![\"No40-butch-vig\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/No40-butch-vig.jpg\")
<\/h1>\n<\/h1>\nThe pioneering platinum producer continues to explore new sonic landscapes<\/b><\/p>\n
By Michael Gallant<\/b><\/p>\n
When Butch Vig helped create Nirvana\u2019s 1991 masterpiece Nevermind<\/i>, little did he know the project would fundamentally transform the rock world. Though the Grammy-winning, multiplatinum producer had been toiling behind the glass for nearly a decade, that iconic album marked the beginning of a singular career.<\/p>\n
Following Nevermind<\/i>, Vig helmed groundbreaking albums like Gish<\/i> and Siamese Dream<\/i> for Smashing Pumpkins, Dirty<\/i> for Sonic Youth, and Bricks Are Heavy<\/i> for L7. His resume includes Green Day\u2019s 21st Century Breakdown<\/i> and Foo Fighters\u2019 Wasting Light<\/i>, as well as production and remix credits with U2, Korn, Nine Inch Nails and many more.<\/p>\n
In the mid-1990s, Vig formed Garbage, ushering in a now-ubiquitous paradigm of dark, electronic-flavored pop-rock by producing, writing and playing drums for the group\u2019s self-titled debut. The album sold more than 4 million copies and landed two Grammy nods. The follow-up, Version 2.0<\/i>\u2014powered by hits \u201cPush It\u201d and \u201cI Think I\u2019m Paranoid\u201d\u2014also sold 4 million and garnered another pair of Grammy nominations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the first Garbage record came out, it surprised people,\u201d says Vig. \u201cEveryone expected this alternative grunge record, but we ended up with something that was more experimental-sounding pop.\u201d As the band\u2019s popularity grew, so did the sonic clones. \u201cIt\u2019s totally cool,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m more flattered than not when I hear bands that sound like Garbage or Smashing Pumpkins or Nirvana.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most recently, Vig released the self-titled debut of his new band, the Emperors of Wyoming, a project that reunites him with three friends\u2014Phil Davis and brothers Frank and Peter Anderson\u2014from his days growing up in Wisconsin. The rootsy, haunting album is a departure for Vig. \u201cThis was the first file-sharing record I\u2019ve ever done,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was put together by throwing out ideas via text and email, and then we recorded our parts in our home studios.\u201d Speaking from his L.A. home, Vig discussed the project and more.<\/p>\n
What was your goal for the record?<\/b><\/p>\n
We wanted to make a country, Americana-inspired album, because that\u2019s a lot of what we grew up listening to\u2014Neil Young, Johnny Cash, the Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival. Also, we made a record that\u2019s pretty simple. We defaulted to the simple ways we often choose to play.<\/p>\n
Did you produce it?<\/b><\/p>\n
It was a co-production between the four of us. I give lots of credit to Frank Anderson, who was the multi-instrumentalist in the band and the keeper of the files. We would post everything to an FTP site, and then he would put the songs into a workable mode. We worked with a mix engineer, Alex Smolinski, who was able to get everything sounding cohesive. This was done over nearly two years. The difference in the drum and guitar sounds may have varied quite a bit, but when he mixed it he was able to make it sound like we were all playing in a room together.<\/p>\n
Do you have a home studio?<\/b><\/p>\n
It\u2019s just a funky bedroom with nice big windows and a pretty view. I have a small drum kit, four or five guitars, a small upright piano, and no console\u2014I record everything organically into a Pro Tools setup. With this album, I would send my daughter off to school in the morning, open my email, see an acoustic guitar and rough vocal, load that file into my laptop\u2014and go play a drum track in my pajamas. Maybe 20 minutes, then I\u2019d upload the drum tracks and I was done. That\u2019s how we did the whole record. There was no pressure and, at the time, no label. When we started writing, we didn\u2019t even know we would put an album out. It all came from being a labor of love.<\/p>\n
Describe your process with Green Day.<\/b><\/p>\n
Working with Green Day was a long process. From preproduction to rehearsals to mixing and mastering took more than a year. We rehearsed in some funky little studio in Newport Beach where the band was hanging for the summer, just jamming to work on arrangements. We recorded at Ocean Way in Hollywood\u2014one of the best-sounding spaces I\u2019ve ever worked in. We saved the sonic part for going into a big room, but for writing and preproduction, I don\u2019t need to be in a state-of-the-art studio\u2014it\u2019s more about getting the ideas formed.<\/p>\n
How about the Foo Fighters?<\/b><\/p>\n
With the Foos, we did the opposite. They have an amazing studio in L.A., Studio 606, and we did all our rehearsals there. Then we recorded Wasting Light<\/i> in Dave\u2019s garage, very guerrilla style. We wanted to capture a raw, scrappier sound and vibe, and tracked everything to analog tape.<\/p>\n
Do you use tape often?<\/b><\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been recording primarily to Pro Tools for the last 10 to 15 years, but I mix to half-inch analog tape. I cut my teeth doing edits and punch-ins, and I love the sound of tape, but most young bands don\u2019t want to use it because you have to work harder. You can\u2019t fix things like you can in Pro Tools, so your performance has to be spot-on. Recording to tape is all about capturing a performance, and it was fun to do that with the Foos. They wanted to challenge each other to really play their asses off.<\/p>\n
How do you get big guitar sounds?<\/b><\/p>\n
There are a lot of things you can do in the studio using EQ, compression, and mic selection to get a particular guitar sound. A lot of times I\u2019ll use two or three microphones on a guitar cabinet to capture different frequencies and max out the tone. You have to be careful to make sure that the mics are all in phase so you don\u2019t get any weird anomalies.<\/p>\n
How about drums?<\/b><\/p>\n
A lot of it is getting the performances. It\u2019s one thing to tune a drum and choose the right microphone, but it\u2019s another to get the drummer to hit the drums the right way, or to pay attention to how he or she is playing. Whether a drummer is a light, medium or heavy hitter, you have to adjust input and compression levels. And as a producer and engineer, you have to understand how a band is playing overall and adapt to that in order to maximize their particular sound.<\/p>\n
What about Dave Grohl\u2019s drums?<\/b><\/p>\n
I haven\u2019t recorded Dave on drums since Nevermind<\/i>, but he\u2019s a super rock-solid drummer in terms of timing and feel. Taylor Hawkins, the Foos\u2019 drummer, is an amazing player, and he hits just as hard as Dave. Taylor also has a lot of swing and can throw in lots of little grace notes. I\u2019m working on a new Foo Fighters record, and one of the drummers we love is Ian Paice from Deep Purple. Ian would always play these crazy, fast buzz fills, and Taylor can play that way, too. I always try to sneak things like that into Foo Fighters songs when I can.<\/p>\n
Anything about Nevermind<\/i> that you haven\u2019t previously revealed?<\/b><\/p>\n
The mics we used and all of the technical details are out there in books and online, but one thing I\u2019ve been talking about recently is how simple the record actually is. Given the time and success of the record, Kurt had to kind of pooh-pooh it and say it was too slick\u2014but the record is actually raw and simple. There were maybe eight mics on the drums, one or two electric guitars, bass and Kurt\u2019s vocal, which was double-tracked here or there. That was it. We had 24 tracks but when we mixed we used 14 or 15. The record sounds big, but not like a Steely Dan project or The Wall<\/i> by Pink Floyd. The songs were good, and it\u2019s just a primal rock record, so I think that\u2019s why it still stands up well. There wasn\u2019t a lot of trickery going on in the recording or mixing process.<\/p>\n
Have a clue that record would blow up?<\/b><\/p>\n
No. I knew it was a great record when we finished it, but then people started calling and saying that it was incredible. I didn\u2019t see that coming at all. At the time, radio was dominated by Madonna, Michael Jackson and C+C Music Factory. Looking back, people wanted to hear something different, and Nevermind<\/i> started a spark. It changed music.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s it like working on remixes?<\/b><\/p>\n
I\u2019m lucky that I\u2019ve been able to work as a producer and engineer, but I also have Garbage where I\u2019m a musician and songwriter. They\u2019re all different hats that I wear. When I\u2019m producing a band, it\u2019s my job to help them reach their<\/i> vision and their<\/i> songs. I have to be objective, and be a motivator, a facilitator, and sometimes a therapist to help get the best out of them. In Garbage and the Emperors of Wyoming, I\u2019m a songwriter and musician, and let that live at the forefront of the experience. Remixing is quite different because it\u2019s a combination of the two.<\/p>\n
What do you look for in bands?<\/b><\/p>\n
There needs to be something exciting in the music, but I also want there to be camaraderie, and I want to know we\u2019re on the same page. I don\u2019t want to go into the studio and have shouting matches every day trying to convince them to do something. Thankfully, I\u2019ve only had to make a few records like that. I\u2019m pretty picky\u2014I meet with bands first and see if the vibe is right. I have to go through that process before I say yes to working with someone.<\/p>\n
Advice for aspiring producers?<\/b><\/p>\n
It\u2019s important for a producer to understand where the artist is going and then help him or her reach that vision. Figure out the strengths of a band and pull them out. Hopefully, in that process, you\u2019ll also pull something out that sounds cool and unique.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BUTCH VIG The pioneering platinum producer continues to explore new sonic landscapes By Michael Gallant When Butch Vig helped create Nirvana\u2019s 1991 masterpiece Nevermind, little did he know the project would fundamentally transform the rock world. Though the Grammy-winning, multiplatinum producer had been toiling behind the glass for nearly a decade, that iconic album marked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3844],"tags":[7624,3895,7625],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14490"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14492,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14490\/revisions\/14492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}