Sevens

7 Deadly Session Sins

by Rich Tozzoli

The ease and affordability of home recording technology has made it simple to produce music at your own pace, on your own terms, and on your own turf. But it has also left many players clueless when it comes time to move beyond the demo stage and enter a professional studio. If you are booking time in a pro facility soon, the guys behind the glass will thank you to mind these 7 Deadly Session Sins, each of which is nearly guaranteed to drive a recording engineer absolutely batty.

1. Arriving unprepared.
Unless you are Keith Richards and have an inexhaustible budget, coming unprepared is simply inexcusable (and often quite costly). Have your parts rehearsed ahead of time and know what results you want to achieve. Practicing the parts you intend to lay down is a simple but effective way to make sure the session flows smoothly. Before the session, think about the intented outcome: What exactly do you want to get done, and in what time frame? Have you done all you can do in advance to ensure the goals will be achieved?

2. Hanging your headphones on the mic stand.
Ouch. I can’t even count the small but meaningful pains I’ve had to deal with when clients hang their cans on the music stand or mic stand and then knock them off seconds later. Those 3- and 4-foot drops take their toll, and a busted pair of headphones can literally grind a session to a halt — and represent a significant replacement cost to the studio or engineer. When you’re between takes or a break, place the headphones on a table or even around the base of the mic stand on the floor. They are safer that way.

3. Halting the session to rethink your approach.
Engineers hate sitting behind the board while you rewrite on the spot — unless, of course, you’re paying them time-and-a-half for overtime. Try to record your practice (even on a handheld voice recorder or iPhone) to make sure you like what you hear before heading to the studio. You can then play that rough cut for the engineer to help him/her understand what you’re going for. More importantly, it helps you hear the parts and make any changes ahead of time.

4. A poorly packed gig bag.
Don’t leave for the session without spare strings, picks and batteries. Neither should you expect the studio to have capos or guitar straps or even a spare tuner. Even when your guitar is strung with fresh strings, bing extras of the exact gauge and brand you use. String-searching is a session killer, in terms of both time and vibe. Also, have plenty of your most-used picks on hand, and if you use pedals make sure they have new batteries. Don’t skimp on those 9 volts! Hit the music store the day before the session and stock up.

5. Pulling your cable out without warning.
It seems like common sense from where the engineer sits, but but I’ve had preamp channels blown because of this. When recording DI or with an amp, always check with the engineer before pulling your cable out. Just ask, “Is it cool to pull my cable yet”? He or she will then have time to mute the board/preamp, and then you’re good to go.

6. Keeping the lyrics and/or song map a secret.
Take the time to print out extra lyric sheets if you’re cutting vocals, and provide notes to show the song form to the engineer and other musicians. If you can put the chords and timings above each section (verse/chorus/bridge), that helps as well. This way the engineer can follow along easily and mark up a copy with any necessary production notes. It also makes the punch in/overdub process go much smoother since anyone can simply call out, “Take it from the 2nd half of verse 3” and everyone will be in the same place. When I’m tracking a vocalist, I remind them to the point of annoyance to remember those extra lyric sheets! It’s always worth it when the session rolls along smoothly and they’re psyched to hear that playback.

7. Inviting the entourage.
Do not bring friends/girlfriends/boyfriends/fans into a session. It’s a total vibe-changer. From experience I can say without a doubt those takes usually have to be re-recorded later. There’s a lack of focus, worsened by a show-off factor, that happens when non-band members are in the studio. They also tend to bug the engineer by talking and moving around. If anything, call them to come hear the final playback after you’ve finished tracking. It’s just as cool and allows you to focus on nothing other than putting down a great performance.

Rich Tozzoli is an accomplished engineer, mixer, producer and composer. He has worked with artists such as Ace Frehley, Al DiMeola and David Bowie, among many more, and is the author of Surround Sound Mixing for ProTools. Rich is also a lifelong guitarist and composer. His work can be heard regularly on FoxNFL, HBO, and Discovery Channel.

Tagged: affordability, amps, artist, booking time, demo stage, engineering, follower, foot drops, gig, greatness, guitar, guitarist, guitarists, guitars, headphones, home recording, iphone, Keith Richards, mic stand, music, music stand, musician, musicians, overtime, own pace, performance, playing, preamp, producer, producers, producing, production, professional studio, recording, recording engineer, recording technology, reminder, rough cut, technology, time and a half, time frame, turf, voice recorder, voices

Interviews

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June 21st 2010

Life Lessons From GWAR

by Charlie Doom

GWAR has perhaps been more successful at offending people than taking over the world, but that hasn’t stopped the self-proclaimed “Scumdogs of the Universe” from trying to do both. I had a chance to interview the band in person at the 2010 Bonnaroo music and arts festival in Manchester, TN, but was declined with a rubber-sheathed middle finger to the face. However, I am a persistent bastard with a fearless work ethic who doesn’t stop until he gets his way….

Are you improving as a band?
That’s for other’s to say. We know we’re great already.

How do you push yourselves creatively?
The only thing we’re pushing are our fat cocks right down society’s windpipe.

You’ve been rocking for almost two decades, what does it take for a working musician to earn a buck these days?
More like 20 million decades, if such a measure of time exists — which it does not! As far as making a buck, I wouldn’t know anything about that. I don’t own any money. But it is different — back then [when we started] there wasn’t any crack.

On tour, what do you never leave home without?
1) Beaver Butts
2) Turd-Burglar’s
3) Whopper Kings
4) All These Things

Can you give us a glimpse into the creative process; how you get from an idea to a finished song?
No, I can’t. No, I won’t is more like it. It’s none of your business.

Four bands every aspiring space rocker should know? Motorhead because they rule. Kiss because they don’t. Thin Lizzy because they rock. And GWAR because of our fat cocks.

How to make it as a musician? First, get born. Second, get metal. Third, get bent.

Recipie for Metal? It has to be really loud with lots of guitars, drums and some dude screaming his head off. Throw in a bunch of amps and shit. And add electricity! But, no, there is no law to it.

Any plans for planet Earth? I suppose we will continue on with the titanic celebrations that accompany our two-year long 25th anniversary Slay-a-bration so, we are getting ready to sack America and Europe… again!

Best career advice you’ve ever recieved? Find a good drummer and don’t be afraid to quit at any moment!

The sci-fi themed shock rockers, GWAR, formed in 1984 and have “enslaved” a cult-like legion of fans with their brand of technical thrash metal and outrageous stage performances. As to why they wear the latex monster suits — read their bio. – Charlie Doom

Tagged: accompaniment, amp, amps, aspirations, business, celebration, creativity, doom, drummer, drums, electricity, electrics, fingers, greatness, guitar, guitars, improv, interview, interviewer, kiss, legions, money, music, musician, musicians, performance, rock, titan

Musings

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June 2nd 2010

Re-Think the Band: Unconventional Live Lineups

by Rich Tozzoli

Playing live can be addictive. But a lot of players never get to experience the feeling of satisfying a crowd — and satisfying themselves — because they’re waiting to form that perfect band before taking their songs public.

Though a classic band setup like guitar + bass + drums + vocals (maybe with a second guitarist or keyboardist, too) can be great, there’s a lot to be said for finding an alternative approach. Opening up your mind and your music to unconventional live situations can be hugely rewarding. Why wait around for a dream band when you can be playing out right now?

A recent gig: Guitar + Drums + Vocals
For starters, you could just find a drummer and a singer, and skip the bass player. No offense meant to bass players, but in a trio format such as that, you (the guitarist) are in total control of all the music. There’s a lot of responsibility, but it’s also very liberating.

I began playing out recently with a similar lineup. The singer laid down some keyboard pads on just a few songs, and the drummer played a small kit. He also streamed loops out of a laptop. At first, it took a little getting used to, from a guitarist’s point of view. I quickly came to realize that playing root-based chords low on the neck (generally not above III or V position) were essential to a full sound. For example, it worked best to play a Gmin7 chord in III position with the root on the 6th string, whereas with a bass player I might have played the chord up in X position with the root on the 5th. Just as important, I literally tailored my guitar and amp configuration to provide me the most bass response. The lineup was definitely a “learn as you go” situation. [Stay tuned for the upcoming article Right Rig for the Gig, which explores gear options for live situations — Ed.]

A few things became quite clear after the first few shows:

• This is a great way to play out. If the drummer and I felt like taking it somewhere during a song, there was no bass player to worry about following us.

• Not one person in any crowd complained there was no bass.

• Rehearsals, costs and band politics were kept to a bare minimum.

• I became a better player, because I couldn’t solo in the traditional sense. I would step out for just a measure at a time, and also found that it helped to draw more doublestops into my soloing for a fuller sound.

• I used a ridiculously simple setup: 1×12″ amp, an octave pedal for extra bass, and a Malekko Chicklet for some extra wet reverb on slow songs. http://www.malekkoheavyindustry.com/index.php/chicklet

• It truly was liberating.

That type of band lineup won’t suit everyone, but it does serve the idea of breaking out of tradition. Here are some other very workable live stage scenarios.

Guitar + Laptop
Run pre-produced tracks behind yourself, or trigger loops on the fly with a pedalboard and a suitable program such as like Ableton LIVE. You then control the tempo and feel of every song. Take the time at home to make interesting rhythm tracks and then stretch out live on top of them.

Guitar + Drums
Why not just gig out with you and a drummer? Worked for the White Stripes. If the drummer is good and can follow you, you’ll be leading the way the whole night. This will leave a lot of room for both of you to improvise. It also works wonders for your sense of time and syncopation.

Guitar + Vocals
How about the classic guitar + vocals? It could be electric, by the way — you don’t have to take the classic troubador-with-acoustic route. You could also get something very interesting going with two electrics; either with complementary rhythm parts, or with one playing rhythm and the other laying down ambient pads and fills.

Guitar + Triggered Loops
It can be exciting for both the crowd and the player to hear loops created live, and then to have those loops become backing tracks. If you’re good at multiple instruments, you could even make like RicoLOOP, the one-man looping band.

Guitar + Bass + Laptop
Audio software is so advanced now that well-programmed parts and loops can make for excellent accompaniment on the live stage. You could easily gig with just bass, guitar and a laptop streaming some cool parts. This way, you can have the bass player lock in with the grooves, and you can take care of the melodies, rhythms and leads.

Anything Goes!
Every arrangement will have its fair share challenges, but at the very least you’ll be out there playing and not sitting at home waiting for the perfect lineup. We saw Kanye West on Letterman with one keyboard and a five-man drum corps (and Autotune on his vox), and he killed. Or look at the late, great Morphine: drummer, bari sax, and a vocalist playing slide on a two-string bass. There’s no shortage of inspiring examples.

Unconventional band make-ups can be creatively inspiring, too. Guaranteed, if you start writing and arranging with an unusual setup in mind, your music will take many unforeseen twists and turns. So step out of convention and hit the stage with something different. You may even break ground on a whole new style.

Rich Tozzoli is a Grammy-nominated engineer, mixer, producer and composer. He has worked with artists such as Ace Frehley, Al Di Meola and David Bowie, among many more, and is the author of Pro Tools Surround Sound Mixing. Rich is also a lifelong guitarist and composer. His work can be heard regularly on FoxNFL, HBO, and Discovery Channel, and he’s recently released the full-length CD, Rhythm Up.

Tagged: accompaniment, addiction, amp, amps, arrangers, artist, creativity, crowd, drummer, drums, electricity, electrics, engineering, follower, gig, gigs, greatness, guitar, guitarist, guitarists, guitars, inspiration, inspirations, instrumentals, keyboard, live, melodies, melody, music, padding, pedalboard, playing, producer, producers, producing, rhythm, roots, slides, tempos, tunes

Sevens

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March 30th 2010

7 Quick Tips for Recording Great Amp Sounds

by Rich Tozzoli

Whether you’re recording in your bedroom or at a high-end studio, these very simple recording techniques can have a huge, positive impact on the sound you lay down.

1. Put the mic directly on the cabinet.

To get an in-your-face sound, try taking a classic Shure SM57 and jamming it right on the cabinet, just to the right or left of the cone’s center. You’ll get a little proximity effect, which is basically some added bass response. Use it to your advantage and try to keep the EQ’ing to a minimum.

2. Axis, Bold as Tone

By taking that Shure SM57 (or similar) mic and just slightly changing its angle in relation to the speaker, you’re miking “off axis.” The tonal character will change a bit; and at this point, experimentation is key. If you can, have a friend move it a little at a time as you listen on headphones or in the control room. You’ll hear that magic spot. When you find it, take pictures so you remember the exact positioning.

3. Change your tubes.

If you’ve got a tube amp, don’t just assume the tubes are good. You’d probably change your strings in anticipation of a recording, right? Give your tubes the same consideration. Always have a second set on hand, and unless you’re a complete traditionalist, try a set from a different manufacturer than your originals. All tubes have slightly different attack and breakup, even amps of the same type and rating. Use your ears and don’t get lazy.

4. Use more than one mic.

Even if you’re recording for yourself, don’t settle on using just one mic. If you have to, borrow an extra mic from a friend. It doesn’t have to be a vintage Neumann. Place the second mic either on the cabinet next to the first one or farther back in the room. Any functioning mic is worth a try. You’ll have more tonal options when it comes time for mixdown.

5. Compress the room.

When that second mic mentioned above is used as a room mic, place it at least 3 feet away from the cabinet —preferably even farther back. Then, when listening back, try applying a massive amount of compression to that room mic. Make sure not to compress the attack out of the notes; just get enough so that it squashes the peaks down a bit. You can always use the compressor’s makeup gain to get more volume.

6. Use wide panning.

When it comes time to mix your two amp-mic tracks together, pan the two tracks oppositely; that is, pan one hard left and the other hard right. You’ll notice the soundstage in the Left/Right field opening up. Then experiment with putting a very short delay on the room mic, around 30-50 ms. A very nice stereo image can be had using just two simple mics and a delay.

7. Use more than one amp.

If you’ve got the gear for it, split your signal (either with a stereo FX pedal or DI) and run your guitar into two different amps. Like having two mics, the two separate amp sounds give you more options at mixdown. When recording heavily distorted parts, try to minimize the distortion on a second amp and increase a bit of treble, which helps the pick attack cut through a dense mix.

Rich Tozzoli is a Grammy-nominated engineer, mixer, producer and composer. He has worked with artists such as Ace Frehley, Al DiMeola and David Bowie, among many more, and is the author of Pro Tools Surround Sound Mixing. Rich is also a lifelong guitarist and composer. His work can be heard regularly on FoxNFL, HBO, and Discovery Channel, and he’s recently released the full-length Rhythm Up.

Tagged: 3 feet, amp, amps, anticipation, artist, axis, bass response, ears, engineering, eq, greatness, guitar, guitarist, guitarists, guitars, headphones, ing, jamming, little at a time, magic, magic spot, mixdown, neumann, one mic, producer, producers, producing, proximity effect, recording, rhythm, s center, shure sm57, traditionalist, tube amp, tubes

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March 22nd 2010

7 Ways To Improve Your Tone (Without Spending a Dime)

by Corey Palmer

There are many ways to improve your guitar’s tone without running out to buy new gear. Start with these simple suggestions and you’ll surprised how much your tone can be tweaked for the better.

1. Use your guitar’s volume and tone knobs.

A number of years ago I had a footswitch that died on me, so I could no longer switch between the amp’s clean and dirty channels. While the footswitch was out getting fixed, I had to rely on my guitar’s volume and tone pots to alternate between clean to dirty sounds. Dialing the volume knob back a bit, for example, was great for cleaning up the sound, and then I got a nice, natural gain when I pushed it back up. More than that, though, I was struck by all the different tones I could dial in just by playing around with my volume and tone knobs. Definitely something for everyone to experiment with. I’m a Strat guy and the knobs are nice and close to the strings, which makes it fairly easy to make changes while playing.

2. Tweak your pickups.

In case you don’t know already, you can adjust the height of your pickups to set them either closer or farther away from the strings. With some pickups you can even adjust each pole’s height under the string. Play around with your pickup’s height or the height of each pole and you may be surprised at how drastically it can change the tone of your guitar. Another thing you can try: If your guitar has humbuckers with the ability to do a coil split, flip the pickups so that the active split coil is in a different position. Just like treble pickups are near the bridge and bass pickups near the neck, small position changes to where the string is “picked up” can make a load of difference.

3. Listen to the rest of your band.

It never ceases to amaze me how a guitarist can sound absolutely great playing by himself, and then the same tone is terrible when he’s playing in a band setting. One reason for this is that the guitarist has not learned how to listen to the band he’s playing with. It is really important to dial your guitar tone in relation to the rest of your band. Find the tone that fits appropriately into the arrangement. Just like when an engineer tweaks the guitar’s EQ in a studio mix, you have to find an appropriate EQ pocket when playing live. A tone that sounds really harsh on its own might balance out perfectly within a band.

4. Experiment with your pedal configuration.

Changing the order of the pedals in your signal chain can influence your guitar tone. You may want to first eliminate any pedals that really add no value to your tone or aren’t used. Personally, I like to have as few pedals as possible, which for me means a tuner, a boost pedal for leads, and a wah — that’s it. Keep it simple. Keep in mind that each pedal will color the sound it receives from all the pedals that precede it in the chain. As a rule of thumb, distortion pedals usually come early in the line-up, and reverbs and delays at the end. You also may want to move your modulation effects (chorus, delay, etc) to your effects loop instead of routing them through the front of the amp.

5. Try different string gauges.

String gauges will impact the tone of your guitar, with higher-gauge strings (i.e., thicker strings) generally making for a warmer, richer sound. Note that changing string gauges may require a tweak to the truss rod since heavier strings increase tension on the neck. If there’s an impact on your intonation, your guitar might need adjustments made to the bridge or saddle. Some guitars may need a new nut cut to accommodate heavy strings.

6. Try different pick gauges.

This isn’t quite as apparent if you are playing with a lot of distortion, but for clean tones, using different pick thicknesses can give provide wide variations in tone (overdrive can mask the sound of the pick on the string, though you’ll feel it in your fingers). For example, when strumming with a clean tone, a light pick can add a trebly, percussive timbre to the attacks while a heavy pick makes for a tighter, more aggressive hit on the strings. Depending on your playing style the change in tone can be subtle, but those little differences are what separates a good guitar tone from a great one.

7. Learn your gear setup.

If you haven’t sat with your gear and really “learned” it, you aren’t getting the most out of it. Tweak all the knobs on your amp and see what kinds of different tones that you can pull out of it. On some amps you’ll notice a drastic change with small adjustments, while on others it’s very reasonable to dial a tone pot all the way up or down. Try different combinations of your amp settings and guitar settings (tone, volume knobs and pickup selector switch) and note how the two interact. It can be a tedious process but it helps you to learn how the gear works and how to derive the tones you want.

Corey Palmer has been a guitarist for the past twenty years and has taught rock guitar lessons at his local music store in Woodstock, New Brunswick, Canada.