Jason Richardson streaming recording Behold

[Lorcan Ward]

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/632032279

This streamed last night and it's really cool to see how someone at Jason's level records. Such a ridiculously technical song and he is way to clean. The level you'd have to keep your chops at to be able to play that. I haven't watched the whole thing but there is a lot of info here to absorb about recording. Taking another guitar to punch in the pinch harmonics cause the current guitar had a setup issue was interesting too. As much as you can have the best technique in the world, if a guitar is fighting you then there isn't much you can do. I've owned guitars before that you just couldn't play some pinch harmonics on.

It's also concrete proof for diehard deniers that even amazing guitarists surgically edit their guitars. You can see he's recording in short segments, punching in chords and doing tones of micro quantize and stretch edits to get everything perfectly in time. Jason's always been pretty open about doing whatever you need to do when recording. He also points out the drums on the Discovery were all programmed. I know its been common to sample replace for years but I wonder how many bands aren't even recording drums nowadays.

 

[Nlelith]

He also points out the drums on the Discovery were all programmed.

Huh, there's footage of Cameron tracking drums during The Discovery sessions [here] and [here]. Could be just for the show, I guess. Still, even with all the editing, The Discovery is one of my favorite sounding records. Everything sounds massive, but also really clear.

 

[GunpointMetal]

Huh, there's footage of Cameron tracking drums during The Discovery sessions [here] and [here]. Could be just for the show, I guess. Still, even with all the editing, The Discovery is one of my favorite sounding records. Everything sounds massive, but also really clear.

Wouldn't be the first time a drummer went in to the studio and then was completely replaced during mixing. It's not like the drums on the album sound like they're NOT programmed, lol.
It is cool to see him track all that stuff and how he does clean it all up. I have zero issue with it because he goes out on the road and plays this stuff live in front of people, and you can hear him actually playing it to 98% of the final sound anyways.

 

[Spicypickles]

I’ve heard elsewhere that it was a mix of both on the album. Who knows.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

He said it was just for show. There are lots of guitarists who upload videos of them “tracking guitars for the new album” when the album was 50% speed or note by note editing so you can’t believe videos. The haarp machine studio videos being a prime example.

I’ve zero problem with it since it’s common practice to sample replace and edit to the grid in nearly every genre for years now anyway.

 

[RoRo56]

To be honest I'm a session drummer myself and it's so much quicker, easier, and cost effective to program drums. Especially for metal. I can knock out a full album with Superior Drummer from home without getting out of bed in a couple of hours. If I have a studio session the band/person leading the project has to pay me for time, the setting up of the kit in studio, and for either myself or the engineer to edit the tracks afterwards.

 

[HungryGuitarStudent]

Thanks for sharing this. As you said, JR’s always been open about the fact that his recording process is heavy on editing, quantifying and even speeding up tracks. I have no problem at all with that, it really extends the capabilities of his artistic expression. What’s crazy is he then learns everything and plays full sets live.

I can knock out a full album with Superior Drummer from home without getting out of bed in a couple of hours.

That’s waaaaay more efficient than me. @RoRo56 remind me to hire you to program drums on my eventual demo.

 

[HungryGuitarStudent]

Double post, delete.

 

[Jonathan20022]

I never got the fantasy of like, one taking in the studio. It's damn impressive, but unless you have your own home studio to work from it's an ineffective use of time. There's so many ways people try to quantify how to be a real musician in the studio. But if you're going to punch in one note at a time, one riff at a time, a passage at a time or chunks of the song at a time, it is the same action of punching in. The best thing you can do is not blow your money with time wasted in the studio and just be able to play what you write if you plan on performing.

 

[Masoo2]

I’ve heard elsewhere that it was a mix of both on the album. Who knows.

yeah I've heard that as well

maybe it had to do with the original demo mixes? I remember Misha did some and I think a different producer did a few as well, one of those demos might have had real but ended up being all digital (or mostly digital) on the actual release

 

[Lorcan Ward]

To be honest I'm a session drummer myself and it's so much quicker, easier, and cost effective to program drums. Especially for metal. I can knock out a full album with Superior Drummer from home without getting out of bed in a couple of hours. If I have a studio session the band/person leading the project has to pay me for time, the setting up of the kit in studio, and for either myself or the engineer to edit the tracks afterwards.

I can see the benefits when it comes to cost and time. As long as it’s written by a drummer and there’s a good guy behind the mixing desk then that’s all that really matters.

I’ve thought about getting a drummer for some of my tracks but writing out drums in superior sounds like a really good idea. Never thought of that.

 

[Pietjepieter]

did not whatch the whole thing, but really cool looking how he is do it!

Killer player!

 

[Lorcan Ward]

I watch a bit everyday when I have a chance. For one section he records 4 bars of a riff. It sounds good but the timing is off so instead of re-recording it 10+ times to get it perfect he just does some really quick editing to line it up perfectly and then moves on to the next riff. It makes me really think about the work involved in doing endless takes to get the perfect one when a guitarist of this level is just focused on making it sound perfect with the tools available.

Those drums sound great. Did he say what he was using? I presume its samples of Luke Holland's kit.

 

[GunpointMetal]

I watch a bit everyday when I have a chance. For one section he records 4 bars of a riff. It sounds good but the timing is off so instead of re-recording it 10+ times to get it perfect he just does some really quick editing to line it up perfectly and then moves on to the next riff. It makes me really think about the work involved in doing endless takes to get the perfect one when a guitarist of this level is just focused on making it sound perfect with the tools available.

Those drums sound great. Did he say what he was using? I presume its samples of Luke Holland's kit.

Obviously it doesn't work for every style of music, but when you know the production is going for that on-the-grid modern metal thing, why kill yourself over it to have the engineer go in an snap it all anyways. It's one thing if you're completely incapable of playing reasonable tight versions of the thing you want to record and stitching things together note by note.

 

[buriedoutback]

For one section he records 4 bars of a riff. It sounds good but the timing is off so instead of re-recording it 10+ times to get it perfect he just does some really quick editing to line it up perfectly and then moves on to the next riff. It makes me really think about the work involved in doing endless takes to get the perfect one when a guitarist of this level is just focused on making it sound perfect with the tools available.

Haven't watched it yet.
tldr : seems like good time management.

For my studio, I record riff by riff. This might be an entire riff section, or just 1 bar - depends on complexity/skill level of player.
If I/they can play longer sections without fucking up, then I let em go a bit longer.

What it comes down to (for me) is: Will it take longer for me to fix a tiny flub (example : have them just punch in) or have them re-track the entire part?

If the take is garbage then redo it - If I can tell that it's garbage as they do it, I stop them. I always stress 'if you fuck it up, then stop' -- but this doesn't always work.
If it's just a tiny fuck up or two - I'll have them punch in those parts or I'll just stretch the part a bit, or whatever.

I've heard horror stories of people doing like 100 takes ... wtf? record 4 or 5 tops (if they're that bad) and comp them... or tell them to go practice more.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/635877878

He played it live on twitch. Its around the 2 hour mark. Absolute insanity.

 

[RoRo56]

I just watched it through there, can't believe how tight a player he is. It gave me major nostalgia from when I first found the Discovery around 8 years ago. It absolutely blew my mind then and still holds up now.

 

[JP Universe]

Crazy

that is all