why are british indie bands recorded with so much treble?

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suede and the libertines are the worst examples of this. is it just crap british studio people, an affinity for thin, trebly sound, or just because they like to sound all high end and have an aversion to bassiness or richness of sound?

― percypisspants, Tuesday, 24 May 2005 09:04 (twenty-one years ago)

To make me hate them even more.

― TV's Mr Noodle Vague (noodle vague), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 09:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Skinny is as skinny does.

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 09:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Or, because their rhythm sections are invariably shit.

― TV's Mr Noodle Vague (noodle vague), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 09:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Bass is sexy and these people are afraid of sex.

― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 09:10 (twenty-one years ago)

i'd make a rash generalisation about them not being fat enough to dig the mad bassnesses (which would be stealing felix bunton's theory) but i have no proof.

― Nic de Teardrop (Nicholas), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 09:13 (twenty-one years ago)

i haven't listened to that Suede 'Coming Up' album in ages - and then last saturday my wife wanted to hear it

.. and this treble factor became soo noticeable ..

by the end of the album i was worn down by the complete lack of sonic warmth and bass.

too damn trebly by far ..

― mark e (mark e), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 09:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Treble = Fake homoeroticism
Bass = Genuine homoeroticism

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 09:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Women Respond to Bass............

― cs appleby (cs appleby), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 09:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Well Suede perhaps. But PiL, in particular Second Edition, are the other side of the spectrum completely.

Bass, how low can you go?.

― Nic de Teardrop (Nicholas), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 09:29 (twenty-one years ago)

All of these new NME hyped indie bands are recorded with WAY to much compression on the drums and some other recording techniques that just give me a headache sometimes.

Futureheads, Maximo Park, Bloc Party are ALL guilty.

― Hari A$hur$t (Toaster), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 09:38 (twenty-one years ago)

why is this so pertinent to british bands? are british engineers and producers that shit?

by the way, this thread was meant to be a 'why is mick jones such a shit producer' thread but the treble thing seemed more all encompassing.

― percypisspants, Tuesday, 24 May 2005 09:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Perhaps it's all about different drugs. Lotsa treble = manic, clawing-at-the-walls, ecstatic high; nice, billowy low-end = zoning out in the soft, warm cosiness. I don't think there's meant to be anything cosy about these British bands. (Not that I like them or their sound much either).

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 10:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Because of the melodies! Bass is not melodic, treble is the natural home of the precious melodies.

― Geired On Hongro (elwisty), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 10:18 (twenty-one years ago)

why are jamaican dance bands recorded with so much bass?

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 24 May 2005 10:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I actually think it's largely down to producers, engineers and studios

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 10:21 (twenty-one years ago)

uSE ONe SET OF TONE CONTROLS?

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 10:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I guess "bad production techniques" are legion, I mean I take the point w/r/t suede sounding tinny, they make my ears ring, but their rekkids don't sound as bad as nu metal?

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 10:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Lots of treble is cool. No need pumping up the bass. Treble makes the vocals more on the forefront of the sound, which is a good thing because the singer carries the most important part of the recording.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 11:01 (twenty-one years ago)

hi dad!

― Geired On Hongro (elwisty), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 11:37 (twenty-one years ago)

The only band I know that uses too much treble is Oasis. But it would work out with them too, if they had just turned down volume of the guitars a bit.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 11:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Now I'm really fucking confused. Is Geir the new Luther Blissett?

― TV's Mr Noodle Vague (noodle vague), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 11:49 (twenty-one years ago)

The stuff from which these bands grew is ten times more so (released by Sarah records, early Creation, Subway etc. ) Back then, it was a deliberate attmept to mimic The Velvet Underground/amateur '60s grarge bands coupled with a fake nerdy/cute DIY ethic. Out-of-tune 12-string guitars added to the whole thing. Try Sorry to Embarrass You by the Razorcuts ... grate stuff imo.

― Jez (Jez), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 12:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Futureheads, Maximo Park, Bloc Party are ALL guilty.

Amazingly enough, they're all produced by the same bloke - Paul "Phones" Epworth.

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 12:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Paul "Tinnitus" Epworth from now on.

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 12:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I told you it was mostly the fault of producers/ engineers/ studios

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 12:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Aha!

That makes an awful lot of sense. I think i'd like all three records a lot more if they weren't produced in such an in your face manner.

― Hari A$hur$t (Toaster), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 12:47 (twenty-one years ago)

How much of this is down to stuff being mixed for radio?

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 12:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Maybe they've latched onto Pete Waterman's old trick of rolling off as much bass as possible to make your records sound louder than everyone else's on the radio (this in the days before Ultramaximisers and the like). I think this production style is quite deliberate and not some hamfisted amateurishness - a keening, piercing, upper-mid hash.

(Ah! Xpost!)

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 12:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I think it's more to do with British groups being gay and afraid of rock

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 12:54 (twenty-one years ago)

They've all been listening to too much Psychocandy-era Jesus and Mary Chain.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 13:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I haven't listened to the Futureheads or Maximo Park enough to make a judgement, but I'm getting Hari's headache on the Bloc Party album. I was hoping it was a case of bad mp3 compression, but it sounds identical on CD.

It's as if the vocals are up at the front and there's this staticky fog that everything else is stuck in. Some angular guitar jumps through, but the rest is really muddled... ugh.

I think this stuff is really produced by Geir. Still, there's a difference between the vocalist carrying the song and throwing the rest of the band into a corner.

― mike h. (mike h.), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 14:05 (twenty-one years ago)

It sounds to be like theres no space in the recordings. Theres always some shrill guitar or over compressed snare drum coming at you and its horrible.

And yes, the vocals are way too high. Especially on the Maximo Park album. It sounds horrible. Like the singer is singing at your ear.

― Hari A$hur$t (Toaster), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 14:11 (twenty-one years ago)

... which would be fine if you were Al Green and not some pasty limey fag

― Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 14:15 (twenty-one years ago)

i blame the mixing in the bloc party/futureheads/m.p. cases, which weren't handled by epworth.

― lauren (laurenp), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 14:19 (twenty-one years ago)

*clunk*

thats the sound of you hitting the nail on its head.

(xpost)

― Hari A$hur$t (Toaster), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 14:20 (twenty-one years ago)

They've all been listening to too much Psychocandy-era Jesus and Mary Chain.

There's a grrrrrreat drum sound on Psychocandy, it's a total rip of the 60s Motown "snare drum bashed by a gorilla at the other end of a railway tunnel" effect.

― TV's Mr Noodle Vague (noodle vague), Tuesday, 24 May 2005 15:25 (twenty-one years ago)

It's not just the recordings though. Telecasters seem to be the indie guitar of choice at the moment, if heard so many of them played through the bridge pickup and with the treble cranked up so high it's painful. I've had to walk out of bands sets because of this, even though the songs were quite good underneath.

― Ben Dot (1977), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 01:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Too much hearing loss all around (engineers in particular).

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 03:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Still, there's a difference between the vocalist carrying the song and throwing the rest of the band into a corner.

If you can't hear the lyrics clearly, then the rest of the band is too loud.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 09:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Fuck off.

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 11:38 (twenty-one years ago)

all melodies work their precious magic at 15khz and only 15khz. bass melodies are discounted as they do not occur at 15khz and therefore, by definition, cannot be melodies.

if you can't hear the lyrics the band is too loud. one such example of this is fleetwood mac's 'albatross'

― debden, Wednesday, 25 May 2005 11:49 (twenty-one years ago)

they've been listening to slanted and enchanted too much.

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 25 May 2005 12:01 (twenty-one years ago)

What was the first sublow bass?

"There had been for some time puzzlement at Abbey Road as to why records cut in America sounded so much better than British cuts. The bass content in particular was greatly diminished on British records."

― todd (todd), Thursday, 26 May 2005 00:50 (twenty-one years ago)

where was that quote from todd?

― moley (moley), Thursday, 26 May 2005 01:10 (twenty-one years ago)

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