Pedro the Lion - Achilles Heel Recording Notes

[rystro]

PEDRO THE LION'S - ACHILLES HEEL

bands with managers
drums/ tim walsh -
-----mlasko kick (aquarian super kick II/no front head)
-----mlasko floor tom (pinstripe)
-----keplinger brass snare drum with rhythm tech snares
--------audio technica atm-25/ brent averill api 312 on kick
--------audio technica 4051/ brent averill api 312 overhead
bass/ david bazan - alesis ion direct into brent averill api 312
guitar/ david bazan - fender Stratocaster 1962 reissue (mexican)
-----fender pro junior amp
-----royer sf-12 (stereo mic)/ brent averill neve 1272
organ/ james mcalister - alesis ion direct through sans amp classic into b.a. api 312
bridge synth/ dave bazan - a. ion direct / api 312
tambourine/ james mcalister - royer r-121/ b.a. api312
vocal/ dave - audio technica 4050/ neve 1272

notes:
the drums were originally performed 10 bpm faster then they ended up. we slowed them down using the program "live". Chris Colbert (the mix engineer) engineered the guitar on this track.

foregone conclusions
drums/ tim - same as previous
synth bass/ james - a. ion direct into api 312
guitar/ dave - strat/ pro jr
--sm 57 (mic)/ 1272 (mic pre)
tambourine/ james - same as previous

notes
guitar/vocals, drums and synth bass were tracked live in the studio and james overdubbed the tambourine track later.

the fleecing
drums/ dave - same as previous
bass/ dave - fender p-bass direct into 1272 with la2a comp
guitar/ dave - american standard tele (bridge pickup with tone knob backed off)
-----into line 6 beanpod
-----into neve 1272 with la2a comp
synth/ dave - a. ion direct into api 312
vocal/ dave - sm 57/neve 1272
harmony/ dave - sm57/ neve 1272
shaker/ dave - at 4050/ api 312
tamborine/ james - royer r-121/ api 312
beatle piano chord at the end/ dave
-----upright acoustic piano
-----royer r-121/ api 312

notes:
multritracked by dave while tim was away on x-mas break and before james showed up. tambo in outro was tim's last minute idea and in dave's opinion makes the song. mcalister is a percussion phenom.

discretion
drums/ dave - same as previous
-----compressed with universal audio 1176
guitar/ dave & tim - american standard fender telecaster
-----klon centaur overdrive
-----electro harmonix big muff
-----boss equalizer
-----premier b160 club bass amp (early 60's 1x12guitar/bass/accordion amplifier)
-----sm 57/ 1272
bass/ tim - fender precision
-----direct through 1272
-----compressed with universal audio la-2a
synth/ dave - ion through api 312

notes:
this one was comped together from various demo takes. the vocal was cut later.

arizona
drums/ dave - same kit as previous
-----though kick drum had a coated ambassador on the front
-----kick mic was akg 414-eb in omni approx 1' from front head.
-----overhead mic was same as previous
guitar/ dave and tim (intro lead) - same as discretion
bass/ tim - same as discretion
synth/ dave - same as everything else
shaker/ dave - remo avocado shaker/ we don't remember what mic or mic pre
vocal/ dave - at 4050 through neve 1272 and la2a comp
harmony/ dave - marshall mxl v-77 tube mic - neve 1272

keep swinging
drums/ dave - same kick and floortom as previous
----pearl export series snare
----neumann fet 47 (rented f/ avast!) roughly in "tchad blake" position
----rode ntk vocal/overhead mic through neve 1272
bass/ tim - 1960's kay hollow body bass
----recorded direct through david eden metro amp
----api 312 mic pre
----there is definitely bass bleed into the drum/ guitar mics
guitar/ casey foubert - fender telecaster
----fender champ (silver face)
----ibanez ad-202 analog delay
----sm 57 mic
----neve 1272 mic pre
----casey also had a pro jr amp positioned near the fet 47 drum mic to which he occasionally sent guitar from the analog delay ryobi 18volt cordless drill
synth/ dave - same as above
shaker/ dave - same as above
vocal/ dave - the vocal is doubled on this one. the original was cut live while dave played drums. it was recorded with a rode ntk mic that acted as both vocal mic and drum "overhead". the second vocal and all of the harmonies were cut through a peavey pvr-1 omni reference mic and the neve 1272.

notes:
the basic tracks were recorded live in October. this was the first song that we recorded that actually ended up on the record. it is the most collaborative of any of the songs. we ended up recording it more than 20 times and this take was some where in the teens. each take came off differently as the dynamics and even the parts each of us played were morphing constantly. this is the one we liked the best in large part because of casey's guitar performance and because dave didn't totally **** up the vocal.

transcontinental
drums/dave - same as bands
bass/tim - p-bass direct through neve 1272 and la2a
mellotron flutes/james - m-tron software mellotron at 96k through neve 1272
acoustic guitar/ dave - martin jumbo dreadnogought (tobacco sunburst)
----akg 414-eb through neve1272
percussion/james - tamborine same as above.
cymbal bell with drumstick / at 4051 through api 312

notes:
the drums, mellotron flutes, and bass were recorded live to a click and vocal track that dave had already laid down. the acoustic guitar and percussion were overdubbed later by dave and james respectively.

i do
drums/ dave - same kit as previous with no front head on the kick and the snare with an 81/2 x 11 sheet of paper on it. we used the atm25 mic on the kick and the royer r121 in between the floortom and snare (with the figure 8 pointed sideways).
bass/tim - p-bass into premier b160 with the rode ntk through neve 1272
guitar/dave - intro guitar line was the tele and the line 6 pod through the neve 1272
----the rest of the song was the tele and our reissue vox ac30.
guitar swells/ dave - tele with an ernie ball volume pedal/boss digital delay/maxon analog delay
----dave doesn't remember what amp or mics or mic pres
synth/dave, tim, and maybe james - the white noise (three tracks in the intro) and low tones (after the first chorus) were made by tim and dave respectively with tim's yamaha analog monsynth the randomly oscillating blips and beeps is a program on the alesis ion that dave programmed. james may have played that sound at the end. they were both record direct through the api 312
shaker/dave - remo avocado recorded the usual way
vocal & harmony/ dave - marshall mxl v77 through the neve 1272

notes:
the basic tracks for this song were mixed and released as a demo version on a jade tree sampler. after which dave wrote the intro and began working on the ambient voices. later, tim and james helped fill in blanks and they finished the song together. they had originally planned on "i do" being the first song on the record, but changed their mind later. (weird). this was the first song that chris mixed when he came out.


simple plan
drums/tim
same as bands with managers
synth bass/ tim - alesis ion through api 312
electric guitar/dave & tim - tele and line 6 pod through neve 1272 and LA2A
acoustic guitar/ dave - martin jumbo dreadnought with at 4050 through the neve1272
vocal/ dave - at 4050 through the neve 1272
percussion/ james - tamborine with royer r-121 through the api 312

start without me (written by tim)
drums/ james - same as bands with managers
bass/ tim - p-bass direct through soundcraft ghost mic pre and LA2A compressor
guitar/ dave - tele and pro jr amp with a sm57 through neve 1272
synth/ dave and james - there are three different synth sounds on this song. all three are the alesis ion direct through the api 312.
acoustic guitar/ dave - same as previous
tamborine/james - same as usual
vocal & end harmony/ dave - sm 57 through the neve 1272

notes: the drums, bass, guitar, and vocal were recorded live in the studio. the synth, acoustic guitar, end harmony, and tamborine were overdubbed later.

the poison
drums/ james - same as bands with managers
bass/ tim - p-bass direct through neve 1272 & universal audio 1176
acoustic guitar & vocal/ dave - both were recorded with one at 4050 through the neve 1272

notes: this song was record live in the studio. there were no overdubs. (that's right. four track.) overdubs were considered, but in the end everyone involved liked the vibe of the bare recording.



recording.
the entire album was recorded with mark of the unicorn's dp4 program using a mac g5 and the motu hd 192 hardware interface. most of the songs were recorded at a 192khz sampling rate. the album was recorded and mixed between october 2003 and january 2004 at the bands "studio" in rural washington.

mixing.
the album was mixed by chris colbert who mostly monitored on audio technica headphones. (the studio monitors are krk v8s.) it was mixed on a soundcraft ghost and then back into the computer at 192khz. no single mix took more than two hours and there were a lot of mexican food breaks taken.

for the mixdown dave rented some gear from avast! rental corp using money that jade tree had given him for that purpose. those items included: two distressor compressors, roland space echo, summit stereo tube e.q.,

and summit pulltec style e.q. chris brought two lexicon mpx 100 reverb units from home as well as a shit load of cables and two dbx compressors.

the studio is usually equipped with a universal audio 1176 compressor, a universal audio LA2A limiting amp, a few preamps, several "rnc" compressors, and many stomp box pedals including delays and reverb. al of these were used at some point or another during the mixdown process.

[rystro]

Question for the slutz... it says they are using Neve 1272 & API 312 preamps. How are they using these if they are not using console? Because it doesn't mention that they have a console? Or do they come as outboard pres?

[jdjustice]

hey rystro....
thx for posting the recording notes.....
i am a big fan of PTL and this album (although i like 'Control' better)!


cheers,
~j.d.

[KrisNY]

Cool - thanks for posting! This is a great record - David's a phenomenal songwriter.

[thenewyear]

+1 for more PTL on Gearslutz.

I though Achilles Heel had a more cluttered production than all of the previous PTL albums though...

[rystro]

I love Achilles Heel! Although Control is more raw and has a lot of emotion, Achilles Heel has some smart composition in it.

Anyone have a response to my question about the pres?

[jdjustice]

Originally Posted by rystro

Anyone have a response to my question about the pres?

hmmm..........
well, currently, you can get the API 312 pres in the 3124+ or 3124MB+ or you could go with BAE 312A pres (which don't use the 2520 op-amp but instead the Avedis op-amp).

i'm not an expert, but i don't think the Neve 1272 was originally designed as a vocal preamp, check this post by Geoff Tanner for information:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showp...21&postcount=8


cheers.
~j.d.

[hangman]

Rystro, Yes. They are availaible as outboard units.

[scrubs]

thumbsup

Thanks for the notes. Loves me some Pedro/Bazan.

[rystro]

Oh cool. Well I've found the API outboard unit with four channels of pre on eBay. Looks cool.

I'm amazed that Dave used the SM57 for vocals as much as he did!

[hangman]

Originally Posted by jdjustice

hmmm..........
well, currently, you can get the API 312 pres in the 3124+ or 3124MB+ or you could go with BAE 312A pres (which don't use the 2520 op-amp but instead the Avedis op-amp).

i'm not an expert, but i don't think the Neve 1272 was originally designed as a vocal preamp, check this post by Geoff Tanner for information:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showp...21&postcount=8


cheers.
~j.d.

yes, true. but you can buy 1272 copies, from Brent averil, or Chandler limited, among many other companies. they of course have features added

[rystro]

I just looked up Brent Averil... never seen this stuff before... looks great!! Almost wishing I wouldn't have bought my Vintech X73i and went for the real deal. But that would of ment an extra grand!!

[geizo94]

Am I missing something, or did they only record drums with two mics?

[rystro]

Originally Posted by geizo94

Am I missing something, or did they only record drums with two mics?

The drums sound extremely mono... though that does seem kind of funny.

[cchord59]

does anyone know what the "Tchad Blake" 47fet placement is?

[geizo94]

Originally Posted by rystro

The drums sound extremely mono... though that does seem kind of funny.

they sound amazing, i'm quite impressed.

[rystro]

they sound amazing, i'm quite impressed.

they just work with what style of music they are going for. and IMO thats the whole deal with recording drums... they'll sound good if they fit the style of music you are going for.

[chickencoop]

wow awesome! i grew up with tw walsh-- it's cool to see the pedro love.
you should check out his new project the soft drugs: www.thesoftdrugs.com
also jared hankins did the headphones album with dave bazan and worked on some of tw's stuff and he does an awesome job.

[chickencoop]

Originally Posted by cchord59

does anyone know what the "Tchad Blake" 47fet placement is?

i believe it's having a mic aimed at the shell of the snare kinda in between the kick and snare. may be wrong. maybe you can ask him-- he's been posting here lately!
tim played some drums on some half-assed recordings i did when he engineered some tunes for me at makeshift studio in boston (jamaica plains) when he still had a stake in that, and used that technique. darron burke, the dude who runs makeshift, just did the crowley and tripp interview in tapeop incidentally.

[Chris G]

i only know a few who even know who PTL is. Ive seen them quite a few times live and they are just as good as on disc or better.

[Methlab]

Awesome thread. PTL is great music. One of the few out there when I first heard it, I had to buy it after the first listen. If I had to complain about anything, it is that the songs are so well written and so touching at times, that I simply can not listen to the music if I am in a good mood and want to stay that way. The songs are that freaking good that you feel them.

[rystro]

Originally Posted by chickencoop

you should check out his new project the soft drugs: www.thesoftdrugs.com

The Soft Drugs sound great. Production sounds very simliar to Achilles Heel.

[Alexi]

finally a pedro the lion threadthumbsup thumbsup thumbsup


i love the album control, very powerful sound....i believe they produced it as well....



cheers

[twwalsh]

hello, i was heavily involved in the making of this record - i wrote the song start without me - i still have the 312 api pre's and i added an OSA pre to the lunchbox.

yeah, all the drums were recorded with 2 mics, and they're mostly mono.

this record was really thrown together and quickly done. it's a shame we couldn't get more time!

tw
http://thesoftdrugs.com

[rystro]

Originally Posted by twwalsh

hello, i was heavily involved in the making of this record - i wrote the song start without me - i still have the 312 api pre's and i added an OSA pre to the lunchbox.

yeah, all the drums were recorded with 2 mics, and they're mostly mono.

this record was really thrown together and quickly done. it's a shame we couldn't get more time!

tw
http://thesoftdrugs.com

Nice to hear from you Tim. Excellent work on the album whatever part you had in it. The album is in my top 10... right there next the Beatles, Beach Boys, Fleetwood Mac, Midlake's Trials of Van Occupanther, and Wilco. It just hit the right spot with me.

I have a question Tim if you don't mind... what type of setup are you currently working with on The Soft Drugs? Are you still recording out of that building/shed deal that you worked out of with Achilles Heel or have you moved else where? Still recording with a MOTU interface?

Again... love the album and its cool to hear from ya around these boards. Love to hear your setup.

[twwalsh]

thanks rystro.

i have moved to massachusetts, where i'm sharing a small studio with some friends. i'm using a MOTU 896 with a Windows machine at the moment. i'm recording in Ableton Live and mixing in SONAR. we also have a mac with protools at the studio. it's a great room!

peace

[thenewyear]

Hi Tim,

I met you & David a few years ago when I played with you in Glasgow, Scotland.

Were you involved in PTL during the recording of Control??

It'd be great to have more info like the Achille's Heel info above...

I'm also a fan of the pre the soft drugs stuff you did as twwalsh, some great production there I thought 'gull watching' (?) in particular.

[2012]

Thank you for posting this!



This is a great album. Anyone that hasn't heard it... just buy it, along with Control.

[twwalsh]

hi

i've never played in scotland, unfortunately. that was ben brubaker you met.

i wrote a couple little bits on control, but i wasn't involved in the recording process. i am not a very big fan of how that record sounds, incidentally.

[rystro]

Originally Posted by twwalsh

thanks rystro.

i have moved to massachusetts, where i'm sharing a small studio with some friends. i'm using a MOTU 896 with a Windows machine at the moment. i'm recording in Ableton Live and mixing in SONAR. we also have a mac with protools at the studio. it's a great room!

peace

Right on! Thanks for sharing.

What's your goto vocal chain... that is if you have one? Seems like on Achilles David prefered the SM57 or 4050 through the Neve. Looks like there never was a compressor used?