Green Day Drum Ambience

[Mr Skills]

Hello,

"American Idiot" (the album) has some amazing ambience on the drums... any tips for how I can get a similar effect?

[travista00]

rent oceanway "b" and throw up some room mics, compress to taste. simple, huh?

[Jose Mrochek]

Originally Posted by Mr Skills

Hello,

"American Idiot" (the album) has some amazing ambience on the drums... any tips for how I can get a similar effect?

I agree, with the above post.. I think the ambience is in the room.

[meteor]

use samples that also sample the ambience of each individual drum. ah la CLA.

cheers,

[superburtm]

It sounds like they are pulling a lot of room out of the mics due to major compression on everything.

[alphajerk]

sounds like a lot of hyped samples.

[travista00]

cla originally mixed it with drum samples but was asked to remove them for the final mix by the band.

[alphajerk]

still think they are in there.

[warhead]

Originally Posted by alphajerk

still think they are in there.

Sure sounds like it to me. My first impression of that album was samples.

War

[alphajerk]

my wife was playing it today in the car while we did errands... the songs are cool, but the vibe is weird.

[84K]

Hey AJ,

Are you starting to dig it regardless of CLA's mixes?

[alphajerk]

its green days best effort yet... its a shame its not more raw tho. its too hyped and slick for the content. i think the mixes fail the songs.

[superburtm]

It sounds flat as a pancake...

[Resonater]

Originally Posted by travista00

cla originally mixed it with drum samples but was asked to remove them for the final mix by the band.

Travis,

You do realize how ridiculous that statement is, right? We'll have a good chuckle on that tomorrow!

John Van Nest
Resonate Music Studios

[wwittman]

I personally think it's an incredibly good sounding record... except for the bass guitar sound.

[84K]

Originally Posted by alphajerk

its green days best effort yet... its a shame its not more raw tho. its too hyped and slick for the content. i think the mixes fail the songs.

Dude, they are a dressed up pop band. I like them for what they are, but Raw??? Nothing about them is raw. They are slick players. Just because the guitar tones and vocal style resemble punk rock does not make it punk. It is slick pop with a rock style in guitar tones. Similar to the well thought out productions of these new pop girls that use heavy guitars in the choruses. i.e., Michelle Branch, Avril L., and Kelly Clarkson... just because they use heavy guitars in the hooks doesn't make them rock music.... well maybe to 15 year old gals.

Green Day is great at what they do. I like them. CLA did not make them slick. They have always been slick. He just brought out what they have always been with a very accurate mix. They have improved in their song writing and I appreciate that very much. They continue to get better and I think that is awesome! What more can you ask for? CLA should get an award for those mixes. People talk about them all the time on this forum. Not just the mixes, but the samples, reverbs, compressors, everything! They have become famous. Legendary, dare I say.

[alphajerk]

listen to the lyrics. that isnt a dressed up pop band album.... the mix gets in the way of the message. the labels have turned them into that.

that avril chick... now she matches your description and has songs void of soul enough for CLA to mix it and it work.

[max cooper]

Y'know, I consider the Sex Pistols to be a pop band just like Slayer. Not Jazz, not R&B but Pop! All the categories have sub-categories, but it's 'Popular Music'. Not that categories matter one iota anyway.

The last Green Day record I bought was 'Warning' and it's so tamed sounding; no rough edges left.

[recorderman]

Originally Posted by Resonater

Travis,

You do realize how ridiculous that statement is, right? We'll have a good chuckle on that tomorrow!

John Van Nest
Resonate Music Studios

Hmmm..i must be stupid too....

What do you "know" that we don't?

[rickrock305]

Originally Posted by alphajerk

listen to the lyrics. that isnt a dressed up pop band album.... the mix gets in the way of the message. the labels have turned them into that.

that avril chick... now she matches your description and has songs void of soul enough for CLA to mix it and it work.

i gotta say your wrong about avril. go back and listen to her last album, the one she wrote almost entirely by herself. There is some real shit on there! Some heartfelt, i dare say soulful lyrics. Of course its coming from the point of view of a teenage girl, so it may be hard to relate to for us, but there are some good songs there. Definitely not "void of soul" as you put it. Maybe you don't like it, but that doesn't mean that she's not talented.

[Resonater]

Originally Posted by recorderman

Hmmm..i must be stupid too....

What do you "know" that we don't?

Travis' statement was: "cla originally mixed it with drum samples but was asked to remove them for the final mix by the band."

Opinions are one thing. But the moment you make a blanket statement, presenting it as fact, you darn well better know that what you're putting out there is actually the truth. Travis's statement was not truthful. And that IS a fact.

By the way, I like Green Day a lot. Regardless of general trend, much like R.E.M. and the RHChili Peppers, they have remained true to their own path, and that's tough to do over time in this business. I also think it was tres cool for them to try to take on the "concept album" approach. In that regard, I think they did a kick ass job. The fact that you guys are up here discussing the drum ambience, samples, mixes, etc., says a lot in and of itself...the album made its way into discussion on forums like these, so I guess it is an album that "matters", at least to that degree. A lot of bands would love to be "discussed" at all in such threads.

For my money, they're a great band, period.

[recorderman]

fair enough...I don't know if Travis statement was fact or fiction. That kind of thing is possible and yet I don't know if your right either, but then i'm not on the inside of that circle. I do agree with your other points though.

[Resonater]

Originally Posted by recorderman

fair enough...I don't know if Travis statement was fact or fiction. That kind of thing is possible and yet I don't know if your right either, but then i'm not on the inside of that circle. I do agree with your other points though.

Uh, Recorderman, here's why Travis' statement is, well, ridiculous.

OK...the band is preparing what they feel will be an important album. I mean, from the early going, the band was approaching this project not just as a collection of songs, but as a "thematic" statement. Every aspect of the album was considered.

Now it comes time to mix. As a backdrop, Chris had already mixed Nimrod for them, as well as a track or two for the International Superhits collection, as well as some live shows they had done. So, in general, they knew what to expect from Chris and chose him to mix AI for that reason. They looked to Chris for his professional instincts during mixing.

So Travis jumps in with a simple "cla originally mixed it with drum samples but was asked to remove them for the final mix by the band." OK, that statement implies that Chris mixed the album, AND THEN the band told him that they weren't on board with drum samples. And that's ridiculous, because the band was present during the entire mixing process, so IF, on the very first song, they were troubled with any aspect of the mix, they would have asked it to be changed, and it would have stayed changed for the rest of the album at their request.

Bottom line...Travis' statement is misleading at best and simply false at worst.

[84K]

Originally Posted by alphajerk

listen to the lyrics. that isnt a dressed up pop band album.... the mix gets in the way of the message. the labels have turned them into that.

that avril chick... now she matches your description and has songs void of soul enough for CLA to mix it and it work.

I do not judge music strickly on lyrics. The Green Day melodies and chord progressions are pop. You can take "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy, I Got Love In My Tummy" by the Ihio Express and DRESS IT UP with lyrics out of Jim Morrison's song book and it will still be pop. You can't fight the melody and the chords in a song.

With all this being said, I have a great deal of respect for Green Day. I consider them very talented pop artists and songwriters.

[u b k]

Originally Posted by Resonater

...so IF, on the very first song, they were troubled with any aspect of the mix, they would have asked it to be changed, and it would have stayed changed for the rest of the album at their request.

wait a sec... you said before he was wrong and that was a fact. now you're talking "if" and "would".

do you actually know what transpired between green day and chris lord-alge? you came across like you did, but now it sounds like you're assuming because, in your opinion, the idea that they asked for the samples to be yanked at endgame is not believable. were you there? maybe you were, i can't tell anymore.

for the record, your assertion above isn't always true: people can know about something, go along with it, then change their minds for any number of reasons. it happens all the time, it's part of being human.


confused,

gregoire
del ubik

[travista00]

resonator, let me chime in here again. you're an idiot and don't know what you're talking about by slagging me off like that. (thanks to the other slutz for coming to my rescue!) i'm just trying to answer interested parties with information when i can. i'm not trying to name drop and impress anyone here by saying that mike fasano, a great drum tech here in los angeles that did much of "american idiot" told me that story after i told him a story about cla mixing another band i did engineering for called the exies. we're swapping stories and he tells me about cla mixing with drum samples then being told not to use them by the band. green day, rob cavallo and mike spent a lot of time getting the sounds just how they wanted them and didn't want cla changing them that drastically. just trying to be helpful! if you don't believe me, that's fine, but criticizing me like that?

[Resonater]

Originally Posted by travista00

resonator, let me chime in here again. you're an idiot and don't know what you're talking about by slagging me off like that. (thanks to the other slutz for coming to my rescue!) i'm just trying to answer interested parties with information when i can. i'm not trying to name drop and impress anyone here by saying that mike fasano, a great drum tech here in los angeles that did much of "american idiot" told me that story after i told him a story about cla mixing another band i did engineering for called the exies. we're swapping stories and he tells me about cla mixing with drum samples then being told not to use them by the band. green day, rob cavallo and mike spent a lot of time getting the sounds just how they wanted them and didn't want cla changing them that drastically. just trying to be helpful! if you don't believe me, that's fine, but criticizing me like that?

Travis,

With all due respect, I own the studio(s) where Chris has worked for the last 16 years. I'm pretty familiar with what "really" happens on every single project that he does, yes, including the Exies. To my knowledge, Mike F. did not visit the mix sessions for a single day, although the band was there every day. I can tell you with near certainty that Mike has never seen the actual mix files for the album. He's proud of the sounds that he, Rob, Doug McKean and the band got in the recording, as he damn well should be. They all know what they are doing.

I appreciate that you're trying to answer interested parties when you can, but obviously, I have to jump in when I know that said information is inaccurate.

No biggie though...

Best,

[Henchman]

Originally Posted by Resonater

Travis,

With all due respect, I own the studio(s) where Chris has worked for the last 16 years. I'm pretty knowledgable about what "really" happens on every single project that he does, yes, including the Exies. The drum tech, bless his heart, did not visit the mix sessions for a single day that I know of, although the band was there every day. To be truthful, your information is simply inaccurate. Sorry, what else can I say?

Best,

Ouch.
And the winner is.....Resonator.

[travista00]

mike is really good friends with tre (gd's drummer) who told him the story about asking cla to remove the drum samples from his record. do you have any specific information about this situation or are you just guessing? your dismissive and insulting tone towards me is exactly what stifles the flow of information in these forums and has guest moderators bailing on gearslutz. please don't insult someone when you don't know who your talking to or what you're talking about, you should be old enough to know better.

[RoundBadge]

Originally Posted by Henchman

Ouch.
And the winner is.....Resonator.

More thoughtful commentary from henchie