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Hi, I'm Rob from the Belly tribute album. I did 'Silverfish' and 'Super- Connected'. Since I recorded both songs all by myself, I recorded the drums first. Believe it or not, I only use two mics for the drums (sometimes 3 or 4, but usually only 2). I like the drums to sound really live and raw, not all smothered in reverb. And I don't put the mics in front of the drum set, I put them right behind me. I know this is an unorthodox method, but it really comes out quite well! I put one mic facing the snare and hi-hat and the other facing the floor tom and ride cymbal... that way, it gets nice stereo seperation. And on the 4-track, you can adjust the input to either Line or Mic.

Even though I plug the mics directly into the 4-track (not through a reverb filter first), I put it on Line to get a nice "natural" compression... the drums really sound much tighter this way. By the way, the reason I don't put the mics in front of the drum set is 'cause they pick up the cymbals too much and I like the way the drums sound when I sit and play them, so I wanted to get that same sound I hear when I sit behind them. So on track 1 and 2, I record the drums in stereo.

Then I record the guitars. I don't like to plug the guitar directly into the 4-track through a processor or a Line-Out of an amp because it doesn't sound as natural (in some cases it's good, but not for Belly). So instead, I mic the amp and plug the mic into the 4-track. For the Belly songs, I put my guitar (a Fender Strat) through a BOSS Stereo Super Chorus (I only use the mono output though), a BOSS Phaser, a Korg Toneworks Distortion Porcessor, an Audimation Reverb processor, and finally, a Peavey amp. I'm not the kind of person obsessed with expensive guitars and the best processors and amps... the way I see it, if you can play well, that's all that matters.

So on tracks 3 and 4 are two different guitar tracks (one panned to the left, one to the right). Then, I hook the 4-track up to my stereo system and mix the drums and guitars, taking into account the bass and vocals which will come soon. Once I mix it, I take it over to the computer and record it in 44.1 kHz, 16-bit stereo .WAV format onto the computer using my DAT program. Then I hook the Line-Out of the sound card into track 1 and 2 of the 4-track and I also mix in the bass with it. It takes a little experimentation, but it saves tracks this way.

To make the bass get a nice full strong sound, I put it through my BOSS Stereo Super Chorus pedal (output in mono though). And unlike the guitars, I plug the Line-Out of my Crate amp into the 4-track. So now on track 1 and 2, I have the stereo drums and two guitar parts and the bass.

Now tracks 3 and 4 are free for vocals (one lead and one harmony). On Silverfish, I put the mics through thick reverb for a nice pretty sound. But on Super-Connected, I put the vocals through the Super Chorus in addition to reverb (the intro is only reverb though). When I originally recorded the vocals on Super-Connected, I tried to sing in Tanya's octave...

During the playback I couldn't stop laughing at how ridiculous I sounded singing all high, so I went back and recorded them an octave lower!

Once the vocals are done, I hook the 4-track up to my stereo again and get a final mix. The reason I don't mix through headphones is because headphones don't give an accurate sound in terms of bass and stereo panning. In other words, what sounds good in headphones doesn't automatically sound good without headphones. I have a really good stereo system too, which helps a lot.

Wow, that's long! I hope it wasn't too boring. I guess I'll say some advice now... don't be afraid to try new and different things! Try putting the vocals through chorus, try putting the drums through some slight phaser, etc. Get inventive! Sometimes the drums sound really good only coming from the left or right... same with the vocals and guitar and everything else!

I am an audio engineer and I'd have to say that listening to the Beatles for 20 years has really really really helped a lot with getting a great sound and being creative. No other band has ever managed to get such a powerful and clean sound as the Beatles. Put on a Beatles album (especially a later one) and really listen closely to the drums and the bass and the guitars and everything and notice how everything is done. Even though the drums are only coming out of one speaker, they sound really powerful and real, as if they're really there! It's hard to explain this type of thing, but all I can say is study the Beatles... don't just listen to the music, but study it! Sure, the songs are great, but it really helps when it comes time to record.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention (not like it's important)... on Super-Connected you may hear a really obnoxiosly loud crash cymbal on the right... after I mixed Super-Connected and sent it in to Sung, I listened to it again and that darn cymbal really annoyed me. It was just a cheap one and it sounded so horrible, I threw it out! I replaced it with a nice sounding Zildjian to go along with my other Zildjian crash cymbal. Just thought I'd share that with you... it wasn't 'cause of poor mic placement, it was 'cause of cheap-ass cymbal!

here's a list of equipment... (I'll be as specific as possible)

Rob (josettej2@geocities.com)
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Backstage/3440
(Contributor of "Silverfish" and "Super-connected"
on the Tanya Donelly Tribute CD)