Current Tape Reviews

Recording: The kids are alright on this trippy jam-band-style track. We found that for the most part the tones were fine throughout, particularly the Edie Brickell/New Bohemians (Google time, children!) auto-wah effect on the clean electric guitar. The bass was full and rich and was a good match for the meaty drum tones (which used parallel compression, although Jason doesn't name his compressor). Bass was amp-miked and mixed with DI (and ducked with the kick), and the guitar amps were miked with the 57, the 81 XY array, and the Sputnik on the room!

Less effective to our ears was the sound of the splash cymbal, and the overall balance of the mix. Though our monitor speakers, and also our Grado Labs SR 325 headphones, the clean (right panned) electric guitar seemed quite a bit louder than the more distorted electric guitar. The distorted guitar also seemed to be placed much closer to the center of the mix, resulting in a bit of a lopsided feel. It was also fairly obvious that the fellas skipped a click track on the recording, but hey, so did the Grateful Dead and they're in the R&R Hall of Fame.

Suggestions: In their cover letter the band supplies a very good description of their recording process. Apparently the original snare and tom parts were replaced by samples, while the rest of the kit was mixed from the original sounds.

The band also reported that "a single delay bus was used to move instruments further back or forward in the mix." Hmm... could this be the source of the lopsided feel? While time delays can be very effective in creating spatial interest, caution is urged here. In our experience anything in excess of 7-9 milliseconds applied to one side can cause a rather weird shift in the stereo field. Slow and steady on this one, guys.

As for the cymbal, there can often be a sonic disconnect between a sample and a sound captured by moving air (the drum overheads in this case). Re-e.q. ing the overheads may help to tame the splash.

Summary: A good foundation.