King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

[Top Jimmy]

I'm a huge King's X fan (personal top 5) and I found a thread talking about recording their new album for 2007, gear, and the such; I thought some of you might want to read it. Includes a decent amount of pictures in thread.

-The producer Michael Wagner is commenting throughout the thread.

-Though it was interesting that Dug Pinnick was using a Behringer V-Tone in his bass config.

-Also seeing all the gear they are using, no wonder most of us get frustrated chasing tone when they have more gear then we could ever imagine to sculpt their tone. Not to mention a producer that knows what he's doing.

Anyways, enjoy!

Oops, might need the link:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php?t=106512&highlight=king's+x

Weird, i thought I started this in the off-topic board, ahh well.

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

Michael Wagener, eh? -that guy produced some of the ugliest midrange pileups of the late 80s. Hope he's learned something since then.

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

Michael Wagener, eh? -that guy produced some of the ugliest midrange pileups of the late 80s. Hope he's learned something since then.

You mean like Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth, Skid Row, Extreme, Accept, Dokken? That's it, I have seen the light, I am throwing all of my current gear away I will buy a an epiphone pluged into a cheapest, beat up, used, Mesa and learn all the Greenday songs.

 

[Gr8Scott]

Re: King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

Cool link. Really enjoyed reading the posts and seeing the pics.

 

[LesStrat]

Re: King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

You mean like Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth, Skid Row, Extreme, Accept, Dokken? That's it, I have seen the light, I am throwing all of my current gear away I will buy a an epiphone pluged into a cheapest, beat up, used, Mesa and learn all the Greenday songs.

Don't forget the 7-year old strings.

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

Don't forget the 7-year old strings.

and flanel undies, to be "pure and real"

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

You mean like Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth, Skid Row, Extreme, Accept, Dokken? That's it, I have seen the light, I am throwing all of my current gear away I will buy a an epiphone pluged into a cheapest, beat up, used, Mesa and learn all the Greenday songs.

I wasn't commenting on the artists, I was commenting on Wagener's engineering skills. Even as a hair metal-loving kid I found his production work really annoyingly nasal, and in some cases pretty much unlistenable. The classic example I can think of is Saigon Kick's debut, a great 80s record that Wagener made sound like it was recorded through a miced dentist's drill.

Another great example is Pornograffitti. Nuno absolutely hated what Wagener did to that record. Coincidentally, the record company sanctioned a remix of 'more than words' for radio release once they realised they had a budding hit on their hands. I can imagine Nuno had a say there.

I could go on: White Lion's 'Big Game', 'Skid Row', 'No More Tears'...



So what's all this stuff about Epiphones and Green Day about?

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

and flanel undies, to be "pure and real"

Come to think about it, my fave King's X record (from a production/sonics perspective) was the work of famed 'flannel band' Producer Brendan O'Brien...

 

[WhoFan]

Re: King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

I'm a huge King's X fan (personal top 5) and I found a thread talking about recording their new album for 2007, gear, and the such; I thought some of you might want to read it. Includes a decent amount of pictures in thread.

-The producer Michael Wagner is commenting throughout the thread.

-Though it was interesting that Dug Pinnick was using a Behringer V-Tone in his bass config.

-Also seeing all the gear they are using, no wonder most of us get frustrated chasing tone when they have more gear then we could ever imagine to sculpt their tone. Not to mention a producer that knows what he's doing.

Anyways, enjoy!

Oops, might need the link:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/showthread.php?t=106512&highlight=king's+x

Weird, i thought I started this in the off-topic board, ahh well.

most bands going in to record an album, rent, borrow and "steal" amps and guitars to get the job done.... many producers have some quality amp and guitar collections that would drive any gear nut completely insane... So add the bands own gear, plus whatever the studio has to offer, Digital or any Modeling effect units, whatever gear the producer may have, and whatever gear the band can borrow and rent.... ya there can be a lot of different tones on a single disc..

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

most bands going in to record an album, rent, borrow and "steal" amps and guitars to get the job done.... many producers have some quality amp and guitar collections that would drive any gear nut completely insane... So add the bands own gear, plus whatever the studio has to offer, Digital or any Modeling effect units, whatever gear the producer may have, and whatever gear the band can borrow and rent.... ya there can be a lot of different tones on a single disc..

If anything, that's a pretty small selection of gear by major recording artists' standards.

 

[WhoFan]

Re: King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

If anything, that's a pretty small selection of gear by major recording artists' standards.

i'd kill to see Aerosmith's warehouse.... It is said to be a huge massive warehouse filled with almost every toy you can imagine... So much band gear in there they lose stuff constently

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

Hot _Grits,
You would probobly consider me tone-deff after this, but, I love Nuno's tone on pornografiti and Bratta's tone on BG(love the tone solo on Radar Our Love). Every decade had its signature shortcomings or "overdones" The thin buckets of the drum recordings in the seventies for example, Ian Pace and Bill Word are icons for the original drummers of Heavy Metal but I don't think that you could call that a pile of crap as far as production of those recording goes. Yes, eighties had a lot of "erratic exuberance" when it cames "mids" but to say that those albums were a pile of crap is more the over exaduration. As far as Nuno hating the tone, oh well that's what ultimately producers are for, Scorpions hated the sound of Savage amusement too, never the less I love the album.

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

yeah, I'd like to see that too. I've seen some footage of the 'honkin' on bobo' sessions, and there was a decent amount of stuff lying around Joe's home studio.

...and there was that great shot in guitar player last year of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers' rehearsal/storage studio. A vintage gear utopia...

To be fair, Ty hasn't ever been much for piles of gear in the studio, as far as I can tell. Some players are like that. I personally go for the 'beg, borrow and steal' approach myself. Can't wait my next booking in mid-May...

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

Hot _Grits,
You would probobly consider me tone-deff after this, but, I love Nuno's tone on pornografiti and Bratta's tone on BG(love the tone solo on Radar Our Love). Every decade had its signature shortcomings or "overdones" The thin buckets of the drum recordings in the seventies for example, Ian Pace and Bill Word are icons for the original drummers of Heavy Metal but I don't think that you could call that a pile of crap as far as production of those recording goes. Yes, eighties had a lot of "erratic exuberance" when it cames "mids" but to say that those albums were a pile of crap is more the over exaduration. As far as Nuno hating the tone, oh well that's what ultimately producers are for, Scorpions hated the sound of Savage amusement too, never the less I love the album.

I personally LOVE the sound of Ward and Paice on the early Sabbath and Purple recordings. I don't consider those drum sounds to be thin at all. 'Natural' comes to mind, but definitely not 'thin'.

AGAIN, SLOWLY: it's the production, not the songs/playing/tones. I'm not saying the albums are crap. I'm saying they are nasal and hard to listen to due to Wagener's mixing/mastering. There are loads of crappy sounding 80s rock records, especially when comparing to the 70s, but only Wagener seemed to have the nasal midrange thing going to the extent he did. Beau Hill came close at times, though.

So it's not a matter of Nuno or Vito or George (all great players) sounding bad. It's a matter of Wagener getting all notchy at the desk. Nuno is a pretty good case study: compare 'pornograffitti' to 'waiting for the punchline' for a study in how recording and mixing can take the same artist and get two very different results. Sure, everyone managed to get a few clues together in the 90s, but it's the same player and a similar lead tone...

...and you're welcome to like whatever you want. We all hear differently, and are comfortable with certain sonic qualities that others may not be comfortable with. But yeah, you're probably tone deaf.

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

waiting for the punchline????? are you serious, it was not Nuno, it was record-company-kaka-attempt-to-repackage-extreme-to-flanel-crappy-90s tone, your statement about Wagner is authoritative exaduration. Blykm, blykm drums were part seventies, eighties had their mids. Pileup, shmileup ....

 

[Top Jimmy]

Re: King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

Wagner did King's X last album and I don't think it sounded nasally. Though I hate how the remixed the song Freedom, it was originally supposed to be on Ear Candy but got cut from the album (probably one of their best songs they ever wrote.)

I do agree about Pornograffitti, i listen to that album now (though the songs still rule) the guitar sounds soooo dated.

7 year old strings, I know they aren't a stadium act but come on, times can't be that tough Ty

 

[devastone]

Re: King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

I'm mixed on Wagener, he did engineer and produce some of my favorite discs from that time, Saigon Kick's debut, Dokken's UL&K, Skid Row, and as a whole, I like the production on those, but they do have MW's signature on them and are easy to place in the rock 'n roll timeline.

Pornograffiti on the other hand sounds very dated compared to III Sides and Punchline neither of which sound dated, maybe because of the comparison, I find III Sides much more listenable, it also has better songs IMHO, Cupid's Dead in an incredible jam. As far as Punchline being a "record company" disc, to the best of my understanding, that is the direction Nuno wanted to go with that one.

<$0.02

 

[Top Jimmy]

Re: King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

I'm mixed on Wagener, he did engineer and produce some of my favorite discs from that time, Saigon Kick's debut, Dokken's UL&K, Skid Row, and as a whole, I like the production on those, but they do have MW's signature on them and are easy to place in the rock 'n roll timeline.

Pornograffiti on the other hand sounds very dated compared to III Sides and Punchline neither of which sound dated, maybe because of the comparison, I find III Sides much more listenable, it also has better song IMHO, Cupid's Dead in an incredible jam. As far as Punchline being a "record company" disc, to the best of my understanding, that is the direction Nuno wanted to go with that one.

<$0.02

It's obvious that is the direction Nuno wanted to go in, just listen to his Dramagods band, Waiting for the Punchline II. But I really did like most of Punchline so I also am enjoying Dramagods. It was Nuno's solo debut that sucked donkey nuts except for a few tracks.

 

[devastone]

Re: King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

I like DramaGods and Population 1 okay, but I think Gary and Nuno had a chemistry that is missing. Mourning Widows' Furnished Souls for Rent is my favorite of his post-Extreme stuff. 3 Sides and Punchline are still my favorites though.

DramaGods isn't WFTP II, you should check out MW.

 

[noisenet]

Re: King's X in the studio, kinda interesting.

Personally I like the sounds on alot of Wagener's stuff. I like the guitar tones on Pornografitti, although III sides is by far my favorite of theirs. Waiting for the punchline sounds like pure, unadulterated dog ****. When that was released, I was a huge Extreme fan, heard that and wanted to puke. The rawness of it sounds like contrived rawness.