The official "El Borrachito" Q&A thread

Mark Wein

Grand Poobah
Staff member
Just to make life easier I am posting this here if you guys have questions for Scott about recording, gear, music or his fine collection of David Hasselhoff memorabilia.

:msm:
 
We need a Hof icon!
How about this one?


hasselhoff_with_puppies.jpg
 
Hi Scott!

Are you a mod? Because I DID NOT drop a steamer in the pool. Honest. :embarrassed::embarrassed:

I see you who have "composer" on your credits... have you done any for TV/film? What software do you use to create it?
__________________
 
One of the first influences on me as a guitar player was George Lynch.... and his monsterous guitar tone.

Can you give us any insight?

Is he just that fine tuned into every piece of gear he uses... or would he sound that huge playing a banjo through an electric milk crate?

I have gotten to meet him very very breifly at an early backstage to bus signature run, a guitar clinic that he did years ago and recently watched him in a tiny club that maybe held 200 people. He seems very laid back and cool but you never know these days. Any side stories would be interesting as well.
 
Hello Scott, cool to have you here. "El Borrachito"? I did a beginner's Spanish course aeons ago, IIRC, that's "The little drunkard" or something?

One of the things I've found the most difficult to get right is mixing vocal tracks. I'd just like to know how you go about recording vocals to get them to sit in the mix right. Any info on no. of tracks, panning, EQ/comp/reverb/delay settings etc. etc. Cheers.
 
One of the first influences on me as a guitar player was George Lynch.... and his monsterous guitar tone.

Can you give us any insight?

Is he just that fine tuned into every piece of gear he uses... or would he sound that huge playing a banjo through an electric milk crate?

I have gotten to meet him very very breifly at an early backstage to bus signature run, a guitar clinic that he did years ago and recently watched him in a tiny club that maybe held 200 people. He seems very laid back and cool but you never know these days. Any side stories would be interesting as well.

This is from Neil Kernon's forum (he did "Under Lock & Key")

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/neil-kernon-auslander/249125-dokken-guitar-set-up.html
 
Hey Scott, good to have you here...I was just curious about your views on using modellers for recording guitar...I know that opinions as ever are mixed on this..and of course the right amp in the right room with the right mic etc, etc...is ideal but...do you/have you used a modeller for any professional recordings?
 
I see you who have "composer" on your credits... have you done any for TV/film? What software do you use to create it?
__________________

Yes. My current career focus is composing for picture.
I use Pro Tools for everything. Most of my composer clients use PT as well.
Some guys use Logic. I rarely see any of the others.
At the end of the day, the show is assembled and mixed in PT, so going back and forth between PT and Logic can be a hassle.
 
One of the first influences on me as a guitar player was George Lynch.... and his monsterous guitar tone.

Can you give us any insight?

Is he just that fine tuned into every piece of gear he uses... or would he sound that huge playing a banjo through an electric milk crate?

I have gotten to meet him very very breifly at an early backstage to bus signature run, a guitar clinic that he did years ago and recently watched him in a tiny club that maybe held 200 people. He seems very laid back and cool but you never know these days. Any side stories would be interesting as well.

Sorry, I worked on "Erase The Slate" which was one of the albums without GL. Reb Beach was cool, though and quite a character.

sf
 
Hello Scott, cool to have you here. "El Borrachito"? I did a beginner's Spanish course aeons ago, IIRC, that's "The little drunkard" or something?

One of the things I've found the most difficult to get right is mixing vocal tracks. I'd just like to know how you go about recording vocals to get them to sit in the mix right. Any info on no. of tracks, panning, EQ/comp/reverb/delay settings etc. etc. Cheers.

Si. ¡Me gusta cerveza!

All about compression!
When I track, I rarely use eq unless I'm using a less than ideal mic.
I compress it some then, and quite a bit more when I mix. I'll add a little more top end then.
Automation is a beautiful thing as well. I'll usually spend a lot of time riding vocals when I mix.
As far as doubling or multitracking goes it depends on the style and the song. If I do double stuff, often I'll do any pitch/time fixing on the first one and the double to that. If you're careful you can get the double down without having to do much editing and "keep it real."

sf
 
hi Scott!! Can ya get me on the list at Skybar?

wait...stay on topic stay on topic...

is there ever anyone you worked with that made ya nervous? like someone so famous you couldnt help but think "lord please dont let me screw up"
 
Hey Scott, good to have you here...I was just curious about your views on using modellers for recording guitar...I know that opinions as ever are mixed on this..and of course the right amp in the right room with the right mic etc, etc...is ideal but...do you/have you used a modeller for any professional recordings?

I use them all the time for TV stuff. They are very useful when time is tight, and you need to get all sorts of sounds quickly. The recall ability is also very handy.
The trick to getting modeling pulg-ins to sound as good as possible is own them all and use the best of each.

Each plug has a couple of good models and the rest are usually crap.
Sometimes the amps they choose to model suck in the first place.
I use Amp Farm, Waves GTR, Eleven, and Guitar Rig in all sorts of combinations.
Sometimes in parallel like you would gang up two amps, but more often it's something like this:
Waves GTR overdrive pedal - Amp Farm JTM45 - Eleven 4x12 cab - Echo Farm memory man.
Just sort of a random example, but you get the idea.

If it's a record I'll fire up the amps.

sf
 
All about compression!
When I track, I rarely use eq unless I'm using a less than ideal mic.
I compress it some then, and quite a bit more when I mix. I'll add a little more top end then.
sf

I think I'm developing a bit of a man-crush on you. :embarrassed:

Signed,

Resident Compression Junkie.
 
I have a question.

When you're recording bands, do you usually do a live take for the rhythm section or do you usually do all overdubs?

Most of the recording I do is just me playing everything, but occasionally I'll record a full band, and while capturing the live feel is great, I don't have proper isolation so I get a lot of bleedover. Also, I find that most of the time, the band members can't play the song without the rest of the band playing with them. :mad:
 
Here's one I'm going to ask because I think it would be good for folks to see....

How possible is it to "Sound Proof" a room in a house?

When you hang things like Auralex on the walls in a room what does it really do?
 
Here's one I'm going to ask because I think it would be good for folks to see....

How possible is it to "Sound Proof" a room in a house?

When you hang things like Auralex on the walls in a room what does it really do?

I can give you a bit of an answer to that.

Auralex won't do a thing to keep sound from escaping the room. What it will do is keep nasty echos and standing waves from happening within the room.

To keep sound from escaping a room, what you really need is isolation. IE, build a room within a room. It's a very expensive undertaking. Basically, you don't want the floor, walls, or ceiling of the interior room to be directly coupled to the outside floor, walls, or ceiling. The cost of doing this is prohibitive to most home recorders, so the best bet is to use lots of insulation and a heavy material like drywall on the walls and ceiling.

Of course, in my home studio, I've got lots of insulation, and drywall, and you can still hear me pretty well from the outside. Good thing my neighbors are A. Not close by, and B. Very understanding.

My closest neighbor is an older dutch lady who says she grew up in an apartment over a bar in Holland, so hearing the noise from my house helps her sleep. :cool:
 
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