Ok next! Jens Bogren, Katatonia etc...

[myownsilence]

I know this is Andy Sneaps little place, but I came upon it due to my fascination with metal recordings. I have loved Katatonia for years and love the work that Jen Bogren is pulling of, all in the same vein as Andy no doubt.

Im not happy though. I don't want to copy Jens but I do love his workj and others like him, like many of you here probably do. I want to get myself sounding like a big fuck of metal band.

I appreciate source being the most important thing, getting mic technique right and as I have laughed at, this C4 "preset". I hate presets with every vein in my body, my mixing skills are not bad but my recording ones are.


What are you looking for when recording, how do you know when the sound is good. Ultimately I never hear anything sound like the real thing through a microphone, so what should it sound like?

I have been told as close as.

Um... yes but my point remains, nothin sounds the the original thing, even with a £3000 LDC.


So what am I listening for? How do I know when the sound is what I want? It seems so different trying to work that out in context compaired to hearing the real thing.

 

[abyssofdreams]

Train your ears. As much as possible. It is all in your ability to hear things and the experience
that this and that works. This takes YEARS, no matter which path you choose. Don't get your hopes too high.

 

[AudioPhile777]

Record > listen > move mic > rinse > repeat.

 

[abyssofdreams]

Or where you specifically asking for what Jens and Castillo do?

 

[myownsilence]

It would be an interesting insite to know more of what they do. I got a few tips from jens a few years back but I think I never really asked about recording.

I got tricks like C4 boosting at 80-240 on the bass.

But I never really gained from the bigger picture.


And to this day, we are talking 4 years now, I cannot crack distorted guitars.

Its fucked it up for me so much I tend not to bother with distortion anymore, maybe its cos Im getting older who knows, I love listening to stuff like Daylight Dies, but its got a fantastic sound I cannot reproduce. I get closer with a nice warm bodied acoustic.

You getting me, the stuff I do sucks shit to this day.

I'd love to do the rinse repeat record thing, but every time it arrives at the guitars sounding shit.


So Like I say I got back to micing up an acoustic it sounds fine.


I can conclude after moving that mic around that its gotta be kit quality. I made some changes recently and sold of older pre amps etc and upgraded and it helped, imagine what £10000 does for you.

 

[myownsilence]

After my last statement, I found that its is all about mic placement and source setup, in fact I get a lot closer to stuff worrying about that and forgetting EQ and compression etc, they are just consistancy tools, and if you get stuff sounding consistant to start with they can go out with the baby and the bathwater!

 

[John_C]

well if you get something good in the first place then yes, eq and comp et al become far less important.

 

[myownsilence]

When we are all trying hard to get quality home recordings, are we considering that EQ and compression can be important?


I can't believe that pro's really rely on EQ as much as we do at home. And witht hat in mind the issue appears to come from the fact that we could just move stuff around tweak more outside of the bx first as if the pros haven't relied on EQ/compression for such extreeme cases in the past, what makes us think we are any different?

 

[LosingReality]

Just to add some comments.

My biggest problem is.....I can get a good recorded tone through an SM57.....then sitting thinking. "Hey, maybe i can make it better?" Then i move the mic and lose that good tone and im back a square one. lol Im always changing shit.

 

[xturbox]

if you want details of what DD guys do go to there forum here. Eagan (the bassist) is also their sound eng and he can give you a few tips how they miced guitars. I know Barre has 5150 head, do not remember cab and he puts only noise gate before the amp. The heavy guitars are usually quad tracked panned 100% and 90 something. The 90% panned guitars have a bit more lower part and less gain like 4-5 that adds definition and clears up heavy guitars.

 

[Omega_Void]

After my last statement, I found that its is all about mic placement and source setup

I also find the room is a bigger factor than one might expect. Folks say that close-micing will cut the room ambience out, but I'd say "de-emphasise the room sound" is more truthful way to put it.

Move the cab around in the room as well, not just move the mic relative to the cab. Sometimes makes a useful difference.

And tweak up the rhythmguitar and bassguitar sounds together. Often the overall sound I'm happy with comes from a gtr sound and a bass sound which I'm not particularly wild about if I hear them separately.

 

[Metaltastic]

+1 on the room having an effect, but I've always been happy just getting the cab as far away from any reflective surfaces as possible, including the floor (I put it up on the edge of a coffee table)

 

[Metaltastic]

And though it's not really related to the topic at hand, still an excellent read (especially when the man himself chimes in )

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/andy-sneap/429348-jens-bogren-my-new-hero.html

 

[DanLights]

And though it's not really related to the topic at hand, still an excellent read (especially when the man himself chimes in )

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/andy-sneap/429348-jens-bogren-my-new-hero.html

wow awesome thread, Im still reading through it!

 

[myownsilence]

Thanks for that, im a jens fan myself!

 

[myownsilence]

Wow what a thread cleared up some wierd shit like the 3 tracks on the bass, I had always wondered why one side sounded, different sightly but worked so well..


And I have spent far too long on trying to get the sound, but im pleased to see I was on the right lines with the parallel compression..


ITS SHAMELESS that nobody hear asked about the real hilight of the album though ABSOLUTELY shameless.

The vocals!