Unit 48: Sound on Sound Article

Classic Albums 

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless

By Daniel Meer

Released on 4th November 1991, Loveless is the sophomore album from the British/Irish alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine. released on Creation Records after a tumultuous two year recording period that was rumoured to have cost £250,000 and led to Creation's bankruptcy. The album was primarily produced by lead vocalist Kevin Shields, along with the band's drummer Colm O Ciosoig.

The band recorded in around 19 different studios during the two years; sometimes, the band would stay in a studio for just a day before they decided it was unsuitable and moved to a different location. A large number of engineers were involved in the making of Loveless, but Shields only trusted Alan Moulder, and later Anjali Dutt, with important tasks such as micing the amplifiers; any other engineers were simply studio staff, and the band either had them not come into the studio at all or just had them "fix tea".

Production Characteristics

From the outset, the album was recorded in analogue (on tape), and in mono, in order to allow the guitars to panned to the center of the mix without any effects. This was unusual for shoegaze albums at the time, as guitars were usually panned with effects. In addition, according to Moulder, "pretty much everything fit onto 24-tracks", as contrary to what you might hear, not many instrumentation tracks were actually recorded; the band's infamous "wall of sound" was generated through playing styles. In the interview below, Kevin Shields talks on how he gains his distinctive sound.

Drums were the first instruments to be recorded. As O Ciosoig was undergoing personal issues during this period, most of the tracks consist of short loops of samples that he was able to play at that time. Some tracks, notably Soon, emphasise this to create more of a techno/dance vibe:

After drums came the bass: the band's bassist Debbie Googe, despite being credited, does not actually play on any song. Shields assumed her bass duties, using a headless Steinberger bass that fit better with the layers of guitar that were to be added later on. This would be ran through an Ampeg SVT with matching 8x10, a Vox Tone Bender distortion, miced up through a Neumann U87 (the industry standard for recording bass) that was placed as close as possible to the cabinet. The U87 would have been chosen due to its ability to pick up low frequencies (its minimum frequency is 20Hz, perfect for capturing a fuller sounding bass tone).

         
Even though fellow vocalist Bilinda Butcher also played guitar, Shields also took on the task of playing both guitar tracks for the album. A Marshall head which was ran through a matching 4x12 cabinet, along with a Vox AC30 was used for recording, along with an assortment of fuzz pedals and other effects such as a wah wah and a DigiTech Whammy (which is an octave effect that adds additional harmonies and pitches to the guitar tone). Both amps were miced using both a Shure SM57 (a dynamic mic that is considered to be the industry standard for recording electric guitar) and a Sennheiser 421, which in Moulder's words gave the "true room sound". In terms of frequency, the SM57 would have captured most of the mid-range frequencies, whilst the 421 would have captured more high/low frequencies due to having a larger frequency response range (30Hz to 17,000Hz).

 

In terms of guitars, Shields chose to use two rare (at the time) Fender offset guitars, a Jazzmaster and a Jaguar: 

The Fender Jazzmaster was introduced in 1958 as Fender's alternative to the Gibson ES-335, a guitar that was extremely popular within the jazz genre. Unlike the Jazzmaster, the ES-335 has remained extremely popular today, being used by various bands such as the Foo Fighters to Blink-182.

  

In comparison, due to being positioned as a more expensive guitar than the Stratocaster, the Jazzmaster did not sell well, mostly due to criticism of its unreliable bridge which caused strings to pop out of the saddles mid-playing if the guitar was played aggressively. Eventually, it was discontinued in 1980.

 

The Fender Jaguar was introduced in 1962 as the most expensive guitar in the Fender range. However, the guitar soon gained criticism for using the same flawed bridge as the Jazzmaster, and it continued to be outsold by Fender's other models, the Stratocaster and Telecaster, which were both substantially cheaper. It was eventually discontinued in 1975.

According to Moulder, Shields always changed the strings before recording, as felt those that had "lost their zing" were no longer useful. When he was ready to record, Shields usually did three takes of each part, with the third take usually being selected. 

On some songs, Shields used different, specific approaches. For example, on "I Only Said", he played a guitar track through a parametric equaliser. Once done, he played this to another track through the equaliser, adjusting the different bands of EQ manually. This generated a sound similar to a wah effect. Whilst this could have been easily recreated with just a wah pedal, Shields believed that it would not sound the same, having been quoted "In attitude towards sound, yes. But not in approach."

In addition to drums being sampled, Shields also experimented with using guitar feedback samples, comparing their sound to that of a flute. Samples were played back on on an Akai S1000 synthesizer, which was relatively new technology at the time.

The most notable track on which can be heard is on "To Here Knows When" which combines this sampled feedback with actual synth sounds to create a dreamy, spacey atmosphere:

Other miscellaneous instruments were recorded and feature in some way on the album. Notably, Shields spent an entire week recording a small tambourine part, experimenting with a wide selection of tambourines, types of microphone, different positioning as well as different individuals to actually play the part.

The vocals were last to be recorded (at Protocol Studios in London), and this process was carried out in a very unusual manner. Firstly, Shields refused to use dedicated vocal hardware due to it being "over-compressed" (in his opinion) so everything was recorded directly into the mixing desk instead. Despite taking lyric writing seriously, claiming to have spent "way more time on the lyrics than ever on the music", Shields and Butcher would often arrive at the studio without lyrics for the song they were about to sing. Often, Butcher would listen to a song and try and decipher what Shields had sung. Shields' and Butcher's vocal tracks are intentionally placed very low in the mix; this was done to place focus on the music, rather than the lyrics being "sung". Butcher's vocals are often described as "dreamy and sensual", and were a result of takes being recorded just after she had been woken up. In addition, studio staff were not allowed to see or hear the vocal recording being carried out; a large curtain was placed over the window between the control room and the recording room. If a take was good and done with, the vocalist currently in the room would acknowledge this by opening the curtain and waving at the staff, at which point the tape would be stopped and reset.

Some songs also feature specific vocal techniques. On "When You Sleep", Shields combined all 13 vocal takes and played them together, slowing some of them up and some down to create both deeper and more feminine tones, giving the impression of a duet.

Even after recording had been completed, the album still took some effort to mix. As Shields chose to record in mono, he ended up having to use some compression on the drums just so they could be heard over the top of the guitars. In addition, this work was done on an old mixing computer that nearly destroyed the phasing of the tracks (making them sound thin and incomplete, like the tape had been damaged), forcing Shields to put the entire album back together from memory. On top of all this, the album took 13 days to master, rather than just the usual one, pushing the album back further.

After the two year recording period, Loveless was finally released on 4th November 1991. Even though the album did not become commercially successful, it was well received by contemporary music critics of the time, and is now regarded as one of the best and most influential albums of the 1990's.

Influencing Other Artists/Bands

Even today, the band's influence can be heard across many albums within the alternative and indie genres. Notable examples of this include Dinosaur Jr and Sonic Youth; in addition the guitar players within both bands, (J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr, as well as Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth) both use Fender's Jaguar and Jazzmaster models in order to colour their sound and music. Moore and Ranaldo took some of Shields' techniques in different directions, notably using a myriad of alternate tunings and taking dozens of uniquely prepared guitars on tour, up until their break up in 2011. 

(vertically going downwards; Mascis, Moore, Ranaldo)

In an interview below (at around 2 minutes in), Ranaldo even mentions Kevin Shields as a direct influence on his choice of guitar model:

Guitars aside, My Bloody Valentine's influence can be heard across albums of both bands; namely Sonic Youth's Dirty (on songs such as Sugar Kane) and Dinosaur Jr's Where You Been (on songs such as Out There).

Famous punk guitarist Bob Mould also found himself influenced by Loveless; this is clearly evident by the songs included on Beater, the EP of his band Sugar, which was released in 1993.

Billy Corgan, lead vocalist and guitar player of alternative group The Smashing Pumpkins, chose Alan Moulder to help him and producer Butch Vig mix the band's second album Siamese Dream, purely due to his engineering and mixing work on Loveless. Rather than use Shields' tremolo bar laden playing style to thicken the sound, Corgan relied on a large amount of fuzz guitar overdubs, sometimes using up to 100 overdubbed parts (as in the song Soma) to create a luscious atmospheric soundscape. The results of this can also be heard in other songs from Siamese Dream, such as the lead single, Cherub Rock, which mixes fuzz overdubs with a solo that employs effects such as tape flanging and reverse reverb.

The fuzzy, attitude laden guitar tones on Loveless also influenced the guitar tones of other albums. While these albums may not stylistically be of the shoegazing genre and thus use different guitar styles, it is obvious to see how the guitar tone is very similar on albums of the time, such as on Weezer's Blue Album, released in 1994. Here, on single "Say It Ain't So", the song also relies on dynamic changes, cycling back and forth from quiet, subdued verses into loud, fuzzy choruses.

Despite initially splitting in 1997 after sessions for a third album were not particularly fruitful, My Bloody Valentine later reformed for a new self titled album, "mbv", which was self released for free in 2013. This method of releasing an album followed in the footsteps of bands such as Radiohead, another British band who are inspired by the alternative rock styling of bands such as My Bloody Valentine. Radiohead are known for allowing people to pay them how much they think the album is worth. They notably used this model on their 2007 album In Rainbows, to a great amount of success, selling more than three million copies in both digital and physical formats.

Despite a 22 year gap, the new album kept most of the sound the band is known for, notable on tracks such as Who Sees You which retains the melodic, quiet vocals and Shields' trademark guitar playing style and fuzzy tone.

Comparing my recordings to Classic Albums

When looking at both my own recordings and the classic album I chose, I believe that a lot of comparisons can be made. The obvious place to start is roles within recording; albums such as Loveless involve key staff such as a producer who manages the recording, a set of engineers who set up the equipment such as microphones and amplifiers, and finally mixers, who control gain, volume and panning. Throughout my recordings, I took on all of these roles at different points  throughout the recording process. 

Firstly, the planning process must be taken into account. Loveless is known for being very poorly planned; Shields knew what he wanted out of the recordings, but spent an extremely long time experimenting with equipment, and also took over recording parts of the other band members. This is especially surprising, considering the band's label, Creation, had the initial belief that the entire album could be recorded in just five days. When compared to Loveless, my recordings were extremely well planned, as each group member had a role in each recording, whether it be mixing, setting levels, organising microphone placement or playing on someone else's recording.


Whilst there are some similarities, in that all of our recordings were done in recording studios, and are mono (except for the drums, which are separate, panned tracks, a major difference is that my recordings were recorded digitally onto Cubase or onto a portable mixing desk, whereas Loveless was recorded in analogue onto reel-to-reel tape, as the computers in the late 1980's/early 1990's were not yet advanced enough for recording whole albums. On the flipside, the console used on Loveless would have had more control over mixing, as well as having dedicated hardware, such as a preamp for recording vocals, whereas the mixing desk I used only allowed for some control over the recordings (such as gain and panning). To add to this, Loveless was obviously a multitrack recording, utilising lots of overdubbed takes, whilst my recordings are quite short and only focus on recording just one instrument at only one time. This also meant that Loveless had to be mastered (creating a master copy for replication) in order to be sold; my recordings did not have to undergo this process as they are not being sold or given away as part of an album.

The range of instruments I recorded was also greater; whilst Loveless focuses on vocals, guitar, bass, drums and synth samples, I also had the opportunity to record instruments such as an accordion. In addition to this, the choices of guitar and bass I used was completely different to Loveless; whilst I chose to use an Epiphone Les Paul and Fender amp in order to capture thicker clean and distorted tones, Kevin Shields chose to use Fender Jazzmasters and Jaguars through a much larger Marshall amp and cabinet, along with a Vox AC30, to gain a much brighter and fuzzier tone. To add to this, my choices of basses included an Ibanez bass and a Squier Jazz Bass that were relatively bright sounding, whilst Shields used a Steinberger headless bass that was more suited to working with layers of guitar. However, my choice of microphone for recording guitar was the same; a Shure SM57, placed very close to the cabinet to capture the clearest and loudest recording without capturing too much of the sound of the room (natural echo), just as Shields did. I chose the SM57 as it is the industry's tried and tested standard for recording electric guitar, being well suited to the higher sound pressure levels given off from an amplifier (Shields chose the SM57 for the same reason). However, I did choose to use modulation effects (chorus) when recording clean guitar, and also recorded everything through a compressor. On the contrary, Shields' guitar playing style did not involve using any modulation effects, and he was also notorious for hating compression, so he would never use it during the recording process. In addition, I still used the SM57 when recording bass, and also chose to run in through the Fender guitar amp on a clean setting, as a bass amp was not available at the time of recording. In contrast Shields used a Neumann U87 to capture more of the low end of the bass (as the U87 has a lower frequency response) and also used a dedicated bass amp, the Ampeg SVT with a matching 8x10 cabinet and Vox Tone Bender distortion pedal.

Another way in which both sets of recordings can be compared is by constraints. My recordings were done mostly hassle-free and over a matter of weeks, mostly excluding background noise (except with any recordings done outside, which were affected by the wind). When in the studio, I tried to optimise the recordings for optimum acoustic reflections and absorption. For example, when recording the acoustic guitar, I set the microphone around 20cm and just above the soundhole to obtain best sound reflection/absorption. In addition, when recording vocals, I used both a pop shield and contained the setup within an enclosure to do exactly the opposite; to contain the voice and avoid reverb from the room. As so, I believe my recordings are of professional quality. Whilst it was sometimes difficult to initially get a good recording level (either due to too much gain or incorrect microphone placement), I would eventually learn to fix these problems relatively quickly (either by adjusting gain/volume levels, microphone placement and proximity the to instrument/speaker, or by swapping out malfunctioning microphones/cables). In comparison, Loveless was still able to achieve a very high quality recording, also minimizing background noise and hiss, but was overwhelmed with problems. The long two year recording process took its toll on Shields, Moulder and the rest of the band, and it is often considered a miracle that the band survived to the end of the recording process. The band members, mostly Shields and Butcher both suffered from tinnitus towards the end of the recording process, a condition they still live with today. In contrast, my recordings were done in an extremely friendly group atmosphere at far safer volume levels, ensuring that the recording process ran quickly, safely and smoothly. Whilst all of my recording were done in one studio, the band had been in around 19 different studios during the recording process. In addition, there were a lot of technical problems, notably that the drum tracks had to be built from scratch using samples, and the S1000 synthesizer was initially not able to play the feedback samples correctly, stalling recording for some time.

Ultimately, the largest comparison between my recording and Loveless are based on recording expression and emotion, as well as involving the listener. My recordings are samples, designed to show off my skills as a recording engineer, able to record a wide range of different instruments. Thus, whilst they contain expression in terms of playing, they do not really give off much emotion or involve the listener. In comparison, Loveless shares those same expression skills in terms of playing, whilst also incorporating a lot of emotion within lyrics, song themes, and guitar playing style, whilst also involving the listener to a heavy extent within its soundscapes. These recording characteristics is ultimately what makes Loveless one of the most influential albums within the shoegaze genre and within the 1990's; it also acts as one of my all time favourite classic albums.

Research Log (Bibliography)

For this module, I skimmed and scanned multiple secondary sources in order to find out about more information about the recording of classic albums, notably My Bloody Valentine’s second album Loveless. In specific, I wanted to find information about the recording process of the album, as well as what equipment, personnel, recording techniques and song specific approaches were utilised. From my prior knowledge of the band, I knew that Kevin Shields had a large amount of control over the recording process, so I also aimed to find specific stories about his idiosyncrasies during the recording process.

Once I had annotated the articles, I discovered a lot of information about the album. Firstly, I took in basic information about the album, such as personnel involved, recording locations, release dates and the record label it was released on. After this was completed, I was obviously then mainly focused on the equipment used, such as the guitars (Fender Jazzmasters/Jaguars), amplifiers (Marshall/Vox/Ampeg) and microphones (Shure SM57s, a Sennheiser 421 and a Neumann U87), but the articles also gave an insight into the story of recording; a notable section tells the story of how Shields spent an entire week on recording just one tambourine part. In addition, I also found out information about song-specific stories, such as how the vocal track on “When You Sleep” was created by combining around 12/13 vocal tracks together then altering the speed of some up and down to create the impression of a male and female duet; in actuality, he was the sole vocalist on that track. Finally, I also gained an insight into critics’ reviews of the album, showing how the album was and still is extremely well respected by both the alternative rock and overall music community; it is regarded as one of the best albums of the 1990’s.

The purpose of this research was to find out information on Loveless that could be used in my Sound on Sound article on the album. Being new to the subject, I was able to gain a lot of knowledge on different recording techniques, such as different microphone placements. In addition, this information would prove to be useful with work on the other assignment, as I could use my knowledge of the recording/production characteristics and techniques used on Loveless in order to evaluate my own recordings. Below is a table of sources that I used:

Secondary Source	Relevance to my project
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loveless_%28album%29	Despite Wikipedia articles having a history of being unreliable, I consider this article to be trustworthy as it is mostly made up of quotes from interviews concerning the album. It contains information on the albums (dates etc.), a list of personnel and a list of several approaches used on specific songs.
http://www.polymathperspective.com/?p=2997	This online article is an interview with the main engineer on Loveless, Alan Moulder. It contains technical information on equipment used (microphones, guitars etc.), specific micing techniques that were used by Moulder and also details Kevin Shields’ influence over the recording process.
http://www.fastcocreate.com/1682420/how-a-classic-is-created-my-bloody-valentine-and-the-making-of-loveless	This article does contain less technical information compared to the other two articles, but it does give readers an insight into Shields’ meticulous recording methods, such as spending a week recording just one tambourine part.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsFZCRuA4Qs	This YouTube clip, taken from the BBC documentary “The Joy of the Guitar Riff”, focuses on an interview with Kevin Shields, on which he shows off his large collection of effects pedals, demonstrates his “glide guitar” playing techniques, and discusses the “Holocaust” of feedback that the band was made famous for during their live shows.