raymitchell
Member
BUMP... again!
Q&A with multi-platinum rock producer Michael Wagener.
- Thread starter James Lugo
- Start date
thenine
Well-known member
Bumping this up b/c its the coolest freakin thread ever!
Michael, thanks so much for taking the time to do this. Another question if you are still out there answering.
You have specifically mentioned the right hand several times in this thread. Do you "coach" players on what picks to use to get the attack you are looking for?
I mention this as when I went to take lessons the first thing my teacher did was swap out my Jazz III for a Clayton to get a more brite, clicking tone. He thought Jazz III's were muddy and not immediate enough. Fascinating stuff, and thanks again.
Michael, thanks so much for taking the time to do this. Another question if you are still out there answering.
You have specifically mentioned the right hand several times in this thread. Do you "coach" players on what picks to use to get the attack you are looking for?
I mention this as when I went to take lessons the first thing my teacher did was swap out my Jazz III for a Clayton to get a more brite, clicking tone. He thought Jazz III's were muddy and not immediate enough. Fascinating stuff, and thanks again.
MICHAEL WAGENER
New member
I use those:raymitchell":1w00ouh5 said:
http://www.amazon.com/Direct-Sound-...1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1299859537&sr=1-1
MICHAEL WAGENER
New member
lolzgreg":1aigs7j1 said:MICHAEL WAGENER":1aigs7j1 said:Greglolzgreg":1aigs7j1 said:Michael,
It's a real honor to have you here. My buddy Rodney said he spoke with you briefly, and you were a huge help in finding his tone.
A shout out to Mr. Lugo for swaying you to come here as well
I was wondering if you could please let us know a little bit about microphone placement on a cabinet. A lot of engineers swear by using only a single microphone, while others (like yourself in most cases, as far as I have gathered) use several. Do you have a real sweet spot for dynamic microphones/condenser microphones in general? I know with ribbons, they are very forgiving when it comes to high end content, so you can slap that sucker right on the dead center of the cone, and will get some serious midrange without any fizz. With dynamics and condensers, I have noticed that even moving the microphone several millimeters can change the entire high end or fizz content of a distorted guitar sound. When I use several mics, I notice that this issue becomes much less prominent due to extremely minor phase cancellations due to the differing frequency responses of the various microphones used, and also the fact that the phase is going to be just a tiny bit different, but with the reduced fizz also comes reduced clarity.
Also, I record cabinets in a reflection-free isolated area that has several hundred pounds of rockwool insulation that is wrapped in fabric to help reduce low end buildup on palm mutes and my room's resonant frequencies; I also float the cabinets off the floor with rockwool panels, with a mdf panel on top, and an Auralex Gramma on top of that. I still seem to get some unwanted blooming in the low end, despite all the treatment. Is it commonplace to knock off a handful of decibels of low end peakiness with a Distressor, or something of the sort?
Thank you so very much for your time and knowledge,
-Greg Tomao
What I do is, record a bit of a DI track, loop it and real-amp it through the MW-1 into an amp at very low volume, but with a distorted signal (master volume amp) Then, listening to Isolation headphones, I take a microphone, most likely a Royer R-121 and move it around the cabinet, close to the speaker to find the sweet spot for that particular speaker, hard to explain, but easy to hear. It is most likely different for each speaker/mic combo. Then I take a second mic, preferably a condenser (like the Groove Tubes Convertible or Sterling ST31 as it is sold at GC) switch the polarity and listen to the two mics in mono in my headphones. Now move the second mic back and forth in front of another speaker until you hear the most cancellation in your headphone. It will never cancel all the way, but you can get close. Secure the mic in that position and you will have minimal phase cancellation between the two mics.
I am not an acoustician (?), but it seems with your room setup (with all the insulation) you enhance the low end response by eating up the reflections. You might want to consult an acoustic person on this. I have a pretty reflective and open room with the speakers sitting right on the floor (concrete) and I never have low end problems
Michael,
Thank you very much for your insight. I have yet to purchase a Royer, but I do have several of the Cascade Fathead microphones with the Lundhal transformers that I'll try this trick with.
The mention on the part of acoustics makes a great point. My biggest issue is that my room is not very large, and I don't want any early reflections back into the microphone causing phase cancellations, especially a ribbon with a figure-8 pattern, but I'm going to have to weigh the odds here and see if it's worthwhile.
Thanks again,
-Greg
Greg
My room is fairly live, not treated (permanently) at all, I use ASC tube traps to modify the room as needed, you can always make it more dead, but making it more live is very hard. The mic is going to be around 2"- 3" from a very loud speaker, so the relation from front sound to rear sound on the mic is pretty much non existing in this case. Make sure the Ribbon mic is on a 45 degree angle in front of the speaker so the air produced by the speaker wont damage it.
MICHAEL WAGENER
New member
I have a Torpedo VB-101 and I like it a lot. Unlike amp simulation boxed the Torpedo still uses a real amp to provide the ever so important front end. The speaker/mic emulation on the Torpedo is extremely well done. My main use for it is to track the guitar while doing drum tracks. It gives me a great tone, should we decide to keep the guitar for that track and I don't have to worry about bleed into the drum mics. I also use it to add another flavor to a sound. I track with the whole multiple amp/ca/mic setup and record the DI with the MW-1 then maybe later in the mix I add some color with the VB-101 to fill up some sound holes. Great box.Bevosss":2u6dwvvn said:
MICHAEL WAGENER
New member
Royer R-121 or Royer R-101, Chandler Limited TG-2wheelman":12f5yk7n said:Wow awesome stuff. Michael I got a couple question if you got the time. I was wondering if you were on a tight budget, and could only record with one mic, and one pre for distorted guitars what would you choose?
MICHAEL WAGENER
New member
Yes, absolutely. That's where it all starts. I have a collection of about 500 picks, from all the sessions over the years, some very cool stuff in there (like the washer George Lynch used on ULAK or the metal picks from the SkidRow albums, even the extra long razor blade we used for pick slides) I think the pick is the first step to "a" guitar tone.thenine":2rxas3dq said:
Joeytpg
Active member
This is great, thank you Michael for taking time out of your busy life to answer our questions.
Two questions for you:
1) What did you notice about JAmes Hetfield as a guitar player and musician during the Mixing of MoP? I'm ahuge fan of his.
2) I've noticed that Lars Ulrich is a visionary, the guy sees things others don't see, plus his memory is excellent. Any cool stories about Lars during the production on MoP?
Two questions for you:
1) What did you notice about JAmes Hetfield as a guitar player and musician during the Mixing of MoP? I'm ahuge fan of his.
2) I've noticed that Lars Ulrich is a visionary, the guy sees things others don't see, plus his memory is excellent. Any cool stories about Lars during the production on MoP?
wheelman
Member
MICHAEL WAGENER":q7q7wfwe said:Royer R-121 or Royer R-101, Chandler Limited TG-2wheelman":q7q7wfwe said:Wow awesome stuff. Michael I got a couple question if you got the time. I was wondering if you were on a tight budget, and could only record with one mic, and one pre for distorted guitars what would you choose?
Thanks. I also understand the pick thing. I can't get anything to sound or feel just like my fingernail/ index finger.
-Bill
MICHAEL WAGENER
New member
Hm, not sure how to answer your questions. James and Lars were both very focused on what they wanted for this album. There were heated discussions about a lot of little things, but all focused on the actual record. we had a great time.Joeytpg":k8mn2hsu said:
MICHAEL WAGENER
New member
Yes, Roland introduced me to Tina, my girlfriend of 12 years now.snowdog":3rtm7vht said:Greetings Michael, Is there anything interesting about working with Roland Grapow that you can recall ? Thanks.
kasperjensen
New member
killertone":1ay25jwb said:MICHAEL WAGENER":1ay25jwb said:I think the "old" stuff is really overrated and there is a lot of great new stuff out there, where you still can get parts, should it ever break and you can talk to the people that built it. All the hype about: this sounds just like ........... (insert old equipment here), doesn't work for me. Mic pres are the most overrated items in a studio right now. I do comparisons during my workshops all the time and I have come to the conclusion that I could make a great record with almost ANY set of mic pres. We used to record with MCI 500 consoles, those mic-pres are nothing to write home about, actually sounded pretty dull (until the John Hardy replacements came out), but we made great records on them, sold millions of copies. If you move your microphone by as much as half an inch, you make much more of a difference than changing mic pres. There is certain stuff I like, because it fits my taste (like the Chandler stuff, Royer mics etc.), but I could not speak for you, your taste is most likely different than mine.
I think what should be acquired (and I am speaking in general terms here) is the experience and ears to deal with what one has at hand, learning about the principles of recording before running for the gear.
This is gold. And I could not agree more, not that my opinion counts for anything!
Indeed. It's nice to hear it from a pro. I am planning a home studio right now, and I really need to take a chill pill with regards to what I think I need. Scouring forums and the like, you quickly end up thinking you need to spend 50k to record a decent guitar.
irondeth21
Member
Hi Michael I'm not sure if it's ok with the q&a here ( I didn't get to read the whole thread yet) but do you think you could give my band a listen and just let me know what you think in general? About the music, writing and production? Any advice or criticism is greatly appreciated. It's only 3 songs and less then ten minutes. To be critiqued by some one who has worked on the albums you have isn't something you get everyday and appreciation doesn't even begin to express how much it means to someone in my spot. Thanks in advance either way!
-Jim
www.reverbnation.com/downstruck
-Jim
www.reverbnation.com/downstruck
stratotone
Active member
Hi Michael,
I'm proud and stoked that you're still using one of the MTS modules I did for you (this is Pete Turley, btw)
If you would like, send me a pm here or email me at okstrat@cox.net listing the modules I did for you that you are NOT using for recording and what changes would make them useful again - I'd be more than happy to update/mod them as needed. I'd like to have more than one module I modded for you in rotation again.
BTW, I have a soldano mod that kills... I think you'd dig it. If you have a spare Ultra, Ultra XL or scary module send it to me and I'd be glad to give it my 'slodano' mod for you to check out.
Pete
I'm proud and stoked that you're still using one of the MTS modules I did for you (this is Pete Turley, btw)
If you would like, send me a pm here or email me at okstrat@cox.net listing the modules I did for you that you are NOT using for recording and what changes would make them useful again - I'd be more than happy to update/mod them as needed. I'd like to have more than one module I modded for you in rotation again.
BTW, I have a soldano mod that kills... I think you'd dig it. If you have a spare Ultra, Ultra XL or scary module send it to me and I'd be glad to give it my 'slodano' mod for you to check out.
Pete
MICHAEL WAGENER
New member
Pete, must have been a misunderstanding. I use ALL of your mods, there is none I would want to miss or to be changed.stratotone":3gma19nm said:Hi Michael,
I'm proud and stoked that you're still using one of the MTS modules I did for you (this is Pete Turley, btw)
If you would like, send me a pm here or email me at okstrat@cox.net listing the modules I did for you that you are NOT using for recording and what changes would make them useful again - I'd be more than happy to update/mod them as needed. I'd like to have more than one module I modded for you in rotation again.
BTW, I have a soldano mod that kills... I think you'd dig it. If you have a spare Ultra, Ultra XL or scary module send it to me and I'd be glad to give it my 'slodano' mod for you to check out.
Pete
MICHAEL WAGENER
New member
Hello Jimirondeth21":38bo7l8q said:
I am extremely busy right now, and I have a stack of over 200 CDs that I still have to listen to, so it will take me quite a while to get through all of those, hope you understand.
irondeth21
Member
MICHAEL WAGENER":4297sck9 said:
Totally understand! Thanks though!
Hy Michael,
Im David Nagy, born and raised in Budapest, Hungary now living in Costa Mesa,CA. Im a fan of your works and I hope it feels good that your works are popular in Eastern Europe as well. For me the best sounding album ever is Ozzy's Ozzmosis. As far as I know you recorded the album in Paris, France and New york (?). Would you be so kind sharing some memories about the sessions? Especially recording Zakk's guitar? I really like his clean/chorus and overdrive sound on See you on the other side.
Anyway, nice job, keep up the good work!
Im David Nagy, born and raised in Budapest, Hungary now living in Costa Mesa,CA. Im a fan of your works and I hope it feels good that your works are popular in Eastern Europe as well.
For me the best sounding album ever is Ozzy's Ozzmosis. As far as I know you recorded the album in Paris, France and New york (?). Would you be so kind sharing some memories about the sessions? Especially recording Zakk's guitar? I really like his clean/chorus and overdrive sound on See you on the other side.Anyway, nice job, keep up the good work!