Check out my band's ANALOG recording (Engl, Orange, Emperor content)

[rug]

Hey dudes. My sludge band recorded our album to tape, and a couple people requested that I post it here when it was done...so here it is.

We recorded the drums, distorted guitars (doubled with an Engl Powerball and Orange Thunderverb 200 through an Emperor 6x12), and bass to tape, and got good song takes (not sections ), and then transferred everything over to Reaper because we were all out of tracks . From there, I quad tracked the guitars with the Powerball through a different cab for a little variety, and vocals were recorded in Reaper as well. The guitars range from close mic to room mic depending on the song, so there's some variance on guitar tone on the album, but I think it sounds pretty cohesive. So I realize it's not *fully* analog...but we had to keep it within budget D), and we only had 24 tracks to work with.

I realize it's a lot different from what usually gets posted in here, but I'm extremely proud of the recording and I think that Adam Tucker and Steve Henningsgard (from the band Iron Thrones) did a fucking hell of a job recording us. If any of you get the chance to record at their studio, Signaturetone Recording in Minneapolis, you should DEFINITELY do so.

Hope you guys dig it.



Earthrise

Oh yeah. If you guys like some moderately sloppy shred skip to the second song.

 

[EOT]

Definitely not the kind of music I usually listen to. But I dig it quite a bit.

 

[S-O]

Dig it! And purchased, would have paid more than I did, but I'm short on funds, but not too short for 5 dollars!

 

[Mprinsje]

sounds massive, really dig this.

also, cool artwork

 

[brutalwizard]

artwork is amazing.

really neat music man I dig it, and I don't normally listen to stuff like this that much.

 

[rug]

Thanks guys! I'm glad you guys like it. Appreciate the kind words.

We are super pumped about the artwork though. If you'll permit me, I'll do a little name drop for our friend Paul Friemel, he did the artwork and layout. He worked at Victory Records for a while doing album layouts, after that he was the Smashing Pumpkins webmaster (for realz), and now he owns his own one-a-day tshirt company called Ript Apparel. He's crazy busy with his business so he doesn't do album art anymore, he ended up doing this in his spare time whenever he wasn't swamped. I would encourage you to give all your monies to him and buy some shirts.

Pixelate | Cool Graphic Tees and Cheap Limited Edition T shirts by RIPT Apparel

This is one of the better known album layouts he did. He's seriously one of the most talented dudes I've ever seen.

http://undergroundmusicunites.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/VR297.jpg

 

[GATA4]

This is awesome. Great artwork

 

[revclay]

I'm 3 tracks in and it sounds really cool so far. As others have said, the artwork is awesome. I also really dig the guitar tones you guys got on this. They sound perfect for sludge. I dig it. I will probably be purchasing this in a few minutes.

 

[Sunlit Omega]

Best Sludge I have heard in a very long time, you have earned yourselves a fan.

 

[Smallz]

Earthrise bassist here guys. Thanks a ton for the positive comments. It's incredibly flattering to put two years of work into this album, be so happy ourselves with the end result and then on top of that get such a great response from other people. Thank you.

 

[DeKay]

This thread did not get so much attention because the title does not make you think its an full goddamn awesome album!!!

Everything is so huge in this, the bass tone haves so much balls it feels like it kicks me. Doing this on my MP3 player to listen to it. Wish you would release an instrumental version of this album.. everything is perfect for me but not the metalcore/deathcore type of vocalist

 

[revclay]

So, I sent this off to the other members in my band and they are fans as well. Even our singer who is very picky screamed vocals is a fan. All I can say is well done again and that I am turning into a fanboy, hahaha.

 

[rug]

Well snap, dudes.

Yeah...we understand that everyone has their own deal with what vocals they like, and that's ok. Glad you like it though!

revclay - this probably won't happen until next spring/summer, but we're looking at heading on a weeklong (or so) deal through the East Coast. I obviously have no idea what cities we would even go to, but that'll be fun. Maybe we'll even end up in Ithaca, who knows?

 

[Djentleguy]

Amazing piece man! Keep up the good work

 

[drgamble]

I don't know that I get the whole record to tape and then upload to digital thing really. I'm sure you spent a good bit on the actual tape as I've done full analog recordings before and trust me the tape ain't cheap. I just don't know that I see the benefit as all the tracks when uploaded to Reaper are turned into 1s and 0s anyway. The album sounds great, I just don't know if it sounds any different than if you would have tracked straight to Reaper.

 

[jaco815]

I don't know that I get the whole record to tape and then upload to digital thing really. I'm sure you spent a good bit on the actual tape as I've done full analog recordings before and trust me the tape ain't cheap. I just don't know that I see the benefit as all the tracks when uploaded to Reaper are turned into 1s and 0s anyway. The album sounds great, I just don't know if it sounds any different than if you would have tracked straight to Reaper.

Recording the guitars and drums straight to tape first would help to fatten them up and tame the highs a bit. Then mixing in the digital domain would give a bit more freedom in the mixing stage as far as access to effects and whatnot. I think it sounds like a good process overall, although a fully analog chain would have been best. Either way this album sounds incredible. I love all of the tones, and I'm usually very picky.

 

[rug]

Yeah, we planned to record everything to tape except the vocals, but we ran out of tracks. I think there were 13, maybe 14 drum mics, 6 guitar tracks (close, room, and far away room for both the Engl and Orange), and that left 3 tracks for bass, and 1 for the preproduction bounce on the 24th track. Unfortunately that didn't leave room for the overdrive guitar, our singer, or all the guest vocalists that we had doing some extra screams and what not on all the songs, or the fun little keyboard and feedback/noise shit that's going on in various spots on the album.

A couple weeks after we got all of the instruments down, the guy who produced it said it wouldn't be a bad idea if I came in and and did 2 more takes, close mic, of the Engl, to bump it up to 4 tracks for times when he wanted to up the volume (or make the mix more close mic) without having to use faders on the original guitar tracks. So I did both tracks (about 1 hour and 45 minutes) in 2 1/2 hours.

Is it fully analog? No, and I get that. Would it have sounded different going just through Reaper? I don't know. I'm not really sure I want to do it that way unless I have to, moving forward. We practiced the album pretty relentlessly in the months before we recorded. Did a full preproduction version of the album, and even at that time, we had the length of all the songs, transitions, and the entire album down to the second. When we practiced, we played the album start to finish (including most of the background trem pick/loop/noise stuff, I run that through my DL4 on looper setting) once with a click, and then again without a click. When it came time to do the drums, our drummer played 3-4 songs in a row, and if he needed to punch in, we did it on the tape...same goes for the distorted guitar and bass. Would we have had the dedication to practice that much to nail it in studio without the knowledge that we'd only get 3-4 takes at it? Probably not. I don't have the ears to tell you whether or not it'd sound as good just running through Reaper, but the overall process forced us to be super, super prepared. On that basis alone, I want to keep making albums that way.

 

[rug]

Recording the guitars and drums straight to tape first would help to fatten them up and tame the highs a bit. Then mixing in the digital domain would give a bit more freedom in the mixing stage as far as access to effects and whatnot. I think it sounds like a good process overall, although a fully analog chain would have been best. Either way this album sounds incredible. I love all of the tones, and I'm usually very picky.

Exactly!!

 

[arsenic]

Wow, saw this posted in the Oceansize forums a couple of days ago, I didn't know it was your band! Really good stuff, and yes it sounds absolutely massive!

 

[revclay]

revclay - this probably won't happen until next spring/summer, but we're looking at heading on a weeklong (or so) deal through the East Coast. I obviously have no idea what cities we would even go to, but that'll be fun. Maybe we'll even end up in Ithaca, who knows?

If you swing by upstate New York, let me know. I will be around in the fall and am in need of a metal show to go to. Lots of folk music up in these parts, which is fine and good but I love me some metal every now and again.