AA1 - Week 2 (3) - Session Planning and Management

I have decided after much debate to revolve my plan around the American death metal band called Nile. “Nile is a brutal/technical death metal band from South Carolina, USA assembled in 1993. Their music and lyrics are inspired by Ancient Egyptian mysticism, history, religion and art.” ^1. Nile contains three permanent members, Karl Sanders on lead vocals, lead guitar and additionall instruments; Dallas Toller-Wade on guitar and backup vocals; and George Kollias on drums. For recording purposes they would have Karl playing the bass. As many of Nile's songs have different samples/instruments, i have chosen to base my plan on the song User-Maat-Re, off the Annihilation of the Wicked Album.

Equipment List:

• Karl Sanders: ²
• Marshall JCM 2000 DSL 100 heads
• Marshall 1960 a/b cabs with 70 watt celestions
• Dallas Toller-Wade
• Unable to find any information, so I will assume he uses a similar amp to Karl.
• George Kollias ³
• Drums
  22"x17" (x2) Kicks
  8"x7" Tom
  10"x8" Tom
  12"x9" Tom
  13"x10" Tom
  14"x14" Floor tom
  16"x16" Floor tom
  14"x6,5" George Kollias Signature Snare
  12"x5,5" SP Snare

• Cymbals
  AAX Stage Hats 14"
  Signature Max Splash 7"
  AAX Metal Ride 20"
  HHX Evolution Mini Chinese 14"
  AAXtreme Chinese 17"
  AAX Dark Crash 17"
  Hand Hammered China Kang 8"
  AAX Splash 10"
  AAX Dark Crash 17"
  AA Mini Hats 10” (half open)
  AA Mini Hats 12" (closed)
  AAXplosion Crash 18"
  HHX Evolution Chinese 18"
  AAXtreme Chinese 19"
  AAX Metal Ride 22"
  AAX Stage Hats 13"

4. George Kollias Kit

Session Plan

As I have used so many tracks on the drums (if it were up to me I would have a lot more due to the size of the kit) I would record them separately with the bass player playing just loud enough for the drummer to hear, so I can get the best sound as possible from the kit, with as little spill from other instruments as possible. I decided not to use room drum mics, as the drums are fast and technical, and need to be as precise as possible. After this I would record the two guitars together, with them playing to the drum recording. I would then re-record the bass this time with a mic and DI so as to get no spill from the drums. Finally I would record the two vocal parts separately in the dead room, followed by any other instrumented parts, such as the Bozouki or Saz. If it was needed for some reason, at this stage I would also re-record the drums.

The following is a preview of the song as recorded on the Annihilation of the wicked album.

User-Maat-Re

1 Nile, accessed 7/03/07, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile_%28band%29

2 FAQ, accessed 7/03/07, http://www.nilechat.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7707

3 Set-up, accessed 8/03/07, http://www.georgekollias.com/

4 Pictures, accessed 10/03/07, http://www.georgekollias.com/gallery/kollias_gear_4.jpg