Nowadays I can go and download (legally or illegally) one track or a complete record off the internet, I get a folder including music, a .jpg digital artwork and, perhaps, if I've downloaded the album legally the digital booklet.
Have you ever cared about those people who work for and with the band to make that music recording in your computer come to (digital)life?
The captivating yet complex universe of music recording/production is a world alone that could easily find any uninitiated stumbling across lots of never heard of before technical terms and a whole new vocabulary to struggle with to get some basic+ understanding of the thing.
We hooked up with Alex Gavazzi, founder and owner of Hell Smell studios based in Roma, Italy, to get some insights on this world, to know how he got started, his personal influences, and being the dude a musician himself, to talk about his melodic punk hardcore band Bedtime For Charlie, that earlier this year put out a new EP titled “Morningwood”.
gan: Hi Alex, how're things?
I can't complain. Two more weeks till summer, some upcoming shows, many ideas floating around, everything feels ok!
gan: When did you get into recording and all things related to sitting behind a recording desk?
It all started in 2005 when we put our first G4 in the rehearsal room we used to play in back then. At the very beginning we got a second hand Motu interface and started recording our demos for Jet Market. I never expected it to become my job one day, never say never.
gan: Did you get some, let me call it, official education?
I attended some Cubase lessons at the school of music I studied at some years ago but the most of my skills come from practice and from observing other sound techs at work.
gan: When and what was the very first band you recorded? How did it go?
I think the very first band I recorded was Bedtime For Charlie and after almost ten years now I play with those guys. Irony of fate!
gan: You own the Hell Smell recording studio located in Roma. How did you get to such an important milestone as opening up your own studio and dedicate yourself to this project?
It's been a long and gradual process. As I have said before at the beginning I didn't expect it to become my job, I never thought I could earn a living with it. I've been doing it part-time for some years while I was working at some other different places and eventually I realized that if I wanted to make it right I had to give up the other jobs and focus only on the studio.
gan: For the uninitiated, can you please take them through the basics of recording, mixing and mastering?
Long story short: the band comes to the studio, we set all the instruments and the microphones. The signal is recorded through some machines on a computer hard disk. This is how I record. Then all the recorded material needs to be processed with compressors, equalizers and any other necessary effect. That's the mixing. When everything is done and the songs sound the way we like we can master them applying some more effects to pump the sound, making it sound brighter, darker, heavier or whatever we're aiming at.
gan: I know perhaps not all may care but what are the main gears available in your studio and which is the item you're most proud of, if any?
I'm using an Avid consolle called C-24 which with I control ProTools. I think the item I would never get rid of is a compressor called Distressor. That's a very well known standard machine which I like very much; I like to work with it because I think it sounds very good and it's very handy too.
gan: What are some of the bands you have worked with thus far and what have been some of the challenges you went through to meet their expectations and, at the same time, hit your personal standards?
I've been working with some pretty known Italian hardcore bands such as Strength Approach and To Kill and many many more. Every time is a challenge for me, every record I work on I try to make it better than the previous one. That's an aspect I truly love in this job, there's always something to learn, you can always improve and evolve. It's very stimulating and never gets boring.
gan: Going through your band-I-worked-with-list, and as far as I remember from the credits on albums I got to review, it seems you have been working only with punk and hardcore bands. Is this just a case or are there other reasons why you focused on one genre only?
The reason is probably that the punk/hc bands coming to my studio have been listening to other punk/hc records I've been working on and they like the way they sound. Recording many punkrock or hardcore bands I've been improving my skills in this direction but still I'm really open minded about this, any kind of band is very welcome in my studio and when I get the chance to record something different it's very challenging and interesting.
gan: Today with digital recording and home recording it seems like everyday more people give it a try at recording (I've personally nothing against this indeed) but if you were a young band what would you look for before choosing a studio over another? You know when it comes to punk, hardcore metal and other underground sounds there's the risk you get ill advised and go working with a studio where, perhaps, they've really no any idea about how to record your band.
It depends much on the quality of the product you're trying to reach. In my opinion if you can record an album on your own and you're happy with the result than it's an all-win situation (well, I actually lose here hehe...), but recently it happened too often to me to find myself listening to a very nice record which is unfortunately too poorly produced/recorded to be enjoyable by me. A good production doesn't make a song worse or better but surely make it more enjoyable by the listener who, especially nowadays, is used to listen to very well recorded albums, even on an indipendent level. My advice is to give everything you can to make a good record and pay the right tribute to what you love, in this case music.
gan: One thing I'd be personally interest in knowing about is the added value you may get taking your recorded stuff to a famed studio for mastering. You know, the person and studio behind the mastering has been always credited in the records but even in the hardcore punk there's has been this trend of getting your record to guys like Kurt Ballou, Alan Douches or Tue Madsen (to name just a few)...Is there any really additional value going? Or is it more a way to hype your work?
Mixing can make a huge difference, mastering can make a smaller difference, at least to the average listener. It's always worth giving it a shot and see what happens, if you can afford the rates of a big studio. If I wasn't always broke I'd probably go for it for my records;)
gan: Any sound engineer/producer you look up to or just draw inspiration from?
Yes, the one and only Bill Stevenson. Check his studio out at http://www.blastingroomstudios.com/
I totally dig his sounds, I'm always trying to get close to his works.
gan: Are there any bands you'd be proud to record?
I'd love to record Belvedere. Oh, a man can dream though, a man can dream.
gan: Since beside Hell Smell I know you as musician I wanna take the chance to ask something about Bedtime For Charlie. You recently released a new EP, right? How're things?
Yes, we recorded this new EP out on No Reason records. We thought it was about time to lock ourselves in the studio again and put some new stuff out. We're pretty happy with these new songs and we're booking some new shows to promote the record. We're also discussing an agreement for the Japanese release with Milestone Sounds.
gan: What's up next at Hell Smell? Any projects/bands are you currently working on or you'll be working on?
2014 has been very generous to me and since January I've been working a lot. 2013 on the other hand had been a total wreck, so now I'm very glad to be back on track. I've some confirmations pending for the next few months but I'm very positive about the future.
gan: Alex, I thank you for taking your time to reply this interview. Any final words?
Thanks for this nice interview! See you all around;)
I can't complain. Two more weeks till summer, some upcoming shows, many ideas floating around, everything feels ok!
gan: When did you get into recording and all things related to sitting behind a recording desk?
It all started in 2005 when we put our first G4 in the rehearsal room we used to play in back then. At the very beginning we got a second hand Motu interface and started recording our demos for Jet Market. I never expected it to become my job one day, never say never.
gan: Did you get some, let me call it, official education?
I attended some Cubase lessons at the school of music I studied at some years ago but the most of my skills come from practice and from observing other sound techs at work.
gan: When and what was the very first band you recorded? How did it go?
I think the very first band I recorded was Bedtime For Charlie and after almost ten years now I play with those guys. Irony of fate!
gan: You own the Hell Smell recording studio located in Roma. How did you get to such an important milestone as opening up your own studio and dedicate yourself to this project?
It's been a long and gradual process. As I have said before at the beginning I didn't expect it to become my job, I never thought I could earn a living with it. I've been doing it part-time for some years while I was working at some other different places and eventually I realized that if I wanted to make it right I had to give up the other jobs and focus only on the studio.
gan: For the uninitiated, can you please take them through the basics of recording, mixing and mastering?
Long story short: the band comes to the studio, we set all the instruments and the microphones. The signal is recorded through some machines on a computer hard disk. This is how I record. Then all the recorded material needs to be processed with compressors, equalizers and any other necessary effect. That's the mixing. When everything is done and the songs sound the way we like we can master them applying some more effects to pump the sound, making it sound brighter, darker, heavier or whatever we're aiming at.
gan: I know perhaps not all may care but what are the main gears available in your studio and which is the item you're most proud of, if any?
I'm using an Avid consolle called C-24 which with I control ProTools. I think the item I would never get rid of is a compressor called Distressor. That's a very well known standard machine which I like very much; I like to work with it because I think it sounds very good and it's very handy too.
gan: What are some of the bands you have worked with thus far and what have been some of the challenges you went through to meet their expectations and, at the same time, hit your personal standards?
I've been working with some pretty known Italian hardcore bands such as Strength Approach and To Kill and many many more. Every time is a challenge for me, every record I work on I try to make it better than the previous one. That's an aspect I truly love in this job, there's always something to learn, you can always improve and evolve. It's very stimulating and never gets boring.
gan: Going through your band-I-worked-with-list, and as far as I remember from the credits on albums I got to review, it seems you have been working only with punk and hardcore bands. Is this just a case or are there other reasons why you focused on one genre only?
The reason is probably that the punk/hc bands coming to my studio have been listening to other punk/hc records I've been working on and they like the way they sound. Recording many punkrock or hardcore bands I've been improving my skills in this direction but still I'm really open minded about this, any kind of band is very welcome in my studio and when I get the chance to record something different it's very challenging and interesting.
gan: Today with digital recording and home recording it seems like everyday more people give it a try at recording (I've personally nothing against this indeed) but if you were a young band what would you look for before choosing a studio over another? You know when it comes to punk, hardcore metal and other underground sounds there's the risk you get ill advised and go working with a studio where, perhaps, they've really no any idea about how to record your band.
It depends much on the quality of the product you're trying to reach. In my opinion if you can record an album on your own and you're happy with the result than it's an all-win situation (well, I actually lose here hehe...), but recently it happened too often to me to find myself listening to a very nice record which is unfortunately too poorly produced/recorded to be enjoyable by me. A good production doesn't make a song worse or better but surely make it more enjoyable by the listener who, especially nowadays, is used to listen to very well recorded albums, even on an indipendent level. My advice is to give everything you can to make a good record and pay the right tribute to what you love, in this case music.
gan: One thing I'd be personally interest in knowing about is the added value you may get taking your recorded stuff to a famed studio for mastering. You know, the person and studio behind the mastering has been always credited in the records but even in the hardcore punk there's has been this trend of getting your record to guys like Kurt Ballou, Alan Douches or Tue Madsen (to name just a few)...Is there any really additional value going? Or is it more a way to hype your work?
Mixing can make a huge difference, mastering can make a smaller difference, at least to the average listener. It's always worth giving it a shot and see what happens, if you can afford the rates of a big studio. If I wasn't always broke I'd probably go for it for my records;)
gan: Any sound engineer/producer you look up to or just draw inspiration from?
Yes, the one and only Bill Stevenson. Check his studio out at http://www.blastingroomstudios.com/
I totally dig his sounds, I'm always trying to get close to his works.
gan: Are there any bands you'd be proud to record?
I'd love to record Belvedere. Oh, a man can dream though, a man can dream.
gan: Since beside Hell Smell I know you as musician I wanna take the chance to ask something about Bedtime For Charlie. You recently released a new EP, right? How're things?
Yes, we recorded this new EP out on No Reason records. We thought it was about time to lock ourselves in the studio again and put some new stuff out. We're pretty happy with these new songs and we're booking some new shows to promote the record. We're also discussing an agreement for the Japanese release with Milestone Sounds.
gan: What's up next at Hell Smell? Any projects/bands are you currently working on or you'll be working on?
2014 has been very generous to me and since January I've been working a lot. 2013 on the other hand had been a total wreck, so now I'm very glad to be back on track. I've some confirmations pending for the next few months but I'm very positive about the future.
gan: Alex, I thank you for taking your time to reply this interview. Any final words?
Thanks for this nice interview! See you all around;)
Check: www.facebook.com/hellsmell
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