The Gear of Five

Let’s use this blog post to talk about something that not enough bands talk about – equipment. 

For some reason, almost all the album reviews and interviews I read don’t spend any time talking about the equipment used to make the album.  Why don’t bands talk about this?  Are we not supposed to talk about this?  I know this: when I talk with my friends in bands, the conversation always goes toward equipment, engineers, studios, and things of this sort.  Maybe the people writing articles about bands just don’t care enough to print this information. 

There is no mystery to getting good sounds in the studio – be prepared, practice as much as possible, have your arrangements planned out, and use good gear.  When we see bands play live, the first thing we notice and discuss is what type of amps, drums, and guitars the band uses.  This information is the lens through which we start forming opinions about how the band will sound.  Let’s be honest, most people will have different feelings about Orange amplifiers versus Peavey 5150’s. 

Over the years of making albums and spending time in the studio, we’ve realized that there is a significant difference between the amps we should use in a live setting and the amps we should use in the studio.  We have made many albums using the same buzzy, loud, duct-taped amps that we play live, but on the last two Empty Flowers albums, we began exploring the equipment that that Machines with Magnets offers. Amps that are maintained for studio use are way more predictable and reliable, and it’s actually very easy to reproduce our live sound - even if we’re using different amplifiers. 

We aren't gear hoarders.  Me and Randy have pretty much stuck with the same setups for at least 10 years now.  And we don't buy gear to keep stashed in our closets at home.  

When we play live, Randy plays an American P-Bass through a modern-era Ampeg SVT-CL with a matching Ampeg 8x10 cabinet.  Bernie plays through a Verellen Loucks amp and a home-made cab with 4x12 Warehouse speakers.  Here is our basic practice setup:

When we record, we always play live in the same room for the basic tracks.  We overdub guitars as needed, but the bass and drum tracks need to be performed perfectly before we move onto the next song.  

For the album Five, here is what we used:

Bass:

For years, Randy has played Ampeg tube amps.  Honestly, we don't understand solid-state bass amps - they're just not for our band.  Ampeg has been making amazing tube amps since forever, and at the studio, Randy played his American P-Bass through a 1970 Ampeg V4 and a Domenickized Traynor YT15 cabinet.   

 B-Sharp’s hand-made Malazadas clean/boost/distortion pedal was used for bass overdrive when needed. 

Drums:

Since the live room at Machines With Magnets sounds so perfect, Dre was able to play his 20-year old, duct-taped Yamaha set with his old duct-taped Ludwig snare.

Guitar:

The most important part of the guitar sound for Empty Flowers is finding an amplifier that has a clean tone 80% of the time, but will also break up a little when the guitar is smashed.  We experimented with a 1968 Fender Bandmaster amp, but in the end the Soldano SLO-100 was the best tool for the job.  The Bandmaster didn’t break up enough and had too fat of a tone.  We don’t use any effects pedals on the guitar.  Well, we did go back and use an overdrive pedal for a 30-second guitar section on the song “Trained Not to Worry.” Other than that, there are no effects on the guitar. 

Les Paul Studio through a Soldano SLO-100 and a Domenickized Traynor YT12 4x12 cabinet: 

When we tracked the album, Dre, Randy and Bernie performed in the same room.  The guitar and bass cabinets were isolated in smaller rooms, and Christian was in an isolated vocal booth.  All the basic tracks you will hear on Five were recorded live over the course of 3 hours.  

After the tracking was completed, Christian re-recorded his vocals in the live room where the drums were tracked.  We found that this room allowed Seth and Keith to use more room mics and we think you’ll notice that the vocals have a natural, but roomy sound to them. 

Six turns to Five

Empty Flowers finished recording our second album yesterday, March 10, 2013.  These eight new songs will be titled Five, and we once again recorded with Keith Souza and Seth Manchester at Machines With Magnets - just outside Providence, RI.  Keith Souza has been recording music made by Randy and Bernie since 1995, when Keith recorded the first Cable 7”.  Between 1995 and 2001, Cable recorded with Keith five times.  As the years went on, Cable recorded at other studios and Keith recorded dozens of other bands in his amazing new studio, Machines With Magnets.

In the last year, Empty Flowers has made a series of decisions that represent a return to the familiar.  The four of us have all made music together in other bands, and we’ve known each other for years.  Since we live all over the East Coast, the survival of this band depends on us being able to work quickly and keep things econo.  For us, econo means working quickly, being prepared for anything, being prepared for everything, and working with people we know and trust.  

When it came time to record our debut album, Six, we chose Machines With Magnets because Keith grew up listening to and recording some of our favorite New England bands, and we knew Keith would immediately understand Empty Flowers’ sound.  As our band progressed past the 2012 release of Six, we knew we would be ready to make Five within a year.  Once again, it was easy to decide that Machines With Magnets was the place to make Five. 

Five was recorded over the course of three days.  On Friday afternoon, we completed our live basic tracks – we just stood in the same room and played the songs.   Most songs were done after 2-3 takes.  On Friday night and Saturday we cleaned up some guitar tracks and completed all the vocals.  On Sunday, Rebecca Mitchell of Whore Paint visited us to contribute vocals to the songs “Time Feeds the Dose,” and “Quit.”  You may remember Rebecca also contributed vocals to Six on the song, "Ice on Wings".  The album was mixed by Sunday evening, and Keith and Seth will be mastering the album in the next two weeks. 

We can’t say enough nice things about Machines With Magnets.  Keith and Seth are total professionals and their studio is the most comfortable environment for us to work in.  In our next blog post, we’ll discuss some of the equipment we used to make Five.

Keith Souza, Randy Larsen, Bernie Romanowski, Christian McKenna, Andre Galiffi, Seth Manchester

Christian and Rebecca Mitchell (Whore Paint)