Vance Powell: Recording Rock
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- čas přidán 5. 08. 2024
- Grammy-winning producer/engineer Vance Powell (Jack White, Seasick Steve, Chris Stapleton) welcomes us to Sputnik Sound in Nashville to show us how he recorded a track for rock act Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown.
Over the course of this in-depth video tutorial Vance explains his decisive production approach and deconstructs the track ‘Loaded Dice & Buried Money’, demonstrating the recording and mixing techniques employed to craft a huge rock sound from a band playing together in a room.
Listen to the full track - 'Loaded Dice & Buried Money'
iTunes: sosm.ag/2aRsv1d
Spotify: sosm.ag/2bvlMYI
Tidal: tidal.com/track/53226401
Chapters
00:00 - Start
00:32 - Vance Powell Introduction
01:22 - Live Room Setup/Tracking Overview
05:01 - Recording Guitars - Baritone Guitars
07:16 - Bass Tone
08:29 - Drums
15:20 - Rough Mix/Tracking Process
16:34 - Overdubs
17:21 - Panning Strategies
17:57 - Guitar Overdubs
19:47 - Vocals - RCA 77 & Ampex Microphones
28:16 - Moog Little Phatty
29:54 - Guitar Solo - Spaceman Effects Sputnik Fuzz
30:47 - Turnaround Guitars
32:16 - Parallel Compression - Neve 33609, Empirical Labs EL7 Fatso
38:07 - Reverb
39:16 - Outro
39:42 - Full Track
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Man that hits hard. I absolutely love the crazy, sputtery, fuzzed-out, upper midrange-heavy guitars,... tons of personality. The delay trick for the drums is spectacular. Vance Powell is a hero of mine, the kind of engineer I aspire to be: fearless, knowledgeable, anti-dogmatic, bold, fast, generous and just plain freakin' cool. Thanks Vance and Sound On Sound for doing this, this is priceless.
1:22 - Tracking Room Setup/Tracking Overview
5:01 - Guitars
7:16 - Bass
8:29 - Drums
15:18 - Rough Mix/Tracking Process
16:34 - Overdubs
17:21 - Panning Strategies
17:57 - Guitar Overdubs
19:47 - Vocals
28:16 - Moog
29:54 - Guitar Solo
30:47 - Turnaround Guitars
32:16 - Parallel Compression
38:07 - Reverb
39:16 - Ending
thanks
What an absolute prince of a producer.
I absolutely love his attitude on everything! Seems like a super chill guy that loves his job.
Vance is a brilliant guy, and a great guy to be around. I had the opportunity to grow up with him and what him start off in a small studio in Joplin mo.....and then he just exploded to the next level, then to the top!! love the guy!
The Drums Sound is incredible! Really nice to see a song being recorded like this without overdubs and overloaded with plugins
It never ceases to amaze me how some people are prepared to create and present content on CZcams, completely free of charge which at the end of the day provides competition for what they themselves do for a living! It would be perfectly possible to spend a few months watching (all of the right) videos in sequence and come away from it a 'fully trained' person capable of then creating a professional business from it all. We could argue that you need to be the right kind of person with the interest and capability in the first place and that to a greater degree would be true of course, but the breadth of material available for beginners to experienced level is amazing, and all available at the click of the mouse.
Hats off to you, great video. :-)
right; phil's positive attitude is good, but it always comes down to who you are. those with the goods will make it. others, training aside, won't. and of course, getting along and having good attitude are essential to success in a "people" biz like this. cranky engineers are unemployed engineers.
You'll need to do more than just watch videos. I've watched videos every single day for the past 5 years and I'd say i have a pretty good understanding of what to do and what not to do. But nothing can prepare you for being called into a studio to engineer a tracking session when you have no idea what to do on a console you've never worked on with a patch bay that makes no sense. Which is why I'm in school for it. Then interning to hopefully be offered a job as an assistant engineer to one day (out of the blue I might add) some shit happens and the 1st engineer doesn't show up making me the new 1st engineer. It takes years and lots of hands on training. Just my two cents.
Nik Gienger I'm sure you'll do just fine! Watching the right videos (like this one) will open your eyes but the more actual practice you get will boost your confidence and skill. I've been doin this over 20 years and there's always something new to be learned.
I understand your comment and your concern is real, however, no matter how large the pile of information that is available to us, we as individuals, still have to put the hours of hard work in. What any engineer or pro can tell you, every mix is different and every song is approached differently from the genre, form, instruments, overall feel they (the band) are going for, and so on. I guess it's a matter of training your ears and taste according to different genres. Besides, the whole thing changed. A lot of engineers moved to in box mixing(DAW/plugins/samples etc), just like the new engineers that are yet to come. Having huge racks of outboard gear will eventually become obsolete. Yes, indeed, changes like that happen in every layer of musical art forms, from playing live to rehearsing to recording, or even songwriting. Everything changes and we need to be aware of this and be prepared to adapt. The information you get is real, but no amount of information can beat hard work. It really comes down to how much effort you put in and how hard you really want this. And if you're into the money, prepare to have a terrible life :))
To your point, at 21:31 he even says, "Here's the vocal chain for anyone who wants it cause I don't give a shit about that stuff." He is confident in his abilities, not some random settings. Such a badass!
Couple things:
First off, holy fuck those guitars sound good, and second, I feel like Mr. Powell probably rides a motorcycle.
When soloing the drums one can instantly recognize the importance of miking the room the right way. The bleeding is very musical. Fantastic record!
A most down-to-earth genius. It's a rarity to find a producer that does so much with so little (in terms of plugins). It's all about style and musical grit.
Vance. I've watched hundreds of videos on recording and mixing all styles of guitar based music. Most are 90% waffle and 10% meh. This is genuinely inspiring and useful. It makes me want to get to straight back into my studio. Great work, thanks.
I think secret here is the open bleed and the fact its guys jamming together in a room. Most bands nowadays would prefer to time align to death and then track as dry as possible.
I think he might waste a bit of time to bus these things out to outboard boxes, etc. but by printing the effects he's locking the sound early, so no second guessing later on.
Brilliant stuff, kudos to Vance!
Mind blowing. How he got such a direct, hard hitting sound recording live is simply brilliant.
Don't really have much reason to watch the entirety of it but ended up watching it all. Very cool and interesting.
This is a great example of how to convey real skill and expertise- thx
You guys should do this again! Lets get more Vance! so great
That was very interesting. I'm not a massive fan of rock music but have to say the track sounds really crisp and energetic. What I really like is that he knows what to do and is not worried about telling people how he does things. He's not afraid because he's confident in his ability to make decisions for what's right for a track. I feel that his approach of committing a lot of things early in the process is a good one too, to save time fiddling around and achieving nothing later.
Holy shit, this might be the best thing on recording I've ever watched. So much insight, so much passion. Vance Powell is one helluva producer.
favorite take of the session... "just to provide some ear-candy for you stoners listening out there".
this man has his head on straight, love Vance's methods.
One of the most captivating videos I've seen. This guy has some amazing talent in producing but also in teaching this in layman terms. I'm an electrical engineer and mix music as a hobby, but wow does this guy have me beat in how to put a song together!
I get more thrilled watching 40 minutes of interesting videos like this one than any full "movie" being released out there
Damn, sources are just everything...
This video's really putting my brain upside down. It's really about making a sound, rather than processing it later (as obvious as it might sound)
But damn those guitar sounds ! CRAZY SHIT !
Which is fine when you can process it live, these sounds are still heavily processed with distorted and compressed drums blended in and other techniques that are easy in a DAW and need plenty of gear to do when tracking. Also it is a simplistic style that doesnt need as much production (double tracking, editing effects etc). I find a good way to work is add processing during the tracking process to get an idea of a sound and stick with it then when you mix you arent making as many creative decisions. For example having reverbs set up, having drum and mix bus compression, having parellel chains etc.
My band was super tight from playing tons of local club gigs by the time we hit the studio. Our producer originally wanted the drummer to cut his tracks to us playing along live, and left our "scratch tracks" in just as a guide for him. We played all of the songs we planned to record as if it were a longer-than-normal set list, and we nailed it, zero flubs or mistiming anywhere to be found. Everyone was happy that he decided to record our amps despite the original intent to overdub everything, as these were KILLER takes in every way. All we did after that was double up the guitars (one guitar band) and layed down the vocals. We knocked out 16 tracks in one session, had one more session for mixing, sent it to our buddy in Italy to be mastered for vinyl, and had our record release gig within six months of our first session. Our album really captured our live energy (we're a fast paced, loud & heavy riff based rock band) and that's exactly what I had hoped would come across on my first project that made it to actual vinyl. We duplicated the process for our second LP, but we wound up splitting the band up before we got the funds to press any physical copies. The most recent upload on my channel is from that second album, which I'm in the process of getting all of the guys to agree to terms to release the album digitally, but our drummer has vanished into thin air, none of us have heard from him since we split up in August.
Finally a youtube tutorial video with a kickass song!. Will definitely checkout the band's work :)
I love how big the drums sound without being that pumping.
"Kick ass song"? Lol
I can see why he likes those tape delays! They sound awesome. And when he cranked up the input to those tape delays it sounded incredible!
This is one of the most helpful videos I have ever seen on youtube. I'd love to see the mic placement, volumes of the instruments when being recorded, position of the kit and amps in the room etc
Probably ONE OF THE VERY BEST THINGS I'll watch on CZcams in 2016...
No, the best thing must be the Devin Townsend Toontrack Challenge, a 2-hour plus video in which Devin Townsend records and mixes a full song from scratch on a live stream, including his godlike vocals, on Pro Tools.
no this is bulshit
You might enjoy the interview I did with Steve Albini
Excellent video. Thanks SOS and thanks to Vance Powell for sharing his insight.
i grew up with Vance, him and my brother are good friends....Vance has always been a genius!! fascinating guy who took his love of music to the highest level....love ya Vance! little Riddle
100% seems like a cool dude to chill and have a drink with while shooting the shit
Embrace the bleed ! drums are insane
I love the drum production. As a drummer for most my life and an amateurs audio engineer this is goldddd.
Can't wait to hear what he did with Clutch.
There is so much to be learned here. Most importantly I would say is the fact that when you record it the way you hear it, it just makes so much more sense then spending endless amounts of time, making "perfection"? Perfection itself of course being unattainable and it just wastes time, money, and just kills a project ay.
Lots to be learned here .... love the song.
Outstanding job Vance, Outstanding.
That API...its like it was made for this. Brutal job man!
pure pure gold
Thank you Vance for sharing your wealth of knowledge!! Its tough to find professionals with experience and ears like yours to be so open and willing to share. Your drum sounds make me go f'in nuts every time I hear a project you've worked on!!!
best freakin drums ever!!!!!!
Thanks to Vance for taking the time to break this down.It is much appreciated
I love vance! was such a pleasure to get to visit him with Blackbird and talk music! coolest, realest, no bullshit kind of guy. i aspire to get there
God damn that snare is so dope. Just the raw recording has so much balls. Fuggin heeeaaavvy haha
Stunning sound and such a straightforward person - very open and tasty!
Thanks SOS for making this happen.
Thanks Vance, this encouraged me to consider taking a few more risks with my mixes next time.
Superb Sound On Sound interview as always. Fantastic song and mix. The Echoboy Dual Echo at 27:50 sounds amazing
Everything was explained so well. A great engineer and teacher.
Thank's a lot Mister Vance POWELL, I love your approach of sound and believe you got it all right!!!
Really great info here! Thanks so much. Love the song!
Thanks for your time and knowledge here Vance!! Learned a ton!
This man is an artiste!!
Fantastic video on mixing rock. Vance and SOS, you've done an amazing job!
Thanks for the video guys. Love Vance's work. Very inspiring.
Everything about this video rocked.
Vance Powell = INSPIRING!!! The next time I'm in Nashville I'm definitely looking you up for some drinks! Cheers bro!
Great video, I liked the deconstruction technique. One of the most informative mix videos I've seen. I will be following Vance's work from now on...
God i love this video, the inside the mind of a talented guy.
Came here for the drum advice. I learned about parallel compression. Great video - super fun. Thanks SOS and Mr. Powell!
YES! SOS once again with the quality content! You guys ROCK
Thanks!
It helps a lot that the band he's recording sound amazing.
This guy is on top of his craft. Nicely done!
This was very insightful. I love your use of distortion & compression blended in under the sound of many of the tracks.
Finally, a grade-A mixing engineer that's not scared to show how much compression and distortion is really being used. And masterfully at that!
I need this beard!!! Is there a beard emulation plugin anywhere?
There's no substitute for an analog beard...
Lmfao!!! Ya'll are wonderful xD
Yes, but it's less 3D than the real thing!
It's called a "merkin"
yeah, also need it in vst and AAX format :)
RIVETING VIDEO! I am just a guitar player and I was glued to the screen! very cool! Thanks for sharing you expertise with us commoners. It was great to listen to a quality audio signal through the video, so on my home computer “decent” speakers i really got a good idea of what you were doing and how it sounded! AGAIN SUPER COOL AND THANKS FOR SHARING!
Pretty freaking brutal tutorial! Thanks a lot this is awesome!
This is awesome! Vance is amazing with his recording techniques, the was not much to his mixing process all the sounds were already there.
This interview is so great! Vance is very nonchalant about all of this. However, just one listen to those tones and you know he is a badass and has a WEALTH of knowledge.
I'm crying!!! Thank you man!!!
Damn, so much to soak in here. This is invaluable to those of us trying to find our way in adding character to our recordings, thanks for doing this! I wish there more videos like this where the true pros open up about their techniques. Mad props to Vance for the skills! Now to finally go learn about parallel compression....
This is rad! VP is awesome. I've had some pretty good luck recording bands in a room. It's amazing how little bleed happens when you position mics and amps properly and take your time to get the sound right before recording. It's great to show a song recording with mixing in mind
.
Thank you for sharing Vance. Very gracious.
Vance You should be proud of the Tyler Bryant Album... it really sounds great. Thanks for the talk :)
One of the most interesting things I've seen!
Great video. Super tight for a live track. Well done Vance.
Great attitude , great video.
Thanks for posting this gem.
This is so Brilliant. Thank you!!!!!!!
Excellent video! Who would give a "thumbs down" on this?! This kind of stuff is invaluable. More videos like this please!!
Great video - more of these, please!
Great knowledge, thanks for sharing! Sounds incredible!
Rad video. All the moves to make the overall tune stand out are great.
Amazing video, hope to see more videos like this in the future
Man id love to work with this master!
Vance's creative process completely blew me away. Raw, fuzzy , gritty Audio Nirvana!
I loved how The minimal processing approach can elevate a track to an insanely powerful production!
Just re-watched this. It is a great video, showing how a hybrid system works so well and of course with a great song it all sounds better :-) Thanks to SOS and Vance for putting this together
Thanks Vance & SOS; interesting...great song and mix : -)
Love what Vance did with the Drums. Adding all those layers of distortion just made it so much more interesting.
He really made the snare sound terrible. Rings like a bell. Not a fan.
Cuts like a knife though. I love it.
Me too. One man's 'terrible' snare is another man's great snare. Lol. Besides its a better mix that 99% of the boring shit out there.
It's an interesting record/mix, rather than a pristine one. People play it too safe now a days and you just gotta go with what feels right and sounds good to you. What's brilliant is how he designed those sounds on the way in and recorded/mixed the project with that approach in mind. That's why he had to tweak so little, because he got what he wanted during the production process. I think there's a lot more to take in from this video than meets the eye!
right on !
Vance...man! Jeeze...I lived in Music City 20 years and ever knew about you until now, seven years after I moved to Texas, where I was born. At 71 I regret that we never met, tho. I think we coulda made some cool recordings together, and definitely woulda shared some great stories. I appreciate your flare for sound, sounds, and experimentation...rare qualities these days, it seems to me. Or maybe I just don't get out enough. Ha! Truth is, I really don't get out much at all anymore. Hell, it's 40 miles to the nearest Kroger or any other kind of citified institutions.
On the positive side, out here in the country I seem to have plenty of time to rock out in my little home studio with my Les Paul, Strat, other brands and stuff. But really, Vance, I really really do miss Nashville...and I really am sorry I wasn't aware of you when I freakin' lived there!
Best wishes to you my new friend
Dub Campbell
Absolutely sounds great!
Thanks a lot and more power Vance!
Killer track. Vance, thanks for sharing! Learned a lot from this.
lovely guy, great sound. thank you. :)
Now this is a real informative vid. Salute!
Very nice ,,, Mostly all done on the way in... Much more planning and detail, but yet cheaper,, lol,,. Great stuff, so much experience,,, Love to see the studio Vance AND thanks for sharing !!!
This was incredible. Nice and simple. Thanks.
Bloody lovely. Inspiring idiosyncratic production methods.
awesome video.. awesome recording.. awesome guy!
Great video and Vance has a wonderful ability to explain clearly the awesome things he does. I liked the one room approach mostly because I am building a one-room studio and this gave me hope :-D
Superrrrr gr8 video!!! I will try these techniques for sure!!! Thx Vance, thx SOS!!!
Dude you are my hero... helluva studio!
what a great and inspiring tutorial! would love to hear more tutorials with VP.
FANTASTIC video btw, also that track rocks and will be a success.
thanks, really great info, thanks Vance and SOS
Theres no bleed?!?! The gobos gave you all that isolation while still recording ? It sounds great!
Great video, sounds amazing thanks brother.
This is fantastic!
I like this guy and his approach !