Alright, the EP sessions are done

[ahjteam]

We finished the 12 day studiosession for a 5 song EP just a few minutes ago and the band just left to go Provinssirock. The band wanted to EP to sound natural, so no sample replacement, beat detective or autotune used, but to compensate I whipped over 300 takes from the guys and got some decent takes from the guys. I used a great majority of the time on the tracking process so I got pretty decent sound so the songs were mixed in only 1 day and the processing was really minimal in general too, I used 0-3 plugins per channel, usually only 1. No post processing on the guitars except a 80hz highpass filter and a really smooth compressor in the guitar buss, it cuts ~2dB.

The sound is a bit crossover between grunge, rock and old school heavy metal, but the the band didn't want a heavy metal kick, so it doesn't sound like it. They also wanted the record to be really dynamic so thats the way it ended up, the final master was ~-14dB RMS

Okay, what we used:

- Drums: PDP kit, Paiste Ride, Alchemy hihat and Meinl cymbals. Kick: e901 + subkick, Snare: SM57 + SM81, Toms: MD421, Overheads: AKG C451, Mono room: C414
- Rhythm and lead guitars: LTD EC-1000 (DiMarzio pickups) / Ibanez RG-2550, Ibanez TS9 / Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi, Engl Screamer, Marshall JCM2000 cab, SM57 + MD421
- Lead Guitars: Ibanez RG-2550, Ibanez TS9, TC Electronic D-two, Engl Screamer, Marshall JCM2000 cab, SM57
- Clean guitars: Randall RG100SC, C414
- Bass: Mesa Big Block 750, Mesa 8x10, Boss ODB-3 on one song, MD421 + DI
- Acoustic Guitar: C451
- Vocals: Neumann U87

Vocals were tracked with TL Audio 5051 Ivory preamp, everything else with Focusrite preamps that are in the Command 24 and then into Pro Tools.

Pictures: http://www.ahjteam.com/images/insaneaffection

One song available at http://www.myspace.com/insaneaffection (Centuries of Abuse) The "bomb" is pretty lame, but otherwise I think it sounds nice.

edit: short mp3-clip http://www.ahjteam.com/upload/Insan...And_Sin_EP_-_02_-_Centuries_of_Abuse_clip.mp3

Comments or questions please.

 

[J.DavisNJ]

Cool gear setup! Can't listen at work now but i sounds like it will be right up my alley style wise. I'll check it out when I get home.

-Joe

 

[rvs0002]

Can you throw it out anywhere besides myspace?

 

[ulverine]

I really love the guitar and bass tone. Especially bass, it fills up the mix pretty well. I personally would probably want to hear this with a metal kick, but whatever the band says is the final word haha.

Vocals sound really powerful too!

 

[JonWormwood]

A nice rock kick would fit nicely

Sounds good. Though the vocals sound a bit thin, would be great a bit polished up

 

[ahjteam]

Vocals sound really powerful too!

Though the vocals sound a bit thin

Eventho the session is already done so I can't affect the endresult anymore, I would like to have some feedback (be it negative or positive) if possible from as many people as possible, so I can gather some information how to make my mixes better in the future. But big thanks for all the feedback so far.

edit: and here is a short clip from the beginning of the song in mp3 format:

http://www.ahjteam.com/upload/Insan...And_Sin_EP_-_02_-_Centuries_of_Abuse_clip.mp3

 

[ulverine]

I guess what I meant by powerful is the style/vocal delivery. Although, I don't think the vocals are thin in the mix either!

 

[ahjteam]

Oh yeah, I forgot this one: The studiodiary the band wrote first in Finnish and then translated into English, its missing the last few days, but still pretty comprehensive and funny in my opinion (edit: and full of Spinal Tap moments)

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=147480840&blogId=493996943