Three of the tracks in my influences playlist, Drain You by Nirvana and Quiet and Cherub Rock by the Smashing Pumpkins, were produced by Butch Vig, widely regarded as one of the most influential rock producers of all time. Nirvana’s legendary ‘Nevermind’ album is highly regarded both musically and in terms of production. Both Nevermind and ‘Siamese Dream’, which features the two Smashing Pumpkins tracks mentioned will be key to the choices I make when recording and mixing this EP.

Firstly, it seems clear the Butch Vig is not especially partial to using ambient microphone techniques. In an interview with izotope.com (link at the bottom of this entry), Vig states that when working on Siamese Dream, which features Quiet and Cherub Rock, ‘Billy Corgan and I wanted to put the sound right in your face—we didn’t want anything to sound three feet away, or five feet or ten feet. With the drums, we did have some extra room mics, and we may have used a few extra with the guitars, but in general, I really found that if you get one mic, put it right in front of the amp, and get the right sound, you simply don’t need six microphones placed, y’know, behind the cabinet, around the cabinet, across the room, and all that.’ Grunge, which arguably isn’t what the Smashing Pumpkins would be categorised as, is certainly a genre I was considering when approaching how to record and mix YCIALM. This information shows a clear way of getting an ‘in your face’ sound which I want to get from the band. Vig concludes that ‘that simple close-miking technique is the sound of that record.’ While I’m not focusing on guitars, rather drums and vocals, these techniques will be translated onto drums.

On mixing Nevermind, Vig says ‘I kept the mixes pretty au naturel. But at the time, I think the label thought that the mixes could have a little bit more sheen to them, or they wanted to pump them up a bit more.’  ‘In the end, my mixes are just a little more primal sounding than the album version, but they’re exactly the same performances: guitars panned left and right, Kurt singing with some doubling here and there, Dave singing some harmonies, and bass and drums. That’s it.’ A primal sound is something like what I aim to achieve from this recording and therefore this information is useful. The doubling of the vocals is something that I am keen to replicate on this project, should time constraints allow it.

One particular aspect of Drain You and, by extension, Nevermind that I find particularly fascinating is the drum sound. It is incredibly famous due to the power and dynamism of Dave Grohl’s drumming and the way it was recorded and mixed. In an article on Consequenceofsound.net, Vig claims that ‘people always say, ‘how’d you get that sound on Nevermind?’ and 90 percent of it is Dave Grohl… it’s just how Dave plays and he’s just so, so powerful.’ To MusicRadar.com, Butch Vig said of the drums on Nevermind, “It was recorded in Sound City, California, which is basically a big open room. We used a drum tunnel on the kick, where you take another bass drum, extend out the regular bass drum and put the mic further away, which I often do to get more boom. But the set-up was really nothing fancy. It was the player and the room that made that record sound so special.”

This may make it difficult to replicate the drum sound on Nevermind due to a differing drummer and room, but nonetheless, I will take key pieces of information and impliment them wherever I can.

On Siamese Dream, Vig says that he used condenser mics on the snare drum and toms because Jimmy Chamberlain, Smashing Pumpkins drummer, “has unbelievable dynamics, so I was able to use really good condenser mics on the snare and toms. Sometimes he’d explode into rock, and sometimes he’d be playing little grace notes on the snare, often all in the same performance, so I had to make sure the mics were able to capture all that” (MusicRadar.com).

For mixing drums, Vig speaks of the importance of the room mics and which frequencies can be problematic in a mix. ‘It’s a balancing act. Hearing the room mics is important. To me, the mid-range frequencies define what the room mics sound like, though these frequencies are also what can clog up a mix, particularly in the 300Hz-500Hz range. So you have to determine what’s important, be it the room or other sounds in the track. Sometimes I will push up the room mics in calm sections of a song, like breakdowns, and then pull them back when things get dense in the chorus’ (Speakhertz.com).

In terms of mixing vocals, I have actually found a Waves Plug-In, created in unison with Butch Vig that allows you to replicate the vocal sound synonymous with his work. The creatively named ‘Butch Vig Vocals’ is available to download as a plug in and is described on the website as ‘designed for those looking for a creative approach to shaping vocals, Butch Vig Vocals features intuitive EQ controls, a compressor and a de-esser, and several tools for coloring your sound in numerous shades, including Tube and Solid State saturation, a unique Focus knob, and other inspiring features, all carefully crafted by Butch himself to help you realize your vocal vision. With instantly hyped vocals that cut through the mix and a sound that is dripping with character, Butch Vig Vocals now gives everyone the opportunity to work with the sound of a true rock innovator.’ A link can be found at the bottom of this page.

In terms of artist management, Butch Vig has always maintained that is important as a producer to let the artists dictate how they want the tracks to sound. While the producer does have an input, Vig understands that the songwriters and performing musicians know the meaning of the song better than the producer ever could. Regarding Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream, Vig discloses that ‘we were having trouble recording “Disarm” and kept putting it off. With all the other songs completed and our backs to the wall, we attempted to record the song with the full band. We tried various arrangements with the traditional Pumpkins sound: ringing guitars, pulsating bass and pounding drums. But it just wasn’t working. Out of frustration, Billy Corgan walked into the control room with his acoustic guitar, closed his eyes and sang the song. It was so simple and emotionally direct, it made the hair rise on the back of my neck. And we both realized it was exactly the kind of feel the song needed. So Billy went back into the studio and quickly recorded an intensely emotional “Disarm”‘ (from Rolling Stone).

All in all, Butch Vig has played a pivotal role in influencing the production methods I will use on this EP.

https://www.izotope.com/en/community/artists/recording-artists/butch-vig.html

http://consequenceofsound.net/2016/08/producer-butch-vig-credits-dave-grohls-drumming-for-90-percent-of-nirvanas-nevermind/

http://www.waves.com/plugins/butch-vig-vocals#butch-vig-vocals-audio-demonstration

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/butch-vig-my-favorite-moments-in-the-studio-19961017