I was just wondering if you guys (and girls) have an overall "sound" you're striving for, of if you just mix each song individually.

When you're recording/mixing a song, do you have a certain sound in mind?

For me, USUALLY it's Doyle Bramhall's first and second albums - that dry compressed funk (both were produced by Wendy and Lisa).

I really like the way they captured the guitars, vocals and drums - very good clean funk. Not a whole lot of reverb, almost bone-dry.

already have itbut willing 2 discover different avenues every time because everytime, I find something new!

'dre

Pink Floyd (especially Animals, Dark Side Of The Moon, The Wall, Wish You Were Here)

Those albums take you on a journey. There's great sound effects to fuck with yer head (and if you do your research, you'll find that they invented or were among the first to do a lot of their studio trickery).

For example, listen to "The Great Gig In The Sky" (from Dark Side Of The Moon)... there are no lyrics in that song, and it's one of the most emotional songs I've ever heard.

I aim for 60's records with a artsy edge (Velvet Underground, Zombies, Sly, Spector stuff) cool pans, dirty guitars, lo-fi but ambitious. Toss in some 80's cold art pop (Prince, Talk Talk, Echo & The Bunnymen). And some hip hop...juicy bottom. I love me some juicy bottom


nero

hear "barbarasteele"
http://artists.mp3s.com/a...teele.html

everytime i try 2 make a certain sound, it always turns out 2 b different than expected.

i'd say a "new old school" kind of sound? Maybe Technical Funk (New Funk). Originality is always a must.

I agree with Dre. His stuff always sound different also.

Each song has different influences, so I tend to think of each song individually. I don't know enough about production and engineering to really create what I'm hearing in my head sometimes. If I was to go for a certain sound, it might be of Duran Duran's first album. I love that combination of keyboards and guitar. I don't have guitar in all my songs, so that wouldn't be the way to go for all my music. I guess I'm still looking to create my signature sound.

I've only started composing songs properly just recently, but the ones I've done have not been aimed at anything in particular in terms of other peoples sound. The one I'm working on at the moment originally (at the least the original vocal takes) reminded me of America by Prince, then at one point the whole idea kinda reminded me of a Funkadelic jam of sorts (Free Your Mind maybe), then at another it reminded me of Crystal Ball, then last night I was at the airport waiting for a buddy, and thinking about some new parts/lyrics of the song, and it then reminded me of something off of Mandrills first cut. I guess I'm aiming for a "slowish yet stomping chant-like funky jam with strange-shit lyrics" kinda song but never intended to sound like any of the songs I mentioned. I will be putting something in there that'll probably screw the whole thing up but then again may stamp firmly a bit of my own personality in there.

I think it's a conscious decision of mine to let the ideas come out and see what it sounds like on acoustic guitar or whatever, probably because I'm completely new to this and just experimenting with the boundaries of what I actually feel sincerely when recording. I read somewhere that top producers will ask artist stuff like "so what sound are you after" and the best most helpfully efficient response is maybe to say "I wanna sound like so-n-so on that song" (I think it was on the Flyte Tyme website actually). I guess I would love to make a tune as cool and firey as Gypsy Eyes (Jimi), as stomping as Standing on the Verge (Funka) as downright funky as Unfunky UFO (Parl) or as visionary as Dirty Mind (the one by JEFF BECK , but yeah also Princes album cuts) but if I think too much about it I'd be scared of not producing something totally from my own heart. I'm still finding myself in music, and once I've done that I'd have no trouble even singing about blow jobs because if someone yelled plaguarism I'd be able to defend myself, like, "Hey man, smell my breath". Hmmm, now there's a great album title... doh!
[This message was edited Tue Oct 14 3:19:56 PDT 2003 by MaggotBrain]

donny hathaway live

Me personally, I try to go with what fits the vibe of the tune. If it's more of a pop tune, I usually try to keep things brighter sounding (shimmery guitars, pianos, etc.) and get a really thick bass sound with the vox totally out front. Rock, a grittier overall sound with the vocals not as up front, etc etc. I really like that sound that they got on the early Police and Elvis Costello albums where the drums kinda sound like the heads were replaced with pizza boxes! It's so lo fi, but something about the sound of those albums really speaks to me. Most albums today are over-mastered. Everyone is trying to have the loudest album and in my opinion the more mastered the album is, the more clausterphobic the mix sounds. Anyone heard the new Foo Fighters record? Case in point!

otan said:

For me personally I try my best to pump my spirit through in what I record. I dont rely on sounds or mixing to give me my 'sound'.

My Sound is My Spirit transferred onto tape.

It's that thing that makes you recognise an artist no matter what style they're doing next or which producer they're using .. eg: you can tell when it's Prince playing guitar before you've heard him sing or know its a song of his ... same with Jeff Beck - you just know its him.

Is this what you mean Otan? I realise people follow trends that get passed down from the 'masters' - try to create a 'sound' thats sorta like this or sorta like that - but yeah - for me that uniqueness comes from how much of your true self you pour into a recording. If you can saturate it - then you have YOUR sound - and not just Your Version of someone else's ...

However - when I record - I record flat and dry, little bit of compression on the vocals and a touch of EQ, then in mastering I compress the track as much as I can without suffocating it and catch any frequencies that got away. Too many effects can cover the spirit aspect unless you're doing something ethereal or spooky in which case effects are way cool - generally speaking.

Cheers

PB
www.pbphonehome.com
http://www.pbphonehome.co...loads.html

sacred, your answer was sort of what I was looking for...

I listen to your music and hear Kylie and other pop-dance music in there, and my original question was, when you're mixing down, when you're adding little touches to the song to polish it, is there some artist, album, or song in particular that you're hearing in your head.

For me, most of the time it's either Sly Stone, Stevie Ray or Prince, or Doyle Bramhall, depending on what part of the song, etc.

Not trying to totally emulate that person, but trying to put yourself on par with that artist... hard to explain and my head's a swimming still.

While I don't have an ideal sound, I'm with Sacred. My sound is going to develop and people may compare it to things, I don't hear it usually.

I find that besides funk being an inspiration, so is jazz, latin and everything that Earth Wind and Fire has ever done, all inspire me to be a better musician.


moron spelling edit
[This message was edited Wed Oct 22 7:34:47 PDT 2003 by Slave2daGroove]

sacredwarrior said:

I remember once a friend of mine made a comment on my style. I don't think I do this anymore, but there is a certain interval that I used to use all the time. I think it might have been going down a 2nd and coming back. But he noticed a small detail like that and said, that's your signature.

So yes, there is the sound we have that we resonate with. The way we sing or play that we enjoy and we don't care if anyone else gets it. I think "vibe" might be a better word for that. Then there is the mixing and producing that we do to "sound" more professional.