http://www.dpsinsider.com/forums/tags/power-station Bongiovi Acoustics DPS Community en-US Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:19:05 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://www.dpsinsider.com/forums/search.php http://www.dpsinsider.com/forums/topic/avalon-session-log-032510#post-217 Thu, 25 Mar 2010 22:08:10 +0000 Joseph Beaty 217@http://www.dpsinsider.com/forums/ <p>Great post man! Cannot wait to see some pics and video on this. </p> http://www.dpsinsider.com/forums/topic/avalon-session-log-032510#post-216 Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:46:13 +0000 Ryan Copt 216@http://www.dpsinsider.com/forums/ <p>So I showed up to the studio early on Tuesday to a monstrosity of a drumset. Two enourmous 24" x 36" kick drums with (sharp) spikes sticking out of them and a matching 14" x 8.5" snare with the same spikes! This is the signature set for Jason Mooney (Acrophet, Rob Anthony, Sacred Reich). It was made by Devil's Workshop drums: <a href="http://www.devilsworkshopdrums.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.devilsworkshopdrums.com</a>. Jason came in to record this kit and get some video of him playing it for Devil's Workshop to display in their booth at the upcoming NAMM show. Along with the custom pieces were four toms: 8 and 10 inch racks and 14 and 16 inch floors, 8 cymbals of various sizes and types, and hi-hats.</p> <p>Knowing that this session was all about showcasing not only Jason's talent, but also the custom kicks and snare, my workflow was a bit different from the norm. Usually I will mic up the entire kit then get sounds, swap mics, and play with placement with the drummer rocking out on the whole drumset. This day, I decided to focus on the kicks alone, the snare alone, then mic up the rest and tweak from there.</p> <p>First on the "to-do" list was getting sounds on the kick drums. I began with my typical, go-to microphone combination for heavy-metal kick drums. A Heil PR-40 inside of the drum about 6-7 inches from the beater head, and a BLUE Bluebird angled slightly off-axis about 7-8 inches from the resonant head. Upon listening to the inside mic, I quickly realized this was not going to work. The drums were so large inside, that the sound resonated like crazy. (Most metal drummers come in with a fairly dead kick drum to make for easy triggering and/or to provide a very short, articulated sound.... But, this was a stadium kit... big, huge, bombastic and loud... of course the inside mic wasn't going to work [cue me smacking myself in the head]) However, the Bluebird on the outside worked exactly as I always expect it to. A nice, fat, extended bottom end. Add a touch of EQ to remove some knock in the low mids and a little resonance in the high-mids... BEAUTIFUL! It sounded very tight and well defined.... threatening to turn my NS-10s (studio monitors) into confetti. Those drums have some SERIOUS power!!!! So, I had my low end "BOOM" taken care of, but this is metal music. High frequency articulation is a necessity, so I placed one of my trusty Rode NT-5s to look right at where the beater was striking the drum (about 5" inches away). I headed back into the control room to take a listen. Again, I used a hint of EQ to make the attack more aggressive on the beater mic and to remove a bit of mud from the low-mid frequencies. The combination was perfect. A massive sound to complement and capture a massive drum. I matched the mic choices, placement and general EQ for the second kick drum and put a nice big check mark next to task #1.</p> <p>Next was the snare. My first choice was a Heil PR-20 a couple inches above the rim looking at where the stick strikes the skin. It sounded nice, but Jason and I both felt that it was lacking a bit of power. Second choice was the trusty Shure SM7 positioned in the same way. It took a bit of fancy footwork to get it positioned (this is a rather large microphone). Back to the other side of the glass to take a listen. KAPOW! That did the trick. I patched the Motown EQ (you'll hear a lot about these guys from everyone posting in both of our studio forums, I'm certain) into the insert and cranked the 320hz and 5Khz to accent the nice solid thud and give a good snap. Normally, I would pair a bottom snare mic, but this proved to be completely unnecessary. The SM7 captured every bit of the drum with ease.</p> <p>Finally, I mic'd the rest of the kit up. I went with Sennheiser MD504s for the two rack toms. They sound very similar to an MD421 with a slightly tighter bottom and a more articulated attack. I tend to like them quite a bit on smaller toms. CAD M179s took care of floor tom duties. I like to set the continuously variable polar pattern on these to somewhere between Cardiod and Hyper-Cardiod. It gives a great punch, well defined attack, and does a great job of eliminating bleed from cymbals. Next I brought out my trusty AKG C414s (far and away the most used mics in my collection). One of them was positioned over each side of the set with a Cardiod pickup pattern to take care of added tone on the drums and to pick up all of the cymbals. Jason rocked out for a bit while I ran back and forth to make minor adjustments to my microphone placement, and before long everything was sounding great. I had planned to set up a pair of Earthworks TC30Ks as room mics and possibly an additional spot mic for the hi-hats. These proved unecessary after hearing everything else working together.</p> <p>Paul Kronk and Michael Hoffman, in the meantime, had gotten the lighting package and the camera set up for video. Jason played several times through some select Slayer songs allowing Paul to film him from several angles. He then did some freestyle jamming.</p> <p>This session was a ton of fun. Once everything is mixed and the video is edited, I'll make sure to get links to where it can be viewed/heard. These drums sound absolutely insane. The kick drums are the loudest, most aggressive things I've ever heard.</p> <p>P.S. - Rob Summers just came in and put 2 pennies on my desk to make sure that his 2¢ made it into this........ *shakes head* </p> http://www.dpsinsider.com/forums/topic/nonpoint-at-power-station#post-211 Wed, 24 Mar 2010 13:56:39 +0000 Joseph Beaty 211@http://www.dpsinsider.com/forums/ <p>Tribute was off the album, Statement. 2000 release. </p> http://www.dpsinsider.com/forums/topic/nonpoint-at-power-station#post-204 Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:18:52 +0000 Rob Roy 204@http://www.dpsinsider.com/forums/ <p>Which record was that off of? </p> http://www.dpsinsider.com/forums/topic/working-with-vanilla-fudge-organist-mark-stein#post-186 Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:24:44 +0000 Joseph Beaty 186@http://www.dpsinsider.com/forums/ <p>I cannot wait to hear it. I am loving their old music for sure. I have been digging a lot of music from this era in general. Sounds like the approach in the studio is exciting too. Can't wait to hear it. </p> http://www.dpsinsider.com/forums/topic/working-with-vanilla-fudge-organist-mark-stein#post-185 Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:33:06 +0000 Joey Butera 185@http://www.dpsinsider.com/forums/ <p>For the past week I've had the honor of working with one of music's greats, Mark Stein. His group, Vanilla Fudge, made history with their version of the Supremes song "You Keep Me Hanging On". <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla_Fudge" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla_Fudge</a></p> <p>Recoding Mark and his group in the studio makes me realize how folks like him became music icons: Every note that comes out of his body is pure rock and roll dynamite! Energy, optimism and professionalism are ever present during the sessions and that has translated into a truly great recording. </p> <p>The band played live in the studio with Mark playing a 1960's era B3 with the leslie tone cabinet in the vocal booth. I recorded it with two Shure Beta 56's at 90 degrees for the top rotor and a AKG D12 for the bottom speaker. The two top microphones went through our new Amek Recall's preamps while the D12 went through our DW Fern mic pre with the Motown eq for a huge tone.<br /> The guitarist, Jimi, recorded through our souped up 50 watt Marshall JCM 800 with the cabinet (4x12 vintage greenback speakers) in an isolation booth. The cabinet was recorded with a Shure SM57 through a Neve 1085 module.<br /> The bass player, Steve, recorded direct through our Avalon direct box directly into ProTools (we use Apogee DA/AD 16Xs for our TDM system).<br /> The drummer, Jimmyjack, brought in his beautiful maple DW kit that we set up in our big live room. I used the AKG D112 he had mounted inside his bass drum for the close sound (through the Fern and Motown eq) and a Blue Dragonfly for the far mic (console). His Ludwig snare was recorded with a Shure SM7 through another Neve 1085 module. For the toms I chose Shure Beta 56's (the hyper cardioid pattern works well with our room) with a AKG D112 for the floor tom. The cymbals were captured with a pair of AKG 414's (silver face) and the room with our AEA stereo ribbon mic.</p> <p>I'll post the contact info for the musicians as soon as I get back to the studio where I have their cards. These guys are top notch and a pleasure to work with...they deserve the props. As soon as I have something to listen to, I'll post it here. </p> http://www.dpsinsider.com/forums/topic/nonpoint-at-power-station#post-102 Fri, 22 Jan 2010 14:28:21 +0000 HitWizard 102@http://www.dpsinsider.com/forums/ <p>Tell them it's time for another "Tribute." Love that song!! </p> http://www.dpsinsider.com/forums/topic/nonpoint-at-power-station#post-65 Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:05:59 +0000 Rob Roy 65@http://www.dpsinsider.com/forums/ <p>Nonpoint is coming into Power Station to kick some rockin' ass!!!!! Keep posted for blurbs, tweets, and pics of the mayhem!!!!! </p>