Trouble with the band advice would be much appreciated

[TehRedRumRunner]

So I have a mid level studio set up in a friends shop. My problem with this is that it doesn't produce the sound quality i want. It is a very wet/dead room. The band also wants to go the live way of recording with as little overdubing as possible. I've tried to explain various options to them about how we can improve and make this album what they want it to be and how to make it sound good. The first song we did honestly sounded like crap. I've tried numerous ways to explain to them how I can help make it sound good but every idea I have gets shot down. Any ideas on how I can persuade them?

[Top Jimmy]

Like I heard from an old farmer:

Some people learn by hearing. Some people learn by seeing. Then there's the kind of people who just have to pee on the electric fence before they'll learn.

Failure can be a great teacher. The only problem is that too many people take failure as an affront to their ego so they always look to externalize the problem. Blaming someone/something else is easier than accepting the fact that they suck. They have to accept the problem before it can be cured.

[HD2]

Originally Posted by TehRedRumRunner

So I have a mid level studio set up in a friends shop. My problem with this is that it doesn't produce the sound quality i want. It is a very wet/dead room. The band also wants to go the live way of recording with as little overdubing as possible. I've tried to explain various options to them about how we can improve and make this album what they want it to be and how to make it sound good. The first song we did honestly sounded like crap. I've tried numerous ways to explain to them how I can help make it sound good but every idea I have gets shot down. Any ideas on how I can persuade them?

I guess I have to ask Persuade them to what? Listen to you? Take your advice?
Why did the first song sound like crap? Was it how they played? Was it your mix?
Judging by the information you have provided I would say they chose the wrong producer/engineer. If you can't work with them the way they want to do it then maybe you chose the wrong band.

[TehRedRumRunner]

@hd2 It's not so much how it was performed or the mix. The studio is in the back of a poll barn. Which isn't ideal. I mentioned to them that we could record a rough version and move somewhere and re-record it using the rough cut as a guide line. They want this album to be professional enough to take on tour this summer, but they also rather me set up a left/right mic in the center while the band plays around it and call it good. They're the kind of guys who want to record it and leave it. I'm just looking for some advice on how to persuade these guys into letting me get my hands a little dirty editing wise and really get this record to it's full potential.

[TehRedRumRunner]

@Top jimmy. I think you are right about that. And these guys want to keep going down this road of crappy quality. I see where their coming from, and the sound that they're going for. Theyre big Conner oberst fans and want that kind of indie/folk sound. It just isn't working out for them...

[aka21stCentury]

wet/dry room? Please explain? Barn is wet. Practice room is dry? Can you heatup the barn temporarily with propane heaters?

Listen to that Talking Heads album... personally I couldn't stand that garage band sound, as in wet (like a cement floor).

Do you have a DI box (a Joe Meek Brick) or any optical compressor for bass is the kind fat bass sound w/o Amp?

The group 'The Band' record in a barn. Their new guitarist plugs straight into a Fender reissue (he also has a 50s bassman). Swears by the 10 inch Fender tube reissue.

Build a box for guitar amp. Senn 609e mic. Put singer in practice room with door open cardiode mic pattern void facing other players and haystack gobo. Use hay stacks waiste high as gobos in front of kick (about 8 feet). Obviously you need a headphone distribution system and a good isolation set for drummer's headphones. Keyboard DI, and all players around drummer for cueing, singer back some in the practice room. Drums will bleed through but this is the live sound you are looking for right. Use a choke coil on tube gtr amp, turn up the volume, balance the potentiometer inserted between speaker leads, it'll distort like it's on 11. Berkley systems I think makes those chokes (pots). Follow instructions to a Tee... Don't use stomp boxes (except Volume Pedal or effects pedal, wah-wah, use the tube distortion (harmonic distortion) in the amp on full with the potentiometer keeping the volume down but the distortion high.

You can always comp new vocal takes later if you don't like scratch vocal.

In the old days, a mid side dual mic recording of traps was all the rage. You can expand the drum image - even move it vertical (height wise) in the stereo image. If you decide to use the practice room. It'll make the drums sound larger... all early Beatles recordings were made this way.