Real Ska

[RichT]

Here's an unmastered track from a 3 Track Promo I did for a band called 'The Racketeers'.

All three tracks were recorded in a 7 hour session.

Drums were setup in our live room, with the guitarist and his amp in the corner behind a baffle.

Upstairs, in our larger booth were the brass section (Tenor Sax and Trumpet). The double bass player was in the vocal booth and the singer was in the control room with me.

Mics / Pres / Comps / AD used:

Drum kit

Kick: AKG D3000 -> Sytek Pre -> DBX 266XL -> Rosetta 800

Snare: Beta 57 -> Sytek Pre - DBX 266XL -> Rosetta 800

Rack 1: SM57 -> Soundtracs Dsk -> Fostex VC8

Floor: SM57 -> Soundtracs Dsk -> Fostex VC8

Overhead Left: AT3035 -> Sytek BB Pre -> No Comp -> Rosetta 800

Overhead Right: AT3035 -> Sytek BB Pre -> No Comp -> Rosetta 800

Double bass

AKG 414 -> Soundtracs -> TL Audio 5021 -> Rosetta 800

Guitar

SM57 -> Soundtracs -> No Comp -> Rosetta 800

Vocal

SM55 -> Soundtracs -> RNC -> Rosetta 800

Tenor Sax

AT25 -> Soundtracs -> TL Audio 5021 -> Rosetta 800

Trumpet

AKG 414 -> Joe Meek VC3 (Pre/Comp) -> VC8

I had to get creative with what I sent down our 8 'gold' channels of Apogee AD as the band wanted to do it live and I wanted them to do it live too.

Even so, there are a couple of drop ins on the vocals (see if you can spot them).

Mix wise the band wanted a very basic, dry affair to allow interested producers some space for their vision (though I still fancied triggering a nice big reggae style echo on every other snare beat).

Unmastered as I said, could probably do with being brighter (thats what my stereo is telling me here anyway).

If you listen please comment, good or bad.

Cheers,
Rich

[DanV]

It's sweet man, makes me want to put on my Prince Buster cd!

I wish there was a bit more of platey verb sound on the vox , that is more of a personal preference than anything though - it still sounds great as is. I love how you keep from letting things get too bright - a very classic sound to this. Excessive highend is my sworn enemy and you kept things within the range that I like quite perfectly.

[RichT]

Originally posted by danv1983
It's sweet man, makes me want to put on my Prince Buster cd!

I wish there was a bit more of platey verb sound on the vox , that is more of a personal preference than anything though - it still sounds great as is. I love how you keep from letting things get too bright - a very classic sound to this. Excessive highend is my sworn enemy and you kept things within the range that I like quite perfectly.

Thanks Dan.

Funny you mention about the ultra highend as other have said it's the thing missing from most of my mixes - I think due to my monitoring environment and the monitors I'm currently using.

But bass traps are on their way! Muhahahahah! I should be able to hear what I'm doing then at least at the bottom end of the scale.

Cheers,
Rich

[jflush]

I am absolutely in love with this song! Do you have any information about these guys? A website? Where are they from? I'm on about my 12th listen... each time I hear it I'm more impressed! Real Ska! Vinyl please! I'm going to have to brake out my Israelites collection this weekend. I'm presently fighting the "too much brightness" issue myself. Danv1983 is right, your "not letting the brightness get out of hand," works in a "classic" sounding way. I'm taking note. Thanks for posting this song Rich! I love it.

[picksail]

Very naturalistic production. I'm very impressed. I can't imagine hearing it any other way. Great work!!

On a personal level, I would prefer to hear the bass guitar a bit more. A real masculine sound. Ya know, kind of like back when Sting was still great...until about 1985. Just me though.

[RichT]

Originally posted by jflush
I am absolutely in love with this song! Do you have any information about these guys? A website? Where are they from? I'm on about my 12th listen... each time I hear it I'm more impressed! Real Ska! Vinyl please! I'm going to have to brake out my Israelites collection this weekend. I'm presently fighting the "too much brightness" issue myself. Danv1983 is right, your "not letting the brightness get out of hand," works in a "classic" sounding way. I'm taking note. Thanks for posting this song Rich! I love it.

No web site for these guys yet, they're from London / Portsmouth UK.

They should have an full length album out in Europe and Japan by the end of the year (this track is just a demo).

Thanks everyone for your kind words

[Beech]

Great job Rich. How good to hear some ska again. Amazing live take with energy ... don't hear that much anymore. Hope you get to record the album. Particularly like the snare sound. How big is your drum room?

[RichT]

Originally posted by Beech
Great job Rich. How good to hear some ska again. Amazing live take with energy ... don't hear that much anymore. Hope you get to record the album. Particularly like the snare sound. How big is your drum room?

Thanks Beech,

Our drum room is about 375 square foot. Took a look at your studio site, nice studio and great views!

Cheers,
Rich

[zxcv]

Great song!

How did you go about getting that sound for the horns?

any chance of hearing the other two tracks?

[RichT]

Originally posted by zxcv
Great song!

How did you go about getting that sound for the horns?

any chance of hearing the other two tracks?

The horns were recorded in our 'small drum room' (we've actually only set up a kit in there once!).

The players were put as far away from each other as possible to prevent too much bleed. In reality this was probably about 3-4 feet.

Both players took one ear off the headphones to tune to each other.

For the mix I used a warm large room reverb - I used Waves TrueVerb plugin for this.

I've only got permission for posting this track though I'd love to share the other two tracks.

Thanks again for your comments,

Rich.