Recreating Nirvana's "Heart Shaped Box" Drum Sound | What's That Sound? EP32 

Steve albini famously used 12 sound goodisers on the drum tracks for inutero. He had an early cracked demo version of fl studio.

Can we get some appreciation for the drummer? She always kills it!

Slipknot's first album drum sound is really interesting. It sounds so natural, almost garagey, and yet works perfectly in the mix for that kind of music.

Ok so you did a pretty good job! But I'm a certified Albini nerd, so forgive me for being obnoxious but I'm able to point to some things you did differently: -I don't think he was using the lav mic at the time -He doesn't eq the kick in but he usually adds a subharmonic synth to add low end to the kick (or he does a weird feedback loop if he doesn't have a subharmonic synth a hand) -That overhead technique is recent for him. At the time he probably used a normal spaced pair positioning. -He talked about using some old Lomo condensers for the overheads. Maybe he was using them in conjunction with the ribbons, but if he used a spaced pair, maybe there were no ribbons in the overheads. -They recorded the drums in the studio's kitchen because they felt the live room had too much of a controlled sound. -Dave Grohl would play REALLY HARD and with the butt of the drum sticks, so you would get a really punchy sound without needing too much compression to poke through Butt yeah, nitpicking aside I think the main difference I'm feeling is that the rooms are a bit too quiet on your version. Cheers!

It’s sounds like you used Albini’s more up to date drum mic techniques, I don’t think he was using the Lav mic back then. Either way, kinda interesting, I guess this is what heart shaped box would have sounded like if it was recorded by Albini today.

Forever in debt to your priceless advice!

I love the Steve Albini drum sound. The bottom tom mics and the room mics make a huge difference!

Can we just appreciate the concerted effort they made to respect Albini's choices and the sound of the band? Even with the discrepansies between what he did then vs. how he might do it now, they did their homework. PROPS GUYS. :) The choice of the Schoeps V4U's for the blumlein pair in front was an especially inspired choice. Nice going.

I really love these videos. This is a tough one to nail. Ive listened to this record more than any other. Dave grohls performance is 90% of the sound.

Massive, massive Albini fan. If you're trying to replicate a recorded + mixed sound of a recording, then it seems honest to note that Scott Litt mixed this. How is this not mentioned?

These videos are absolute gold. Putting the emphasis where it matters most; the source. The drummer, the drums and mics/placement.

Soundgarden Superunknown Drums please! Black Hole Sun or The Day I Tried to Live, even My Wave would be good

I remember I read someone who mentioned something about between 15 and 25 miliseconds on room to get his signature sound, I've tried and it does work.

The drum sound on Love and Happiness by Al Green

Not even close, Albini's drum sound is all about huge room. Snare also needs to be tuned lower without so much attack and high mids.

I'm actually impressed with the guitar sound. It is much closer to the original than the drum sound

The gang is off the mark on this one, uncharacteristically. Sounds Good, as always - but without the same Ambience )esp. on kick) or tone as HSB, which features the classic Albini Drum Sound (probably at its all-time best due to Pachyderm Studio's great room) spruced up with a bit of pop polish by mix engineer Scott Litt, whose contribution to In Utero's singles was excellent (and probably necessary). Albini famously uses no compression on drums (except sometimes on what he calls "the front of the bass drum"). Also, Pachyderm isn't "iconic," unless everyone's familiar with its Image. Somehow "iconic," the most overused - and MISused - word on RU-vid has been widely mistaken to mean simply "widely known," or "instantly recognizable," (or in this case, apparently just "famous"), etc. But it means, specifically, that someone or something's Image is famous (Icon, in the original Greek, Means image); and the word can no more apply to Sounds (the most common way Iconic is misused) than it can apply to Scents, Flavors, Ideas, Emotions, Bodily Sensations, etc. Due to the RU-vid Feedback Loop, misuse of Iconic lately has spiraled out of control. Indeed, to the point where a misuser would no doubt describe the matter as an iconic Linguistic Error.

LOVE the sound of In Utero! for me the song where the drums really stand out is Scentless Apprentice. Here are some ideas for new episodes: 1. Soundgarden -Spoonman or Black Hole sun 2. Led Zeppelin - When the Levee Breaks 3. Pearl Jam - Go! 4. Alice In Chains - No Excuses

The overheads are great. All of the meat in mono from the front pair and the stereo 'air' coming from the rear

My current favorite RU-vid series. Thanks so much!

Levee from the new Wilco album. Or anything from Cousin. Great drum sound.

This is a really killer drum sound. Something I would be going for in some situations. (and I would love a sample of that snare sound :-) ) It doesn't sound very close to the In Utero sound to me. That sound is much more roomy, almost ALL room maybe? This is much punchier and especially the snare drum is much fatter. I'd be surprised if Dave Grohl used a head as thick as this with as much muffling but I could be wrong. But I actually like THIS sound better :-) Really well played too.

Thanx. I really enjoyed this episode. And yes I‘m a huge Albini fan, and maybe he did or did not exactly any of this techniques or mics on in utero. But I think you transpose the idea of t(his) drum recordings very well, Thanx again…

I have read that Steve Albini would use an expander on the overhead mics to tame the snare a little bit. Also, he used the insert on the snare drum mic channel to duck the lavalier mic on the batter side of the kick. The polar pattern on the stereo pair in front of the kick would be in Blumlein or Mid-Side configuration., rather than XY. Please correct me if I'm wrong, and thanks for the video.

I'm shocked at how much this doesn't sound anything like the In Utero drums.

The drum sound from Hozier's new song "Eat Your Young" as well as "De Selby (Part 2)" would be really fun to watch, they have so much power, but because of the more minimalist beats Rory Doyle plays on them, the unique tone the engineers got from the drums really stands out! Also, the drum sound on his song "Nobody" from his last album is incredibly crunchy and would be amazing to see recreated!

Please do the king gizzard dual drummer sound!

Holy shit i forgot about this series, it’s still going!

Airbag by Radiohead. Nobody knows wtf is going on with that, haha! I'm gonna request it on every video from now on.

Man those STC’s are KRISPY, no hi boost on those?

Please do Ty Segalls Manipulator drum sound!

If they would have taken those high hats and switch them out for a pair of 15 inch newbies that s*** would sound spot on. They really nailed the bass and snare drum sounds.

That was probably the best one yet. So good.. especially the snare. Did you EQ the drums and also did you gate the toms and or any other close mics?

rest in peace steve albini 🙏

I thinks we need Black Hole Sun sound…

May I ask how you panned the room mics? I wonder where they sit in the mix related to the overheads and the "additional overheads", the Schoeps. Thanks a lot!

Don't forget the drum sticks that dave used which were big. 2b sticks are needed to achieve that sound.

that sounds pretty good

That sounds real nice

Anything off PJ Harvey's Rid of Me album, please.

thanks for you videos

How about the one of “Hot for Teacher” by Van Halen. So much drums going on in just the intro.

Noam’s sweatpants strike again!

Do some Yves Tumor, really cool drum sounds on his records

Sounds delicious.

Nirvana’s best album.

what do I like to hear next. D-A-D soulbender from the helpyourselfish

Do Jimmy Eat World's drum sound for Clarity next!

Tom Petty Breakdown please

Can you guys please do Damaged Goods by Gang Of Four?🥺🥺🙏🏽🙏🏽

If putting a mic on the floor eliminates reflections from the floor (10:35), then why is an omni mic helpful for eliminating the proximity effect... from floor reflections (11:05)?

Nice

Riff is played wrong , is it for copyright reasons

The sound is Steve Albini, a big room, old school compressors, and friggin Dave Grohl. The technique in this video is a bit overkill, Alibini never used a mic for the batter side of the kick.

Next, Lee "Scratch" Perry, please 🍭

This sounds as much like Albini's drum mix as this song sound like Heart Shape Box. It's a happy version.

Why a 451b over the more era specific 451eb?

JOY DIVISION PLEASE PLEASE JOY DIVISION PLEASE

anythuing from london calling

You guys usually get pretty close. This time, not so much.

Killer drum sound but still nothing like the OG

i think its a good sound, but it doesnt remind me of in utero. im no expert, but to me, its all in the room sound.

She is a true beauty

I'm curious about the legal status of the almost the same guitar parts. Does it really make a legal difference that you changed a note or chord or two, even though it is still very recognizably supposed to be the song in the title? Does it keep the record company or publishers from taking the video down?

Nice try, but it's not there yet

20 ms is too short. Albini uses 30ms.

The original record sounds as if there is some sort of distressor/decapitator on the snare, at very least during the louder portions of the tune. Was that effect even attempted? Because it sounds like the snare is getting a bit lost in the guitars during those loud parts. Needs something a bit crunchy on the snare there. Great kick sound, though. Room sound was really nice, too.

why didnt you just hire steve to come in? missed opportunity.

Yeah this is not at all like what the drums on In Utero sounds like

It’s a little off. HSB sounds a bit fatter and in a bigger room. Still cool to watch.

You guys had it easy. Try recreating that guitar tone without copying what's his name in Seattle that just did it.

Not even close. Do you guys listened to In Utero?

Should be scared. This is way off

There is too much muffling on the bass drum.

Would have been nice if they played the guitar riff correctly, wtf

That poor girl must have been exhausted by the end of this video .😬

Definitely could’ve been done worse! I don’t want to say, “awesome job!” But, I also don’t want to say too much negativity about it, either. Then, those embarrassing guitars came in…. Ruined everything. Just disgusting, to not come close to playing a three chord Nirvana song correctly, is pitiful. But, maybe it’s a RU-vid thing. A good, & standing tall, B graded episode. I feel good about that. Just, get your Josephson Albini Signature Grade Mics, or don’t bother next time. You’ve GOTTA have the Josephson’s. Hahahahaha! $1500 Tom Mics…. Yeah, right! Hahahaha! Love you guys!

Doesn't sound anything like it... First thing you're missing is Dave Grohl.

wouldn't have hurt to do it in the correct key, cmon bruh

Sounds fantastic