I have some experience with getting nasty tones and the cheapest/easiest way is (if you're using a digital/computer DAW to record, such as Cubase, Garageband, or some other thing; remember, you can download a lot of similar programs for free off the web, such as Audacity and Reaper) to simply tweak the graphic EQ of the recorded signal so that can be turned into anything you want. Even if you record a clean or dry vocal track/signal, you can EQ it to sound like a telephone or almost anything super nasty. Another fix (if you're using something other than a laptop, like a portastudio or some other stand-alone device), get a cheap graphic equalizer (like a guitar pedal or something you'd use in your stereo hi-fi) and sweep that to make the vocal sound nasty. Otherwise, if you want to make a microphone that sounds nasty (for cheap), pull the mouthpiece mic out of an old telephone and wire that up to be your mic.

I really do like the other ideas mentioned above. I make my own piezoelectric transducer pickups, too. They are cheap and easy and you can attach them to anything that vibrates and you can amplify/record it. Put one of those on the back end of a can and record yourself singing into that.
I am just trying to think of ways to get this effect for low/no cost...

I love this thread, great discussion topic. I love the link to cranksturgeon.com, too. That will come in handy.

Ha, I love how these engineers frown on new ideas just to end up implementing them later. Once you've been taught what you can't do in the studio it's hard to break those rules.

I think these days mic pre-amps you are what you want to own. It sounds like The Hydeouts are already on the right track for a killer sound. But these days, since we aren't working often with analog tape, it's best to already give some warmth and compression in the recording process before it hits the hard disk recorder. Another trick I've done to fix weak vocals is to run a standard vocal signal back through an guitar amp and record that on a separate track. The mixing of the original and the amplified can really produce a punchy yet fucked up sound. Also another dirty trick if you don't have a good reverb unit you can send your voice through an amp you can set up a condenser mic set up to record on the other end your room or hallway. You can mix your original track with this room mic track to give some space to the vocal and get a little room feeling with some amplifier distortion. 

Rather interesting mic indeed. I dont have too much experience with contact mics or pressure microphones. But, I sure would like to experiment with this kind of approach for vocals, as well as other instruments. I like that you taped the mic to your neck! Rather inventive! Hey, I really appreciate your responses. I can only become more rounded in versatile in my personal recordings by sharing info, experiences, and feedback. And there is very little information discussed on the internet regarding recording distorted vocals. Most blogs related to sound recording will say "Do not do this!" Kinda funny that a couple of the studio engineers I worked with in the past that frowned upon the practices of singing through amps, actually a few years later, put out records with vocals through an amp. Rock n roll.

Yesterday I tried out a new method on recording trashy distorted vocals. Ran my Avantone tube mic into a Summit audio 2ba-221 preamp and then processed that signal into the line input of my universal audio la610 then out to my hard disk recorder. Lots of tube front end before digital recording! Very light breakup on vocal track---moderate gain on both preamps w/ a medium amount of compression on la610. Doubled the vocal tracks --and the results were pretty good. Had breakup without considerable noise variables and a distinct track that fits interestingly in the mix. Still lots of room for guitar....sometimes an overly distorted vocal track can get lost in guitar sounds or vice versa. Track separation is rather important for balance in your mix. Trying to find the fine line whereby vocals still have a natural quality, but have some breakup to unleash some energy. And really i am referring to lead vocals....Need em loud and not buried. Still love overly distorted trash on background vocals and scream tracks where volume is not a immediate concern.

I'm really starting to have very favorable opinions regarding the purchase of Avantone CV-12. Sounds good for lead vocals, backing vox, and room sound. Pretty cool mic under $500. Also use a AT 4033 condenser mic. Although the 4033 is ultra sensitive and, as a result can pickup very light sounds (ie lawnmower down street, birds chirping, paper ruffling). Can anyone recommend any other mics to check out?

Yeah, Petulant Child bought himself a Piazo pressure sensitive mic, and these things can be very cool. You'll have to do some major experimenting but there are plenty of cool sounds you can come up with. I've taped these mics to my neck while doing a vocal take and had incredible results. It's not a dynamic or condenser, it's pressure sensitive. So you can tape these mics to drums, guitar, a table, whatever... and even plug them into almost any type of amplifying unit, P.A., guitar amp. Using these in combination with other microphones can lead to incredible results.

Here is a link to a DIY report about Piazo microphone.

http://www.cranksturgeon.com/PIEZOCRANK.html

i went to a workshop today and learned how to turn a patch cord into a contact mic.  you get a 80 cent mic from radio shack and splice it on to the patch cord and tape it up.  I cant wait to use it to record!

THIS IS A GREAT POST!! Great tips here for anyone who wants real raunchy vocals during the recording process. Most folks don't understand that you can distort pre or post recorded vocals with amplifiers and/or guitar distortion effect boxes with ease. Engineers are powerful beings when you find the right one for your music. But I have yet met an engineer who likes a good dose of vocal fuzz, that's shit you have to do yourself!

Artwork by Greg Gutbezahl for Vol. 2 is here!

Click here to see the track list for Vol. 2: http://garagepunk.ning.com/group/grgpnkrecords/forum/topics/songs-t...

OK, in case you're not aware, I created a new private group here for these comps. The reason I did this was I couldn't figure out a way to make the previous page private, so that only Hideout members could access it. When I started seeing links posted to it on blogs outside of the Hideout, I realized something needed to be done. So I make a new private group for GRGPNK Records, and it IS private, meaning only Hideout members can access it, but, to do so, you need to request membership. No big deal. Just click here and click the link to request access and I'll approve it shortly. Thanks.

Great stuff.  Really liking the Captain Higgins track, I haven't heard this before, will have to check more out!

I'm just amazed you can remember all of these details, not only of the old shows and festivals but even of your writings. You have quite the memory. I bet you're good on trivia nights. :)

I for one am looking forward to whatever you end up finding and posting... hell, even if you can't find ALL of it, just post what you can find. This is a potential treasure trove of info detailing "the golden age" of the garage-rock revival scene.

I think I ended up with a total of 60 issues.  Of course, it started as a 4-page newsletter that originally came out twice a month.  (The first ish was written, as I recall, right after Labor Day, 1990, a weekend that had seen The Gories play at Maxwells in Hoboken one night, opening for an old rockabilly guy whose name escapes me right now, and then the next night at the Space at Chase on 3rd Ave in Manhattan, on a bill w/The Raunch Hands.  Margaret (then pre-) Doll Rod was also having a grand old time at these shows.  Elinor "April March" Blake was definitely at the Saturday night show.  At the time, she was still going out with RH singer Michael Chandler.  She and I did our usual partnering that night when the Raunch Hands did "The Stroll".  (Their version is available on 7".)  That always meant couples-slamming while slow-dancing.  

After a year, the TS went to 6 pages.  Then to 8 a year later.  And then I left my job and went to grad school, which meant an end to the monthly mag.  It also meant that issues grew larger, since they came out less often.  And it marked a big change in the way I did things.  Suddenly, there was room to stretch out and do much longer articles and interviews.  Not to mention the pages upon pages of reviews of live shows, records, and other zines.

I actually didn't know I was done with the mag until maybe 2 years after the final ish (which came out for LVG 2000, I think.)  I was working on the next issue - and probably still have some of it on my hard drive.  One was the story of The Redcoats, a 60s NJ Shore band that Dionysus put out a record by.  Unbeknownst to me, though, the band member telling me the story was also telling it to someone else at the same time, who was doing it for a web-based publication.  I did, however, actually have some other stuff because I'd had a phone conversation with their first manager of sorts - Steven Rappaport, who had been in The Ran-Dells ("Martian Hop") with his cousin, John Spirt, who was in The Redcoats.  I also did some digging on either ASCAP or BMI and found some songs by John that were not done by The Redcoats (or Ran-Dells) or The Sidekicks (who were really The Redcoats).  I asked Mike Markesich, who told me those songs had been released by The Statesiders.  Steven was thrilled and quickly bought the single on eBay.

I actually also did what I thought was going to be a stop-gap 'zine, called No Place Fast, in 2001 or 2002 - thinking that I'd soon go back to doing The Teen Scene.  It was back to the original newsletter style.  And, of course, I also briefly did something called 60 Second Swinger online, which later folded into The Little Cracked Egg website.  

Hmmm...Maybe the first thing I should do is see if I can find the stuff from the unpublished issue and post some of that.

Blair wrote up a lot of those memories in his old Teen Scene 'zine. There were dozens of issues... no idea how many. I don't know if Blair has any of them archived online, but he should! They were great. Some you can still find on the old Bomp List Archives, like this one: http://bomplist.xnet2.com/9506/msg00164.html

Blair, do you have these archived anywhere? If not, and if you still have them, it'd be cool if you could post each issue to your Hideout blog here, if you can copy & paste the text into a blog post... just an idea!

joey fuckup said:

Wow, I'm speechless...You should write up your memories on here! I (and I'm sure numerous others) would love ALL the details!

Actually, I did reviews of all the 90s stuff in my fanzine, The Teen Scene, at the time.  Somewhere, I have copies of all that stuff.  I'd actually had them all up at the e-text 'zine archive back then, but only some of that stuff was transferred to archive.org, not including mine.  I'm sure that somewhere I have much of the text - and maybe even the Quark files for the stuff from about '95 on - but I'd likely have to search some old hard drives.  It might be a fun project.

The funny thing is, back around '99 or so, a small publisher wanted to compile a Best of The Teen Scene.  I almost signed the contract, but I realized I wasn't all that interested in looking back.  I was more into spending my energies on what was *happening*, rather than what had already happened.  That and I couldn't think why anyone would want to buy the damned thing.

Wow, I'm speechless...You should write up your memories on here! I (and I'm sure numerous others) would love ALL the details!

Blair said:

I was at the "first Fuzz Fest" - the one in NYC on June 30, '84.  I still have the WNYU promo spot for it, as well.  In fact, I used it to start off my Highs in the Mid-80s - New York podcast for the GaragePunk podcast some years ago.

 

I was also at the Bad Music Seminar in November of '88, presented at Shelter Studios on, I believe, West 37th in NYC by Tim Warren/Crypt and, I believe, Pete Ciccone (then of the Rat Bastards, and soon The Vacant Lot, but also the graphic design mind behind Immaculate Concepts).  That was a pretty crazed weekend, w/Thee Mighty Caesars playing both nights, but tons of other cool bands, as well.

 

I hit GarageShock '94 and '95, as well as Garage Rage '95 (at Coney Island High in NYC), then Treble Fest '96.  And Fuzzfest '97 and '98.  Both Las Vegas Grind '99 (the better one by far, in my opinion) and the one the next summer.  (The best thing about the one in July, 2000 was the 3 hour set by The Black Diamonds aka The Nashville Ramblers, who I had play my wedding 7 years later.)  And every Cavestomp.  Actually, Jon Weiss called me up when he started thinking about doing the first one, asking if I had contacts for some of the old bands from the 80s garage scene, as well as what newer bands he should have.  There was one band from the 80s (that had lasted into the 90s) that Jon really didn't want on the bill, 'cuz he'd never liked them.  (Something I hadn't known, since I'd seen Jon's band - The Vipers - on a bill w/this band at the Dive back around '85.)  But I convinced Jon that said band would bring in a bunch of people who wouldn't come otherwise.  That sold him.  And it was quite gratifying when he said that night, "You were right."  It was also nice that that band started playing shows again - and even, as I recall - doing a tour or two of Europe again.

 

I've long wanted to do a festival in Wildwood, NJ, maybe a week after Labor Day, while it's still warm enough for summertime fun, but...That's right after I start the new school year, so running it would be difficult.

I was at the "first Fuzz Fest" - the one in NYC on June 30, '84.  I still have the WNYU promo spot for it, as well.  In fact, I used it to start off my Highs in the Mid-80s - New York podcast for the GaragePunk podcast some years ago.

I was also at the Bad Music Seminar in November of '88, presented at Shelter Studios on, I believe, West 37th in NYC by Tim Warren/Crypt and, I believe, Pete Ciccone (then of the Rat Bastards, and soon The Vacant Lot, but also the graphic design mind behind Immaculate Concepts).  That was a pretty crazed weekend, w/Thee Mighty Caesars playing both nights, but tons of other cool bands, as well.

I hit GarageShock '94 and '95, as well as Garage Rage '95 (at Coney Island High in NYC), then Treble Fest '96.  And Fuzzfest '97 and '98.  Both Las Vegas Grind '99 (the better one by far, in my opinion) and the one the next summer.  (The best thing about the one in July, 2000 was the 3 hour set by The Black Diamonds aka The Nashville Ramblers, who I had play my wedding 7 years later.)  And every Cavestomp.  Actually, Jon Weiss called me up when he started thinking about doing the first one, asking if I had contacts for some of the old bands from the 80s garage scene, as well as what newer bands he should have.  There was one band from the 80s (that had lasted into the 90s) that Jon really didn't want on the bill, 'cuz he'd never liked them.  (Something I hadn't known, since I'd seen Jon's band - The Vipers - on a bill w/this band at the Dive back around '85.)  But I convinced Jon that said band would bring in a bunch of people who wouldn't come otherwise.  That sold him.  And it was quite gratifying when he said that night, "You were right."  It was also nice that that band started playing shows again - and even, as I recall - doing a tour or two of Europe again.

I've long wanted to do a festival in Wildwood, NJ, maybe a week after Labor Day, while it's still warm enough for summertime fun, but...That's right after I start the new school year, so running it would be difficult.

Damn, I would love to have made that Scion fest...

kopper said:

The Denver festival was TrebleFest ('96). I was there! It was fucking phenomenal.

We also went to Las Vegas Grind in 2000 and Cavestomp in New York in 2001 (just a month after 9/11). Great memories.

Then we started having kids, and I didn't go to another garage fest until last year's Scion thing in Lawrence.

 

Winthropf said:

I always wanted to go to a Garageshock ... and there was a Fest sometime in the mid90s in Denver, i think it was put on by 360Spin, but I remember it had thee Headcoats, The Hatebombs, The Makers and others...

The best fest I went to I think was the second Las Vegas Grind (2000)... if for nothing else but the set up. In that everything was right in the hotel. With sseveral stages for the bands to play, and it was in Vegas...
Black Diamonds played like 3 hours during the day...
Insomniacs, Neckbreakers, Hatebombs, Barry and the Remains, The Lyres, Crawdaddies, Freddy Fortune and the Four Gone Conclusions, Les Sexareenos, The Trouble Makers, Jackie and the Cedrics(!!!!).....

All three volumes of the "Songs the Cramps Taught Us" are really great. The "Ft. Worth Teen Scene" comps on Norton are also pretty amazing. I'll also throw in the early volumes of "Sin Alley" and "Desperate Rock'n'Roll." And, if you can find it, get the double-CD version of the "Madness Invasion" comp. There are SO many more, too. We're just crackin' the surface with these, but it's a place to start.

OOOOOHHHH. DUH! Thank you Kopper.

"Born to Lose" by Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers

Can anyone tell me what the first song is on the VERY beginning of the GaragePunkPodcast commercial at the beginning of the YOU GOT GOOD TASTE podcast? I recognize it but can't place it and it's driving me CRAZY.

Thanks dudes.

OK. How about this for starters. 'Iz Sve Snage'  http://youtu.be/9exfMHC0Yis

Here is a cover of All along the watchtower, not garage but very  psychedelic

Träd Gräs och Stenar

My lame personell blog,  Running and Rocking,  covers a bit of whatever I rant about, especially about running and rocking out!