So for the song exploder project I would like to reach out of my comfort zone and instead of producing a hard rock or metal cover of a song I am looking to create a track more towards the alt-rock genre in the territory of Taylor Larson with his production of his band The Evening. The songs ‘Bad’, ‘On Your Own’, and their cover of ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’ illustrate the direction I plan to take the production covering the song ‘Drive’ by Incubus. Larson’s drum sound is very punchy and has lots of upper mid-range attack and complementing this is a smooth transition to the high-end of his mixes which are very clean and bright. Long with this creating a very smooth vocal. These areas of his mixes are what I aim to produce and have as the focal points of the cover.
In a podcast with URM Academy Larson explains his process and the gear he uses to achieve his signature sound. Using his Neve and API Pres to get create the character he needs. He says the he has his kick in and snare and tom mics really hot using the fader to control his gain staging into ProTools. This saturation produces a very warm and smacky tone. Guitars he says are widened if he is using the same amp. Synths from listening to his work are usually pads and bass with some leads. The synths are covering the lower mid-range with guitars the upper mid-range. The bass guitar used with The Evening is very smooth with that traditional slap sound. The slap sits underneath the vocals creating space but is on top of the guitars which may pose a challenge.
The overall tone I am trying to achieve is a highly saturated but smooth sound giving every instrument a designated space in the mix. Keeping the top-end clean and the low-end stable with a slightly scooped timbre to the track will help create the sound I am looking for.
Research Hours = 4 (Podcast, Critical Listening, Notes on Process)
Demo Writing Hours = 12 (Structure, Instrumentation, Melody)
Revision Hours = 2 (Comparing tracks and evaluating future direction)
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