I’ll talk about the Albini version of Gigantic first. I can’t speak to Gil Norton’s version. I haven’t heard it.
I can’t help but think of “I Want to be Adored” at the intro.
The drums are pretty tight, considering the room sound. The snare has a lot of attack. It’s probably a condenser. I believe he also gates the bottom mic triggered by the top mic. Albini often used a mic on the beater side of the kick. Which both makes so much sense but never worked for me.
As for the panning, or lack there of, of the guitars, I don’t hate it. If it weren’t mentioned in the Mike’s post I don’t know if I’d notice or care. As a (former) recording engineer, I never really over analyzed recordings. I never wanted to lose the magic. Which is partially why I suck at mixing! But I never really want to dive in and pick something apart. Could the guitar parts have been panned? Prolly. I probably would have done it. And it sounds like there are multiple parts that could be panned. But maybe they worked better together? Maybe it was recorded in such a way that there was too much leakage and panning the guitars would have felt weird? Maybe it just sounds bigger in mono. Albini tends to be pretty mono, though. But, ultimately I think the decision lies with the band….
And that brings up the panned vocal (a 421). I dunno why. I have two thoughts. I don’t think it was Albini’s decision. I’ve never heard him do it in the relatively limited exposure I have to his body of work. He wasn’t a producer. While I wouldn’t say he was above ‘weird’ choices I think he would have just mixed the vocal centered. Again, he was always in support of the band. And I think Kim or whoever in the band had the idea to pan the vocal. I suspect it was because it was the only song she sang on on that record (I think). It was a way of saying “Now look stage left…” It was very much in the live aesthetic of the album.
Though he’s on record for acknowledging "... influencing the album by making suggestions and them acceding to all my suggestions…”
So, who knows? It’s fun to think about and thinking about this stuff is a worthy exercise and all part of the mixing process.
If you’ll indulge me I’d like to ramble a bit about my thoughts on Steve Albini. It was the rare time that a death of someone “famous” bothered me. I guess because it came out of nowhere. I’ve long been a Steve Albini fan. I didn’t alway agree with his choices nor did I love everything he recorded but I appreciated his philosophy on recording and the music business. I sometimes delay the room mics 20 ms or so. I wouldn’t take points on a record not that anyone has offered. I remember buying a Shellac record, unheard, just to hear how it sounds. And I was giddy at the intro of the album that mimicked the narrator of MRL tapes which I had heard too many times… https://youtu.be/z0jw5qBgUuo?si=AFpVKYuPZikqtZGb
He was a really smart man. I never met him but I trusted him in a weird way. I’d listen to him in interviews talking about recording and he made sense. I didn’t always agree but I never felt he was wrong. He made me think that Neoteks weren’t so bad and why I owned 3 Syteks. He was one of the biggest reasons why ribbon mics came back and why I still own 2 Beyer m160s.. I have an M/S mic partially because of him. I’ve spent way too much money thanks to him but never regretted it. He was the only recording engineer who I’d wish people would have recorded with. He may not agree, but he had a sound and I wanted to hear that on a lot of records. I wanted to visit Electrical Audio as much as Abbey Road.
Here are some of my favorite recording of his
https://youtu.be/Yycyu7dL-oo?si=fvaXVi9j-5AodHXE - Mclusky
https://youtu.be/AzpxtSmEL9s?si=QpJTQVbNb7ehyKMj - Jarvis Cocker. This was one of those times where I was a Pulp/Jarvis fan and then saw he recorded with Albini and I never wanted a record more. And it works so well.
Edit: Also this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLhx2q9vQro and this https://youtu.be/1uUNeejxWp0?si=ktEixdjnEauqcTUs
Sorry to maunder.
I can’t help but think of “I Want to be Adored” at the intro.
The drums are pretty tight, considering the room sound. The snare has a lot of attack. It’s probably a condenser. I believe he also gates the bottom mic triggered by the top mic. Albini often used a mic on the beater side of the kick. Which both makes so much sense but never worked for me.
As for the panning, or lack there of, of the guitars, I don’t hate it. If it weren’t mentioned in the Mike’s post I don’t know if I’d notice or care. As a (former) recording engineer, I never really over analyzed recordings. I never wanted to lose the magic. Which is partially why I suck at mixing! But I never really want to dive in and pick something apart. Could the guitar parts have been panned? Prolly. I probably would have done it. And it sounds like there are multiple parts that could be panned. But maybe they worked better together? Maybe it was recorded in such a way that there was too much leakage and panning the guitars would have felt weird? Maybe it just sounds bigger in mono. Albini tends to be pretty mono, though. But, ultimately I think the decision lies with the band….
And that brings up the panned vocal (a 421). I dunno why. I have two thoughts. I don’t think it was Albini’s decision. I’ve never heard him do it in the relatively limited exposure I have to his body of work. He wasn’t a producer. While I wouldn’t say he was above ‘weird’ choices I think he would have just mixed the vocal centered. Again, he was always in support of the band. And I think Kim or whoever in the band had the idea to pan the vocal. I suspect it was because it was the only song she sang on on that record (I think). It was a way of saying “Now look stage left…” It was very much in the live aesthetic of the album.
Though he’s on record for acknowledging "... influencing the album by making suggestions and them acceding to all my suggestions…”
So, who knows? It’s fun to think about and thinking about this stuff is a worthy exercise and all part of the mixing process.
If you’ll indulge me I’d like to ramble a bit about my thoughts on Steve Albini. It was the rare time that a death of someone “famous” bothered me. I guess because it came out of nowhere. I’ve long been a Steve Albini fan. I didn’t alway agree with his choices nor did I love everything he recorded but I appreciated his philosophy on recording and the music business. I sometimes delay the room mics 20 ms or so. I wouldn’t take points on a record not that anyone has offered. I remember buying a Shellac record, unheard, just to hear how it sounds. And I was giddy at the intro of the album that mimicked the narrator of MRL tapes which I had heard too many times… https://youtu.be/z0jw5qBgUuo?si=AFpVKYuPZikqtZGb
He was a really smart man. I never met him but I trusted him in a weird way. I’d listen to him in interviews talking about recording and he made sense. I didn’t always agree but I never felt he was wrong. He made me think that Neoteks weren’t so bad and why I owned 3 Syteks. He was one of the biggest reasons why ribbon mics came back and why I still own 2 Beyer m160s.. I have an M/S mic partially because of him. I’ve spent way too much money thanks to him but never regretted it. He was the only recording engineer who I’d wish people would have recorded with. He may not agree, but he had a sound and I wanted to hear that on a lot of records. I wanted to visit Electrical Audio as much as Abbey Road.
Here are some of my favorite recording of his
https://youtu.be/Yycyu7dL-oo?si=fvaXVi9j-5AodHXE - Mclusky
https://youtu.be/AzpxtSmEL9s?si=QpJTQVbNb7ehyKMj - Jarvis Cocker. This was one of those times where I was a Pulp/Jarvis fan and then saw he recorded with Albini and I never wanted a record more. And it works so well.
Edit: Also this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLhx2q9vQro and this https://youtu.be/1uUNeejxWp0?si=ktEixdjnEauqcTUs
Sorry to maunder.