Collins' producer and the gated reverb sound:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Padgham

Again, though, I wasn't at the session and the dozen or so articles I've just read seem to have some contradictory information in them.

The only thing I can tell you for sure is that I did a lot of recording in the 80's, both at my own facility and at other studios, and I saw a lot of people (including myself) copy the sound by gating the drum reverb as described in the article above. Close mikes were always used because the 80's were also the era of close miking drums.

Oh wait, I can tell you one other thing for sure too: I hope we never go back to that, it was kinda overdone for a while IMO.



Terry D.

[Artur Meinild]

Roland MC or Akai MPC grooveboxes - DNB!
Fender Tele/Strat- punk/garage!

On Craig's request, these are my best offers...

[John Sayers]

did anyone mention the fender Rhodes - 70's funk

cheers
john

[Billster]

The apocrypha I have heard is that once upon a time....

Phil Collins was cutting roughs for his solo album and they had the vocal mike running through a gate while they tried to get a decent rhythm section take to establish the song for overdubs. After the tracking session, they were listening to the vocal track where there was no singing going on and noticed the gate effect on the drums and room sound that was actually bleeding through the gated vocal mic.

And they said: "Hey, that sounds kind of cool..."

And then everybody had to get into the act...

[dahkter]

SP1200 - hip hop

[Anderton]

Ah yes, the SP1200...still one of my favorites.

[Phil O'Keefe]

ES335 - mid-70's studio guitar (Ritenour, Carlton et al) and fusion.

Craig, I know you mentioned 12 string guitars for folk, but I'd go even more specific with it - Martin 12 string acoustic guitars for folk, and Rickenbacker 12 string electric guitars for folk-rock.

Horner Clavinet - funk.

[Han]

These two have had a major impact in pop and rock music Craig.

Remember 'Nights in white Satin' by the Moody Blues?

'A whiter shade of Pail'?

[D Charles]

Sitar, tabla, backwards guitar & hi hat, spliced tape bits: 60's psychedelic sound.

 

Deadened drums: 70's rock.

 

Big F-hole Gibsons: old school jazz.

[MorePaul]

hmm

Graig - maybe it's be desructive to the "brainstorming" -- but what kind of focus does the article have?

from the one's you listed, I assume we are looking mainly at Western Rock/pop context

would that be accurate?

The reaon I ask is because without limits, in a lot of ways, we have an Ethnomusicology instrument catalog

[MarkZ]

Trumpet w/Harmon mute - jazz, a la Miles

 

Saxes w/metal mouthpieces - contemporary jazz (ex. David Sanborn)

 

Orchestra hit samples - anything produced by Trevor Horn in the '80s

 

Fretless electric bass - contemporary jazz, late'80s-'90s rock/pop ballads (ex. Pino Palladino, not to mention him on D'Angelo's "Voodoo")

 

 

[nat whilk II]

steel drums - various jamaican styles
accordion - POLKA!!!
autoharp - new age faux-celtic
simmons drum machine - countless synthpoprock tracks
dx7 - 80s contemporary adult
pvc digeridoo - ambient/world

and how about the computer sequencers?

Cakewalk - training wheels for countless home studios
Logic - uber-cool electronica/techno vibe

and for the availability of granular sounds (for glitch, DNB, etc) James McCarthy's Supercollider program

nat whilk ii

[Anderton]

 

 

from the one's you listed, I assume we are looking mainly at Western Rock/pop context>>

 

Yes, from a recording/studio standpoint -- what elements give the "feel" of a particular style.

 

I plan to mention those who suggestions were used in a separate acknowledgement, even if I also came up with the same idea...it's the least I can do, y'all are very helpful! How could I have forgotten the Mellotron?!?

[Spudro]

Telescaster: Full blown Rock-and-Roll. That's the facts. There's just no denying it.

Ibanez TS-7: Discover this thing before it is a collector's piece.

Acoustic Bridge transducers just suck. Use a mic.

SM57 - The greatest mic ever.

Harp Mics.... PLEASE review some Harp mics!!

Judicious use of a frickin' Chorus pedal. They help without turning your tone to an 80's wash of swirly horse{censored}.

Compressors: If you figure out what they do you'll never be without one.