Recording Drums With Steve Albini [Third Circle Recordings]
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- čas přidán 6. 11. 2017
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In 2017 I visited Steve Albini's Chicago studio, Electrical Audio, with the intention of recording drums for a few of my songs. In the process, I wanted to scrutinise every microphone in order to gain accurate insight into Steve's techniques with regards to selection, placement and processing. I also wanted to directly compare the sound of the live room to that of the dead room in Studio B. With an impressively bearded cameraman in tow, we filmed as much footage as we could and compiled this documentary of the results.
A huge thank you to Kevin Clarke for holding the camera, and for putting up with me for a week.
An accompanying blog post to this video can be found here: bit.ly/2V9Yj9t - Hudba
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thanks
Best drum sound on LP in the day Dennis MacKay/Mahavishnu Orch, the performer Narada Michael Walden - same band was known for its live FOH sound mix
@@andrewgillis8572 that's serious musicianship , these guys can eat a hamburger in time of a faint triplet
We have worked with Steve for this release czcams.com/video/b7DZUrfBt4Q/video.html
what kind of bike is he riding? I'm suspecting vintage British
RIP to a legend. Videos like this are so important in the long run. Thanks for taking the time to make it.
so fucking young..... what a shame...
I'm serious, i can't beleive this man is no longer with us (in this world). I can't beleive it.
Unbelievable that we live in a day and age were we can just watch a 30 minute video of a genius at work explaining everything in detail on our phones or computers whenever we like.
Thanks James Gasson and Steve Albini!
@@GuitarMan54321 complaining about your wife on CZcams is lame
@@acidvatproductions9933 What, should we do? B A N H E R?
I hope to someday find a girl who loves me the same way Steve loves microphones.
I hope to someday have an ex-boyfriend who talks about me like Steve talks about SM57s.
Good luck.
Women don't love you; they love what you can do for them. 💊
@@redbear4027 that's pretty true.
@@redbear4027 kind of sexist no?
RIP Steve. I dunno why but his death ha made me much sadder than other well known people I’ve never met. He just seemed like such a clever, thoughtful, generous and funny guy and I’ll really miss being surprised by a new one of his electrical audio videos popping up randomly :(
Thank you for this video! Probably the best document on his drum recording technique we'll ever have now. I can't believe Steve is dead.
I really am in shock about it too man.
This is one of the largest gold mines of recording drums I've ever found. Thank you!
Veritable gold mines.
What a great teacher he was. It is great that all this knowledge was recorded for everyone to watch. RIP Steve Albini, and thank you for the music!
Gone on 5/7, forever solidifying the hate for the SM57
We will miss you Steve. This was the first video I had seen you in action and what you’re about. I mentally reference this video at least once a week and thank the creators for releasing this.
❤
it's incredible how humble steve albini is given his achievements and influence. i think that's perfectly represented by his line at the end "i'm gonna get on my bike, go home, go make dinner for the wife". if only everyone was so down to earth.
Captain Howdy ... that’s because you like hacks like the smiths
Max Feeney so you’re saying Steve albini is an asshole because that guy likes The Smiths? That’s so specific... but you seem to know so I’ll take your word for it.
@@bigmaz4002 The Smiths are "hacks"? What groundbreaking, original, and influential music have you made? I think I know the answer to this one.
Kyle Henderson never said that... the dude I responded to was trashing steve. Not the other way around. I’m a huge fan.
Rubberbandfan1 none. But neither has morrisey. He’s just ridden off the coattails of other artists. Also he’s a racist idiot.
I never met him, but he seemed like a genuine, good person. I always had a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for him, and his entire way of thinking about music. It's very upsetting to lose him so young. My heart goes out to his family and loved ones. R.I.P, legend.
17:43 to 18:31 is phenomenal advice from an engineer who's been doing this since I was born. Source, Position, Microphone, Everything Else. And as a producer/engineer, the idea of using your sense memory of what microphones sound like and choosing an appropriate one for that source is great as well. I love Albini's utilitarian philosophy on audio work and am glad this era of him was captured. Thanks for posting!
I was waiting for a boring part of the video so I could go to bed. It never got boring.
28:05 his cable rolling technique is superb !
I bet most people didn't even notice that.
@@anthonykellogg9332anyone who studies this as a career of course knows about it.
7 years of practice, training, making music and watching tutorials and I've finally come to the conclusion that the room is the single most important element of a good recording (apart from being a solid drummer of course)
For drums, yep I absolutely agree.
If the room isn't good, eliminate it as much as possible from the recording. The room I record my drums in is shit. There are no room mics and a very directional overhead. It works but comes out very dry and 1 dimensional. An ER reverb program fixes this.
I used to say the same thing, but now I would argue that the drums, the instruments themselves are much more important than the room. To echo Richard, if the room sucks then don’t record the room. Instead, make the room as dead as you can. Steve Albini has the best-sounding room (I’ve been in it), so he uses those omni-directional, stereo microphones to record a lot of what is happening in the room. Without those, and with some baffles around the drums, he would have all the detail recorded to “fake” that room. There’s plenty of way to fake a room, including pumping the sounds out through speakers into an actual room and recording the resulting ambience. Just like reamping guitars this provides incredible freedom to tweak microphone placement without the musician getting tired of soundchecking or waiting around. Another is convolution reverb using impulse responses recorded in a good studio live room.
The ideal scenario is a great drummer playing good sounding, well maintained, well tuned drums in a room that you can take your time in to find the best setup to record, but so very often we must be quick in compromised spaces. It is actually in perfect agreement with what Steve Albini was saying to focus all your efforts on the source, and fake the space through post-tracking trickery.
You just blew my mind! I've never thought of reamping, if you will, drums. Crazy
Jon Freeman there’s a world of possibilities! As another example of “enhancing” tracks that turned out dull because you had to use extra damping or baffling to cope with the room, Try running a gated kick drum track through a bass amp positioned to fire into a kick drum in a room. Blending the re-amped track with the original can be huge
Steve's drum recordings on In Utero were exceptional
@CHAD theres no plate reverb on in utero
@CHAD Those are room mics dude, not plate reverb.
@CHAD Room and mic. No rev.
@@emperorming2913who’s chad
@@chinmeysway Someone who deleted their comment? Dunno.
Steve tells it like it is........no bullshit, and in a manner that makes perfect sense to anyone who cares.
Thanks for putting this out James, he's a wise old sage.
Dandroid5000 cheers dude, glad you enjoyed it.
Dandroid5000 : I’m 2 years younger than Steve and grew up in the same underground scene as him. Those of us still making music are old in number only. Staying in touch with the scene as you grow older is the best way to still be young, even when you’re “old”.
32:16 "don't take anybody else's word fro what mic you should use where"
WORD !!! Steve, I love you :-)
What a science recording drums professionally is. I was left feeling very small and baffled after this video. I record my own musical tracks for songs as a hobby, and for fun. Perhaps in my next life I will possess the ability to master recording like Steve. He's one in a million that truly understands recording, knowledge of equipment, and the science. WOW!
This is absolutely one of the best recording videos I’ve ever seen. You ask the right questions and let Steve go off, and you don’t cut the video so he can explain his ideas. So down to earth. A million thanks for this free wealth of knowledge. Cheers.
My old band recorded an album in that room with Mr. Albini. I wish I could have savored the experience more but my girlfriend was 9 months pregnant and I had crank out my tracks and fly back to Boston. I highly recommend EA. Thank You Steve.
what band?
Well? What band?
how much did it cost
@@heythere6983 its about $1500 a day to get Steve in Studio A.
I'm hungover as fuck and this is therapeutic.
Me too. LOL.
“There’s a lot riding on the way drums come across on a record”
:Proceeds to drop mic on the floor
LMAO
Legit tho I just recorded piano with Steve yesterday and saw a condenser lying on the ground and I joked that it must be the ambient floor mic. Then I came to this video today and realized that's just a thing he actually does lol
This video is GOLD. I have been a huge Albini fan for years, and I'm getting my engineering chops up - what a dream to be able to learn direct from the source! Thank you so much for this amazing contribution!
his hi-hat stand is higher than snoop dogg
😁
Ironic reference since for years he went around talking about how hip hop was trash and wasn't music.
It's to lessen the bleed from the snare.
This could be for two reasons: To reduce bleed, or since James looks tall, to have better posture.
Drumming is extremely physical, and improper technique/posture over the long run can cause serious injuries (Look at Phil Collins, for example). Having a more elevated hi-hat keeps your back straighter so it puts less strain on your hips and lower back.
And looking at how he plays, it looks like it's easier from him to go from hi-hat to crash cymbal, or to go from hi-hat to a tom fill.
This is interesting to read and I appreciate your charitable defense of my technique, however the real reason is that I learnt to play drums as a kid by air drumming to Dave Grohl on Nirvana's Live & Loud -- he had his high hat super high, and therefore so did I. I got used to playing that way - I liked how much power I could get out of the snare drum with the hats high up, plus it does reduce the spill in the snare mic. The main reason though is of course that I thought it looked cool.
The fact he let you do this! Because he loves audio and wanted to do it. His child was audio. That massive signature sound I love it!
How does this priceless amazing FREE content have any thumbs down? Thanks for sharing this.
My words exactly, it’s free , it is important information, why hate it
@@valley_robot people today complain about warm bright sunny days lol
Because recording enthusiasts love to fight about technique as if there’s a right and wrong. Dorks love arguing with other dorks! 😆
@@icomefromthemountain291 #facts !
Legendary. He could've just not told you any of that info, but he told you every last minute detail. Epic.
I’m 200% dedicated to music and mastering the craft of audio engineering, but I doubt I’ll ever have the privilege of learning these microphones and rooms to the extent of this guy. His explanations are thorough, but I can tell that you have to have the first hand experience to really know what he’s talking about.
I’m just a few years older than Steve and when we did some live recording using my mobile unit, we shared a lot of ground. When we were forming our ideas, gaining chops as engineers, drums were acoustic instruments and tracks were few. Always. Those circumstances forced us to master the craft of capturing a drum kit. He does a good job sharing those hard to describe skills but even so, it really must be learned the hard way.
In my case, and perhaps Steve’s as well, my own band was the ultimate test bench. I could spend days exploring different approaches and refining the results. If not for that, it would have taken a lot longer to be at ease with every kit. With enough time, 4 or 6 tracks was plenty to give me all I wanted at remix. With 23 available, for a complicated song, 4 was just right and occasionally a pair of those was comped from a large number of original tracks. I kinda miss those days of making big decisions and sticking to them.
It's great he had no reservations about sharing so much of his craft.
I LOVE that Electrical Audio jump suit. I want one!
Thanks for sharing this. Albini is a genius. I'd love to hear him produce a King Crimson album.
Steve needs to be in the hall of fame twice, once for the influence of Big Black on music, and secondly for his pure genius in music production
This was absolutely amazing! Steve is a fountain of knowledge and hearing what he has to say about this art is priceless. The fact that this video has 91 dislikes is baffling to me. What’s to dislike? He’s sharing his decades of experience and knowledge with us for FREE. Thank you for the upload, this was fantastic!
Just when I thought you (read: "the internet") couldn't possibly be any dumber, you (read: "the internet") go and do something like this . . . and totally redeem yourself!
Thank you for documenting this. I'm so gutted to never see the man live. I was really looking forward to the possibility of seeing Shellac this year. RIP Steve. You made a difference to the world.
So long and Thanks 4 all the sound Steve!!
This is absolute gold. Thank you, to both of you.
Man, that's pure gold. Thank you!
One of the best interviews I've seen. Great job!
What an unbelievably great idea for a video to put on CZcams. Thank you so much man.
What a fantastic thing to do, sharing all of this info with the public. I am going to go back and watch this a few more times. Gold rings on you, sir.
This is great .......Steve's knowledge of recording theory and gear is extremely deep. Thanks a bunch ......
Wow. What a great in-depth look into Steve Albini's drum recording process and glimpse of his depth of knowledge and insight. Thank you, everyone involved in creating this!
WoW. I am so extremely jealous. Not only getting to record with Mr. Albini, but to pretty much have a informal “class” in recording with him and getting to pick his brain on any topic you were curious about. Thank you for sharing this with everyone.
Thank you for this James . Its a god gift
I'm so glad you did this. His drum sounds are always my favorite
Brilliant stuff guys. Absolutely loved it🤟🏼
What a kickass video. Steve's stream of thinking is so well put in his words, he gets into the point and explains it.
ty for your extremely high quality video, getting the actual settings and reasons for his settings is very very nice !
love his coveralls steve is wearing ha ha very workman like
I was just watching this video a few days ago. Rest in peace, Steve. Unbelievable news. Thank you for everything you’ve done for recording/audio education ❤
Loved this and Steve's attitude to recording.
Awesome, awesome valuable advice on recording drums. This is amazing - thank you so much for putting this video out there!
It's always a pleasure to hear a down to earth guy like Steve talking about recording.
Thanks for not cutting the video at the end of the interview.
The last bit after he stands up made my day.
What a great and generous educator.
Every kid wanting to learn about recording should watch this.
Thanks for putting this out.
This video was pitch perfect - great info, great questions, nice editing, loved it. THANKS!
Thanks for putting this together, great to hear a master like Steve talk matter of factly about his choices and whatnot. Great stuff.
wow dude your songs are awesome!! this video helped me see how he gets all the individual sounds more than any video ive seen. thanks so much for making this :)
This is one of the most insightful interviews I've ever seen with a recording engineer.
Hey again James. Just wanted to say- this is fantastic- thanks so much for posting it!! I was making an album about 2 years ago and I emailed EA with a view to recording drums there- I 'spoke' to Tyler, if I recall correctly. It sure seemed like he, Albini and anyone/everyone else there were really cool people. Unfortunately my budget couldn't handle it (I'm independently signed, and based in Australia for a start!), but this video has shown me what I might've experienced- and may well experience in the future, if all goes well! Thanks again!
Thank you so much for making this. Very very helpful. And thank you Steve Albini.
I could listen to Albini talk about recording for days. Always learn something new.
That was just brilliant, thank you. I have watched a TON of such videos, this was by far the best. Isolation of mic sounds, different rooms, processing reasoning, mic placement, mic choice - wonderful explanations. Thanks!!
This is like a free masterclass, great vid!
thanks for creating this video. great stuff and well done!!
Watching this GOLD for about the tenth time! So much to take in and to consider. Endlessly fascinating. Thank you for it, James. And God bless Steve...
Gold mine of knowledge is right. I didn’t want this video to end. Thank you!!!
this was excellent! i've admired his drum recordings for 20yrs or so.
Thanks so much for this! CZcams is full of millions of videos that randomly pop up and range from pointless to interesting but now and then we strike gold and find something like this, a full episode length video jam packed with amazing information. Love you for this.
What an absolutely great video , thank you .
Grateful not only for his meticulous process, but great command of language to convey it all.
Steve is like the fucking Noam Chomsky of recording.
Ha! Just thought that myself. :)
who?
Totally, they both share that kind of low gritty rumble in their voice
Also reminds me of Warren Buffett.
And their demeanor too.
I know nothing about sound recording but have much respect for Steve and could listen to him all day. Thanks for the video!
This video is like a dream come true ! A big thank you to both of you for making this knowledge available to all of us !
Gold. Didn’t search for this but this was what I needed to hear. Notably, there wasn’t much discussion over the ‘how much room matters’
thank you so much for making this video. So insightful.
Legend, He just makes total sense and I love his patractically minded way of doing things. Don't wear out your musicians by fiddling around with tons of outboadr just get the mics pluggedin and get the session running as quick as you can, this is so important to capture the full energy of a performance. What a great film, thanks for sharing!
Thank you for this primer. Steve Albini has some great thoughts on the process. He was just as helpful when I met in late 1990 at Chicago Recording. :)
Bro you are an incredible drummer. I forgot what I was watching this vid for and started rocking out with
You. You are kick ass. Shit got serious when Steve started taking though
Gus P Music thanks man!
Every minute of this is turbo-charged with all sorts of practical wisdoms! Thank you!!!
Man that was great. Really informative and inspiring. Also the sound in the live room was crazy.
This guy knows his shit! It all comes from experience and keeping up with the possibilities, new & old.
Great interview!
Rich
Bloody great video. Well produced and incredible content. Thanks!.
I really enjoyed this. You can tell there was a lot of time put into it. Steve is just dropping nonstop knowledge bombs.
Charles Ruiz thanks man. There really was.
Steve Albini is wonderfully concise and unpretentious in his explanations, what a breath of fresh air :)
Simply amazing. Just arrived in my studio this morning, made some coffee and browsed youtube. This came on and it was simply inspirational. I once applied for an internship with Steve Albini. Didn"t get, but man do I love to hear him speak with such passion. Gonna listen to some fresh masters now.. Thanks for the content!
Every elucidative and generous of him. Great video.
This is awesome ! Like an amazing documentary
Very cool of you to make and share this video and very good of Steve to divulge his knowledge in such a generous manner.
That was a really good watch, very informative beyond recording drums, thanks.
Wow...... he’s got it down to a science literally. Very cool. Genius at work.
Amazing: this is priceless information from a real recording master. Thank you very much for uploading this video!!!
Thank you James, this is amazing!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great insight! I am pleased that Steve exists in a world of automation
Such an informative vid! LOVE Steve! Thanks a bunch
Insightful. Thank you James.