AlexKnappenberger.com

Vindicator Recording

	I've had the pleasure to record, mix and master Vindicator's first release since signing with Heavy Artillery Records. Visit them at www.myspace.com/savindicator I put this little article together for your viewing pleasure. Please enjoy and leave comments.
	Scratch guitar tracks Vic had already completed many of the scratch guitar tracks on his own time, hey the less work I have to do, the better! We spent about 8 hours on the rest of the scratch tracks that he didn't have done. These ones had tempo changes but were relatively straight forward. I recorded scratch tracks for this project through a Behringer V-Amp. There's really no sense in firing up an amp for scratch tracks in my opinion.
	Drum Tracking Drum tracking for this project was a little more tedious than the previous project I worked with Jesse on (Outbreak of Metal Vol. 1). He wasn't 100% comfortable with these new songs but he got through it like a champ. The kit is my Gretsch Catalina Birch. Heads are: Aquarian Super Kick II on the kick, Evans G1 Coated on the toms and a Remo Ambassador coated on the snare. I ended up triggering the Kick & Toms with Steven Slate Samples in the end but the real snare made it on the album. Cymbals are: Zildjian A Series 14" Hi-Hats (a bit loud), Zildjian Z Custom 20" Ride, Wuhan 16", 18" Crashes, Unnamed 8", 10" splashes, Wuhan 18" China.
	A total of 14 channels were used for drums. 1 - Overhead Left (Samson C02) 2 - Overhead Right (Samson C02) 3 - Kick Mic (Audix D6) 4 - Kick Trigger (DDrum Pro) 5 - Snare Mic (Audix i5) 6 - Snare Trigger (DDrum Pro) 7 - Tom 1 Mic (Audix D2) 8 - Tom 1 Trigger (DDrum Pro) 9 - Tom 2 Mic (Audix D2) 10 - Tom 2 Trigger (DDrum Pro) 11 - Tom 3 Mic (Audix D4) 12 - Tom 3 Trigger (DDrum Pro) 13 - Hi Hat (Audix Fusion) 14 - Ride (Shure SM57) For those who don't know, you will almost always see me using an ORTF overhead configuration. The resulting stereo image is much wider than an XY pattern and sounds much more realistic than most spaced pair setups I've heard. It's mono-compatible, quick and easy to setup and a complete moron couldn't mess it up. Wuhan crashes are the last thing I'd like to be recording with. Unfortunately, no ones paying me for new cymbals. They make fine jamming and gigging cymbals, for the price you can't beat them but for recording, yuck. I suppose since this is thrash metal, the tinny trash can lid grit of these crashes is well within the acceptable range for this project.
	To the left is a snapshot of the drum tracks for all 10 songs in Cubase SX3. I decided to just drumagog -> midi the kick and tom tracks from the triggers. That made editing and quantizing those tracks as simple as possible. Some manual quantizing of the snare was necessary in some places which also means editing the overhead tracks to match up (most of the time). Overall I am 90% satisfied with the way the drums turned out on this album. It was my first time really getting the ride and hi hats loud and up front in the mix, the snare is real and is gated by the trigger, the toms are clearly fake (but thats ok) and there is no definition of what a metal kick drum sounds like so as long as it's clacky you're golden.
	Guitar Tracking Tracking rhythm guitar with Vic was very detail orientated. We spent a lot of time making sure the takes were as solid as possible and a bit of copy and paste was used, respectively. Actually it seems like I use copy and paste a lot regardless, there's not much sense in re doing a chorus or verse part that repeats over unless you want some kind of different feel. We ran through the Behringer V-Amp for monitoring during tracking and I grabbed a direct out of the guitar for re-amping later on in the project.
	Bass guitar Tracking This was my first time working with Kidd Chaos since he joined the band. I was not sure what to expect but turns out he's a solid bass player. He had been rehearsing some of the tracks with the band so some of them were more familiar than others and he had to work some out in the studio. We were having a little trouble with "power bends" as in just out of habit, Kidd would bend the string out of tune. We got that issue resolved with some advice and a little auto tune on the bass track and all turned out well. I just went direct with the bass, nothing fancy.
	To the left is a shot of Kidd's custom sparkle paint job. Unfortunately the rest of the band is not on board with this and I believe is having him get it painted again before using it for shows. I like it though, nothing wrong with some sparkles; it's no match for my fluorescent yellow and orange guitar that is splatter painted.
	Lead Guitar Mikey B Lial came in to record leads for this project. He is a very affluent guitarist, like a melting pot of many great shredders plus his own originality that stands out from the crowd. He never heard these tracks before doing the solo's for them, just like on Outbreak of Metal Vol. 1. It is impressive and it turned out well. We spent about x hours doing the solo's. He used his pedal board and Laney amp but I made sure to grab a direct out from the guitar which I ended up re-amping later. There is a little video at the bottom of the page from the guitar solo day. Tool Tip: We were getting a ton noise from his amp and I blatantly assumed it was from all the pedals and perhaps a microphonic tube...well, it turns out I had the ground lift switched on my direct box. Whoops, caught that at the last solo. Turns out his setup isn't that noisy.
	Vocals Marshall Law came in and knocked out the vocal tracks. Some of the lyrics were written by Vic, Jesse wrote a song and Marshall wrote the rest. When tracking vocals with Vindicator, Marshall takes a lot of direction from Vic on the vocal rhythm and relies heavily on what the rest of the band and I had to say in the control room. Aside from the lead vocal tracks, this album features numerous back ups from Vic, a verse in "Raze the Dead" by Jesse, backups by Kidd in "Fear Monger" and gang vocals in numerous tracks. Fact: Jesse wrote the lyrics for "Raze the Dead". While he was scratch tracking the vocals it sounded so good that we ended up keeping Jesse's scratch track on the second verse of the song.
	Nerf Football You really have to make time to play some Nerf football in the parking lot while recording.
	Guitar Re-Amping Vic brought his Mesa 50 cal and Laboga Mr. Hector for guitar re-amping. I instantly ruled out the Mesa 50 cal because it had some issues so we got the Laboga out. I found this to be a extremely true and clear sounding amp and went ahead with reamping. I was under a bit of pressure to get the reamping done that tracking day because this project was on a tight deadline. Unfortunately my ears do not work the best under pressure and I find dialing in guitar tone to be a delicate procedure I need to do on my own time. I went through with the re-amping on the Laboga and it sounded ok but ultimately the tone was off. I had to do it again a day later, this time with one of the amps at my shop.
	Here is the amp that made it on the album. Yes, a "Line Sux" on the "orange insane channel". I managed to get a better sound out of this than I was anticipating. The settings my ears decided on are completely awful on paper...Bass at Noon, Mids at 0, Treble at 0, Presence at 10. Not only is that crazy enough but in final mixing I took the upper midrange (1000hz 0.7q) down another 3dB with a high pass (12db/octave) at 150hz AND a high frequency boost. Yikes just kill me now! This goes against my beliefs but it worked damn well!
	To the left is a photo of the microphone setup on one of my custom 4x12's w/ Vintage 30's in my iso booth. We had tried out the Marshall 1960A cab for a few minutes but like usual, the tone from G12T75's in a cab with a MDF back and brace was a bit too sterile, hollow & saw-tooth like. My cabinet pictured here has a un-braced 1/2" baltic birch back which really juices up the influence of the cabinet. One side effect is the back converts a lot of acoustical energy into mechanical energy causing cabinet to vibrate. She will shake a amp head off the top of her if you're not careful but it sounds very thick this way. I installed a brace in this cab after it was up and running for a week...it came straight out one day later via the circular saw. The mic on the left is a Shure SM57 and the mic on the right is a Behringer XM8500. If you don't believe me that the XM8500 stacks up with the big boys on a guitar amp you've got to try one. It's a $20 microphone that often sounds smoother than a 57. In this case I blended both of these mics together.
	Mixing Mixing was fun. I also "mastered" this album. I'll post more details later.

Why isolation is such a big deal

Why Re-Amping is Amazing

Speaker Cabinet Construction Materials

This is my list of speaker cabinet construction materials from best to worst. First is just a general list and then different lists for Guitar/Bass Cabinets, Pro Audio & Home audio.

Batlic Birch/Marine Grade Plywood

Baltic Birch or Marine Grade plywood is simply the best construction material you can ever make a speaker cabinet out of.

-High Ply count
-Voidless (ok they are lying because I've seen voids but tiny, few and far between)
-Stable
-Quality manufacturing techniques and glue
MDF

Okay, MDF dust may give you cancer if you're breathing it all the time, smell is awful and super dusty but it's an ok material for speaker cabinets. I don't recommend it for guitar cabinets because every 4x12 I've ever heard heard made out of MDF or even has a MDF back just automatically sounds like crap. It's simply the whole resonance thing, it's such an awfully dense material that it doesn't give you the resonance you need for a guitar cabinet so it just sounds like a hollow p.o.s. Otherwise for pro audio and home audio it's a suitable material. I wouldn't recommend it for anything that needs to be abused or moved around a whole lot however. Longevity is null compared to Baltic Birch. Rather brittle in smaller pieces. Fine for permanent installation.

Particle Board

Please don't make anything out of particle board. This is not suited for anything. I just got done repairing the impedance switch network on a Crate 4x12 that is made out of particle board and it made me feel ill. I also own a Yamaha SM12V monitor made out of particle board and with large gaps in the joinery to boot. If I would have known that I would have never purchased this. Good thing it was used and extra cheap. Please just stop.

OSB

Again this is not suited for anything other than sheathing and *maybe* sub flooring on homes. I feel bad for name dropping under negative circumstances but Crate again...I've seen an el' cheapo Crate 4x12 made out of OSB..I died a little inside.

Solid Wood

Made in China Hardwood Plywood

This is a touchy subject because there is such a selection available but the quality is so inconsistent. Softwood Plywood

My Guitar Speaker Notes

This is an ongoing list of my experiences with guitar speakers. I will only post my clear and definite observations that I have concluded. No speculation based on word of mouth. It may take a while to gather a comprehensive list.

Celestion G12T75
-Minimal breakup good for clear & tight heavy distortion
-I like it in the studio for heavy distortion.
-I hate this speaker for live use, please stop using it on stage
-Low sensitivity compared to other guitar speakers (can be good or bad)
-SM57 smoother high end looser bass Audix i5 tons of bite and tighter low end

Many people criticize the 75 for being *scooped* and *bright*. I concur that for live use it comes out very harsh and doesn't cut but in the studio for heavy distortion this seems to be an asset. Also the minimal breakup minimizes the speakers distortion characteristics on the tone which makes it come out punchy and clear.

Celestion Vintage 30
-Rather hear an i5 on it than a 57.

Celestion Greenback
-Have not reached a conclusion

Eminence Wizard
-Have not reached a conclusion

Eminence Legend V128
-Have not reached a conclusion

Guitar Signal Chain Equipment Priority

*Note* this article is talking about heavy distortion tones. Clean and light overdrive tones are much much more influenced by guitar and smaller variables. Let me ask you a question. What single piece of equipment has the most dramatic affect on your tone?

If we traveled back in time to when I was first starting to teach myself guitar and you asked me this question, I would have most likely answered "the guitar". In fact guitars sound vastly different. Pickups, wood, strings, bridges, electronics, frets, and body size can all contribute to different tonal variations. This is great but the cold reality is that most of these variables only impact the sound marginally. Yes, some more than others such as pickups for example. Single coil vs humbucker are two completely different worlds and the choices within those categories is vast. I would never use humbuckers for clean, maybe for overdrive, almost always for heavy distortion. I would use single coils for clean all the way up to heavy distortion, the charac Even still, your axe isn't making much noise without a few more very important links in the chain. For that reason, I only consider the guitar as "fine tuning" of the bigger picture.

Whats the bigger picture? It has to be the amplifier right? You're getting warmer.

Just like guitars, amplifiers have many variables that can shape the tone. Solid state or tube? The only time I would consider using a solid state amp is if *a lot* of clean headroom is needed, otherwise it's always tube. Class A/Class AB, single ended/push pull, dampening, feedback, the tubes themselves, transformers, power supplies, EQ and overall circuit topology can all contribute to different tonal variations. Now, there are different main categories of amps that are separated by the amount of gain you can dial in and the output power. These different categories of amps sound very distinguished from one another and even from manufacture to manufacture. Unfortunately, the reality is that once you've picked a category of amplifier, the variables between the amps in your selection only impact the sound marginally. Yes there's a big difference between Marshall, Mesa, Engl, Bogner, Framus and picking the right amp is indeed important; especially with high gain amps where these marginal differences are the most pronounced BUT regardless, any high dollar tube amp will get you in the door to a great sound.

Okay Alex if it's not the amplifier that is the single most important piece of equipment in your signal chain, then what is it??

My friend, it is the one that puts a filter over your entire sound. Your guitar, the pickups in your guitar, the strings, your cables, your pedals, your amplifier, the tubes and your playing all gets tonally molded and shaped by your speakers and the enclosure they are in. For electric guitar the rapid high frequency roll off of a 12" woofer is a blessing and is the *single* biggest influence on your tone. Think of a speaker cabinet as a 100 band graphic EQ - each and every speaker and enclosure combination has it's own curve that you are feeding your signal through.

Have you ever heard distorted guitar played through a full range speaker? Once you do this may all start to make sense. Download this MP3. Awful, isn't it? I bet you turned that off in .5 seconds. Yes, it is the speaker cabinets job to shape this white noise mess into something that can pass as music.

I've heard a terrible guitar and amp played into a quality cabinet and it sounded acceptable while on the other hand I've heard a high end guitar and head played into a terrible cabinet and this will always ruin everything. Sounds terrible every time - I'll even place bets on this.

One of my favorite overall sounding metal albums of all time is Sound of Perseverence by Death. It is well known that a Marshall Valvestate solid state amp was used on this album and it's not hard to tell by the sharpness but listen to this record yourself and you will have to agree with me that they managed to get one hell of a usable sound out of this solid state heap. Do you think for a second that they got there with a low end speaker cabinet typically associated with a low end amp? No way in hell. If they had rolled some sad excuse for a 4x12 made out of particle board with sub-par speakers into the studio that day you would know because the guitar would sound just like a cheap speaker cabinet sounds...cheap.

No amount of EQ can fix a bad sounding speaker cabinet. The speaker cabinet is the *FIRST* source of EQ you should be using. My rule is if you simply can't get at least 80% *there* with your amp EQ set dead flat then the amp and cabinet may not be the best match. Now granted most head and cabinet combination's will have more mids than desired for rhythm tones so as a result the mids usually get dialed down for heavy rhythm. Always remember that midrange is critical for guitar and is where the cutting power & clarity come from. It is important to note that this article is written under the assumption of heavy distortion and may not apply to other types of guitar tones. Clean guitar is influenced much less by the speaker cabinet

My New Barrel Stove!

Just wanted to share my new barrel stove here. I put this together out of (obviously) 2-55 gallon steel barrels and the kits from Tractor Supply Co.

I just tied it into the existing chimney with a few modifications. The chimney going up through the drywall and out through the roof is double wall galvanized. This will only take about 400F before the zinc plating starts chipping off therefore to be on the safe side, some over engineering was necessary. I extended the stove pipe up through the center of the chimney (6" stove pipe into 8" chimney) basically as far as it would go to carry the hot gases outside. Because of this it's now effectively a triple wall chimney and up on a ladder with a hot fire in the stove I can hold my hand on the outside of the galvanized chimney which means my adaption works great.

Although a little rusty, these barrels hold up fine. I sealed up all the connections and seams with a high temperature furnace cement. She works good! All for under $100.

I love Menards

Menards, Massillon, OH

I just wanted to give a little credit to a very amazing store. Three years ago when I started building speaker cabinets I searched everywhere locally for Baltic Birch plywood. I called every lumber yard within a 50 mile radius with no luck. The only option would have been to order it from somewhere online basically and pay an extremely high cost.

Well yesterday I'm over in Massillon, OH on my way to the tractor supply to buy a barrel stove kit and I decided to make a quick stop into the Menards. I've seen the place, heard the commercials but never stepped foot into the store. At first I was thinking "get me out of here" as it felt like someone threw Lowes into a black hole with a grocery store but as soon as I got to the plywood section on the other side of the store I was in love!

Menards amazing plywood selection

Wow! Just looking around I was already impressed with the quality of the basic plywood in stock. Their standard Birch looked good, Made in USA, I was happy. They even have maple & oak that looked great. I also got a chance to see what the hell MDO is for the first time. They have a lot of variants in stock. MDF core with hardwood veneers and hardwood core with MDF veneers, I would never have much use for this but still very interesting.

After about 5 minutes of taking in the standard plywood I discovered this as they had a bunch of pallets sitting in the middle of the isle:

Menards has Baltic Birch!!!

WHOA! BALTIC BIRCH! This stuff is sets the bar for how plywood should be manufactured. It is incredibly stable and easy to work with. Has voids but they are usually small in size and quantity.
I can't wait to use this quality material on some speaker cabinets in the future.