Best production with "worst gear"

[Fhl]

Hi,

I was wondering what the best song/production recorded/mixed with the "worst gear" could be?

(Something like the song made with only SM57's etc.)

Of course this would be subjective, but I'd like to hear people's ideas!

Thanks
Fred

[Robotsounds]

Hipsters are talking about 'nofi' these days. I'd checkout Wavves. I can't say I'm a fan but he's pretty popular and he basically plugged four random karaoke into a mixer dropped them on the ground and recorded it into garageband and became an indie darling.

Some of it's listenable to not bad.

YouTube - Wavves "No Hope Kids"

Edit: After posting this I realize you were probably wanted things that sounded good. Not just stuff that was well received.

[wwittman]

Saturday Night Fever


made mostly on MCIs


ugh

and yet...

[roginator]

MCI ..worst gear OUCH ..maaaannnn tutt

that is one of best ..but yeah its not best made ..but very easy to fix and sound awesome!!!

[hopeless_opus]

The Shins - Oh Inverted World

I don't remember exactly what they used, but there was an article in Tape Op about it. Goes to show that what you really need to make a great record is great tunes.

[rolo]

Cake _ Fashion Nugget.

Digi001 (stock converters/pres, stock plugs for mixdown... mixed ITB)
Rode NTK for vocals/horns
SM57 Vocals.

[ElJustin]

Originally Posted by hopeless_opus

The Shins - Oh Inverted World

I don't remember exactly what they used, but there was an article in Tape Op about it. Goes to show that what you really need to make a great record is great tunes.

Funny you should mention this...I'm listening to this record as we speak. You're right, its definitely the tunes. But the lo-fi production is kinda cool, I guess its grown on me.

[MrCrowbar]

Can we vote ourselves here?

I produced this with one Rode NT1A (now for sale), two Rode NT3s, A Tascam FireOne as preamp/interface and Logic 8 with no additional plugins: YouTube - Kleinwald - Little Heart EP [original]

[Dread]

Originally Posted by MrCrowbar

Can we vote ourselves here?

I produced this with one Rode NT1A (now for sale), two Rode NT3s, A Tascam FireOne as preamp/interface and Logic 8 with no additional plugins: YouTube - Kleinwald - Little Heart EP [original]

****.. that sounds mad.. how you manage to get such a warm sound with those Rode mic's?

[darkwater]

Vampire Weekend?

[BudgetMC]

A couple of years ago, somebody on here did a great comparison recording the same band with two different sets of gear... one pretty decent stuff, the other almost all Berhinger mics, board and effects. It was pretty interesting.

Don't remember the thread name, though... anybody?

[MrJulius]

The first couple of albums by the Black Keys are raging. All SM57's with a couple less than 300$ LDC's with a 4 track.

Pretty low tech, and damn those are some godly guitar tones.

[cavern]

probably this one.


Recording: Anatomy Of A Classic Record: “Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This” - Pro Sound Web

[wwittman]

Originally Posted by roginator

MCI ..worst gear OUCH ..maaaannnn tutt

that is one of best ..but yeah its not best made ..but very easy to fix and sound awesome!!!

one must be careful to not confuse aweSOME with awFUL

it's a common error

[MC Blind]

Oh this one is easy: Sufjan Stevens - Come On Feel The Illinoise

[ohmicide]

take me out by franz ferdinand

not exactly worst gear but drums were recorded with sm57s on snare and kick, senn md412 on toms and a condenser on the hi hats

vocals recorded with an sm58 into a vintage never preamp to a vintage neve compressor completely squashing the live out of the vocals

all with protools set to destructive record

[johnny nowhere]

Listen to anything that Robert Johnson ever recorded if you really want to know just how good inferior equipment can be at revealing the talent that sits in front of it. That shit goes deep! These days? Radio Shack mics of any design should sound inferior enough to suit one's needs.. but the right engineer could make respectable recordings with anything available. I've mentioned it before.. but my favorite setup is a SM57 and a 3&1/2" RS speaker attached to the opened end of a goat milk can, close miked.. You'd have to hear it to believe how decently weird it sounds.

[Lifted]

Originally Posted by MrCrowbar

Can we vote ourselves here?

I produced this with one Rode NT1A (now for sale), two Rode NT3s, A Tascam FireOne as preamp/interface and Logic 8 with no additional plugins: YouTube - Kleinwald - Little Heart EP [original]

Sounds good man.

[LinusWendel]

YouTube - The 88 - The Making of Love Is The Thing

An iPhone, using the four track app

[Lagerfeldt]

There's rarely a correlation between good sound and what sells anyway. And it's actually harder to separate the production qualities from the rest once the performance quality is top notch - because it fortunately tends to overshadow everything else.

Many years ago I produced and mixed a 7 x platinum selling project on a defective and noisy Behringer mixer and low quality AD/DA Audiowerk sound cards. Still sounded like crap though, so while it certainly qualifies as "worst gear" it didn't qualify in the "best production" department ;-)

[MrCrowbar]

Originally Posted by Dread

****.. that sounds mad.. how you manage to get such a warm sound with those Rode mic's?

Surgical EQing (thin bands notched out to remove the reflections, resonance of the mice case and basket, sibilance control) and my favorite fix-it-all tool: Sidechain compression. You search for the ugly frequency that just makes you cringe then compress it way down. Here's the settings for the Little Heart Vocals (Rode NT1A):
. Keep in mind that I had to stack three channel EQs to get enough bands (4 notchable bands in one EQ) to fix that mic. So yea, you can make it work but it's no fun. :-) Thanks for the compliments.

[pascalm]

Originally Posted by Robotsounds

Hipsters are talking about 'nofi' these days. I'd checkout Wavves. I can't say I'm a fan but he's pretty popular and he basically plugged four random karaoke into a mixer dropped them on the ground and recorded it into garageband and became an indie darling.

Some of it's listenable to not bad.

YouTube - Wavves "No Hope Kids"

Edit: After posting this I realize you were probably wanted things that sounded good. Not just stuff that was well received.

Haha is it bad that i kind of dig this?!

[rack gear]

NWA Straight Outta Compton

[pascalm]

Originally Posted by LinusWendel

YouTube - The 88 - The Making of Love Is The Thing

An iPhone, using the four track app

ha that is really cool.

[jimcroisdale]

Originally Posted by rolo

Cake _ Fashion Nugget.

Digi001 (stock converters/pres, stock plugs for mixdown... mixed ITB)
Rode NTK for vocals/horns
SM57 Vocals.

Cake are easily my favourite band. i would love to know more about how they get their sound! Any more info?

Cheers,

Jim

[RasCricket]

Originally Posted by hopeless_opus

The Shins - Oh Inverted World

I don't remember exactly what they used, but there was an article in Tape Op about it. Goes to show that what you really need to make a great record is great tunes.

Good lord. Did the Shins do somethin goofy in the recording process? And their stuff still sounds like studio gold?

Yeah, good songs, good performers, good artists ~ I know their main CD, most popular, is rather awesome.

[Lifted]

Originally Posted by Lagerfeldt

There's rarely a correlation between good sound and what sells anyway. And it's actually harder to separate the production qualities from the rest once the performance quality is top notch - because it fortunately tends to overshadow everything else.

Many years ago I produced and mixed a 7 x platinum selling project on a defective and noisy Behringer mixer and low quality AD/DA Audiowerk sound cards. Still sounded like crap though, so while it certainly qualifies as "worst gear" it didn't qualify in the "best production" department ;-)

If people eat it up, production rarely matters, casual listeners don't know a good mixed and mastered record, they just vibe with it. If they are nodding their head, and willing to pay for an album or a song than it's all that matters for an artist.

You are definitely right about the correlation.

[artisokka]

Originally Posted by johnny nowhere

but my favorite setup is a SM57 and a 3&1/2" RS speaker attached to the opened end of a goat milk can, close miked.. You'd have to hear it to believe how decently weird it sounds.

Clips? Let us hear it!