In Flames' Recording of New Album

[vile_ator]

Wow. To me that micing situation is a little wierd. Like someone said already, when you get the mics that close you get this phasey swishy sound from the cymbols. They are just too close to the cymbols. Andy says 18 inches to 2 feet and I agree.

I didnt even see the toms close miced. Are there close mics on the toms or just those overheads?

Then he has a small diapham condenser on the floor tom. The big black mic is a Neumann, and the others are something else but they are all large diaphram condensors. Probably similar to Neumann U47's or so.

Didnt like the drum sound on In Flames especially the snare so we know what this technique yeilds.

Colin

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

In defense of Bergstrand:

"This week IN FLAMES climbed up to #3 on the MTV UP NORTH list, so again: thanx all that voted. Click here to keep IN FLAMES on the chart another week."

"2/7/2005 - Wins Grammy Awards !
In Flames wins Swedish Grammy awards !"

"12/29/2004 - IN FLAMES are worth 10 awards...
Swedish News reporter Mattias Kling says IN FLAMES are worth 10 awards, speaking of the annual "ROCKBJÖRNEN" where In Flames (as previously announced) are nominated in 2 categories: best record and best group."

 

[Kazrog]

I would also like to defend Bergstrand... I like the sound of the drums on his stuff! Distintctive, different, but everything that's supposed to be there is there, and the mixes sound great as a whole.

 

[commandante]

I feel like Genius was being sarcastic though

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

No actually I wasnt kidding. Not that awards have ever meant anything to me. All I'm saying is that his snare sound can't be that bad if he's helping sell albums. But I don't have a problem with people who don't like his sound. I didn't like it at first, then I loved it, and now I'm more in the middle. I think the new Soilwork sound is a perfect medium by the way.

 

[Obscura]

I haven't listened to In Flames in a long time but I think the drum tones on the new Behemoth are probably the best I've ever heard as far as capturing a more 'extreme' drummer.

 

[commandante]

I don't necessarily agree that selling well equals good sound, but anyhow.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Hey guys, I took a serious look at those overhead mics: They're Nady RSM-2 Ribbons. Look closely: They're hardwired.

Actually, over in Europe they're branded as a "T-Bone" and here in Canada, they're branded "Apex" Regardless, they all come from China!

I just got my hands on one recently, and for metal vocals & heavy rhythms, they're quite cool. I've yet to try it out in the overhead application, but now it's really got my interest peaked.

The Ribbon has a pretty tight polar pattern, as it's a figure 8. That might explain why they're using so many of them. BTW, they're dirt cheap (about $260 CDN, you do the math)

All in all, they're not only a great mic for the price, but a great mic period. I highly recommend getting at least one.

Here's a pic of the Nady.... look farmiliar?

And a close look at the InFlames pic

And one from my studio, this time badged in blue, and with a slightly different grille head.

 

[egan.]

Thanks for the research Oz.
So he close miced every cymbal with a figure 8? Interesting.

 

[Ermz]

Makes sense. There's some great stuff coming out of China for dirt cheap at the moment.

 

[Daunt]

the t.bone RB500:
http://www.thomann.de/thoiw2_the_tbone_rb500_prodinfo.html

 

[Where She Wept]

Personally, i think the drums on "Reroute" and "Soundtrack" sucked some major ass. I'll take Lar's "St anger" snare sound over those last 2 in flames. It doesn't even sound like the kick was muffeled, so all the defintion was lost on the double kick parts. If they wanted a good mic'ed drum sound they sound they should have used 2 kicks instead of 1. The enginer i record with has gotten better drum sounds with triggers and a DM5. Not to mention the guitars are eq'd to hell.
a
On the flip side, musically i think "Soundtrack" kicks ass. It might be my favorite In Flames album.

 

[estigma2001]

Personally, i think the drums on "Reroute" and "Soundtrack" sucked some major ass. I'll take Lar's "St anger" snare sound over those last 2 in flames. It doesn't even sound like the kick was muffeled, so all the defintion was lost on the double kick parts. If they wanted a good mic'ed drum sound they sound they should have used 2 kicks instead of 1. The enginer i record with has gotten better drum sounds with triggers and a DM5. Not to mention the guitars are eq'd to hell.
a
On the flip side, musically i think "Soundtrack" kicks ass. It might be my favorite In Flames album.

for me STYE sounds awfull as R2R but Reroute has better songwriting, IF is now more simple in terms of music, check Clayman or Colny killer songwrinting, killer dual armonies, killer solos, killer sound!!!!! and i dont know why those "simple" cds (R2R and STYE) sold more, who knows!!! St anger sold more than EXodus Tempo and Tempo is ten million times better cd

 

[ForeclosureOfSorrow]

i smell another poorly produced album again. great... i wouldnt have minded reroute and soundtrack so much if the sound was better. Sounds like pure mud. This is gonna be a real shame.

 

[ooG]

Makes no sense to me at all... why is the kit placed in a corner of the room?doesn't that cause unwanted reflections to all of the mics plus uncontrolled boost on low freqs of the room response?

 

[Andy Sneap]

I tried the Royer stuff out since everyone was raving about it, again fig 8 ribbon, and could I get anything good out of it.....nope! I even had John Royer contact me after he saw my comments on Gearslutz, but I had to be honest and say it just wasn't for me. I'd love to find something better than a 57 but I'm still looking....

 

[Nitronium Blood]

As posted by Andy on:

http://gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php3?p=236300&highlight=royer#post236300

"I'm amazed at the amount of people liking the Royer, I borrowed one the other week and sent it back within a day, didn't rock my world in the slightest.
Always come back to the good ol 57 on a vintage 30...ho hum."

 

[Nitronium Blood]

Umm Andy... what is H***** P*** I** ?

 

[~BURNY~]

Thanks for the tips OzNimbus!
I was pretty curious about those t-bone ribbon microphone: (I already have an sm57 clone but it's not very convincing)

I always wanted to try ribbon microphones, maybe I will consider bying some of them.

 

[~BURNY~]

I tried the Royer stuff out since everyone was raving about it, again fig 8 ribbon, and could I get anything good out of it.....nope! I even had John Royer contact me after he saw my comments on Gearslutz, but I had to be honest and say it just wasn't for me. I'd love to find something better than a 57 but I'm still looking....

Did you try on anything else but guitars? Overheads for example? I heard that Steve Albini (ok, not so metal but still a great producer imho) always use XY couple with figure 8 microphones (that I suspect to be ribbons). Listening to Neurosis stuff, it sounds huge, sweet and natural. Maybe not suitable for tight metal but worth the try (considering the price of course).