MOS GENERATOR
"Most people that know me know that I'm an asshole during the time I am mixing our records. "The Late Great Planet Earth" was a very difficult album to record and mix. But "Songs For Future Gods" was equally hard in different ways. First of all, the tones of all the instruments were flat and dry which meant that we had no room for the "fix it in the mix" or "it'll get buried by reverb" theory to come into play."
Mos Generator hail from Port Orchard, Washington in the
USA and are comprised of long time scene and studio veterans Tony Reed [Guitar, ex- Treepeople], Shawn Johnson [Drums, ex-Mindfunk] and Scooter Haslip [Bass, ex-Voodoo Gearshift].
The band has recently released a new album called "Songs for the Future Gods." It's their debut for Small Stone Records, and right from the starting gate, "Songs for Future Gods" gets deep into some stripped down, heavy rock territory, but with a flair for blending multiple influences. From the swagger of Led Zeppelin to the grooves of Purple and Sabbath, there's even a touch of Pink Floyd on "Songs For Future Gods." The record will be released on vinyl by Roadburn Records, in a limited edition of 500 copies.
Mos Generator are also confirmed for the Friday Roadburn date, April 18th, 2008.
Words | Tony
"Songs for Future Gods" was recorded twice. The first time we recorded it we hauled a 16 track 1" to a room
that a friend of mine had built as a rehearsal room for him and a dance studio for his wife.
The room was great for drums but since it wasn't an actual studio there was no control room and we had to
monitor playback from inside the room.
In two days we set up, recorded basic tracks for eight songs, tore down and went home. Over the next few months
we slowly layered the additional tracks onto each song. When it came time to mix I realized that the sound I
was going for, the open zeppelin sound, wasn't working for most of these songs. Another interesting thing
we were hearing was that our demos had more energy than the final versions of the songs. It was time to regroup
and start over.
Ten months after we started recording the album the first time, we ended up at a 2" 24 track facility called Temple
Sound to start recording it again. This time we went a completely different direction with the production. We
wanted the drums to be very tight and closed sounding. This wasn't an easy accomplishment. A lot of time was spent trying to deaden the tone of the drums and not lose the reaction of the drums when they were hit. For Shawn it was a major struggle and we had to compromise both sound and performance to come up with something we weren't even sure was going to work in the end.
The miking was simple. 2 mics on the kick [D112 & RE20] and 3 mics on the snare [SM57 & C2 on top and a C1000 on the bottom]. On the rack we used and SM57 & on each floor tom we used a 421. For the cymbals we used a pair of SM81s. There were no
ambience mics on the drums which in hindsight was a mistake. Tracking the drums started on November 18th &
ended on November 26th 2006. We usually did evening sessions after Shawn got off of work.
Next in line were the guitars. I usually record bass after the drum tracks when I'm recording bands but when
I'm doing Mos I do guitars second in case there are any arrangement changes. I started guitars
on December 2nd and finished on December 21st. I do rhythm guitars first. On this album I found the tone of my Hiwatt 100 to be the most versatile sound. I use less gain in the studio than I do live and the Hiwatt has a very present, in your face sound.
Other amps I used during the session included a '77 Marshall jmp 50, Laney GH100L, Fender blues jr.[Wurlitzer] and my
steady live rig the mighty Laney Klipp 100. All heads were ran through a Hiwatt cabinet loaded with 30 watt celestions.
I used a few different guitars as well. The most used guitar was my Gibson es-135. I also used 2 different Gibson
L6-S guitars, a '76 Les Paul special and a Paul Reed Smith [for the tremelo].My effect use is generally light. I don't like to use effects live so I don’t use too many in the studio. On this record the only enhancing of my sound would be using a mxr phase 90 or univibe. Other effects included a parametric eq and a tube screamer.
Bass and vocals are always the simplest tracks to record but not always the easiest to get the right sound. In the
past we have tried to get a semi-distorted bass tone. On this record we went for a cleaner sound. Something that could
be equalized to fit each song.Scooter’s '71 Ampeg svt was down so we borrowed a brand new 70's svt re-issue and we used his late 60's Sunn 2x15 cab. The tracks were recorded between January 7th & January 18th. Keep in mind that we weren't going 10 hours a day every day on any of these tracks. We would come in when it was convenient or when we were inspired to do so.
For as much time as it seems like we took I would expect a better end result. On my vocals I always use a sure sm57. They seem to take the abuse of the high mids in my voice. It's common for me to use the pre-amps in the soundcraft ts-12 console at Temple Sound. Sometimes I use one of two Avalon mic pre-amps we have at the studio as well. The vocals were cut sporadically between February 26th and March 24th. I kept returning to NandV because I was having a hell of a time getting the track right. Then I remembered I had some ice cold jagermeister in the studio fridge. Always works like a charm.
Most people that know me know that I'm an asshole during the time I am mixing our records. "The Late Great Planet Earth" was a very difficult album to record and mix. But "Songs For Future Gods" was equally hard in different ways. First of all, the tones
of all the instruments were flat and dry which meant that we had no room for the "fix it in the mix" or "it'll get buried by reverb" theory to come into play.
I had been pulling my hair out for a few weeks when we had to regroup as a live band and fly down to Austin Texas
to play the Small Stone showcase and a few other gigs at the sxsw music conference. I was hoping to have some
mixes for Small Stone but that was bound not to happen. After a less than inspirational weekend of shows I returned
to try and mix this beast. Somehow I hit the sweet spot my first day back. The rest of the band agreed with
the direction I was taking the mixes and I blew the rest out in two days. Next I did the necessary editing and sent
the mixes off to be mastered.
The band has recently released a new album called "Songs for the Future Gods." It's their debut for 
For as much time as it seems like we took I would expect a better end result. On my vocals I always use a sure sm57. They seem to take the abuse of the high mids in my voice. It's common for me to use the pre-amps in the soundcraft ts-12 console at Temple Sound. Sometimes I use one of two Avalon mic pre-amps we have at the studio as well. The vocals were cut sporadically between February 26th and March 24th. I kept returning to NandV because I was having a hell of a time getting the track right. Then I remembered I had some ice cold jagermeister in the studio fridge. Always works like a charm.