Velvet Glove
When Guns N' Roses and Stone Temple Pilots
meet, rock 'n' roll is the result
By Lisa Roy
Among the most highly
anticipated rock records of 2004 is Velvet
Revolver's RCA debut Contraband. Unless
you've been buried under a rock, you've
heard of the excitement surrounding the
release of the record. It began with
a jam session that reunited ex Guns n'
Roses bandmates Slash, Duff McKagan,
and Matt Sorum, spurring a chemistry
that caused them to form "The Project," as
they were originally titled. Then came
the auditions for a lead singer... a spot
eventually filled by provocative former
Stone Temple Pilots leader Scott Weiland.
With ex-Wasted Youth guitarist Dave Kushner
added to the line-up, all that was left
to complete this rock 'n' roll fantasy
was the right person to co-produce the
record for the now officially named band,
Velvet Revolver.
The "winning" producer, Josh
Abraham is no stranger to producing heavy
hitting rockers with bands such as Staind
and Limp Bizkit in his discography. Guitarist
Slash explains that they all just knew
that Abraham was "the guy," which
made their selection process easy. "There
were a lot of different producers to choose
from, some of whom I'm not really familiar
with," Slash reports. " We narrowed
it down to a couple that we all liked and
Josh was one of them. First we tired out
a couple of other people and we weren't
totally thrilled with the results of the
test shots we did. So then we went into
the studio with Josh and he just got great
sounds. The tape we went home with that
night was just exactly what we were looking
for."
Contraband includes 12
of the more than 50 tracks the band co-wrote
before and after Weiland joined the line
up last spring. Some of the most buzzed
about tracks are "Sucker
Train Blues," "Fall To Pieces," "Super
Human," "You Got No Right," "Set
Me Free" and "Head Space," not
to mention the first single, "Slither." The
band and Abraham invited EQ for an inside
look at the making of this phenomenal disc.
The Process Begins
Lead vocalist Weiland
says that the five band members were
all after a collective goal: musical
rebirth. "We're looking
to get back that same feeling we had when
we all first started making music - the
sense of doing it for the pure joy of making
music. This music is just vicious, very
aggressive, and it forces you to lace your
boots up and sort of get ready for the
fight." In his opinion the album turned
out to be the "perfect marriage" of
the styles of Guns and STP's music. But
how did they get there? For that we turned
to Abraham for answers.
Although Abraham had known
Weiland, Sorum, and Kushner for quite
a while and been an enthusiastic fan
of Slash's signature sound, it wasn't
until one day in a Los Angeles studio
that he came upon the group. After he
asked them to listen to some music he
had been working on, a professional relationship
became a possibility. It was at that
time the band agreed to let Abraham come
in and demo one track for a shot at the
co-production gig. That track, he recalls,
was " I lead Space.:
"We went in, we recorded for two
days, very casually. It seemed very stress-free
and we got a lot done. It was smoking and
they were all excited about it. We took
it to the next stage, which was making
a record." The band entered famed
rock studio NRG Studio B to lay down drums,
bass, and a few guitar tracks. Later they
changed recording venues, utilizing both
Abraham's Hollywood studio Pulse (for guitars)
and Weiland's Burbank studio Lavish (for
vocals; for more on Lavish, check out the
Dec. '00 issue).
When recording Abraham
likes to have best of both worlds - digital
and analog. He shares his philosophy
behind using both to deliver a warm,
fat-sounding rock record. "There
is always the argument over which is better,
but for me the combo of the two is the
right fit," he continues. "I
got used to doing records in a house environment
where there were no tape machines. So I
used Pro Tools and it does sound phenomenal.
But there is a certain glue, for drums
and bass, that the tape machine provides."
Abraham's engineer of
choice for this project, Ryan Williams
concurs. "We
used Pro Tools only as a recording medium," he
said noting that using plug-ins on Slash's
and Kushner's guitars was absolutely unthinkable. "It
does sound great now that it is 96k HD.
It is convenient to be able to fly thing
around occasionally, but I still know how
to cut tape," he confides. "People
still flip when I take a razor blade to
the analog tape."
Tracking Drums
Abraham relies on Williams'
expertise when the tracks are going down
but there was one moment at NRG where
a "guest
star" took center stage. While laying
down the drums and bass for the track "Loving
The Alien," Matt Sorum learned that
legendary rock engineer Eddie Kramer was
working in a studio down the hall. Sorum
ran into him, and after consulting with
Abraham and Williams, he asked Kramer if
he would be willing to mic his kilt like
he did John Bonham (Led Zeppelin drummer). "I
had a little vintage 1963 Ludwig kit," he
said of his red sparkle drum set. " I
had it baffled off in the corner. Eddie
came over and miked it up. That was so
cool. Eddie being a legend. I said 'it
would be an honor if you'd come over and
help me mic this kit. I'm doing one song
and I want it to have that big Beatles'
compress sound, kind of old school'" Kramer
entered the studio and proceeded to put
a D30 in front of the kick drum and three
Neumann U 47s over the top - left, right,
and center. Williams ran the results through
an EMI stereo limiter ("...to give
it the pinched, sort of ' Ringo' sound...")
and a Paltec EQP1A. The result, says Sorum, "...sounded
amazing! We ended up going with U 47s and
one D30. No other mics at all."
Sorum admits that with
a set up like this he definitely had
to play to the microphone more. " When
you are look at the great drummers -
Bonham and Ringo and Mitch Mitchell they
have a certain sensibility ; but you
play to the microphones. That was the
idea. What you heard in the headphones
is what you heard going down. It wasn't
like you could pull one tom up, turn
it up. What you got was what you got.
So if you hit one cymbal too hard or
something, a lot of times you would have
to go back."
The track with his Ludwig
kit was a departure from the norm for
Sorum. For the bulk of the tracks for
Contraband he used his Pork Pie kit.
He explains, " I endorse
DW so I played DW for all my touring and
I did one track where I used my DWs. But
for most of the album I used Pork Pie kit
with a Gretsch kick drum - I used a 22-inch
and a 24. One kit had sort of an ambient
stage in the room. I used it on more of
the slower demo songs, it had more air," he
concludes. "The Pork Pie has bigger
drums, more rock, and I had a whole Gretsch
kit sort of underneath a lower ceiling.
I used it on a song called 'Illegal Eye.'"
Behind The Music
That track, "Illegal Eye," is
one that all of the band members seem to
mention at one time or another. Kushner
revealed what was at the heart of the song. "That
was the song on the album that I wrote.
My wife (who was my fiance at the time),
Christine, and I actually had an argument
and I was pissed off. I wasn't just in
a bad mood. I was pissed off and I need
to get it out. I wrote that song in like
half an hour. The fight worked out and
we made up - but it did inspire the song.
I think you just have to slow down long
enough to let things in life inspire you.
Sometimes you just think 'oh, I've got
to write a ballad' or 'I've got to write
a mid-tempo rock song now' and you just
do it because you're a musician and that's
just what you do. Unfortunately, at times
like that there is no inspiration."
Because you never known
when inspiration will strike. Kushner
recommends that all musicians and writers
have some sort of economical "bedroom recording" option. "You
can get a Mac and a [Digidesign] Mbox.
I think an Mbox even comes with a free
version of Pro Tools, and you don't really
need anything else except speakers, you
know."
"I made really good
sounding demos and I had a PC. I had
a version of [Emagic] Logic. I had a
regular stereo power amp with a sound
card that my roommate gave me with just
eight RCA ins and two RCA outs, and that
was it. That was my big home studio.
PC and Logic and a home studio! It sounded
killer. Just sit around with headphones
and that is how you do it."
Guitars, Guitars, and More Guitars
You can't think of really
rockin' guitars and not think of Slash.
And you can't think of Slash without
thinking of Les Paul, his guitar of choice.
For Contraband Abrahams, Williams, and
the rest of the guys all agree Slash
did some experimenting, but he insists
that he didn't stray far from the norm.
On the band's debut single, "Slither" he
confides that he kept it really simple
using a Les Paul and a Marshall all the
way through. "I did use a delay in
the beginning of the song for that 'swallow'
effect but that one was a pretty simple
Slash set up." he says.
When pressed, he admits
to changing things up a bit here and
there. " I experimented
with a couple of different amps for different
sounds. I used a couple of different pedals
for certain parts of songs, and I used
more than just my one Les Paul. I used
a couple different guitars. On 'Falling
To Pieces' I used a Gibson 335 through
an old Fender mixed with a Vox for a clean
sound. I found that I was really a lot
more open-minded about each song as opposed
to the way I used to do it in the old days,
which was just get one basic sound and
use it throughout," shares Slash. "That
is sort of my live approach, but these
songs really demanded a little bit of a
more creative approach technically. It
was a lot of fun to do it. Also, at this
point I would've felt really stale just
sticking with the one formula" For
the secrets behind Slash's set up we turned
to Ryan Williams.
Set Up Secrets
Williams, a guitarist
himself, says Slash's set up varied,
but never strayed too far from the Les
Paul/Marshall combination. For the track "Falling to Pieces" he
ran two Marshall heads: one Slash's signature
model and the other a JCM800. Williams
continues, "We also managed to use
a Vox AC30 in the chain as well, which
I don't think he's really used before.
It's kind of a matter of mixing all the
different amps to come up with one good
tone. Each of them plays their own little
part in creating the tone. I think he kind
of digs that. Most of the tracks we started
with that and then went from there."
Williams recalls that
the amps were miked with Shure SM57's
because Slash likes "a
nice, bright tone with a lot of presence" Williams
ran the mics through Neve 1073s and mixed
them together into one track. "I don't
like complicated things all spread out
on different tracks. Mix all those amps
down to one track to create one sound that
goes through a Pultec for a little more
EQ and that's it," he concludes.
When miking the amps Williams
positioned the mics very close to the
cabinets and a little off-center, making
sure all the mics were the same distance
from each speaker. "I
just try to eyeball it and make sure the
mics are the same distance from all of
the speakers, because if you mix a couple
of different amps, then there's always
phasing issues. So, just to keep the mics
an inch off the grille cloth on all the
cabinets that I'm miking helps me keep
the phase in check."
Williams relies on experience
and technique, but reveals the greatest
tools are common sense and a great pair
of ears. " Of
course Slash is an amazing guitar player,
and Dave as well, so I just make sure it's
the right guitar, it's the right amp, and
make sure it sounds good standing in the
room. I always stand in the room and listen
to what's coming out of the speakers first.
I make sure that's right before I start
reaching for a ton of knobs to try and
fix things. If it is sounding good coming
out of the cabinet then there is no reason
you shouldn't be able to throw a mic on
it and go."
Williams has a high praise
for the styles of two guitarists in Velvet
Revolver and knows that fans will immediately
see that they complement each other well.
He notes that Slash is an all-out rocker
with an identifiable style and distinct
attitude to his tone. By contrast, he
says, Kushner exhibits more of an effects-driven
sound with nice textures to round out
the sound. He and Abraham's goal for
this project was to try to get them sounding
different tonally. "I think Dave's
natural tendency is different than Slash's
anyway when it comes ot the tone. And
so we made sure that they didn't sound
exactly the same, just so they're kind
of seperated. When you listen to it we're
really approaching it almost like they
were live. Put Slash on the right and
put Dave on the left and you've got two
different tones and that's kind of what
it is."
He goes on to describe
Kushner's set up as "... pretty
direct. He has his own pedal board that
he's put together that he's been using
for all the rehearsals and songwriting
and everything. He has his normal amp
setup, but we ended up going through
something similiar that we've used in
the past. Just a mic and modified Marshall
JCM800 as well as a Mesa/Boogie Triple
Rectifier. We used the Mesa/Boogie only
for the low end that it provides. If I
actually soloed that track by itself, the
way that we have it set it probably wouldn't
sound that great. But it just provides
its own part of the sound for the 800 because
the 800 has great top end vibe, gain to
it. We just rounded off the bottom with
the Triple Rectifier. Then he's got his
pedal board in the front that he runs as
well as a couple of other Line 6 pieces
that will pop in the chain sometimes. Also
I'll use a TC Electronic Fireworx sometimes
if we really want to tweak out the sound
and make it weird. That seems to be the
go-to box for stuff like that."
Abraham, who at the time
of this interview was in the middle of
recording Kushner's guitars at Pulse,
says that there was no method to their
madness. "Between
Ryan and myself we have tons of different
heads, cabinets, and guitars, from Marshalls
to old Fender tweed amps to a lot of combo
amps. I have maybe a couple hundred pedals
that we just dig up. When I hear a part
I'll say, 'Hey, why don't we try this pedal
that has the weirdest name from Germany'
or 'the pedal that doesn't even have a
name for that matter, because they're all
old and just beat up'" Abraham's states
that his objective as co-producer of this
project was to be honest and try to pull
out of the guys a different level of performance
by making them think about what they were
doing at every turn.
"Just to get these guys to think,
not so much tell them what to do...it was
really about getting in their heads, breaking
down and analyzing certain sections and
getting them to come up with what I think
I can pull out of them. We would just break
down his [Slash's] guitar solos and spend
hours fine-tuning and getting it right.
There was a point where Slash would do
many solos and he'd leave the room and
I'd piece them together. When questioned
about how he and Williams approached editing
Slash's performance with Pro Tools, Abraham
is emphatic this his intent was keeping
this performance pure. "Slash just
has a feel. I think today with Pro Tools,
a lot of engineers and producers think
there is a formula that they go by, and
that's just chopping up drums and chopping
up guitars to make things perfect. I use
Pro Tools when I have to for specific reasons,
but this isn't that type of record. We
let Slash float around the track. If it's
a little behind or a little on top; that's
his feel. To change his feel would defeat
the purpose of Slash picking a guitar up."
With that said Slash added, "I
love doing what I do. I live for what
it is I do. Everything else that I do
in life is still sort of dictated by
music. So actually the recording or the
playing live or the writing, all that
stuff is sort of like the fuel for my
whole existence. Not to sound corny or
anything, but that's why I do it."
Abraham sees the making
of this record as a true learning experience. "I
have the best job in the music business.
Day after day I am here learning, whether
it is from a drummer, an engineer or a
guitar player. Its just information I am
constantly being fed." He concludes, "I'm
the luckiest guy to be able to work with
talented people like Velvet Revolver and
some of the other multi-platinum bands
I have worked with. Making this music is
better than winning the lottery!"
Finger On The Pulse
Josh Abraham keeps his Pulse Studio well
stocked with cool gear. Here are a few
of the highlights:
Console: SSL 4064G
Recorder/Editor: Digidesign Pro Tools HD
Monitoring: Yamaha NS10 and Genelec 1038
Outboard: Neve 1073 and 33609, API 16-channel
sidecar and API 16-channel sidecar and
API 560, Pultec EQP1A. blackface UREI 1176,
Empirical Labs Distresser and Fatco Jr.,
dbx 160
Effects: Eventide, Lexicon, Yamaha, TC
Electronic, and a good selection of vintage
amps, guitar, and pedals
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