Recording Nirvana: Drain You (Butch Vig Breaks It Down In The Studio) 

Ikr. He clearly doesn't know much about grunge. How could you called a punk rock band grungy. He was manipulating kurt the whole time to make it sound less and less punky, while he polished all of his music. To me that's like changing the colors in an artists painting.

lvlultiplication grunge is not a fucking term given to nirvana by the media. No they didn’t like it. We don’t call nirvana punk because they AREN’T listen to sex pistols and say that they are the same genre as nirvana.

The Burning Candles TBCX To quote german punk band Wizo: If one tries to tell me what punk is and what's not, i'll shit him in the face because i don't need new rules. On a side note, i personally like both Pistols and Nirvana, but surely you know as well as i do that the Sex Pistols where sort of a casting band, right? Sid made the band only because of his looks, not really being able to play his instrument. He was in the band because he sort of was a personification of punk attitude, transported a certain image. So there's that. Punk attitude and mentality is something i see very much in Nirvana, complete with the whole no future yadda yadda on Cobains part. Lastly, if you want to boil it down to pure music, then compare Tourettes by nirvana with Pretty vacant. Anyways, why someone would feel the need to restrict the use of the term punk and unisono claiming to have the authority to decide what goes and what doesn't is beyond me. Sounds kind of Punk conservative to me, pal.

ShitForBrains Doe You restrict the use of the term punk because words require restrictions in order to have a definition in order to have any coherent meaning at all. We both know punk isn’t defined as “hotdogs with ketchup and a girl in a dress playing Hank Williams country and having a nice time in a monogamous relationship,” right? Well, I hate to break it to you, but you just restricted the definition of punk a little bit.

Probably took out some of the punk elements to make more money, but I do think that the engineer is an artist in their own right. If you don't want the engineer to have any creative input then just don't hire one.

Yea lol

@Yağız Kara hey

Men, saludos. Que buenos covers haces

hey) didn't expect to see you here hello fom раша

@@Tomnedreb ❤️ from DC

so true, i wish i had copies of those 😔

+Marc Davis Yeah it's cool, but this album is a bit over-produced in my opinion. Also Garbage were shit.

Yea same

Shoegazer 93 i think it sounded amazing, far from being my favourite of their albums, but amazing.

RIDE

id kill for him to produce a single one of my songs

The part with the single guitar sounded kinda dry. The album wouldnt be what it is now if it wasnt for Butch’s white lies

@@Churroboyyy I'd call it 'creative revisions' hehe

There's not a great band without a great producer behind.

Who the fuck are u?

it was dave yelling

Yes, that was the scream of a tortured genius. He said "Dave's snare fill"...not snarl, or whatever some people are hearing to make them think it was Dave screaming. 100% Kurt.

Had to have been intense.

Migwel Swanchez You wish... That screaming belongs to Cobain, Grohl can only ever dream of having a screaming range like Cobain's.. I still like Dave though....but only as a drummer.. 🤘✌👍👍👍👍👍

No

Him and Andy Wallace!

@@louismullens2783 Exactly. Listen to the deluxe edition. Vig captured a good signal but his mix is static and murky. (nothing wrong). But Wallace elevated it to an iconic sculpture inside the punchy SSL G series desk.

i dont know....kurt dave and krist ?

Yeah Butch and Andy made it sound amazing, very full poppy-grunge sound. But I reckon In Utero sounded better.

@@Cobain_5150 The topic here is the engineering. The musicianship obviously speaks for itself. It all works together.

ahahaha true

+Mike Patton jeje

love you, Jesus

Worked for The Smashing Pumpkins

or if you're Mike Patton, add whatever the fuck you want

Super Cuts So did kurt

But if it "wasn't heavy enough for him," doesn't that mean Kurt WANTED to add more guitars? Something is off here

Russell Carstens He clearly says big enough for me, as in referring to himself.

It's a common trick, I've gotten some of the best vocal takes while I was doing "test" recordings ;)

Super Cuts it probably caused Kurt’s suicide...

Got a link to that amigo?

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2lu48P8dZTk.html

He does, this is from the BBC classic album series

@@1conor do you have link for “on a plain”?

The best grunge band is pearl jam, but the best punk band is, of course, black flag. Without them nirvana wouldn't be the same.

lvlultiplication what would you classify alice in chains as? Back when Layne was the lead singer.

Mind Flowers they're like sludgy, but not super sludgy enough to be sludge metal. Except for their self titled album, that one was super heavy.

...the hell is sludge metal, stop it.

I especially love how the Wikipedia entry on "sludge metal" lists Black Sabbath as an example...apparently everything has to be put in a category and there has to be a category for everything.

entirely ok with you !!

Garbage is an extremely underrated band

*is

+6stringsdummy get a life

+Russell Cameron after you

fuck u indonesian...

FuckIndonesian indonesianshit whats up between Indonesian and Malasyan ?

Scentless_Apprentice same

same

Same

Yeah, it’s a perfect Nirvana tune - heavy, but thoughtful.

Ditto! A masterpiece

Yeah, I was always very frustrated not knowing how to get my guitar tracks to sound this FULL. I'd tried everything---different pedals, different compressors. I almost got something I was happy with when I started double tracking, but still; it still didn't sound as "layered" as my favorite rock records. It didn't occur to me until I saw this goddamn video---and maybe read about how Grohl multitracked his vocals on his debut Foo Fighters record several times out of vocal insecurity---did I finally realize I'd been too conservative, that it's about a lot more tracking (each with varying, complementary tone of course).

You have to be careful with it because it can also run things to sludge if you keep tracking similar guitar sounds. I've recorded a lot of bands with two guitarists who just lazily double everything without having individual parts and it can sound bad. But also it gives much more power in the live sound done properly. Nirvana never got the sound of their records live until they brought in the second guitar in pat smear, especially using Mustangs and Jaguars (guitars I love, but for playing clean stuff, they can lack power).

He does. I have the Classic Albums dvd it’s from.

That guy has the best job ever

yes

Hell yes sounds really full and powerful

I could listen to Butch do this with all the music he produced.

Personal E-mail. I've read that Kurt was a huge fan of the Pixies which isn't surprising. I think it's safe to credit Frank Black for a decent stake of the inspiration for Kurt's patented primal tantrum scream. I can hear a direct lineage back to this particular scream at 1:20 of this song: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3SmmSOsTTsQ.html

@@MonkyMonk729 I think the lineage of screams like that go all the way back to Lennon's I want you (She's so Heavy)ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tAe2Q_LhY8g.html

I think it might have some origin with The Doors, I feel like he would have have heard Morrison’s screams and thought “wow that’s cool” and ever since that he unintentionally screamed in reminiscent way to Morrison, because I hear a bit of Morrison ness in it. It could also have to do with his Meat Puppets influence, because if u listen to the record version do Lake of Fire (Meat Puppets 2) there is a part where Curt Kirkwood screams a bit, and doing it life was even more prominent. That’s my theory

Check out Well well well by john lennon. I bet Kurt was inspired by this track.

He did

He also do the same thing to foo fighter on wasting light album and make it a one of the great album ever.

@Barry McHawkiner Shame Corgan did the vocals on it. His voice is fucking awful in tone and he could never actually sing. Also nobody gives a fuck about Smashing Pumpkins anymore. Shows how memorable those songs were I guess. Now if you'd said The Bends or OK Computer then fair enough.

@@MS-eb8cf Speak for yourself dude. Smashing Pumpkins still fills arenas every time they play, so obviously a few people still like them.

​@@MS-eb8cf the main difference is that the pumpkins have had plenty of time to deminish their legacy by putting out garbage. Nirvana's stuff is frozen in time.

​@@MS-eb8cf 😂😂 dude shut up

He is still here in spirit. Check this out. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MWvnnoSxEI8.html

damn that make laugh so hard

Travis Edwards 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

that's the sound when i stub my toe on the bed post

Travis Edwards what kind of psychopath does that?

JAJAJAJA exacto

Lennon did double his vocals! Just listen to Ticket To Ride.

​@@icecreamforcrowhurst Lennon did it, because he didn't like his voice

One mention of Lennon and Kurt was in!

Well it was true

Lol

Jmpsthrufyre * 665 years ago fucking facts

HEY, WAIT, I HAVE A NEW COMPLAINT. This comment is now 666 years old

Yeah it sounds so clean..love it

Lol 😂 right !?

Finbar Murphy Eh?

Click on the time link, Buch says “it still didn’t feel big enough for me.”

but he says "it still didn't *sound big enough..."

Hey dude! What's the name of the documentary? Id like to watch it in its entirety but I can't find the name. Thanks!

Classic Albums : Nevermind

You can only see these clips in the U.K for some reason

scammed how? didn't they sign a record deal?

No. He mean that Butch lied many times to Kurt in order to produce the album in the way he wanted to

That would be good to hear as well as hearing Nevermind mixed and produced as In Utero was with Steve Albini behind it. Would make for a couple very interesting listens

Was it just me or did anyone else expect him to ‘breakdown’ as in ‘I really miss Kurt’ breakdown.

@@willclark6694 I almost hate In utero meanwhile. It has way too much anti-attitude. Kurt just wanted to act like he is that young punk rock kid next door that is still dissatisfied. In the biography CAYA he says indirectly that he listened to Nevermind a lot.

Probably the only way to get him to agree to it

everyone wants to be a band.... even Kurt when became Nirvana was happy.

Huh? Nevermind has sold more than 10 million copies; believe me, a shitload of people have heard/will hear this song.

@@Carlos-xz3vi They hear the song but they don't necessarily hear all the time, effort, and skill put into it. Like looking at a painting without seeing the hundreds of layers of paint underneath it

way better than steve albini

I disagree

Kurt wasn’t as much as a “Puritan “ as you’re saying . He did ultimately want mainstream success. He wasn’t prepared for it (obviously) but I think any human wants positive feedback from anything they’re putting their heart and soul into . Not too mention enough money to live comfortably

But at what cost? Kurt had morals and his morals were violated and he killed himself. If Kurt had gotten to make Nevermind the way he wanted to make it, it might not have gotten so huge and he might have stayed alive. Who knows.

Caprise Adams So you’re implying you’re blaming Kurt’s death on Butch Vig? LMAO.

Where do you live?

Pay them lol

​@@mosheparanov🤨

Recordings were made from 1989 to 1994 and there's a whole teams credited for engineering, mastering, production and mixing. Seems reasonable to assume some overdubbing happens on that record.

@@marjoleinfokkemahe’s saying that they had a full sound in their live performances, even though pretty much everyone at this point recognizes the music from their studio recordings or ensemble performances like the unplugged show

So does the Mesa

Nirvana cana To me that's the best part of the whole song! It wasnt the Super grunge that made this an official grunge song, it was those Bassmans!

From the classic albums vh1 series on never mind ... it’s on Amazon prime now

He'll lie to you...

And he will make you do overdubs

Walter Stevenson - he will make you record the entire album in one take on a single stereo mic in a church.

Steve Albini is better

@@theblakex 💯 he can definitely make a proper album. Him and Jack Endino.

Josh Kernick mtv unplugged with only squeaky mouse

BrxIghtside It would've been hilarious if it was Dancing Tony at the 1992 Reading Festival.

I gotta Fever, and the only cure is more squeeky toy

Chris Ridenhour if you watch the documentary “back and forth” on Netflix about the foo fighters you get to see him producing the Wasting Light album. It’s really cool watching him work in real time with the band.

its really fun. :)

Yeah well it's alright but you'll always be angry that you're not on of the musician.

well, usually audio engineers know how to play music as well. :)

Good luck getting paid in 2018 bud

It's a nice dream, and this video makes it look like it's such an agreeable and cool job.

The closest thing you will find to that is the 'Devonshire mix' ....its on Spotify

Theres no editing, just double/triple tracked instruments and vocals.

There's usually not really such thing as a "basic tape" of a song "without the editing". Every instrument has its own mic, creating a separate track, and they're often recorded separately as well. The very act of combining these tracks into one song is a form of mixing, and it will sound like crap if you just mix them all together equally with no EQ or other mixing doodads. Probably the closest thing to what you want is to listen to a live version of the song.