http://theprpboard.com/showpost.php?p=236955&postcount=104
This is Matt Wallace posting on a message board a little while ago about the recording of Angel Dust.
***
First off, thanks to all of you for saying such kind words about the work FNM
and I did together on "Angel Dust". I appreciate the props. I don't know if any
of you read Kerrang but about 2 years ago they rated the "Most Influential
Albmus Of All Time" and to my surprise they named "Angel Dust" as the #1 album.
Pretty ****ing cool.
To answer some of your questions, Jim Martin did not like the direction of AD
and referred to it as "gay disco music" and that, coupled with his father dying
just prior to making the record, the big booted fella who was supposed to bring
the 6 string sludge to the table was unable. Bill Gould, the bass player, and I
did many demos at his home (based upon live studio recordings of the primary
players, Bordin on drums, Bottum on keys, and Gould on bass) and he and I worked
out many of the guitar parts. I can't remember exactly but I believe that Bill
played on about 60-70% of the guitars. The band were really at odds at this
point. Patton, Gould, Bottum, and Bordin and I would track the stuff and then
they would leave. Martin would come in after they had left and play guitar. The
following day the band would come in to listen to what Jim had recorded and were
furious! This lead to many, many heated phone conversations between the band
(Bill especially) and Jim Martinl.
The basic tracking was done with almost NO COMPRESSION except about 2dB on the
snare drum and bass guitar. Vocals were recorded with about the same amount.
This was a conscious decision on my part because when "The Real Thing" was being
mastered I almost cried because it sounded so shitty on my home stereo.
Thankfully, though, it sounded ****ing amazing on MTV and radio. Whew! So, as a
direct response to the thin, hyper compressed sound of TRT I went in the exact,
total opposite direction. I did the recording with almost no compression and
then in mastering is when I added the squish so that the entire record was
compressed together instead of individual instruments being compressed.
The recording process was very, very difficult because Jim Martin didn't like
the direction and was reeling from his father's death and this was also the time
that Roddy was coming out of the closet (which really ****ed with Jim Martin).
We were working at Coast and to say that the support at that studio was lame is
an understatement. I will say that Gibbs Chapman, our assistant, was incredible
during the 2" editing portion of the record. He and I were in separate rooms and
were chopping the basic tracks together. However, once that was done I had to
constantly hunt him down for assistance. Anyway, the fact that I was the
producer, engineer, assistant enginer, and phone answerer (the studio had people
call us directly on a phone line in the studio), and the fact that the band was
at odds with eachother, made for a very difficult album to make. I took 3 months
off after the record and was deciding if Iwanted to continue. ha ha. What a
****ing pussy I was back then.
To answer some questions about FNM's "Angel Dust"...
Both "The Real Thing" and "Angel Dust" were cut to a click. For the song "Epic"
there are 28 razor blade edits done on that song to ensure that the drums kept
the pulse. "Falling To Pieces" had about 24 razor blade edits, and oddly enough,
these edits are quite audible if you go back and listen. I don't know how this
happened as I did the edits exactly the same, with the same editing block, etc
as other songs, but FTP ended up with noticable edits. Lots and lots of 2",
razor blade edits on "Angel Dust" to keep the drums relatively tight with the
click.
As to microphones, that was a while ago but I'm prety sure that there was an
SM57 on the snare. A D12E or D20 on the kick with a U47 FET on the beater side
(for Angel Dust), either 414's or 421's on the toms, some fancy assed Neumann or
AKG mics for over heads (set up in a triangulated way-for AD album only-wherein
a large diaphragm mic was positioned directly above the snare and another
similar mic was placed at the far edge of the floor tom aiming towards the
snare. both mics were measured and set to be at the exact same distance from the
snare. on the monitor section these mics were panned opposite of eachother. i
believe that this is an approach discovered or made popular during the Zepplin
era), etc.
Anyway, have to go now. Chat with you all later.
Once again, thank you for your interest in the work that FNM and I did many
years ago. I am thrilled that we did something that has, to this point, stood
the test of time.
Many thanks,
Matt
p.s. I just found a bunch of DAT tapes with FNM stuff on them, outtakes, etc.
Found the source material for the cheerleaders on "Be Aggressive". These gals
were from the school where Patton's dad taught. Fun to listen to some of those
tapes.
This is Matt Wallace posting on a message board a little while ago about the recording of Angel Dust.
***
First off, thanks to all of you for saying such kind words about the work FNM
and I did together on "Angel Dust". I appreciate the props. I don't know if any
of you read Kerrang but about 2 years ago they rated the "Most Influential
Albmus Of All Time" and to my surprise they named "Angel Dust" as the #1 album.
Pretty ****ing cool.
To answer some of your questions, Jim Martin did not like the direction of AD
and referred to it as "gay disco music" and that, coupled with his father dying
just prior to making the record, the big booted fella who was supposed to bring
the 6 string sludge to the table was unable. Bill Gould, the bass player, and I
did many demos at his home (based upon live studio recordings of the primary
players, Bordin on drums, Bottum on keys, and Gould on bass) and he and I worked
out many of the guitar parts. I can't remember exactly but I believe that Bill
played on about 60-70% of the guitars. The band were really at odds at this
point. Patton, Gould, Bottum, and Bordin and I would track the stuff and then
they would leave. Martin would come in after they had left and play guitar. The
following day the band would come in to listen to what Jim had recorded and were
furious! This lead to many, many heated phone conversations between the band
(Bill especially) and Jim Martinl.
The basic tracking was done with almost NO COMPRESSION except about 2dB on the
snare drum and bass guitar. Vocals were recorded with about the same amount.
This was a conscious decision on my part because when "The Real Thing" was being
mastered I almost cried because it sounded so shitty on my home stereo.
Thankfully, though, it sounded ****ing amazing on MTV and radio. Whew! So, as a
direct response to the thin, hyper compressed sound of TRT I went in the exact,
total opposite direction. I did the recording with almost no compression and
then in mastering is when I added the squish so that the entire record was
compressed together instead of individual instruments being compressed.
The recording process was very, very difficult because Jim Martin didn't like
the direction and was reeling from his father's death and this was also the time
that Roddy was coming out of the closet (which really ****ed with Jim Martin).
We were working at Coast and to say that the support at that studio was lame is
an understatement. I will say that Gibbs Chapman, our assistant, was incredible
during the 2" editing portion of the record. He and I were in separate rooms and
were chopping the basic tracks together. However, once that was done I had to
constantly hunt him down for assistance. Anyway, the fact that I was the
producer, engineer, assistant enginer, and phone answerer (the studio had people
call us directly on a phone line in the studio), and the fact that the band was
at odds with eachother, made for a very difficult album to make. I took 3 months
off after the record and was deciding if Iwanted to continue. ha ha. What a
****ing pussy I was back then.
To answer some questions about FNM's "Angel Dust"...
Both "The Real Thing" and "Angel Dust" were cut to a click. For the song "Epic"
there are 28 razor blade edits done on that song to ensure that the drums kept
the pulse. "Falling To Pieces" had about 24 razor blade edits, and oddly enough,
these edits are quite audible if you go back and listen. I don't know how this
happened as I did the edits exactly the same, with the same editing block, etc
as other songs, but FTP ended up with noticable edits. Lots and lots of 2",
razor blade edits on "Angel Dust" to keep the drums relatively tight with the
click.
As to microphones, that was a while ago but I'm prety sure that there was an
SM57 on the snare. A D12E or D20 on the kick with a U47 FET on the beater side
(for Angel Dust), either 414's or 421's on the toms, some fancy assed Neumann or
AKG mics for over heads (set up in a triangulated way-for AD album only-wherein
a large diaphragm mic was positioned directly above the snare and another
similar mic was placed at the far edge of the floor tom aiming towards the
snare. both mics were measured and set to be at the exact same distance from the
snare. on the monitor section these mics were panned opposite of eachother. i
believe that this is an approach discovered or made popular during the Zepplin
era), etc.
Anyway, have to go now. Chat with you all later.
Once again, thank you for your interest in the work that FNM and I did many
years ago. I am thrilled that we did something that has, to this point, stood
the test of time.
Many thanks,
Matt
p.s. I just found a bunch of DAT tapes with FNM stuff on them, outtakes, etc.
Found the source material for the cheerleaders on "Be Aggressive". These gals
were from the school where Patton's dad taught. Fun to listen to some of those
tapes.
