Breaking down the recording of "University"

I've tweaked the instrument balances on this version of "University" to showcase some individual parts. The final mix of the song can be found here.

University - blog deconstruction mix by Cancer Killing Gemini


Press play on the widget and read along.

Intro: 

Drums throughout are fairly traditional: xy overheards with M-Audio Pular II 's, Studio Projects C1 for a mono room mic, dynamics on the drums. A mic I'm really enjoying is the Audix i5 for snare top. It's similar to a sm57 but with dramatically better rejection, so less hi-hat in the snare mic. The top and bottom snare are sent right to the mix bus but they are also bussed together into one fo my favorite plugins, the Logic silver compressor, which is fed to the mix bus as well.

A triangle was overdubbed for some sparkle, recorded with the C1.

We tracked all the guitars at Chuck's. The modern luxury of transferring the entire session, effects and all, on a flash drive is just amazing. Starting with the swells in the intro through the chorus guitars and the "scary" guitar in the bridge, we used a few different instruments: the Tele, Parker, Gretch, SG. On most we used the Logic Vox emulation into a 4x12.

A little eq on each and the silver compressor to give the guitars a tiny bite. 

Verse 1:

The heart of the song is the Rhodes. It's a Mark I Seventy Three which we run into the same SVT '72 bass head that we use for the bass guitar. The SVT 'preamp out' on the back is one of the best DI's ever, as the signal passes through the entire signal path of the SVT (with all its wonderfull glowing tubes) except the output stage. Add a little compression and some reverb and we're good to go.

Underneath the Rhodes is the only software synth, the doublebass pizzicato patch on the EXS24.

Verse 2:

In comes the 'pulsing guitar' and Andrew's slap bass. Bass was recorded (as always) through the SVT. Andrew's used a Precision with active pickups into a clone of a Ross compressor pedal (sounds better than the original IMHO). 

Chorus:

The main guitar part in the chorus is the Parker with a little bit of distorting doubled with a clean Tele. Then an alternate Tele comes in for the last line (panned left in this mix). 

Also in the chorus is the first spot where we hear Max's Hammond (Nord). Listen for the speed change in the rotary speaker near the end.

Bass solo:
A little low end rolloff on the eq, a light phaser, enough said. 

Bridge:

Everything drops out to Rhodes and vocals. Then the Hammond reenters with one high note. 

The second half of the bridge brings the bass and guitars back in, including the entrance of what I call the 'scary guitar', a minor arpeggiating part you'll hear in the right speaker 

Chorus 1st half:

No bass guitar. Max manipulated the Hammond drawbars to get it to grow at the end. 

Chorus 2nd half:

A big bass guitar slide and now everything is back in for the big ending.

I'll put the vocals back up for effect (one lead track, one backing track).

Outro: 

One of my favorite parts, Chuck's 'Gilmour-esque' lead line.

---

Next update: the future of recording 

Cheers,

Eric

Cancer Killing Gemini
http://www.cancerkillinggemini.com