Ask a music scene micro celebrity

[Dazell]

you've stuck to your game throughout your career, that's so inspirational to so many people. do you think it's possible for a solo artist to be picked up by an independent label without having played live shows? Or if that's like not having sex and expecting babies

[hotbeatz]

Have you heard any New Orleans brass band music? It's some loud, raw, live music that I've always thought would benefit from your recording style.

[SpleenLSD]

My turntable died about 3+ years ago and I haven't listened to vinyl since (hey, I've been busy). Sure, I have CDs and MP3s etc., but there's almost no redundancy with my LPs. I can't listen to Double Nickles on the Dime 'cause the CD & even my old cassette copy are missing tracks. It just ain't the same. I thought about getting one of those turntables with the USB plug if I chose to make a digi copy of this or that, but the thing looks like a total POS.

Where are the decent turntables these days? I haven't had to buy one in 20 years. Other than getting a direct drive, isn't the cartridge the most important piece? The Technics 1200 is the only quality turntable I can recall. Any suggestions?

BTW, I bought 3 copies of the Marmoset/Hated Chinee 7" when it came out after I was told it would be an exciting collectible and make me rich when I sold it. First, am I a douche and second, what'lya gimme for it?

[themagicmanmdt]

Sorry about being yet another musically inclined person, registering on the forums, just for a possible question or two. Thanks to Tapeop-ers for posting the thread, you know.

I've got a few short ones - answer if you want, and which ones you want.

1) After reading the reply you posted about working in studios nowadays (which basically was that many people are at home recoring now, and studios are mainly solo or very small manpower operations, of sorts), I didn't know how you'd think on if you weren't in your shoes you are now - if you still think it's a sane idea of opening a recording studio, and if it's just financially feasable, without going under. It seems that's the common trend - large equipment investments, a year of debts, then liquidation. I can't help but see it and hear about it all the time. Would you consider it the engineers fault, or just how things are going now? If you didn't have EA and 'Albini' wasn't a buzz word, would you start from the ground up?

2) Quantegy shut it's doors. Not new news. New production analog tape is going kaput. Do you think that we'll even come to a crisis about it - having tape at feasable prices for studio tracking? Or, will it all be used up, and no one will make it anymore? What's your take on the true future of the recording medium?

3) Along those lines - the 'vintage' gear made and designed in the 50's - 80's is getting older, and parts are getting scarcer, year by year. Personally, I haven't seen many replacements or substitutes that do the job. Granted, of course, there's some newer things that are simply incredible - but do you feel that in, say, 50 years from now, that these things will be unfathomable to maintain and upkeep for the studio? The big thing that comes into mind are the tape machines.

4) How often do you just get sick of hearing music, or audio? Working around it, all the time, do you ever regret that it has, in any way, ruined your musical enjoyment because of your constant analysis of the technical side of things?

I took the big leap of moving from Florida (*shudder*) to the Chicago area. Hopefully I'll be able to record with you in the future, and hopefully, there's promise in this gigantic chaos. I'm glad you found yours!

Best wishes, Steve,

-Marshall

[ohmarrow]

Apologies for encroaching on the 2+2 forums, I understand it's gotta be annoying, but I do have some questions for Steve.

It was cool to read that you considered 'Viva Last Blues' and 'Arise, Therefore' among your favorite recordings as I'm a big fan of those records and Will Oldham in general. I'm assuming you're a fan as well and I'm really curious as to how those sessions went, what your relationship with Will was/is (he's gotta be pretty funny), and what you think of his catalogue from the early Palace stuff to Bonnie 'Prince' Billy. Would you like to do more work with him in the future?

Also, I've been a monstrous fan of your bands for years and I have a lot of love for the majority of the bands you've championed (Scratch Acid, The Jesus Lizard, Killdozer, Six Finger Satellite, Slint, Naked Raygun, Kraftwerk, at least a dozen or two others). Earlier in this thread you expressed interest in making a list of your top 100 Hard Rock bands. Please [censored] do. I know you'd turn me on to a lot of stuff that I haven't heard.

Some of your favorite album art? I know you take great care in that department, Excellent Italian Greyhound felt like a gift. Appreciated.

What was it like working with the reformed Stooges? I should have reserved this question for another post entirely, but I'm being really greedy.

Thanks for doing this by the way. It's a legitimate BIG DEAL for me.

[electrical]

[ QUOTE ]
during your many years in the music business, I'm sure you've been made countless offers that would require you to compromise your values in order to accept. Have there been any you were particularly tempted by? Were there any you seriously considered accepting? (Or did accept?) Share as many details as you like.

[/ QUOTE ]
The common stuff, offers of management, major label deals for bands I've been in, that sort of thing, I've never been tempted by. It's obvious to me that I handle my affairs better than anybody else could, I get all the work I need, and my bands have not been limited in any aspirations. Getting more involved with the mainstream showbusiness industry would be a step backwards.

While Shellac was a new band, we played a few European festivals and were disgusted by the whole scene. The promoters were offering a mixed slate of bands, some of whom they were obligated to have because of backroom deals with agencies and labels, some of which were flavor-of-the-month crap, and the rest were just generic light entertainment, where any old band will do. The bands were using these non-critical (but lucrative) gigs as a kind of subsidy, the fans were not being treated well, and the whole thing was a grotesque abstraction of the legitimate band-fan relationship. After a couple of those, we decided that we would be unavailable for festival gigs.

A few years later, we were asked to play All Tomrrow's Parties, under the pretext that "this festival is different." We declined. The promoter and the curating band who nominated us asked again, with a very generous offer. We explained that we didn't care about the money, we just didn't play festival gigs out of principle. That led to a conversation about the festival, and we were persuaded to play.

As it turns out, this festival was different. It was curated by a band, so all the acts were being vouched-for, the patrons got a weekend ticket including a little apartment (rather than a space in a field for a tent) with a private kitchen and bathroom, and the shows were in proper indoor venues rather than in tents exposed to the weather.

For the first time in history, someone said, "but this one is different," and it actually was different. Not only that, but its success as a festival fostered a whole trend in curated, civilized festivals, and now some of the curated festivals are quite good.

[electrical]

[ QUOTE ]
Also, any tips for recording violin? Any special considerations to take into account when recording electric violin vs. acoustic?

[/ QUOTE ]
Electric violin I treat like any electric instrument -- make sure the band is happy with the sound coming out of the amplifier and record that sound as clearly as possible.

Acoustic violin is a rough one. Microphone choice is pretty important. There is a ton of energy in the very high frequencies, and any peaking in the mic high frequency response can make the violin sound shrill or thin. The holy grail for violin recording is a mic with a smooth and phase-accurate high frequency response (not necessarily flat, but without irregular peaks and notches). A couple of mics come close, good ribbon mics like the Coles/STC 4038 and the Royer R121, and measurement-caliber omni condensers like the DPA 4000 series, the Earthworks mics and the Josephson 617. The only directional condenser mics I have found to sound good on violin have been Schoeps 221b and a Russian mic, the Lomo 19a18, which has been fitted with a new diaphragm by David Josephson.

[electrical]

[ QUOTE ]
6 voices? i only know of the recorder/flute, string section, and choir voices. what others are there?

[/ QUOTE ]
Our set is by no means complete, and we have flute, violin, cello, brass, choir, and double-bass.

[electrical]

[ QUOTE ]
But you must use compressors for some things, though surely.

[/ QUOTE ]
Bass guitar, 2-3 dB, Bass drum, 3-6dB (usually a peak limiter), vocals 6-8dB (occasionally more in extreme cases), occasionally snare drum 2-3 dB (again a peak limiter). That's about it. Anything more than that and there's some problem that ought to be solved another way.

[ QUOTE ]
And yet another side question that you've probably been asked loads of times, but who pushes the record button and mans the desk when you've been recording shellac material?

[/ QUOTE ]
We've had a bunch of people act as tape-op over the years. they're usually credited on the records.

[electrical]

[ QUOTE ]
you've stuck to your game throughout your career, that's so inspirational to so many people. do you think it's possible for a solo artist to be picked up by an independent label without having played live shows? Or if that's like not having sex and expecting babies

[/ QUOTE ]
Sure it's possible in a cocorosie/one-in-a-million way. It's a ridiculous thing to aspire to, and betrays a profound laziness.