Questions for Briand Hood

[HCL]

I'm a fan of your work, so I'd be super stoked to get some info.

What plugins do you generally find yourself using? Could you take us through your approach to guitar tones?

Do you use any crazy processing (for any instrument)? Is there anything you do that would surprise people?

What would you say are the biggest problems you hear in mixes, from amateur to big productions?

Are there any mixing/tracking/production steps you've taken since you started that have made a noticeable difference to the quality of your work?

Have you ever had to deal with putting out something you weren't happy with and if so how did you approach it and did you learn anything from it that has stuck with you?

 

[youngandloaded]

Hey Brian! I have a question! I was wondering, what mic do you most often use for clean vocals? I know it depends on voice, but you have to have one "go to" mic!

 

[cafadeon]

Hoping to keep this tread alive!
First off, love your work Brian! Espeically the Gideon stuff. Guitar tones are massive
1- Do you have any specific settings for the 5150? If so, do you recall the settings on the Gideon releases?
2-How do you approach micing, dual mics? freeman, shavering or any other techniques? Any deafault spot which is a 'go to' on the mesa cab?
3- Do you have plans on selling kemper rig packs?
4- If you can't tell, I lOVE the guitar tones
Thanks a million!

 

[Bystah]

Hey man


I'd love to know your snare chain. How much gain reduction, what compressors and what settings you usually go for.

Thanks a ton.

 

[brianhood]

I'm a fan of your work, so I'd be super stoked to get some info.

What plugins do you generally find yourself using? Could you take us through your approach to guitar tones?

-For guitars, I keep plugins fairly tame. I get 90% there with the tone from the amp. From there, it's just a matter of understanding my cabs, the style of music I'm mixing, and how the tone sounds in the mix. My typical post processing on guitars consists of a simple SSL EQ, C4, and maybe some sort of stereo image (which is rare these days).

I feel like I've actually gotten more and more simple with plugins over the years. There used to be a lot of worthless shit that I did just for the sake of feeling like I was "doing something special."



Do you use any crazy processing (for any instrument)? Is there anything you do that would surprise people?

-my drum processing can get pretty insane sometimes (especially for snare).



What would you say are the biggest problems you hear in mixes, from amateur to big productions?

-I'd say a lot of amateurs have the problem of doing most things shitty.



Have you ever had to deal with putting out something you weren't happy with and if so how did you approach it and did you learn anything from it that has stuck with you?

-Yes, something recently actually. I mixed a full length that was tracked and edited so poorly that I had to tell the band that I did not want my name publicly associated with the mix in any way. I did my best to get them the best sounding mix that I could, but I tell bands this: I can polish most turds, but I can't polish diarrhea.

 

[brianhood]

Hey Brian! I have a question! I was wondering, what mic do you most often use for clean vocals? I know it depends on voice, but you have to have one "go to" mic!

at4040. Not too expensive, but very effective.

 

[brianhood]

Hoping to keep this tread alive!

1- Do you have any specific settings for the 5150? If so, do you recall the settings on the Gideon releases?


- Gideon 5150
Bass- 8
Mid- 2
highs- 6
pre gain- 3.5
post gain- (just past the gain break)
resonance- full
presence- 7.3

Also used a Maxon OD 808
Drive- 9 O' Clock
Tone- Noon
Balance- 1 O'Clock


2-How do you approach micing, dual mics? freeman, shavering or any other techniques? Any deafault spot which is a 'go to' on the mesa cab?

-I've experimented with a lot of techniques, but honestly the best sounding for me is single sm57 straight on the speaker. Bottom left speaker on both of my Mesa cabs.



3- Do you have plans on selling kemper rig packs?

-Absolutely not. Do you have any idea how hard it is to develop your "own sound" in mixing? hahaha

 

[Alphanumeric]

When you say you're just going with the RBI for bass are you literally going straight in and using the wet signal? No DI taken? But you split up the Sansamp signal which is dialed to have clean lows and grit to the high mids?

 

[Christian WUFU]

Which drum vstis were used on the last two Erra releases? Or did you strictly use drum and cymbal samples that you had made yourself?

And to answer the last poster's question, if you listen to an isolated bass track from one of his mixes it definitely sounds like the samsamp is used on both tracks, no DI.

 

[thaz16]

bump so Brian might see the thread !

Few questions for you brian!

- Whats your approach with kick EQ. Do you make it sit lower or higher than the bass?

- Any tips to make your snare have that ''snap'' to it?

- Do you sometime use midi bass? If so how different it is to mix it compared to a real bass

- I saw your TSE x50 tutorial. Have you used it on a production recently?

Thanks!

 

[brianhood]

When you say you're just going with the RBI for bass are you literally going straight in and using the wet signal? No DI taken? But you split up the Sansamp signal which is dialed to have clean lows and grit to the high mids?

You are basically correct. I do actually record the DI as well, but that is just so I can reamp later on, if needed. I'm not blending the DI as part of the tone though.

bump so Brian might see the thread !

Few questions for you brian!

- Whats your approach with kick EQ. Do you make it sit lower or higher than the bass?

- Any tips to make your snare have that ''snap'' to it?

- Do you sometime use midi bass? If so how different it is to mix it compared to a real bass

- I saw your TSE x50 tutorial. Have you used it on a production recently?

Thanks!

I'll answer some of these, but the question about kick and snare are better suited for video, not text.

I use MIDI bass all the time. It obviously sounds fake, but it sits in the mix much better, as it's more consistent. If there is a bass solo somewhere, I try to track real bass there.

I have not actually used TSE x50 in a mix, as I prefer my own guitar tones. It's a solid amp sim though.

 

[AscentToZenith]

I don't have any question. I just wanted to say this guy is god at what he does lol. I strive to become half as good.

 

[sander]

You are basically correct. I do actually record the DI as well, but that is just so I can reamp later on, if needed. I'm not blending the DI as part of the tone though.




I'll answer some of these, but the question about kick and snare are better suited for video, not text.

I use MIDI bass all the time. It obviously sounds fake, but it sits in the mix much better, as it's more consistent. If there is a bass solo somewhere, I try to track real bass there.

I have not actually used TSE x50 in a mix, as I prefer my own guitar tones. It's a solid amp sim though.

In case of going the midi bass route, which sample library do you prefer ? I've played around with zombass 2 but it almost feels like it has some intonation issues.

 

[brianhood]

In case of going the midi bass route, which sample library do you prefer ? I've played around with zombass 2 but it almost feels like it has some intonation issues.

I use a custom made NKI that a friend made with a '72 Fender Jazz bass. It's only 127 velocity, but that's all I ever use when I'm programming heavy music anyways. It sounds better than anything else I've tried.

Unfortunately it's not something that's commercially available to purchase though.

 

[dsgseven7]

Little bumping to know if you have some tips for balancing low end. You always seems to have the perfect balance in you mixes

 

[MoTang]

Whatever happened to drum trunk? (I think that's what it was called)