Louder Now: Latest Taking Back Sunday Album

[Tandem5]

Hey guys,

does anyone have any information on the recording process of the latest Taking Back Sunday album: Louder Now? It was Produced/Mixed by Eric Valetine. I'm struggling to find much on him too.

The whole thing is mixed with a brilliant approach which I've been trying to perfect for years but haven't been overly happy with yet.

Were the drums tracked with any interesting/odd mics etc or has the "clucky" drum sound been created in mix?

anyone with help or opinions.... i love you

thanks
Matt

[nobtwiddler]

I'll ask Fred M, as soon as he gets off of this leg of the tour, what was up with that recording, and mix.
He was just here at my joint for a month, recording his new solo album
"The Color Fred" with producer Lou Giordano...

[planet red]

I looove the way that record sounds..

Eric Valentine did an interview in tape op a couple years ago.

He has a huge selection of off the wall equipment. I remember one thing he said is he likes to have the drummer raise his cymbals fairly high and uses figure 8 ribbon mics under the cymbals so the duller side is facing the drums and the brighter side is facing the cymbals. He has a bunch of weird mics that he uses on drums that distort in different ways and uses different speakers as microphones.. but not just on the kick. It also said he mixes on an old EMI board. He also talked about how he calibrates his tape machines differently from most people.

The interview was very entertaining. He seems like one of the few guys working on big name pop records thats really creative in his approach.

[Eric Greedy]

Originally Posted by planet red

He seems like one of the few guys working on big name pop records thats really creative in his approach.

[PMoshay]

i mixed a track that Eric Valentine produced & recorded (Persephone's Bee's)..... one of the best recordings i have ever heard, he is a genius!

[Tandem5]

awesome! I just ordered the tape op with Eric in it. Can't wait!

He is very clever. The TBS mix is a very smart mix!
I love how the drums sit in the center and everything else fills up around them with only the bass covering the subs and not being cluttered by the kick.

I want to learn! No-one else I know... especially around where I'm from seems to be using a similar sound and I think it works with so many bands. I've tried it with a few bands and done... ok... but I'm definately missing something.
I've just been tracking pretty much standard and then trying to EQ things to sounds more the way Eric gets the to sound.. ie. HPF on kik at around 100 and boosting 800-1.6K.. which are usually frequencies I dispise..but they just work do clever with the whole mix in this sense. I do a similar sort of thing with the snare.
I've actually got two Royer 121's so I might try that crazy OH (underhead) technique. That sort of thing gets crazy to control though...not sure if I'm up to the task.

thanks heaps for input

Matt

[xhavepatiencex]

I am going to be the guy to say I really don't like the production on this record it seems super harsh to me, it hurts my ears. Where you want to be though sounds amazing. Who recorded that?

[Tandem5]

..fair enuff. I can see that it wouldn't be desirable to all.
Tough call though... interesting/exciting mixes vs standard/safe/pleasant mixes

[brandonmangrum77]

They recorded the drums in a huge room, I read that! Haha, doesn't help anything much, but its a fact.

And also, Where You Want to Be was a superb sounding recording. And this new one is a little harsh, and I think if it sounded like Where You Want to Be did, I would have liked the music better too.. but the first few times i listend to Louder Now, I didn't like it that much.

So in my book.. standard/safe/pleasant mixes wins.

[Tandem5]

thats funny.. because I wouldn't have said that they were very roomy drum sounds.

[tommy pee]

i remember reading that Miami<?> was recorded in the smallest, tightest room they had in order to get that tight sound

[84K]

Originally Posted by Tandem5

thats funny.. because I wouldn't have said that they were very roomy drum sounds.

yeah. sounds like they only used the close mics and a reverb.

Originally Posted by xhavepatiencex

I am going to be the guy to say I really don't like the production on this record it seems super harsh to me, it hurts my ears. Where you want to be though sounds amazing. Who recorded that?

I agree that the focus of the mixes are in an upper frequency that I do not find pleasant to my ears.

[marchhare]

The verses sound great, love the bass & drums. Every time the guitars kick in, my
ears start to hurt. I love most of the stuff Eric Valentine's done, though.

[Tandem5]

I'm just bored of standard pop mixes where everything sounds fat and clear.

Thats why I'm really into things like...
Jimmy Eat World - Clarity
Death Cab for Cutie
Ryan Adams - Rock n Roll, Heartbreaker
Muse - Origin and Absolution (although the new album sounds really really phat!... but a bit too clean)

you get the drift

[basskater87]

i love that album

for one think the guitars are more harsh than the old album.......but they sound like guitars! To me it sounds more real then a pleasant guitar sound.......it sounds more like the amp is right there with you.

Drums are unique. Different from a lot of drum stuff, but it works!

[Rufuss Sewell]

Oooh... I like the way it sounds. I've never heard them before, but a quick listen on iTunes and the mixes sound really good to me.

[Tandem5]

thats it! the guitars are harsh but sound like guitars!

I like it when instruments actually sound like instruments in recordings.... Mark Trombino is very good at that.

[Tandem5]

does anyone know how they pulled those guitar sounds??
ie. amps, mics etc??

on 'Louder Now' that is

[Tandem5]

...obviously not.
hopefully those old tape op magazines should arrive soon

Matt

[malfunction]

sounds to me like it's missing all the mid frequencies, all the guts, so to speak...listen to THE RUTS, either "The Crack" or "Grin And Bear It", especially the song "West One", 1st track on the second one i mentioned...early punk recordings from the late 70's, early 80's...

[Neruk]

This is my favorite record from one of my favorite bands. I dunno about the mixes being harsh on the ears, but i can tell that the whole mix is a higher freq when compared to other mixes. But, it sounds dope in the car.

Its a shame Fred just left the band this week.

[mixman499]

not a big fan of the band..but i really, really like that record.

eric V. is one of the few guys doing BIG records that has his OWN sound. i personally hated the drumsound intially...but it grew on me. he has an interesting approach...and his sounds have TONS of depth to them....really a cool listen...LOUD and aggressive...but def does not hurt MY ears.

interesting guy...besides all the big time stuff he has done...smashmouth, 3rd eye blind..etc.etc...he has worked on some really cool SF area bands....AND he has an EMI desk....rock.

[LongWave]

eric valentine uses the same drum samples for everything ive heard from him. i cant even hear a real kit apart from the cymbals.

listen to the kick and snare on louder now , then start something by lost prophets, then cant stop by maroon 5. its the same drum sound, bar cymbals.

his guitars are awesome though. i just hate the drum sound. that kick especially. although i think it suits it in the maroon 5 track.

[crille]

Originally Posted by LongWave

eric valentine uses the same drum samples for everything ive heard from him. i cant even hear a real kit apart from the cymbals.

listen to the kick and snare on louder now , then start something by lost prophets, then cant stop by maroon 5. its the same drum sound, bar cymbals.

his guitars are awesome though. i just hate the drum sound. that kick especially. although i think it suits it in the maroon 5 track.

That's true! So Eric has mixed Lostprophets - Start Something too? Haha, cool, I was thinking a while ago "damn, these to records sounds like each other!".
I love the sound of Lostprophets.

How can I get a similar sound? Can I get the samples somewhere?