shut up and listen

Noticeable hiss at the beginning (and end) suggests it was recorded using tape.

Begins with an intro of muted guitar line and bass for 4 bars, and then drums and cello enter. Drums is mostly kick, toms and snare – opening hats and cymbals only used sparingly. Cello is droning a very low note giving the bass a heavier, lower feeling. Vocal enters. The main vocal sings most of the song alone – backing vocals join only in the coda.

Room sound on the drums and vocal. Particularly noticeable on the first syllable of the second and fourth lines of each verse.

What else should I be?
All apologies.
What else could I say?
Everyone was gay.

(eg, ‘All‘ and ‘Ev…’). These are the highest notes of the verses and they are sung with a raspy sound. It sounds like Cobain backs off the mic to hit these notes, allowing for more room sound. Vocal sits back in the mix.

Chorus is overwhelmed with distorted guitar, possibly two guitars (overdubs?). Hats and cymbals used as normal here. Chorus ends with sustained guitar and bass while drums do various tom fills over high hat on the beat, with the vocal ‘Married! Married! Buried!’ over top.

Coda features guitar line from intro but with distorted guitar backing, full drums and cymbals, and a loose backing vocal part that overlaps with the lead vocal by the end. The coda breaks down bit by bit as instruments drop out and feedback and distortion plays out underneath the vocal parts which come more to the front of the mix as the song concludes.

Overall a slightly muddy and roomy sound, with the vocal sitting back in the mix with room sound noticeable on the high verse notes, giving the feel of a live band in a room. The guitar overdubs or doubles do not interfere with this picture but the overlapping vocal parts, all recognisably Cobain, unsettle the live illusion as it becomes obvious he would have had to overdub these vocals.

Notes: this is a somewhat unfair example of Albini’s work. Firstly, we don’t know for sure if this is how Albini intended it to sound before the decision was made to get it remixed by Litt. Albini has refused to confirm or deny if this mix, released around 2005, is his. He certainly would be pissed off with the crappy mp3 that i’ve posted here (best version i could find i’m afraid) as he is notoriously anti digital. (Note the nasty brittle mp3 artefacting particularly in the chorus when the full cymbals and distorted guitars come in.)

The REAL reason why this is a good recording to study is because it makes the changes in Litt’s mix more obvious… so read the Litt post!

Comparison of Steve Albini production with Scott Litt’s remixes

More musings on how different the world would be if Albini’s mix was released…