We’ve all been there. We’ve tried every mic placement and DI combo under the sun and although the guitar tone is rich and crisp it just doesn’t have that indescribable “It” factor. Every technical trick and tip on how best to place our mics has failed us. It is in moments like this we need to put down the hand book, break free from the box and just do some weird shit. That wet and wobbly toilet bowl resonance you’ve always dreamed of is out there and waiting for you. You just have to take the plunge. So come on in, the water’s damn fine.
Record It In The Bathroom
An absolute classic to get the ball rolling. Who hasn’t listened to the bouncy mess of early reflections bombarding their ear drums as they sing in the shower after a long hard day and thought “Good god is this not the pinnacle of reverberation?”. Fortunately there is a simple way to bring that damp musky flavour to our recordings and it’s not going to break the bank!
This technique is simple, grab your favourite speaker, microphone and any other expensive electrical equipment you want to pile in to a literal water closet and get everything plugged in. Now you’re all set up play the recordings you want to drown in that swampy goodness through your speaker and record away. You’re going to want to experiment with different mic and speaker placements, so get creative. Does it sound better with the toilet seat up or down? How about if you pour a bubble bath? What if you hang a hydrophone in the toilet bowl and flush it as your track reaches the middle 8? Little changes like this can go a long way toward sculpting that perfect bathroom-verb.
I know at this point you’re sat at home thinking “What a load of crap!” or “Is this guy taking the piss?” but you can take your judgemental puns elsewhere. This technique has been utilised by some of the greatest recording artists ever to grace the music business. Just have a listen to undisputed banger “Start Me Up” by The Rolling Stones and tell me you don’t want a little bit of what they’re having.
The story goes that legendary mix engineer Bob Clearmountain achieved the sound by rerecording some of the vocal and drum tracks through a miked speaker in the bathroom at Power Station recording studio in New York where they added the final touches to the record.
So there you have it, a recording technique that’s not so bog standard to bring something different to your next mixing session. Just remember to crack a window before you get started.
Record It Through Literal Rubbish
Picture the scene, it’s late on a Wednesday evening and you’re spent. You’ve been in the studio for hours and your recordings are sounding dull and lifeless. It suddenly occurs to you that Thursday is bin day and you’re yet to put them out. You jump at the excuse to get away from the desk and rest your ears. Upon lifting the tin and plastic recycling you freeze. Never has a more refreshing collection of crumples and clunks slid down your ear canals. You realise what your recordings have been missing all along. The sweet sweet sound of trash. Grab your snorkel, it’s time for a dumpster dive!
Where to begin with the veritable treasure trove of sonic possibilities contained within your run-of-the-mill refuse sack? Let’s look to the greats for some inspiration shall we? From Lennon and McCartney shouting captains orders through discarded baked bean cans on “Yellow Submarine” to Michael Jackson yelling through a cardboard tube in “Billie Jean” the influence of literal rubbish on popular music should not be underestimated. Even in the world of cinema garbage has been instrumental to some of our tastiest ear candy. Sound designer Ben Burtt made use of tubes from broken vacuum cleaners to record an LA freeway in order to create the whoosh of Luke Skywalker’s land speeder on Tatooine. Think not of your bin as merely a receptacle for empty cartons and forgotten dreams but as a portal to times long ago and galaxies far far away.
If you’re thirsty for a piece of the action then why not try making a microphone out of some random crap you’ve got lying around? You might create yourself a new bit of invaluable equipment and a bit of up-cycling might help offset the carbon footprint you’ve been building from all that energy draining studio gear.
Record It Spinning Round
Merry-go-rounds, roundabouts, ferris wheels, the mere mention of their names floods our heart with memories of the joyful revolutions of our childhood. If there’s one thing we as human beings love then it’s rotating on a variety of axes! It seems our perpetual orbit of a nuclear sphere coupled with the incessant gyrations of the big blue rock we call home have inadvertently developed an affinity for all that spins deep within the blood that circulates our meaty husks.
Now that’s all well and good but how can we utilise this endless sea of twirling whirlies? The possibilities are truly endless. Take guitarist Nels Cline of Wilco as a prime example. Whilst recording a guitar part for his track “Harbour Child” with his experimental jazz group The Nels Cline Singers he decided he needed a sound with some real swirl to it. Most musicians would just reach for the tremolo but not our man Nels. Always a maverick Nels recorded a guitar loop and then lifted his amp above his head swinging it gleefully between two stereo microphones. The result? a sound that’s second to none in terms of true swirl.
So there we have it, a list of weird recording techniques you will almost definitely never need. I truly hope that this post has opened your mind to the deep and majestic sonic possibilities of doing strange stuff. If you’ve got any wacky ideas of how I could jazz up my sound then please let me know in the comments below!
Will Curry Audio 