#countertypes

[enneagram-reblogs]

Countertype Series: Type One.

From NineTypesCo by Steph Barron Hall.

Meet Steven! In this interview, he shares what it's like to be a Sexual One.

Defining the Sexual One subtype:

SX Ones are often driven to perfect and improve specific others and the way society works overall. It's common to find a sexual One launching into an explanation about why the way that things work is wrong and how it can be better. These Ones are focused on reforming others, and they don't always concentrate on inner perfection (though most still report having an inner critic). They are the most openly angry and intense of the three One subtypes.

Did you ever mistype?

"When I first took the test through the Enneagram Institute, it typed me highest as 2, 4, and 7, with 1 being my fourth highest scoring type. I was really enamored with the language of the enneagram in general, so I started reading through the types.

"As you might expect, 1 resonated somewhat with the three types presented to me, but when I read the fuller description of the 1, I knew those were the fears and drivers that actually informed most of my decisions on a daily basis, even if aspects of 'the perfectionist' didn't fit on the more surface level."

How would you describe the SX1 subtype? What is it like for you to move through life as a Sexual 1?

"Being the sexual subtype for me means that I spend most of my time focused on the energy I feel from the people around me. I will often even attribute problems that are due to something like hunger or discomfort to perceived issues I have with people I'm close to in my life.

"As a sexual 1, I feel like my rigid perfectionism is often playing tug-of-war with the passion I have for my friends and close ones. I often feel as though I come across as chaotic, being very structured and articulate, but also leaning toward big romantic gestures, dropping everything to have a significant moment with a friend, and over-expressing my feelings of appreciation and affection for those I am close to.

"I have always been VERY picky about who makes the cut in my life. I almost always know instinctively in the first couple of interactions if someone is going to get my time and attention or not. I am often playing this narrative in my head where I and a few people I approve of are special and rare, having a positive impact in a world of people who just don't quite have what we do (yes I am aware this is not a healthy narrative)."

What is the biggest challenge you face in your life related to your subtype?

"[One is that] I will sacrifice my schedule, principles, and good habits for the people in my life.

"If I am on a strict diet, but my friend wants to blast through a pizza, I'm right there with them. If I have 6 things on my to-do list for the day, but someone I care about needs to talk or wants to go do something spontaneous, I will drop that whole to-do list to have that experience. I chase the charisma and energy to an unhealthy degree.

"This always results in my beating myself up later for not doing what I wanted to with my time. I always take the hit internally later. I somehow expect myself to give the people in my life all my time and energy, and then just be able to do all the stuff I planned anyway."

What do you think is the biggest difference between yourself and other Type Ones?

"When you interact with most 1s, you can feel the rigidity. Their responses are always controlled. Their style is simple and clean. It always feels like they are holding back a little. I can have that same filter when I am in new situations or around people I do not know, but that filter comes down for me far more quickly and with greater frequency than other 1s. I quickly loosen up and become louder, more excited, more passionate, and even more silly.

"My subtype is called Zeal, and I feel like I approach many situations with zeal. I have lots of energy and fewer boundaries, especially when I have confidence or I care about what's happening in a situation. I can lean into excess and even be chaotic when I feel like it's the 'right' thing to do in the moment.

"At my core, I see myself being driven by the same deep need as all 1s to be good, do what's right, and always get better. I don't feel the same restrictions I see many other 1s dealing with trying to achieve those goals. It's much more natural for me to push energy into a moment, especially when I'm convinced it's good or I'm right."

Is there anything else you'd like people to know about your subtype?

"We are still perfectionists!! Our hair may be messy and our rooms might be disorganized, but we are probably crazy organized and structured somewhere else (like with our thoughts or in our work ethic or with our relationships, etc.)"

[delphic-dreams]

Enneagram Countertypes

For each type, one of the three subtypes is considered the countertype. These types are most commonly misunderstood and mistyped because their enneagram's nature runs counter to their instinct. The enneagram's motivation is opposed to the following instincts:

Social 9 - very outgoing and energetic in contrast to the more subdued sp and sx 9. Generous, selfless, self sacrificing. Work hard and try to accomplish for the group. Still has a sense of inertia with own needs and wants. Can be workaholics but avoid showing stress and putting burden on others

Social 8 - express lust and aggression in service to others. Protective, loyal. Defend the weak and exploited. Outwardly calmer than sp and sx 8. Rebels against authority to protect the oppressed through power and control. Seeks solidarity. Still out of touch with own need for protection and care.

Social 7 - against instinct of gluttony, consciously avoid exploiting others. Assuage their guilty pleasure in gluttony with altruism, work for a better world in which there is no pain or conflict. Five-ish acetic ideal. Indulgent and generous character. Repressed guilt for unconscious mix up of altruism and self interest. A desire to reach an ideal purity based on social consensus (opposed to 1's internally generated sense of perfection)

Sexual 6 - turns against the passion of fear by taking a stance of strength and intimidation. Best defense is offense. Bold, fierce, assertive as opposed to the more doubtful and deferring sp and so 6. Use ideals of "strength and beauty" to defend against fear. Disconnected from feelings, tend not to acknowledge the intensity of their aggression/intimidation. Contrarian.

Sexual 5 - inhibited and introverted but less removed from emotions than sp and so 5. Avarice expressed through ongoing search for connection that will satisfy need for most perfect idealized union. Reserved and laconic on outside, more romantic and emotionally sensitive inside. Trust is still difficult so confidence is held as a romantic ideal in which one is safe to share secrets, taboo fantasies. Guarded in the face of emotional intensity but have desire for deep intimacy among trusted few.

Self-preservation 4 - stoic, dauntless suffering. Expresses less outward melancholy than so and sx 4. Swallow feelings of shame, envy, sensitivity, suffering. Withstands frustration. More masochistic than melodramatic. Works to get what others have instead of enviously dwelling on what they are missing. Attachment to enduring.

Self-preservation 3 - vanity for having no vanity. Wants to be successful but wants others to know that image isn't important. Self-sufficient, not forthcoming about accomplishments unlike so and sx 3. Developed focus on autonomy and security due to not having enough protection and resources. Need not only to be seen as the ideal model quality in what they do, but to be the ideal. Productive, secure, "in control" with underlying sense of anxiety.

Self-preservation 2 - childlike, youthful as opposed to the overly adult seductive qualities of sx 2 or the so "power 2". Unconscious assertion of childlike priority, being loved for simply being cute and lovable. Want to be seen without showing themselves. Tender and sweet but more guarded than other twos. Don't want to see themselves as dependent but unconsciously engineer situations for people to take care of them.

Sexual 1 - more of a reformer than a perfectionist. Zealous and driven to make changes in others, less focused on perfecting the self. Unlike sp and so 1, is explicitly angry. Intensity of desire fueled by anger. Impatient, invasive, asserts will over others. Avengers, not afraid of confrontation. Brave, strong, impulsive. Repress pain. Need order in relationships.

[reaktolite]

Tracking notes...

You can see from the video there are mics on the toms as well as one above the cow bell/hi-hat.   The tom mics were not used in the end as the overheads and other mics captured the detail really well for the style of recording I was aiming for.

[reaktolite]

Tracking

Drum tracking was carried out in Basement studio one, which with its small drum room is not best suited to the intended method. However to capture some ambience the tracking was carried out with the door open and a U87 microphone in cardioid mode on a high stand in the doorway, pointing out into the entry hallway.  The aim of this is to use the ante room as a reverb chamber, the sound of which can be added back into the track later.  A variety of microphones are used as in the reference material, including an AKG D112 on the kick drum, Shure SM57 and SM58 for the snare and AKG C414 microphones for the overheads.

 Guitars and basses were tracked in EFS studio one. In this studio reproducing the tracking environment was more straightforward.  The amplifiers are setup at one end of the tracking room with an acoustic panel at about two metres in front of them.  A U87 is mounted at the opposite end of the room, approximately another two metres behind the acoustic panel on a tall stand, again set to cardioid mode, to capture the room sound.  The amps are tracked using an SM57 microphone and a D112 microphone. These are used together as they have different frequency response and in this instance should be complementary with the AKG D112 frequency response of 20Hz to 17KHz and the Shure SM57 at 40Hz to 15Khz.  Although the frequency response is marginally limited at the top of the spectrum.  The limited top end of the frequency response suits the aim of the recording, which is to capture a crunchy low end sound, with a 1970’s do it yourself, Punk feel.

 To maintain the clean, dry, aim.  All tracking is carried out with no equalisation, compression or other processing.  Overall tracking met the aims set at the outset, although there are problems with the kick initially sounding very thin, this will require some processing in the final mix to achieve the desired sound.  All guitars and bass tracks are also recorded by direct injection to provide a backup track should it be needed, these are to provide a clean track which can be re-amped later if needed, although they have not been used in the final mix.

[reaktolite]

Aim of the recording

The aim of this recording is to explore the recording techniques used by Green Day for the album Dookie with specific reference to the lead single, Basket Case, as well as the stated inspirations for this album: Paranoid by Black Sabbath and Never Mind the Bollocks by the Sex Pistols. The key feature of the recording of these albums is the fairly dry sound with mainly natural reverbs and room effects used rather than outboard processing.  The technical approach is to use multiple microphones and to recreate the use of room microphones within the constraints of the available tracking environment. 

[reaktolite]

Recording a band

Following on from my previous post, the plan is to record a band aiming to emulate the methods and style of those original recordings.  The band are Countertypes, a young unsigned Punk/Metal band from London.  Unfortunately they currently have no singer, as I understand it, the previous one was signed to a deal so can’t perform with them any more. 

The track is Little Box of Power, an original track in a punk style so it is well suited to what I intend to do.

[reaktolite]

Do you have the time, to listen to me whine?!

A production analysis of the album Dookie by Greenday.  The aim of this evaluation is to explore the recording of Dookie, with particular reference to the lead single, Basket Case, and also compare these to the works referenced by the band as the inspiration for the sound; Paranoid by Black Sabbath and Never Mind the Bollocks by the Sex Pistols.

According to Billie Joe Armstrong, the band wanted to create a dry sound "similar to the Sex Pistols' album or first Black Sabbath albums.”

Dookie was engineered by Neill King at Fantasy Studios in Berkley, CA.  Neill King, born in Wimbledon in 1957 started out as a tape-op/tea boy at Eden Studios in Chiswick in ’78 and his first session experience was on Armed Forces by Elvis Costello.

The album, Dookie, was tracked through a Neve 8108 56 track console and recorded on 2” tape at 15ips using synched a pair of Studer A800 24 track machines.

Listen First

Listening to the album, the first thing you notice is that it sounds very crisp and concise, with no big space or sense of ambience.  This does give a feeling of the Rock and Punk albums of the 70’s in particular, while there was limited technology available for multi layered production, there was also a feeling that these albums needed to be more about the music and message rather than the production.  This led to some albums being very dry, with little or no processing and effects being used beyond what was necessary and resulting in what could be considered an honest LoFi sound.

Listening to Dookie, in particular Basket Case, you hear the sound of the room it was recorded in, no big spacy reverb or delays, but there are some nice sounding natural reverbs from the live room.  This is mainly due to the use of many microphones when tracking and specifically placing microphones to capture the sound of the room.  Otherwise, apart from compression there appears to be little processing on the track.  The intention of the band was to create a dry mix, but to get radio play in the US there was a later mix made with more reverb. 

Mics, mics and more mics!

Drum Tracking: The drums were recorded using a wide variety of mic placing techniques.  Overheads were a pair of Telefunken tube 251s.  The kick drum was recorded with an AKG D112, and a Sennheiser MD 421 to give more presence. There was a Shure SM57 on top of the snare and an AKG 451 on the bottom, an AKG 451 was also used for the hi‑hat, with a ‑20 dB pad.  AKG 414s were used for the toms and Neumann M49s for the room.  The drums were placed in the middles off the large live room and surrounded by screens to reduce reflections from the walls.  The room mics were placed high outside these screens to capture the room for the drum sound, providing much of the short reverb that can be heard in the final mix.  From the information available, it seems that these microphones must have been placed around 5 yards (4.5m) from the source.  Although not specified for the drums this distance is specified for the room mics for the guitars and bass.  To avoid uneven reverb and phase problems I would expect all mics to be sited at similar distances.

As far as I can tell from the session specifications no gates were used in the drum recording, although gates could be used in this configuration to give more control of the room sound in the mix.  Using gates in this way would make it possible to control the room sound using specific drum hits and levels.  Allowing control for the length and level of reverb tails, keeping the sound short and crisp.

For the bass guitar part of the rhythm, the bass is initially DI’d with the signal also amped using an Ampeg rig, recorded with a Neuman FET47 and what is listed on the session specification as an 84 spot mic, which could be a Neuman KM84, which is a fairly small (Kleine Mikrofon) condenser microphone it does seem to fit the description.  In its favour it does have a fairly flat frequency response across the spectrum.  The bass in the track does sound like it is either tuned up or EQ’d in the higher midrange, quite a common technique in the genre.  The guitar like the bass is multi tracked, with some distortion.  Aside from the DI, the guitar is tracked using a Marshall cabinet with two close mics, an SM57 and a Senheiser 421, again there is a U87 in the room to capture the reverb.

The Bass and Guitars were mostly recorded with microphones for left and right, the U87 room mic and often another mic in the room to add more presence.  Although the tracking was generally successful as the band had been playing the material live for some time, a fair amount of overdubbing was done later to add fills, solos and fix minor problems.  As the sessions were being tracked to 24 track tape often additional microphones were thrown up for ambience, but not necessarily used, as it was considered that this number of tracks allowed room for experimentation.  In the final tracking 14 tracks were used for the drums alone.  Unfortunately much of the information about these additional tracks is undocumented as it really was a process of trial and error to achieve a specific sound.

Listening to the intro, with only the rhythm guitar and vocal, there is a clear reverb on the vocal track.  This again is likely to be a result of the room mics used to catch natural ambience.  The vocal was recorded using a Beyer 201.  This microphone is a hyper cardioid dynamic, unusually in a vocal situation as it is often preferred for drums and other high SPL situations due to the resilience of the large diaphragm and the reduced spill gained from using hyper cardioid pattern mics.  This was chosen for the vocal as Armstrong has a tendency to scream and shout over his vocals and the 201 ‘s ability to deal with high SPL transients is well suited to this situation.  With this microphone characteristic in mind, it tends to support the idea that the room sound on the vocal track was most likely to have been produced by recording the room from one or more other microphones.  There is some noticeable compression over the vocal track which was recorded directly to tape during the sessions rather than being added later while mixing.  There are no details for the compression used.

As a comparison, listening to God Save The Queen from Never Mind the Bollocks, you get a similar dry sound which was the inspiration for the recording of Dookie.  The vocal is very dry while the drums are recorded in a large room but some of the reverbs from the room mics are gated to keep them short.  The drums in this case, similar to Dookie were recorded in a large room with screens around the kit and room mics to capture reverb.  The original tracking for God Save The Queen however was on 4 track tape so there was less room for lots of room mics.  When tracking the producer apparently said he wanted the drums to sound like dustbins being kicked down stairs, in this respect the drums do sound industrial and lack bottom end.  The guitars on the track are fairly clean and thin sounding, not unlike you might expect it to sound in the back room of a pub or small venue.

What you do hear in comparison between these two tracks is the similarity in the vocal and the drums.  A clear, simple reproduction of the sound with no fuss or gloss.  The main difference is that on Basket Case, the reverb on the vocal is quite prominent while on God Save The Queen even the vocal is fairly dry.  Compared further to the title track from Paranoid, there is a very simple, dry mix with only a reverb on the vocal which is likely to have been added rather than natural.

The track I plan to record is an original track, with a heavy rock, punk feel to it.  The aim for the recording is to use specific mic techniques to capture natural reverbs and combine these with hardware processing to produce a ‘LoFi’ sound.  The principle is, like the sessions for Dookie, record as much as possible with a variety of different microphones and techniques then use this material combined with sparing use of gates and compression to achieve the final sound. 

References

Green Day: Basket Case Duncan, T., 1997. Electronics for Today and Tomorrow. 2nd ed. s.l.:John Murray Publishers Ltd..

Texas Instruments, 2013. LM3915 Dot/Bar Display Driver Data Sheet. s.l.:s.n.

Texas Instruments, 2014. TL0xx JFET-Input Operational Amplifiers Data SHeet. s.l.:s.n.

 http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep04/articles/classictracks.htm

Classic Tracks: Black Sabbath Paranoid http://www.mixonline.com/news/profiles/classic-tracks-black-sabbaths-paranoid/376405

Neill King Discography http://www.allmusic.com/artist/neill-king-mn0000319211/credits

AKG Microphones http://www.akg.com

Senheisser Microphones http://en-uk.sennheiser.com/

Shure Microphones www.shure.com

Telefunken Microphones http://www.telefunken-elektroakustik.com/

Neuman Microphones https://www.neumann.com/