Cool Nordström Interview

On a more positive note, and actually related to the thread subject, I can say that working with Fredrik & Henrik was a wonderful experience.


I produced the new Betrayer album earlier this year, and shockingly, we actually had a budget..... It was bound to happen once in 11 years!

Anyway, we threw some names around for a mix engineer. The band originally wanted me to mix, & I thought, "yeah, but I know it'll be better for the record if we hand mix duties off elsewhere." My ego is secondary. The record comes first.

Now, Betrayer is retro-80's metal. Think Megadeth with Freddy Mercury/Dennis DeYoung singing. I was pushing for Chris Tsangarides but the band wanted me to contact Fredrik... ...they are HUGE fans of the Dream Evil records, & well, you know how much I love that Clayman tone...
I didn't think we had a prayer of getting him, as I remember reading somewhere that he gets all sorts of requests to mix & has to turn down a lot of projects.

Well, they must all be death metal bands, because he signed on! I'm quite sure the whole "retro 80s" thing caught his attention.

So, we tracked all summer. I wanted to record the drums up at Phase One in Toronto (absolutely legendary Canadian studio), but the drummer is a pussy & was scared he'd fuck up. I figured a relaxed drummer would give better takes, so we did the drums at my place. Grrrrrrr.. And people wonder why I hate drummers so much.

Anyway, got great takes with the band, & it was looking like we'd get finished well ahead of the allotted mix week...

...Then I get an email from Fredrik asking me if he can move things up a week because of a scheduling error. Well, the whole M.O. of this project had been "go pro or go home" so we buckled down & got it finished.... ...a minor miracle considering I threw the bass player out on the first day of tracking bass because he played like shit.

So, once everything wound up in Sweden, it went very smooth. We worked via digidelivery & email. Fredrik & Henrik really know their shit, but love feedback from the artist.... ....it was very, very easy to work with these guys, & they've got great senses of humor. (They loved Mastered by Muppets, btw)

Fredrik actually wound up playing rhythm guitar on a ballad, of all things... I tracked it with just acoustics & cleans... ...and we get a mix back with this "heavy as fuck" chorus. It worked, we kept it. Very cool.

The biggest compliment to me was the fact that the guitar tone turned out amazing & they didn't reamp. Here I am, working with the guy who's guitar tones I've admired & tried to emulate for years, & he comes back saying, "no we didn't reamp, your tracks worked great."

Another funny note: I was very adamant that this record had an "old school" vibe & therefore should have an "old school master." When we got our first mix back, it was, "Nice, but a little squashed. Can you turn it down some more?" I'm sure he doesn't get THAT very often.

We finished the album about a month ago, and it turned out amazing. I really, really want to post a track, but unfortunately, I can't until the single is released. That might take a while, becuase the band is still figuring out artwork/pressing/packaging. I think they're label shopping for the next few months with the single relase so I imagine it'll be a while before the album comes out.

BTW, Hugh Syme, the artist who did the cover for "Countdown to Extinction" will be doing the cover. Very cool.
 
That's awesome to hear Glenn!

"...a minor miracle considering I threw the bass player out on the first day of tracking bass because he played like shit"
I love this approach too man, show the shitty players the door:kickass:
 
It was hilarious. He went home & practiced like mad for two weeks & gave himself tendinitis. So then he had to take a break, heal, then practice more, then come back into the studio. All the while, I'm freaking, thinking, "are we going to miss our date?" and calling up session bassists, just in case.

FINALLY, we get around to recording the bass & the dude's right forearm had ballooned up to epic proportions. So we game him an anchor tattoo.
 
Glenn - your story is awesome, but this part:

Glenn Fricker said:
The biggest compliment to me was the fact that the guitar tone turned out amazing & they didn't reamp. Here I am, working with the guy who's guitar tones I've admired & tried to emulate for years, & he comes back saying, "no we didn't reamp, your tracks worked great."
Click to expand...

Must have made you feel really proud. I've heard your mixes, and have to say, I think your tones are fantastic.

Congrats dude! :kickass:
 
I don't wanna be an asshole her, but to be honest: I think the differences between a good bedroom production and a professional one are so tiny meanwhile, that untrained ears don't recognize it. We are all used to a certain standard of sound meanwhile, but ask any average (I'm not talking obsessed here) music fan (or metal fan for that matter) about production and you will probably have to wait a long time for an opinion on that. Remember that what you read on the net distorts the picture MASSIVELY! On the net you look for opinions and you will find them. Go into a club and see what gets more reaction: Some old ass Slayer, Metallica or whatever flawed 80s production or the "perfect" produtions of nowadays. People DON'T care about it! Granted: Bob Rock did sell sub-par songs with a brilliant production on the black album. But this was an absolute quantum leap. I can't think of anything that did this trick afterwards.
I produced my own album in the bedroom. First effort at recording and I used an ampsim, I used the oh-so awful EZDrummer... and flawed as it may be, the album sure sounds good enough. I have heard a LOT of recent professional albums (small and big bands) that sound worse. And the next one will sound loads better.
It's tough shit for every engineer, but finally they will get pretty redundant... More power to the musician! Good thing in my book. On the other hand: Most bands do better under some guidance and not every band has a vision of their sound (see above). So hopefully there will always be a place for a producer in that sense. Purely sound-wise though, I see no business comin up there...
On another note: I'm getting better Marshall sounds with Revalver & Nebula now, than I was ever able to squeeze out of my beloved JCM800 in a studio with a producer...
 
David Lee Hasselhoff said:
More power to the musician! Good thing in my book.
Click to expand...

and that's where you're wrong....these shrinking budgets due to "noon cares for quality" affect the musicians as well

David Lee Hasselhoff said:
On another note: I'm getting better Marshall sounds with Revalver & Nebula now, than I was ever able to squeeze out of my beloved JCM800 in a studio with a producer...
Click to expand...

well, definitely not the JCM800s fault I'd say ;)....
 
If you have a band and have faith in your music then you would'nt hesitate spending money in a "real studio" with pro's who knows what they are doing??

You want your product to be different, to cut through the massive bedroom recordings you hear now days, In the end that can make a difference for your band to get new gigs and stand out in the crowd!!

I say this because i've recently build my own proffesional studio and i belive you can make a living out of this if you are delivering a solid pro product, can offer good rates and proffesionalism, wich many out there cant, because all they've done is playing around with DFHS and Revalver.

Its quite a big leap to get 2 dedicated rooms and mix/record live drums, and i find it hard to belive that a serious band want to have midi drums in the end??

Although its really nice that the whole recording market has become more available for everybody so you can make descent demos at home, to prepare yourself for a future investment --> your bands EP or Cd.


Cheers
 
Lasse Lammert said:
and that's where you're wrong....these shrinking budgets due to "noon cares for quality" affect the musicians as well
Click to expand...

Of course do shrinking budgets hurt the musician, but the culprit there is clearly illegal downloads. So especially in that context, the opportunity to produce your own music for small money in proper quality is great! You can't deny this IS more power to the musician.

well, definitely not the JCM800s fault I'd say ....
Click to expand...

^^ Hate to admit you're right there... But let's put it like this: Using Revalver along with Nebula I get close enough to the real deal, plus I get insane versatility. I love JCM800s to death. And that's the catch. I love 'em with high plate voltage, low plate voltage, el34s, 6550, in conjunction with GT75s, V30s... I'd have to own 6 real heads to cover that and I still couldn't record them!

"then it's time for the bigger, more professional guys to step up their game and prove why they are the professionals"?
Click to expand...

I'd actually agree. Everything sounds so alike these days. If I really had to pay someone to produce my music I'd better stand out from the rest sonically. My two favorite examples: Mötley Crüe's debut and Motörhead's Orgasmatron. From a technical point of view, these productions are a mess. But they got atmosphere in spades, charakter and are instantly recognizable sonically. In this regard I feel there is not much going on lately... and I'd blame that on the producers. Fuckin' hell, I can tolerate St. Anger BECAUSE of its production :lol: IMO it's not an art anymore to get a big fat punchy sound. The art is to make it stand out. Up until 2000 maybe, each years records sounded different to the ones from the year before. Simply because new technology developed. I don't hear the impact of new technology since then. (Yeah... I know... Beat Detective, robotic... but sonically it doesn't make a real difference)
 
I do have to admit that 800s are not the easiest amp to record IMO..
pretty difficult to capture that chestpunching push they have, and pretty easy to make them sound fizzy.
 
Ermz said:
What's worse is that almost every mix project is being provided all DI with just a MIDI file for drums. When in the hell did that become acceptable?

Soon it's going to be considered part of the mix engineer's job to pull the tones for the bass, guitar and drums from the bottom up, all for a mixing rate. There is no commitment and everyone wants to do the performances 'on the cheap' then squeeze what they can out of someone with a studio by bundling what are essentially tracking processes in with the mix. Not cool.
Click to expand...

No offense Ermz, but last time I checked, you enjoy dealing with DI tracks because of the flexibility etc??

If it was up to me, and by god I'll probably nail you to a cross for it, but seriously, I plan on guitar - cable - amp when we do the Orpheus album. We get the tone, and we work with it end story. I really actually despise a lot of people who post all these threads going AW MY GAWDZ! Check this mix DFH + TX30 + Impulses, you'll never believe how goood.

But you know what?? It's shit in the end. No matter how good it sounds, 1 sound wont cover all things and impulses are just that. Get out their, mic up an amp, learn how everything reacts, learn how 1cm of mic movement on a cab changes the tone completely. It's a pain in the arse, but the rewards are far greater than the time taken to do it. Learn how tubes affect tone, the literal circuitry all working together. Each amp sounding different from one and other.

I keep hearing so much djent stuff from all these pods etc, but it doesnt fit all metal and to me, amp sims are great for practice, thats about it IMO.

Fuck it all, go listen to the black album people! Quad track that shit and use 8 mics for your guitars! Get a huge room for them Drums and well yeah...

Point is. Eventually we'll me Miding guitars and just reamping the midi.

It's only going to be pushed forward more and more, the more people ask for it, especially the guys on here. Let's all be honest about it :p

Yes I know... you all hate me and wish I'd leave and never return, but meh, it's whati truly believe :p

*All this coming from a guitarist, not a full time sound engineer*
**All thoughts expressed in this post are those of the writers and not of Andy Sneap or the Ultimate Metal forum**
 
Lasse Lammert said:
these are points I just don't understand...
if a band doesn't have the money to record properly don't record....if you can't mic/record a drumkit and an Amp don't call yourself an engineer...
it's really simple....

to me it sometimes seems like "yeah, but I can't cause I don't have the [insert things like "room", "Amp" etc]" is an excuse...no it's not!
If I don't have a car and no mechanics I can't be a formula1 pilot...as easy as that.

it's not that everyone HAS to be an engineer and every shitty band HAS to record a top-notch album...
"Ican't, I don't have,..." are no excuses for me, if you "can't, don't have..." don't call yourself an engineer, and for fucks sake don't create a myspace page pretending you're running a studio.

it's like I'm saying I'm a pilot....but I don't have a licence nor an airplane...but my excuse is "yeah I can't afford one...so I'm just using a flight simulator...but it's almost as good as the real deal"....
shitty excuse...fact is I'm not a pilot and I should not offer cheap flights in my simulator as the real deal!


if anyone mentiones Joey or AA in this thread I'm gonna delete it...4 threads about that topic in the sneap forum are enough...and those are annoying the fuck out of me anyway..thought about merging them into one already!
Click to expand...

Lasse, perfect post!

At what point did, "They send me only DI and MIDI all the time" become the engineers sole job??

If they send that because YOU didn't track it, then fair enough do it, if they send you crap recorded stuff because they tracked, then do what you can.

But lets be brutal here.

And Ermz you will back this up.

When bands come and go OK. We HAVE the money, we HAVE the material, HELP us get it all perfect
Drums start in 2 days, see you in the studio, give us a list of what we should have.

THESE bands are the serious ones, these are the one you want your name on etc.
You can chose to polish the turds if you think it helps, but you're an engineer, everyone here seems to be realistic here, down to earth and somewhat understanding, so when a band comes to you with the same ethic and ideas, isn't THAT what makes it all worth while??

These basement trackings, these shitting recording you have to mix. DO it, and get paid, but this isn't what is paying the bills etc.

if a band doesn't have the money to record properly don't record....if you can't mic/record a drumkit and an Amp don't call yourself an engineer...
it's really simple....
Click to expand...

That just sums it all up...
 
It's all just evolution. The wheels of time keep moving despite our efforts to keep the images of the past alive. The recording industry of the past is gone. It's peak has happened and now it is on the downward side of a bell curve. Consumer tastes and listening methods have changed, thus the means that records are produced and recorded have changed. People now have options in both how music is made and how it is enjoyed. One has to think of it as a whole entity and not point to any one portion of it - breaking it down to individual components will not reveal the truth, it will only bolster a particular persons portion of the equation.

The technology has advanced to the point that, as has already been noted, a big studio with the overhead in incures, has difficulty competing with the smaller studios, the generally ITB shops. Can you imagine the overhead of say a place like Ocean Way - just the electric bill has to eat up a huge portion of their billing, let alone the upkeep of equipment. While their doors are still open, they are far from their heydays back in the 60's when they were known as United Western Recordings and Bill Putnam was working out deals with the studios to get the stereo recoding he had archived from past sessions and he was billing them for past studio time instead of just wholesaling the tapes. Allen Sides noted that they were pulling in $200,000 a month in billings then (what amounts to about $1,000,000 in today's economy). But that was another time, when you had what you had - the technology for the "hobbyist" the "bedroom warrior" did not exist.

Technology is whats harming the industry, not the people utilizing it. Adapt or die is a common saying and it is very pertinant to this argument. Nordstrom understands that - while he may not like it, he may bemoan the fact that bands are looking for the cheapest rout to fame, that others are infringing upon his area of business, but I'm pretty sure he understands that it's just the life-cycle of the industry. Thats as technology advances and as the ability to turn out product rivaling what once took rooms of equipment and years of study (today one can find what once took years of research and study and schooling, in a mater of minutes on the internet.) While all this readily available knowledge may not convert to actual skills, in some cases it really does. Look at the age of most of the big metal producers, none of them are real young - most seem to be in their mid to late 30's or over 40 - they come from a time before the big digital boom - I mean the first number 1 song mixed completely in the box on Pro Tools was Ricky Martin's "Livin’ La Vida Loca" in 1999. That was only 10 years ago - think about what has happened to digital recording in that short 10 years - the options for producing great sounding recordings has evolved much quicker than analog capabilities did. Just like the song "Video Killed the Radio Star" digital probably killed the large studio. Not dead yet, but once again the saying adapt or die becomes very pertinent.

I think this may even be more pertinent in the metal industry. The current state of metal with it's ultra precise timing, it's edited, reamped and replaced tendencies have made the small digital environment all the more prevalent. As a whole I think more metal is produced in smaller and smaller studios these days than any other form of music (I'm sure their are others such as dance and such, but metal has to be right up there). How many metal producers get the big break anymore - how many really new names simply pop onto your radar and have any "sticktoittiveness" (quite frankly this is why I find Joey Sturgis quite amazing - not because of the tools he uses to get his sound, but the fact that he has become a major name so quickly and he is a young guy in the grand scheme of things.) You keep hearing the same names over and over again. It makes you wonder if the investment is worth the effort - but occasionally someone will break and it gives you encouragement. But given the low likelihood of it - why worry about the small guy. It's not them that are keeping you back.

A true entrepreneur does not worry about someone else - they worry about themselves, about their own limitations and quite frankly they behave like they have none. They believe that they can do what they say regardless of the truth, They believe their idea, their skill will make them money. If not why even try. So as to the guy posting his services when he likely does not have the gear that you do, or the skills that you do, stop worrying about him - he is not holding you back. He believes in himself, so should you. Adapt or die, only the strong survive. it's why the big names are the big names - they learned that lesson. Technology did not hold them back - they adapted to it and mastered it.

While I'm sure this is long and rambling - it's just my thoughts on the matter. I know my limitations, but I also know my aspirations and I'm pretty happy with my place in life - I do not begrudge anyone their success and I applaud the effort of others that do try to get someplace in this business.
 
Lodge said:
I really do get sick of the argument both ways. To be honest, the problem is that everyone of us are just a bunch of douche bags. There are two sides to this argument, those being you guys that own MULTIPLE amps that are more than 1000 U.S. dollars, such as your Engls and Mesas with oversized cabs loaded with vintage 30's, a multitude of mics all more than 100 dollars, the best interfaces with the best converters, etc.

Then you have the guys such as myself, who have the one shitty presonus interface, the solid state amp head not worth mentioning, the second hand mics and whatever else bullshit you could afford.

Both sides really need to feel where the other is coming from. To you guys with the gear: Yes, you probably worked very hard to obtain your 10 thousand dollars worth of recording equipment, and in most cases you are the guys that have way more knowledge and ability, but you really need to realize that some of us, who work hard at a job we hate EVERY day of our lives and spend every dime we make just to make it through the week HAVE to use sims. Do you guys REALLY fucking think that we want to use a goddamn amp in a fucking box? Hell no we don't. We want to fucking mic up a 1200 dollar mesa with a 400 dollar cab and 400 dollar mics and run that shit into an equally expensive console just like you guys. This example is guitars alone! I know I look at some of your gear lists, and I just wonder how the fuck do you manage it? Did you win the fucking lottery? So I'm sure someone will be offended by this and offer some great advice like "save your money" or whatever. My point to this side of the fence is stop being a fucking pretentious douche bag to the lower class, stop turning your fucking nose up at us just because we are not fortunate enough to have what you have, thus we have to work with the hand we were dealt.

Now I move on to the other side of the argument, to the douche bags that use cracked plugs, free amp sims and RadioShack mics or whatever the fuck. You motherfuckers need to realize what the fuck you are doing to the people that have taken YEARS of their life to learn this craft and spent the fucking thousands I mentioned earlier to obtain what they have. If you want to crack a DAW or a plug-in and record your own band or your own shit for your band's promotion, just to have something tangible to hand to someone and say "here, we sound like this," then do what you must. But sweet mother of fuck don't be a douche bag and try to get on myspace and pose as if you have a real fucking studio, trying to charge someone money for some shit you did, when you know damn right you have no clue what the fuck you are doing. I'm not saying all bedroom studios are bullshit, it only applies to the people that try to pass this bullshit off as professional. You everyone fucking sick, and people like you are the reason why the few people left around here that know what the fuck they are talking about don't come around so much.

In closing of this admittedly bullshit rant, all I'm trying to say is this: If you are one of the pros around here with the gear, the knowledge, etc... Just remember where you came from and don't look down on people that have no option other than the ITB route. As Lasse basically said, not everyone can be what they want to be, but everyone has the right to do everything possible, even if that means piracy, to achieve their dream. As for the others, show some fucking respect for these pros. How the hell do you think they feel when every other post is "So i am producering for these local bands and i has my studio with fender squire starter guitar and compaq presario monitors and they are paying me so what what plug-ins do I use ot make it sound good? by the way i have waves diamond and pro tools and the ozone."
:oops: :OMG: :mad: :yuk: :erk: :puke:
Click to expand...

I have to chip in here!

I'm 20, im NOT an AE, I'm simply an IT student.
But since I was 15, I have been working 4days a week minimum, whilst full time schooling/ uni and paying for food/ board whatever at home!

In that time, I've bought a mesa, mesa cab, recording gear, etc.
I've slaved my ass off for my gear for one reason... I want everything to sound as good as I humanly can make it.
I know my Mesa amp/ box + mic + etc will sound better than any amp sim here. Granted, in MY hands right now its still trial and error getting good tone etc, but to a good engineer against a good pod + impulse user, chances are, my sslaving will pay off.

It is what it is, you want the good tone etc, you want to stop using amps in a box/ cracked software... the do it!

I ditched ALL my cracked software excpet Cubase 3...
Not because I dont want to buy it, but becuase I actualyl am happy sticking to 3 and I cant even find a legit copy to buy cause its old :p

I bought monitors off Ermz, some presonus interfaces/ compressors and some tube pres/ a small collection of mics and because I live at home in a non treated house, I am FORCED to do things 100% as possible in the given circumstances.

Personally, I feel I have learned a lot more doing it this way then farting round with amp sims. If i don't like the mic position, I move it... If i don;t like the power amp settings/ I change it...

Hands on with real gear, even not the best gear is still way more beneficial!

This is the last I post for a bit, I just clogged veverything up! Sorry
 
Melb_shredder said:
I ditched ALL my cracked software excpet Cubase 3...
Not because I dont want to buy it, but becuase I actualyl am happy sticking to 3 and I cant even find a legit copy to buy cause its old :p
Click to expand...

Regardless of your desire to "stick with Cubase 3" you owe it to Steinberg to buy a license, no one said you have to install it, but you should at least pay for the tools you choose to use regardless of the version. Keep the box on a shelf and use 3, but don't use cracked goods and try to justify it.

Sorry for the off topic rant.
 
How do I buy a license for old software??

I honestly am VERY happy to do that, don't think I'm avoiding the issue, I just didn't know you can do that!
 
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