In part two of Gearwire's talk with L.A. based band Amateurs, the band's guitarist, Anthony Puglisi, details how each instrument on the just released record Speak Easy was recorded and also discusses mistakes musicians sometimes make in the studio.

Patrick Ogle: How do you approach recording drums?

For drums, Stephen wanted a roomy sound. We brought Manny Nieto in to take the lead on engineering the drums. He runs Wet and Dry Studios right next door to Kingsize and he recorded our first EP. He has a Steve Albini-esque dedication to tape and analog and has a great feel for capturing drums.

Dave and Manny collaborated to come up with mic placements for coverage and mic placements that were unique. They even removed some of the carpeting in the live room to liven up the space. I think they used about 13 mics, five or six of which were room mics. They even recorded (and used) Keith and I’s talkback mics as additional weirdo room mic placements.

All the drums were recorded live without a click. Stephen is a rock solid drummer and has a great sense for that push and pull against the tempo. A lot of our songs are written with gradual tempo changes where we’ll deliberately speed up in a more rocking passage. This would have made a click track challenging anyways and ultimately would have killed the feel of our songs. Stephen nailed pretty much every drum take on the first one, and if there was a second take, we invariably used the first.

How about recording the bass?

We don’t have one, so that makes it easy! Well, not entirely true, but our instrumentation is unique in this area. Keith plays finger style on his guitars, and the bass usually comes from what he’s playing on his bottom strings. I down-tune my bottom strings on some songs as well. I also play a Fender Baritone Custom on some songs. On the recording, we took a split of the baritone, one going to my guitar amp, the other going to the studio’s Ampeg V4-B set up. The Ampeg really gave the baritone’s sound a true bass feel and it’s hard to tell the difference on the recording.

Additionally, we filled out the songs where we felt we needed that extra oomph. We used various combos of the baritone, synth pads, and viola parts to round out the low end. Listening to the record, you don’t really miss any bottom. With the big drums, layers of elements, and the additional augmentation we did, everything sounds really full.

Guitars?

I think the approach here was to just capture Keith and I’s tone as is. Getting a good guitar recording is relatively easy, but I wanted to get a good guitar recording of US. At one point before we had selected a studio, I said something like, “I just don’t want some clown to throw a 57 on my amp and call it a day!” Whatever works is what works, but I know the 57 certainly isn’t always the only option nor is it always the best. I just wanted some richer tones. On my rig they used a combination of a Sennheiser 609 and a Beyer ribbon which sounds absolutely killer. And in fact they did use a 57 in conjunction with another ribbon on Keith’s amp. The combo of the ribbons with the dynamics is such a sweet recipe for a great guitar sound.

Vocals?

For Speak Easy, we endlessly practiced the songs without vocals so that we could deliver solid instrument performances. So there were no scratch vocals. We thought we might be able to start cutting the vocals at the end of the basics sessions, but we didn’t end up having the time.

We did all the leads and harmonies in two days a couple of weeks later during the overdub sessions. We flew down a good friend of mine - Scott Hirsch of The Court & Spark - to engineer the vocals and overdubs. I am a huge admirer of The C&S’s work and his work as a both a player and engineer on their recordings. Everything he does is so rich and we thought it would work really well with what we were going for. Scott helped us take the vocals to another level. Scott used a Korby U47 for a super clean lead doubled up with an EV RE-20 for a little nasty. That really allowed us to tailor the vocal tone to fit the vibe of each song. Everything was tracked through the Neve 1073 module.

Keith went balls-out on the vocals and was able to hammer out most of his leads and harmonies in two half days. The rest of us cut our harmonies and backups through the Korby U47 and 1073 the second halves of those two days. It was really not that much time, but we took special care to not wear out our voices so we could stick to our tight schedule.

What sort of gear related mistakes you do think people make when they record?

In general, I think lots of guys often buy gear based on a budget rather than a need. It’s part of this whole gear-obsessed internet audio forum culture that’s out there these days. Dudes split hairs on what $300 pre-amp is better rather than just using and cutting their teeth on whatever gear they already have.

Dudes chase their tails trying to improve upon a mediocre setup thinking that another marginally better piece of gear is the solution to a lack of skill. These guys end up spinning their wheels endlessly without ever learning anything. You will know when you outgrow your gear. Once your skills are honed, you will know where your weak links are. I know what it’s like to have a wad of cash burning a hole in my pocket in the nearest gear store, but I also have a set of goals with my studio or live rig that is always driving any gear purchase.

If you’re really tuned in to the end result you’re after, then you’ll always know when it’s a gear issue. Dudes end up spending more money quickly on crappy or the wrong gear rather than the right, quality gear over time. If anything, I’ve learned that the payoff for waiting is far greater than the quick hit of a new piece of gear.

There are seemingly tons of mistakes made on the digital side of recording. One of the most egregious pertains to digital levels. There’s a lot of math and technical info that’s way above my head but the basic gist is this . . . record digital at much lower levels than you think. I frequent the forums at ProSoundWeb where very respected engineers and producers have freely contributed to a vast wellspring of knowledge. It is probably the best resource for audio and engineering out there. Plus you don’t get the “Which $300 pre-amp is best?” kind of stuff.

Forget about “using all the bits.” Record at levels around -12 to -20 peaks. Mix at levels around -6 to -12 peaks. It not only makes sense, but it really does make a huge difference. I was relieved that Dave applies this approach in his studio.

A related issue is loud mastering. It’s really disappointing to hear recordings of bands you like that are lifeless, unbelievably loud, and sometimes unlistenable because they’ve been brickwalled to death. This was one of my top concerns from the start of this record and I made it my bailiwick.

Mark Chalecki, our brilliant Mastering Engineer, did a magnificent job creating a dynamic master that is open and natural. It’s so easy for people to get “wowed by loud.” They miss the bigger picture and ruin what otherwise may have been a good recording.