Elm Street - Heart Racer

[Ermz]

It's been a while since I shared something I've worked on with you guys. As I recall, there were some fans here of the first record we did together, so here's the single from Elm Street's new EP, 'Heart Racer'.



The recording process for this one was quite classical. Booked out the best studio in the state for drums, guitars straight into amps, no DIs taken etc. It's part of a larger contingent of songs that will be getting released as their sophomore album, hopefully later in the year. It will be getting a remaster for that to freshen it up a little.

Anyhow, hope you like.

 

[sjcortese]

That sounds really really good! The lead tone kicks ass, liked it a lot

~scott

 

[Melb_shredder]

Loving the music direction so much more than the first album. Mix is tits.

 

[Ermz]

Glad you liked the lead tone. It sounded really impressive blaring through the warehouse during that week. We had all the local tradesmen drop by and compliment Aaron's technique. I recalled something a close friend of mine said as I was listening to Steel Panther in preparation of this record. 'Eating Ain't Cheating' came on, with the solo guitar at the start, and he said to me 'man, they really dialed that amp for maximum cock'. Now, I had no idea what that meant, but I knew he was completely right. So I made it my mission to dial these JVM tones for maximum cock too.

 

[sjcortese]

So I made it my mission to dial these JVM tones for maximum cock too.

 

[Mago]

loving the overheads especially on this!
rest is killer too!

 

[JeffTD]

I hate to be that guy but this definitely goes here: http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/practice-room-413/

 

[Drummerrrrr?]

Where'd you do drums, Ermz? Sing Sing?

 

[Ermz]

We had about 40 different Sabian cymbals to choose from, so the array we had on this kit were by far the best sounding cymbals I've ever heard and/or recorded. Made the overheads a joy to deal with. Here's a shot of the kit:

Yes, that's the Sing Sing Neve room.

 

[guy in latvia]

That's an absolutely beautiful kit!

 

[C_F_H_13]

That is the wierdest looking drum setup ever.

Also, are the 57s on snare by choice or just lack of other options. Always curious cause some people swear by 57s.

 

[Ermz]

It was an awkward one to capture, that's for sure. The bleed between shells and cymbals was great though. The 57s were all on there by necessity. The mic collection in that studio was a little 'aged', and didn't present some of the options one might otherwise go for. I've been meaning to get my own drum mic kit, but realistically I do so little tracking these days that it would just be a waste.

 

[C_F_H_13]

I've been meaning to get my own drum mic kit, but realistically I do so little tracking these days that it would just be a waste.

Really that's the paradox of being an engineer these days. Need to buy better gear cause no studios carry the good shit anymore, but why both when you track so little. But you track so little cause you don't have the gear. But you don't have the gear cause you track so little.

 

[kaomao]

how much sample is there on snare? is it a sample of the kit?

I love the drums sound, I would have gone for a less "clicky clickyky click" on the kick, but all is sounding great anyway

 

[Ermz]

Snare is completely natural. Kick has a bit of top-end to it to handle some of the faster songs. Heartracer is probably the slowest, most mid-paced track on the album... apart from the ballad. Glad you like the sound though - it's very true to how the kit sounded in the studio - almost 100% natural.

 

[lanky noob]

Saw these guys a month or so ago when they toured the UK. Real nice guys!

Can't help but think the drums must've been difficult to capture though, after seeing the way the guy beat the living fuck out of his hats live. I'm surprised they weren't destroyed by the end of the first song!

 

[kaomao]

Snare is completely natural. Kick has a bit of top-end to it to handle some of the faster songs. Heartracer is probably the slowest, most mid-paced track on the album... apart from the ballad. Glad you like the sound though - it's very true to how the kit sounded in the studio - almost 100% natural.

Then you're God Ermz...
This truly proves that you can get great sounding drums with just mics and no samples!
I absolutely love this recording!
I gotta improve my skills....

 

[Ermz]

I don't know about that, but I'm glad you like it. Hope the guys get their asses in gear and we can drop the full length soon.

Since the secret is out anyway on account of Glenn and Nolly sharing it, between Drum Leveler and Pro-MB you don't really need to use samples anymore if you don't want to. Obviously you need to go in with well tuned drums and good engineering to pull it off, but it's no longer beyond our reach in metal. I'm glad too, because that 00s plastic drum aesthetic was starting to really wear thin on me.

 

[Mago]

What I like about keeping snares natural, is that the room mics work so much better when there's no sample on the snare. It also benefits from a natural snare. Just keeps it all together more.

 

[Ermz]

What I like about keeping snares natural, is that the room mics work so much better when there's no sample on the snare. It also benefits from a natural snare. Just keeps it all together more.

Yes, the snare tends to glue a lot better without the sample. You have to constantly be watching out for phase discrepancies though, because any move on the EQ can put the snare back out of phase with the OHs etc. That's one of the most frustrating elements of mixing natural drums.

I hate to be that guy but this definitely goes here: http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/practice-room-413/

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/bar/979564-new-song-my-own-band-lyric-video.html

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/bar/979529-partum-vita-mortem-album-stream.html

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/bar/978094-orpheus-omega-karma-favours-weak.html

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/bar/978447-vicious-head-society-psychedelic-torture-trip.html

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/bar/976994-orpheus-omega-conception.html

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/bar/975682-my-band-hudson-horrors-debut-album.html

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/bar/975468-kostas-milonas-imprisoned-official-video.html

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/bar/975265-orpheus-omega-beacons.html

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/bar/974701-my-band-signed-razor-tie-recently.html

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/bar/973384-some-more-inner-sanctum-songs.html