Death Cab For Cutie - "Plans"

[redddog]

Anyone have any inside stuff on this? Incredible record.

I'm really curious about the drums particularly. Amazing drum sounds.

[bobwarren]

I know Chris Walla loves the Chandler Limited TG1. He said he waited his whole life to find that sound; said it makes everything sound like a little angel. I love Plans. I listened to it for about two months straight!

[Daedalus77]

Big fan of Chris Walla's production work, as well.

You should check out the threads from his brief tenure as a guest moderator here on Gearslutz. Down on the bottom of the home page.

Album was recorded, I believe, at his home facility (formerly The Hall of Justice, now a new name—I forget) and at Longview Farm (in Western Mass).

[Drumsound]

Chirs Walla is pretty into the RADAR.

[2012]

For Chris Walla fans...

Here is another archived forum: Chris Walla - PSW Forum

And here is a good interview from a few years back: Chris Walla - Tape Op

[Meriphew]

I'd like to know more about how they're using the RADAR on tour. Are they DI'ing backing tracks to FOH (and if so what DI's are they using), or are they submixing backing tracks?

[Stitch333]

Originally Posted by Daedalus77

and at Longview Farm (in Western Mass).

gotta love a mint 8078!

[thenoiseflower]

there was a spot in a magazine (not sure which) that asked either Ben or Chris what the first thing the did when they got the major deal....and the answer was go to longveiw farms for a month..

solid investment.

[Zorran]

here ya go dude

Death Cab for Cutie-Growing in the Studio, Making Plans

[Stitch333]

Originally Posted by thenoiseflower

there was a spot in a magazine (not sure which) that asked either Ben or Chris what the first thing the did when they got the major deal....and the answer was go to longveiw farms for a month..

solid investment.

A quick plug for my people:

I do a lot of work out of Longview, mostly the B-room on the A-range but I have to say that if any of you needs a serious room you shouldn't hesitate to call them. I think Kelly is the new studio manager and the whole LV family is worldclass. You'd probably be surprised at how affordable it is!

[bleen]

I was with Jason, Death Cab's drummer, today and told him of this thread. I'll be with him again on Wed., so if you have specific questions regarding the drum tracking on Plans, let me know and I'll get some facts straight from the horse's mouth (he said he'd be happy to answer).

[lpkyer]

Nice, actually I know a bit of the vintage drums he used, but I have no idea what mics and pres/eq/comps he used and I'd love to know that !! Tell him, as a drummer, he's really putting back "effort" in pop. He makes very nice, sometime challenging, patterns.

[mds]

Nothing to add other than I love the record...I've known about these guys for years but never really dug into it. I need to go back and check out their earlier records...

[willspector]

lovely sounding record, it helps that the songs and performances are ace too

[GearBit]

Been looking for this thread.
I found DCFC while watching Conan O Brian. The song "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" was performed and I was sucked in immediately with the lyrics. Actually about the time of the first chrous my wife came in and started talking and I gave her the big SSSHHHHHHH! Which I rarely do.....
Needless to say I bought Plans and have found it to be one of the best this cynical heard-it-alls has come across in quite some time. For me the lyrics are moving, clever but not so far out you can't get a feeling for what they are trying to say. Production (funny, but it's really LAST on my list of priorities as a producer) is warm n creamy.
Funny that my fave song is mono with just a voice and guitar!
I was dissappointed that "IWFYITD" didn't win the grammy it deserved.

OK...The gushing will stop now.

[Weasel9992]

"I Will Follow You Into The Dark" is one of the nicest recordings I've ever heard. Simple, elegant...lots of dark space. Lyrically it's absolutely brilliant, as is the rest of "Plans". Just goes to show that the first step in a great recording is a killer songwriter.

This album and a few others are what I A/B my stuff to.

Weez

[redddog]

Originally Posted by bleen

I was with Jason, Death Cab's drummer, today and told him of this thread. I'll be with him again on Wed., so if you have specific questions regarding the drum tracking on Plans, let me know and I'll get some facts straight from the horse's mouth (he said he'd be happy to answer).

Holy crap this place is the best.

OK. He has some of the best sounding drum tracks ever. I'd love to know specifically:

- What was the room like?
- Mics and signal path?
- Processing?
- What drums did/does he use?

This is awesome. That guy is a freakin' great drummer.

[Gear Tramp]

Dammit, Chris Walla!

Now I lust for a TG2! I want to hear little angels everywhere, dammit!



Looking forward to hearing about the drums, bleen! Thanks!

[DeeDrive]

Originally Posted by Weasel9992

"I Will Follow You Into The Dark" is one of the nicest recordings I've ever heard. Simple, elegant...lots of dark space. Lyrically it's absolutely brilliant, as is the rest of "Plans". Just goes to show that the first step in a great recording is a killer songwriter.

This album and a few others are what I A/B my stuff to.

Weez

Really?? I love the tones on this album, but the recording of this song has always bugged me. I do appreciate the simplicity, and roomy sound, but it really sounds like the room he's in has some acoustic problems, probably a very small room. The rest of the album sounds great, I listened to it for months after I got it.

Another great death cab album is "We have the facts and we're voting yes", their 2nd album I think. Not as poppy as their newer stuff, but the recording is very cool and very unique sounding.

[Weasel9992]

I guess what I meant is that it's one of my favorite recordings ever...I appreciate the decision to keep it as simple as they kept it. The temptation to over produce is strong (at least it is with me), and especially given the more produced sound of the rest of the record, this struck me as a cool decision. It does sound like a small room, but I don't hear any real problems acoustically.

I have "Plans" and "Transatlanticism"...I'll look into the other one.

Weez

[Daedalus77]

I think I read somewhere that "I Will Follow You..." is a live recording—just Ben G. and guitar—done in the booth while Chris W. was fixing something or re-routing something in the control room. I seem to recall the story is that Ben G. was just sort of "practicing" the song, the recorder was on, and this "scratch" take ended up having a better vibe than any other version they recorded.

But I could, as usual, have gotten that all wrong.

[DeeDrive]

Originally Posted by Daedalus77

I think I read somewhere that "I Will Follow You..." is a live recording—just Ben G. and guitar—done in the booth while Chris W. was fixing something or re-routing something in the control room. I seem to recall the story is that Ben G. was just sort of "practicing" the song, the recorder was on, and this "scratch" take ended up having a better vibe than any other version they recorded.

But I could, as usual, have gotten that all wrong.

Hey, I'll buy that, if the performance is good, go with it. And the performance on that song is very good. Man, I love death cab. It's so good to hear a band making records the good old fashoned way, and actually getting radio play while they're at it. The first time I heard their big boomy kick drum sound, I thought yes...this is awesome.

[bobwarren]

From what I understand concering "I Will Follow..." is that it is one mic; mono!

[redddog]

Yeah... I read that article.

From what I understand, they were doing vocals one day and Chris was in the CR and they stopped Ben and told him to take a break while they fixed something. He then grabbed a guitar and started running through that song with no intention of recording it. Chris heard his run-through through the mono vocal mic and said " let's try a take of that." So they ran through it and ended up keeping it.

Pretty cool. But I bet nobody thought they'd end up keeping it.

[GearBit]

I wanna thank you guys for helping me "come out" about this song (IWFYITD)
I had thought about starting a thread about the lessons to be learned from this standout track but relented for getting in a flame war.
I think there are some great lessons for budding engineer/producers to be taken from this example. The best (IMO!) song out of all of the amazing tracks is mono with no "production" to speak of. The production is in the maturity of mind to let the song stand where it stands best and of course the song itself. Lyrics, melody, performance.
As much as I love the whole album the one song that brought a tear of joy and sadness to my eye was IWFYITD and isn't that what music is really all about?

[Brian Middleton]

Originally Posted by GearBit

As much as I love the whole album the one song that brought a tear of joy and sadness to my eye was IWFYITD and isn't that what music is really all about?

I agree. An extraordinary song even by that album's extraordinary standard.

I was at a Thanksgiving dinner last fall, one of those multi-family, multi-generational things, and since several people there were musicians, we got into song-swap mode after dinner. The first several songs played were traditional singalong kind of tunes. For some reason, when my turn came around, the song that come out of me was "I Will Follow You...". Halfway through I almost panicked; what a weird, dark song to play for a big holiday gathering, some of whom were in their 60's and many of whom might never have heard of Death Cab. But when it was over, everybody was buzzing about what an amazing song it was, and wondering who wrote it.

[heyman]

Chris is the singer, right? Man, he has got some of that Jon Anderson/Yes thing going on vocally. I am digging it ..

[redddog]

Originally Posted by heyman

Chris is the singer, right? Man, he has got some of that Jon Anderson/Yes thing going on vocally. I am digging it ..

Ben is the singer. Chris produces the band and is the band's guitarist.

[thenoiseflower]

Originally Posted by redddog

Yeah... I read that article.

From what I understand, they were doing vocals one day and Chris was in the CR and they stopped Ben and told him to take a break while they fixed something. He then grabbed a guitar and started running through that song with no intention of recording it. Chris heard his run-through through the mono vocal mic and said " let's try a take of that." So they ran through it and ended up keeping it.

Pretty cool. But I bet nobody thought they'd end up keeping it.

the fresh, uncalculated, moment.
****ing awesome. thumbsup

all music sounds best when its still a bit unfamiliar to the player.

[Brian Middleton]

Speaking of Death Cab, has anybody heard their excellent cover of the Band's "Rocking Chair" on the recent "Endless Highway" tribute disc? What I really love about it is that they aren't afraid to put their own stamp on the song--it almost sounds like it could be an original of theirs--yet for that very reason, it packs an emotional wallop that's much truer to the spirit of the Band than a lot of the more superficially faithful covers on that CD.