Collective questions for Mr. Sneap -thread

[MetalJonesy]

Originally Posted by greyskull

thats a neumann KM86 the words hens and teeth spring to mind

is that the one you can see on lars' snare back from the black album in the studio?

[NickL]

I'm actually pretty sure that it is yeah

[GuitarHack]

Andy, thanks for taking the time to answer. Greatly appreciated.

[Andy Sneap]

Originally Posted by sirscratch01

This one's had me scratching my head for a while.

What was the main contributing factor to the distinct (but fuckin awesome) pick attack sound on Shadows are Security (the "wunk" instead of "chunk" type thing that i love so much haha)? Was it the playing, maxon, krank, magic?


Also, How do mix drums? ¯(°_o)/¯

they used a gibson les paul mainly for that, with stock pickups that just reamped through the krank really well. I always say 80% of the tone is in the players hands and I really think it was down to the way he digs in.

[Andy Sneap]

Originally Posted by ahjteam

Oh yeah, one that I've always been wondering: Do you have an assistant engineer (or an assistant in general)?

And some additional drum related question:
- And who usually tunes the drums? The assistant or a drum technician, or do you personally tune the drums, or do you let the drummers do that themselves?
- And how do you prefer to tune the drums? batter head lower or higher than the resonant head on kick/snare/tom?
- What mics do you usually mic the toms with?
- What drumheads do you prefer? I remember that you mentioned them in some Trivium related thread (in which I think you said that what Suecof insisted, sucked), but I couldn't find the thread...
- Do you use inserts or any extra processing (like eq or compressors...) in anything when you track stuff?

how many questions!!!
Assistant engineer,? I've been working with doug cooke abit recently, who I worked with on the cradle album , but mainly its just me, slaving away.
Doug's a good lad, knows the studio rules...ehem cough!

I always tunes the drums.

I've actually just used 57's on the toms on the new megadeth and mic'd the bottoms with 98's and its worked really well. The amount of engineers I know who turn their noses up at 57's because they don't cost $300 a piece but I love them, they just seem to work for me. I think it was Dave Jerden (correct me if I'm wrong) that said he could do a whole album with 57's and I don't disagree.

yeah I told suecof not to use ambassadors on the toms, so what did he go and do.....put it this way, he didn't get up and walk! Jasons a good guy though, we have a good laugh about things and he was learning alot back then.

No I dont usually use inserts except for vox , where I'll compress going in.

[Andy Sneap]

Originally Posted by siegfried

Andy, please how are your experiences with (hardware) Sansamp PSA-1 and recording heavy guitars thru it? Do you like it? Do you think that you can get great tone direct with this unit? Thank you very much...

apparently Ramstein use this in the studio, tho I can't confirm that. Personally, Ive used it for bass in the past not gtr.

[Andy Sneap]

Originally Posted by The Broodwich

+1. I struggle on snare quite a bit, and whenever I EQ it into an area I want, it ends up hurting the overheads because of cymbal bleed and I end up using heavy sampling. My favorite heavy metal snares (at the moment) are on KSE's the End of Heartache, Opeth's Watershed, and Testament's Formation of Damnation. I can get in the general area, but not without making large compromises

ou guys are definitely hearing the compression on metric halos channel strip. I cant do a mix without that plug in, not unless I've got an SSL sat infront of me. Actually, I could probably get away with waves ssl plug in now, but I've got so use to MH labs Channel strip it just adds the right character to the front end of the drums for me.

[Andy Sneap]

Originally Posted by Lasse Lammert

here's a question though....

-on your 2bus comp (formerly C2 now Waves SSL I think?) are you going for very low ratio and a bit more reduction or medium-high ratio and less reduction?
or completely different?--....

-ever tried to run your EMG at 18V?

-how often do you NOT use a TS in front of the amp? (if so got an example of one of your recordings?)

-do you sometimes blend amps for the same DI? as in "re-reamping through another amp and blending in" I mean.

-do you process top- and bottom-snare tracks individually (like compressing and gating the bottom snare before sending to a bus) or do you just bus them to the same group and treat them at the same time?

I tend to go for 2:1 on the comp, 4:1 seems to pump too much and I'll just have about 4 to 5 db on gain reduction at max.

Never tried 18v, tho keen to try their new z pickups, or whatever they are called.

No TS, ARE YOU CRAZY?

no I don't blend amps for rhythms, tho sometimes for leads when attack is needed.

I don't buss drums. Everything is treated separate.

[Andy Sneap]

Originally Posted by The Broodwich

Andy, if you're ever gonna be in Chicago send me a PM. Drinks on me, anything you want. I'd love to just shoot the shit with you sometime

anything........?

[Andy Sneap]

Originally Posted by MetalJonesy

is that the one you can see on lars' snare back from the black album in the studio?

yes I thought I'd give it a try, unfortunately it didnt reflect in record sales...

[sirscratch01]

If it wasn't official before (psh yea right) it is now. You are the fuckin man for taking the time out to answer questions for those of us who share a passion for what we do.

Thanks for the answers, and for the most brutal mixes out there.

[Andy Sneap]

Originally Posted by sirscratch01

If it wasn't official before (psh yea right) it is now. You are the fuckin man for taking the time out to answer questions for those of us who share a passion for what we do.

Thanks for the answers, and for the most brutal mixes out there.

hey yknow, I'm still as much a fan of this stuff as you guys are. I've been driving to the studio every morning here in California cranking Born Again by Black Sabbath just rockin out to Gillan screaming his tits off.

[JeffTD]

Andy, do you use any other eq aside from what's in ChannelStrip when you slap it on channels?

[TravisW]

Originally Posted by Andy Sneap

hey yknow, I'm still as much a fan of this stuff as you guys are. I've been driving to the studio every morning here in California cranking Born Again by Black Sabbath just rockin out to Gillan screaming his tits off.

Fuck yeah!!!

[Lasse Lammert]

thanks alot Andy, this is highly appreciated

[Andy Sneap]

yeah I'll use the ssl eq a bit, filter bank alot, sony oxford and also urs Api on gtrs.
I love Gillan by the way, I just got the Highway Star multi track to listen too, Purple were just so amazing in my book, I'd class him as the best vocalist in metal although he did meander out on stage looking like William Shatner in while cotton robes playing bongos in Atlanta when I last saw him...... not that there's anything wrong wth Bill Shatner......

[ahjteam]

Thank you for all the answers again

I am still quite interested in the drum tuning question of how do you prefer to tune the drums? batter head lower or higher than the resonant head on kick/snare/tom?

[kaomao]

Hey Andy how do you get "da boom" ?
I mean how can you get that huge low end at -9.0 db rms and not distorting anything? everything is clear but has huge low end
Your old stuff lacks a bit of lowend compared to the latest stuff, I guess different approach.
You're just great at getting that warm sound with modern technology.

cheers

[NickL]

Originally Posted by Andy Sneap

anything........?

Assuming the economy picks up over here at some point

[NickL]

Originally Posted by kaomao

Hey Andy how do you get "da boom" ?
I mean how can you get that huge low end at -9.0 db rms and not distorting anything? everything is clear but has huge low end
Your old stuff lacks a bit of lowend compared to the latest stuff, I guess different approach.
You're just great at getting that warm sound with modern technology.

cheers

+1 I still remember how surprised I was to find out that The End of Heartache was mixed in the box. Fantastic drum sounds on that record.

By the way, this is turning into an extremely good thread.

[ahjteam]

Originally Posted by The Broodwich

By the way, this is turning into an extremely good thread.

...and I wonder why nobody figured out this before


edit: Btw, another question for mr. Sneap, a bit offtopic tho: How much time do you use surfing on this forum a day/week?

[Unavailable]

Originally Posted by ahjteam

edit: Btw, another question for mr. Sneap, a bit offtopic tho: How much time do you use surfing on this forum a day/week?

Adding to that, have you ever picked anything up from this forum that helped you in your work?

[NickL]

Originally Posted by ahjteam

...and I wonder why nobody figured out this before

I've just always kinda assumed he wasn't around that often *shrug*

[cobhc]

Originally Posted by Andy Sneap

No TS, ARE YOU CRAZY?

I guess that confirms that a TS was used on The Atrocity Exhibition. Thanks for that.

[Felix Neumann]

I would say this is the best thread since Oz´s "acoustic drum" thread It´s GOLD!