Dan in Zero Tolerance Magazine.

[Teh Noonster]

Dan Swanö is not a producer. Well, not these days, but even a cursory glance at the man's resume is packed with the stuff that the fans of metal, prog and other disparate genres have been fawning over for decades. He's been in a few decent bands, too, come to think. Lord Randall cracks open the door to Unisound for a glimpse behind the scenes.


"I was always interested in production. I have been recording stuff for as long as I can remember, and I was always fascinated by the fact that I sounded so much cooler on tape than in real life". Quips the man who has likely had a hand in at least five percent of most of our metal music collections. Such a percentage may not seem all that impressive from the start, but when one considers the sheer volume of quality musicians Dan Swanö has partnered with in some form or another since 1988 to the present day, the impact this multi-talented Swede has had on our beloved brutality becomes substantially more noticeable. How then, did he get his start? "Apart from working with local demo bands and my own band, I think my first real album was was Harvey Wallbanger's Sick Jar of Jam, only released on vinyl". Did past experience in a studio stoke the flames in his demon heart to flame? Was owning his own studio a dream of young Swanö when growing-up in the always vibrant musical climate of his homeland? "I have always been toying around with recordings in one way or another" begins Dan. "I have done stuff on an AKAI reel-to-reel sound-on-sound machine, Philips dual-tape decks, 4-tracks, 8-tracks, 16-tracks, ADATs, hard-drive ports, you name it. I never planned to open a studio of my own. It just so happened that the word spread and the phone never stopped ringing!"

First, though, came Gorysound, Dan's initial foray into his own studio, which, as we are soon to learn, fell victim to an identity crisis of sorts. All for the best, though. Dan elaborates: "In the early days, it wasn't really a fully functioning entity. I thought it would be cool to have various names on the studio so that guys thought I worked with other studios! I remember one review of a Dissection record where the critic said that the album sounded better then my previous stuff because it was done at Hellspawn not Gorysound! Unisound became the name because it reflected that Unicorn was the owner, simple as that!"

The technical aspects of what would become Unisound have, like our illustrious subject's career, morphed and grown since the start, the studio progressing into a state-of-the-art facility yet one that knows when to leave well enough alone. "In the really early days, I had two four-track portables from Yamaha. I'd record drums and guitar on one, then record that in a mix to two tracks on the other portable, and lastly added bass and vocals. Sometimes we mixed all that together, then went back to the first again for backing vocals and guitar solos. The sound was pretty cool despite the low bandwidth of TDK SA-X cassettes! Then my brother bought a Fostex R8 with the additional console, and I borrowed that as much as I could."This specific recorder was then used to document at least one undeniable piece of black metal history, though none of the participants knew such at the time. "I did the first Marduk demo and their first album on that rig. After a while, I got myself a Fostex B16, and later an E16, which opened up a lot of new possibilities. I bought a Soundcraft console and started to shop audio monitors," to which Dan quips, "and that was the beginning of my downfall! I should have stuck to my old stuff that I knew instead of listening to what other guys told me about the importance of the proper basstraps, etc. I had my shit going there for a while and degraded my sound with every new thing i bought, which was very clumsy. These days I work with a powerful computer and some additional DSP cards. I can run a hilarious amount of tracks, and I am very happy!"

What, then, are the items he could not live without? "I love the fact that I don't have to work with a console, outboards and tape machines anymore. One powerful computer replaces them all for me. I have a sound in my head, and I can finally achieve it. I love my Genelec monitors. Those are of the more Star Trekkie kind with the DSP calibration that integrates them into the subwoofer 100% into the room where I work, evening out all the acoustic problems. I would also find it hard to live without my UAD cards and my Superior drums." Yet with all these weapons in his arsenal of audio assault for production, of late Swanö prefers the role of mixing. "I am a big fan of mixing. I think mastering can be fun, too, but mixing is where my heart is. I don;t know why I love it so much, but there's just something about taking the raw sounds, tweaking them until they shine, then blending them all together into a powerful concoction."

Known as a man versatile on almost as many instruments as albums he's worked on, does he feel it's beneficial - even vital, as some would say - for a producer to be well-versed in the playing of music, as well? Not surprisingly, Swanö states, "I do believe that you must see beyond an individual performance and see the big picture to succeed as a producer. To become a celebrated mixer or engineer, I think it helps to be a multi-instrumentalist, and I know how hard it can be to get the instruments to sound good at the first stage." Still, legend though he may be in his chosen field, his requirements for who he will work with are nearly unheard of in this day of overly greedy producers glomming onto only those few bands who offer guaranteed financial return. Even more so, as Dan comes from a school where the producer grows with a band, not only seeking established acts - to good result, as we come to see. "I work with anyone! I am the most unpicky well-known studio owner on the planet! All the bands that I recorded who went on to greater things kinda sucked the first time around, but we remained faithful to each other and grew together. Millencolin is a great example. They sucked so hard that I planned to fake a disease of some kind to not having to work with them the second day! I am happy I toughed it out and mixed that demo. It gave me a gold record in the end."

Figured you guys might appreciate it. I recommend looking up the mag too, really good coverage.

 

[Mr. Niel]

I like when Dan talks shop.

I distinctly remember an email to me that said "I hate Drumkit From Hell!" He must've meant the first version...

The new version (Superior 2.0) is supposed to be real nice! I haven't tried it yet though...

 

[Deadlift]

Thanx for posting...although I didn't understood anything.

 

[Earthbound]

Many thanks for this! Great reading!

 

[AlexGuinness]

Is this in a recent issue?

I know they had a feature on Dan in one of the early issues, a few years ago too.

 

[M.Lehto]

Any change that someone with the magazine could take a pic or scan the October Falls-part (either interview or review, I'm not sure what's on it) and PM me?

 

[Dan Swanö]

I like when Dan talks shop.

I distinctly remember an email to me that said "I hate Drumkit From Hell!" He must've meant the first version...

The new version (Superior 2.0) is supposed to be real nice! I haven't tried it yet though...

Superior is not DFH. I think DFH sounds ass. But some of the snares can work with a little bit of a tweak. Superior 2 is great too, but not as expressive as the first, but definately more "mix ready" for the bucks. I like that Superior 1 sounds "unfinsished and rough" so I can tweak to my own taste, and not end up have the same drumsound like a million homedemos

D

 

[Mr. Niel]

Superior is not DFH. I think DFH sounds ass. But some of the snares can work with a little bit of a tweak. Superior 2 is great too, but not as expressive as the first, but definately more "mix ready" for the bucks. I like that Superior 1 sounds "unfinsished and rough" so I can tweak to my own taste, and not end up have the same drumsound like a million homedemos

D

Well, not to mince words, but it is actually called dfh Superior (the dfh standing for drumkit from hell)

http://toontrack.com/dfh_superior.asp

Seems they've dropped the dfh part for Superior 2.0

Regardless, I know what you mean about the first version of DFH before Superior 1. It was way too "mixed" to start out with. Superior has the raw sounds you need for making your own drum mixes!

Are you still using drumagog too, Dan?

 

[Skaldir]

Nice read.
For triggering I use ApTrigga, because on my system it's more accurate than Drumagog. I had big problems with Drumagog in the mixdown.
I can totally recommend ApTrigga, because it's only 35 Euro and very accurate. Maybe because its from Switzerland

 

[Cheiron]

Is it really hard to get a good natural drum sound out of ... well just playing a drum kit? I'm not sure why programmed drums & triggers are used so much.

 

[Skaldir]

Is it really hard to get a good natural drum sound out of ... well just playing a drum kit? I'm not sure why programmed drums & triggers are used so much.

Atleast it takes a lot of experience in recording and you also need some very expensive things. Good Drumkit, Cymbals, and ok room atleast, good microphones are also very important.
I'm very happy that just a few weeks ago I had a drum recording session which turned out very fine, and I didn't need to replace anything.
Not really metal though.

 

[Mr. Niel]

Atleast it takes a lot of experience in recording and you also need some very expensive things. Good Drumkit, Cymbals, and ok room atleast, good microphones are also very important.
I'm very happy that just a few weeks ago I had a drum recording session which turned out very fine, and I didn't need to replace anything.
Not really metal though.

Great preamps don't hurt either!

 

[123=7]

Great preamps don't hurt either!

Also a good drummer is nothing to sneeze at!

 

[Dan Swanö]

Preamps are overrated!!

D

 

[L0bster]

Preamps are overrated!!

D

Same goes for expensive microphones!

 

[Dan Swanö]

I second that

 

[Skaldir]

Yeah, most of the price comes from measuring the capsules and then they had 0.02 db more at 400 hz they go to the trash.
To be honest I'd like to get that trash
I mean this expensive mics from Neumann, Shoeps etc. are really good, but the difference to cheaper mics isn't that big.
I had the chance to compare Sennheiser MKH40, Shoeps Mk-5, Neumann 184 and Oktava mk-012.
If I could choose I'd pic the Shoeps because it was clearly the best. But those Oktavas are also very very good and are so much cheaper.

 

[AnTz0r]

yeah and when you do get that neumann, and say, you need a new tube in it because it broke. you take it to neumann and you get a 500 euro bill to install a new tube for which the listprice is less than 10 euro... ripoff!

 

[weemies]

Preamps are overrated!!

D

No kidding! And thank you. Seeing a great producer like yourself saying things like this makes me feel more comfortable about my stance on this issue. You see ridiculous amounts of preamp hype in places like Gearslutz. I was actually persuaded into buying a Great River single channel pre thanks to places like GS... and I'm strictly a home studio guy who writes/records stuff pretty much for myself! Not to mention I already had an FMR RNP, which is a fine pre. Personally, I think it's all a big hoax. The differences as far as I can hear are miniscule. I can even get good sounding stuff through my dirt cheap ART Tube MP. Ears are the piece of gear that really matter in the end.