Punk rock is often considered a genre of slackers pretending they are doing something exceptional, but actually doing something pretty insignificant. Producers often have to make excuses to justify the poor quality of their final product, such as budget constraints or limitations in resources. Steve Evetts is an exception. I remember being 17 years old and totally immersed in dissecting every recording that all my favorite punk and hardcore bands made. Most of the recordings were pretty unimpressive. One day I bought the Lifetime album Hello Bastards and for the first time heard totally sweet sounds mixed with not overly slick production. This record stood so far out ahead of the heap to me that I took note of the producers name: Steve Evetts. In months to come, it seemed like every time I heard a record that blew me away, Steve's name was attached to it. He turned out amazing records in very short times from bands like Snapcase, Hatebreed, Deadguy, Saves The Day and The Dillinger Escape Plan. In the coming years Steve moved up from local producer/engineer to making high profile records in studios around the world. Watching him work is totally inspiring. He always maintains a very clear vision and his attention to detail is unparalleled in punk/hardcore. Many people have a sound based on the gear they have, while Steve's sound is based more on the type of performances he gets from people. His records have a feel that maintains pop leanings while being totally aggressive and over the top. He's worked on releases by some of heavy music's finest and most innovative bands like Sepultura, Glassjaw, At The Drive In, A Static Lullaby, The Misfits and Earth Crisis. I caught up with him while he was working on three different records.
Let's go through the recording process. What are the essential things you need in a studio when you're going to track there?
The equipment list! As long as the equipment is halfway decent. The wonderful thing about today is that you can rent just about anything you need, budget allowed. I'm just looking for something halfway decent, even if they have a few outboard good mic pres for important stuff. The physical space of the room definitely means a lot to me.
What are you looking for in physical space in a room?
It doesn't have to be huge; it just has to sound good. Wood rooms, to me, sound the best. I prefer higher ceilings. I don't like tracking in dead rooms, I like live drum sounds. Just the feel and the vibe of the studio is very important. To me, it's just being comfortable, but not to the point where you're lazy. Small control rooms really are the pits. Large control rooms to me always feel cavernous, but nice-sized control rooms are the best. You feel you can breathe; you're always at ease. Too nice, too ornate — some of the really expensive A rooms — I don't like tracking at them. It's like going to one of those museum homes where you feel like you can't put your feet up. I like to feel home-y. Aside from the drummer, if you're doing all the overdubbing in there, the guitar players — and even sometimes the singers, depending on how comfortable they feel — will be right in the control room with me, 'cause I don't like to have that wall between the drummer or whoever and myself. That's why a lot of the time I'll be out there in the room with the band with headphones on too. I don't want to feel like, "I sit behind this wall of glass and you must listen to everything I have to say." You want to immerse yourself into the record and the band and almost be like that extra member. I just wanna be in there with the people directing them, just how I'm talking to you, relating to them this way, rather than [as] a figure of authority.
Well that's important. Bands definitely don't like when you work against them.
It's true, they don't. Ultimately it's their record. I feel it's my job to maximize their potential and make the best record possible rather than to imprint my sound on their record.
That Hatebreed record you did in nine days. Do you have any advice on how to get good results quick?
It always starts with the source. Obviously, with a lot these bands, like on Victory, there wasn't a huge budget, we're struggling and they come in with crappy equipment. They'd come in with Crate amps and we will call someone and borrow a Marshall or a Mesa. The drummers come in with crappy drums? Let's use the house kit. "Let's put new heads on the drums, guys, let's tune 'em right." That is the single most important thing you can do to get a good drum sound. Get the drums in tune. Everything becomes so much easier when the drums are tuned right.
Any equipment specifications that you need?
Neve desks are always tops for me as far as tracking. API would be a close second. You can make anything work, but if I had my choice it would always be an old Neve. Any 80-series Neve. And at least a couple of [UA] 1176s. To me that's like the desert island compressor. The [AKG] 414 for me is like the desert island mic. Actually, you can't use the 1176 on everything 'cause you can't strap it together and use it on a mix. You could, [but] I wouldn't advise it.
I've never liked it on drum sub mix, either.
I have liked it on there.
Really? I've liked when I've mixed it in on overheads, but I don't like it directly on cymbals.
No, I do not either. LA-2As, if anything for directly on the cymbals. But there's something about an 1176. They're very hard sounding.
It's the sound of a middle finger!
[laughs] Yeah, pretty much! But for aggressive rock you can't beat it. It's the most "in your face" compressor, if you ask me, aside from some of the Pye compressors, which are way in your face, but also way noisy.
When you get started with a band, what are some of the initial ground rules you have to lay down?
Rule number one [is]: We try everything! Anything I'm gonna suggest, we just try it. I'm not saying we have to like it, I'm just saying we have to try it. Whether it's producing or life in general, people complicate things way too much. Does this work or does it not? I've been in so many situations where, "Well, why don't we try this here?" and then they argue about it and they give you a five-minute explanation why it won't work. By the time we finish with the argument we could have tried it and listened with our own ears to determine whether we like it or not and moved on to something else. I just go, "Does it feel good to me?" Yes, then let's do it. Because of ulterior motives, hidden agendas, whatever, those things tend to complicate matters so much and especially when it comes to something from a creative and an emotional. My thing is that I go by my gut, and if I feel it maybe could be better — I don't even know what it is half the time what I'm doing, I'm just like, "It doesn't feel right to me, I don't know what it is yet, but let's try some alternatives to see if that feels better."
How do you explain your gut feeling?
Right. I don't. I've always gone by my gut. Half the time I just stop myself in the middle of what I'm doing and say, "What am I doing?" And really, I am just trusting myself.
You do records on a large and small budget. What are the first sacrifices you're gonna make if the budget is lower than you want?
If the budget's a little lower you're obviously not gonna get to work in the best studio with all the best equipment. That's the main thing. You just have to figure out, "Well, we can do this here..." One of the key things is to get the drum tracking in a good room. At least you have that really good-sounding foundation. Because the main rule for me is that bad drums or bad vocals ruin records.
Yeah, how often do you hear people say, "Wow, the guitars really suck on that record"?
Exactly. But with the drums you really notice it. At least if you can get the drum tones that are killer for a couple of days. I always have the band record live for feel sake, but I'm really only trying to get the drums. I would never make the drummer just play to a click with nothing. That's just completely not human and stale. But if you're gonna be overdubbing stuff you can go to a cheap overdub room with a couple of good mic pres and that's definitely a way to do it on a smaller budget then mixing at home. If I'm doing it in Pro Tools, I can mix it at home and it's gonna come out great and then we're eliminating a lot of fixed costs. I've worked on multi-hundred- thousand-dollar budgets where half the time the bands don't realize it's their money and they're throwing a lot of it away, because we can do it so much cheaper.
But you're doing it 'cause you can and they're like, "Wow, they're giving us all this money!"
