{"id":13925,"date":"2020-12-17T15:20:49","date_gmt":"2020-12-17T20:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?p=13925"},"modified":"2026-01-14T15:06:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T20:06:26","slug":"shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Shoegaze is sounding bigger and more crushing than ever before"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\" style=\"font-size:15px\"><strong>Illustration:<\/strong> <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Jeremy Leung (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/jeremyaleung.com\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Jeremy Leung<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">For better or worse, nostalgia is the goal for many modern rock bands.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Indie rock groups want to capture the lo-fi scrappiness of Pavement, garage-rock bands pine for the analog hiss of the &#8217;60s, and hardcore acts want to replicate the primitive rawness of their &#8217;80s and &#8217;90s forebears. The same can be said for many <a href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/what-is-shoegaze-music\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">contemporary shoegaze<\/a> bands, whether they\u2019re chasing the vintage chorus effects of Slowdive and Lush or the otherworldly fuzz warbles of My Bloody Valentine\u2019s <em>Loveless<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/album\/3GH4IiI6jQAIvnHVdb5FB6?si=3kiI7sBIR2Cg1Pd4rlW-dw\" width=\"100%\" height=\"80\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allow=\"encrypted-media\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>However, there\u2019s also a cluster of younger shoegaze bands that are doing the exact opposite \u2013 they\u2019re fully embracing the incredible production quality that modern technology allows for. Their goal? To create the biggest, fullest, and most crisp-sounding shoegaze records in the genre\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although shoegaze never actually went away after its commercial peak in the early \u201890s, there\u2019s still a great deal of reverence for its early years and its most formative albums \u2013&nbsp;records like Ride\u2019s brisk <em>Nowhere<\/em>, Chapterhouse\u2019s groovy <em>Whirlpool<\/em>, Swervedriver\u2019s roaring <em>Mezcal Head<\/em>, and Hum\u2019s grunge-infected <em>You&#8217;d Prefer An Astronaut<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/album\/2qx0YtBEDcbpclLlqzRi2o?si=5sPPJnElQLCjlT5SVj33IQ\" width=\"100%\" height=\"80\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allow=\"encrypted-media\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>All of those albums and the many others that Creation Records, 4AD, and Slumberland Records put out in the genre\u2019s first wave are undeniably great, but from a production standpoint, all of them sound dated in 2020. The songwriting may be timeless, and there\u2019s no questioning the unmatched brilliance of <em>Loveless<\/em> from a compositional standpoint. But for a genre built on waves of guitar noise, dense layers of reverb, and thunderous drums, even the biggest and most crushing shoegaze classics only sound crushing by 1996 standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For some contemporary bands, capturing the tape-recorded sound quality of Swervedriver\u2019s <em>Raise<\/em> and Catherine Wheel\u2019s <em>Chrome<\/em> \u2014&nbsp;or even more lo-fi albums like Swirlies\u2019 <em>Blonder Tongue<\/em> <em>Audio Baton<\/em> and Loveliescrushing\u2019s <em>bloweyelashwish<\/em> \u2014&nbsp;is the intention. But for groups like <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Nothing, (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/nothing.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nothing,<\/a> <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Cloakroom, (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/cloakroom.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Cloakroom,<\/a> <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Greet Death, (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/greetdeath.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Greet Death,<\/a> <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"DIIV, (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/diiv.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">DIIV,<\/a> <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Holy Fawn, (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/holyfawn.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Holy Fawn,<\/a> <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Slow Crush, (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/slowcrush.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Slow Crush,<\/a> and <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Tennis System, (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/tennissystem.bandcamp.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Tennis System,<\/a> to name just a handful, rejecting the nostalgic fidelity of shoegaze\u2019s childhood years has allowed them to make some of the most stunningly grandiose, shimmering, and full-bodied shoegaze music to date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beyond applying their obvious <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"songwriting talents, (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/pitchfork.com\/reviews\/albums\/greet-death-new-hell\/\" target=\"_blank\">songwriting talents,<\/a> the way these bands have propelled the genre to new heights is by using recent software, hardware, and production techniques that largely weren\u2019t available even ten years ago&nbsp;\u2013&nbsp;let alone 30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Songwriting &gt; gear hoarding<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Before diving deep into all of the audio advancements and technical wizardry that made Cloakroom\u2019s 2017 doom-gaze opus <em>Time Well<\/em> so expansive and Nothing\u2019s 2020 skyscraper <em>The Great Dismal<\/em> so wondrously huge, it\u2019s important to highlight the aspects of their process that aren\u2019t new at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nothing, Cloakroom, and the slightly younger band Greet Death all use amps and effect pedals that are either older or considered entry-level. Anyone who has spent five minutes shopping for pedals in recent years knows how deep the boutique stompbox rabbit hole goes, but the members of those aforementioned bands don\u2019t consider themselves gear snobs. In fact, they prefer much more <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"commonplace pieces of equipment. (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/most-important-gear-guitarist\/\" target=\"_blank\">commonplace pieces of equipment.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSeriously, you can go to Guitar Center\u2019s used site and accumulate all of my gear for, like, $400,\u201d says Cloakroom singer and guitarist Doyle Martin, who also played on the latest Nothing album. \u201cI\u2019ll never spend $1,000 dollars on a guitar and I\u2019ll never spend $300 on a pedal \u2013&nbsp;no way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re better off focusing on your playing or writing a good song because at the end of the day, no one\u2019s listening to your song because they know you play a Slipknot guitar,\u201d says Greet Death guitarist Logan Gaval, who does play a Jim Root Jazzmaster (but only because it looks cool). \u201cNo one\u2019s going to the show because they know that you have a Boss vintage chorus pedal. You\u2019re better off buying a big-ass TV with all the money you could save not buying pedals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Gaval said, what takes precedence above the actual sound of the gear \u2014&nbsp;which can often be replicated pretty closely with modern digital effects, anyway (more on that later) \u2014 is writing a big-sounding song and getting a solid take in the studio. \u201cThe backbone of every Cloakroom recording is a really good live take,\u201d says Cloakroom bassist Bobby Markos while his producer, Zac Montez, nods in agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sonny Dipperi, who produced DIIV\u2019s massive 2019 return album <em>Deceiver<\/em> and served as an engineer for some unreleased My Bloody Valentine material, also believes that the performance of the song is integral to achieving an enormous sound. \u201cThat, to me, is what makes these records really special,\u201d he says. \u201cYou practice what you\u2019re going to record, and then you record it. You learn where the drums swing, you learn where the bass swings, and you really melt into the song.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Digital vs. tape<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To understand what makes these records unique to the modern era, you have to understand the critical differences between recording directly into a computer versus recording to two-inch tape. The reason someone would want to record to tape in 2020 is to achieve that classic, saturated, and distinctive sound \u2013 a warm, natural quality appealing to many people\u2019s ears because that\u2019s how almost all rock songs were captured during the genre\u2019s first decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Historically, recording guitars and drums to tape was the most effective way to reproduce the electricity of rock and roll in a recorded setting. However, the advancements in digital recording technology over the last ten years have come so far from the primitive days of GarageBand recordings (immortalized in early records from artists like Wavves and Alex G) that it\u2019s closing in on eclipsing tape altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think we\u2019re at a point now with digital audio where it\u2019s really good,\u201d Diperri says. \u201cThe converters are really good now. They sound different from when I got into recording, and I\u2019m young so I can\u2019t believe I can hear the difference.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Zac Montez, who digitally recorded Cloakroom\u2019s <em>Time Well<\/em> and their upcoming third LP, is also floored at how far technology has come in the time since he started producing just over a decade back. \u201cI think if you get your signal chain right and you just dial it in by ear and find the right components, you can get the same feeling that you get from some of these straight analog recordings,\u201d he says. \u201cI remember when I started [producing music] in college in 2007, everything was very harsh and in the digital realm you had to roll off so much top end to get it to sound smooth and pleasant to the ear and not fatiguing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bands who choose to record to two-inch tape in 2020 are either chasing that perceived vintage sound for artistic reasons, or they\u2019re intentionally choosing to limit themselves to 24 tracks of recorded sounds per song for an exercise in minimalism. But even a few years back, tape seemed like the most effective way to make a shoegaze record. Nothing recorded their entire 2014 debut <em>Guilty of Everything<\/em> and then half of their 2018 record <em>Dance on the Blacktop<\/em> to tape, and Cloakroom traveled to Earth Analog, the studio of Hum frontman Matt Talbott, to cut their 2015 debut <em>Further Out<\/em> to tape. While they were there, Markos and his bandmates were taught a hard lesson about that 24-track limitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI remember a moment I\u2019ll never forget where Doyle [Martin] wanted to add this reverse guitar thing and then Talbott handed him the sheet and was like, \u2018OK, what do you want to delete? You want to delete the snare drum? The bass drum? We\u2019re out of space buddy. You only have so many spaces on the tape,\u2019\u201d Markos recalls. \u201cWe quickly learned that for a band like us that wants to make the biggest sound possible, in order to use analog methods, there really needs to be a hybrid [of digital and analog].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/album\/5Pw0XpbC7QFa9xht3qEsXs?si=EaQB5DqRRp6_D0N2coMKnA\" width=\"100%\" height=\"80\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allow=\"encrypted-media\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For <em>Time Well<\/em>, Montez ended up using a tape console to record their takes, but all of the mixing was done on Pro Tools, which allowed them to have unlimited tracks and reap all of the benefits of digital post-production. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe possibilities are limitless,\u201d Martin says. \u201cIf I hear a fifth harmony or a third harmony that I could sing on a Cloakroom record, usually I\u2019ll just let the things go and delete the ones that sounded bad and keep the ones that sounded good and just keep layering.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/album\/4IVYDbl6kEWudawwIDQoLh?si=MS5wZCivTf2npk-0yooEiQ\" width=\"100%\" height=\"80\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allow=\"encrypted-media\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sounding enormous<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For Cloakroom and Nothing \u2014&nbsp;two bands that add a lot of ambient textures and harmonies behind their crushing riffs \u2014&nbsp;having limitless layering possibilities is essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Founding member Domenic Palermo describes Nothing\u2019s approach to songwriting as alternating between being as quiet and heavy as possible \u2013&nbsp;a bigger version of those records by Swervedriver and Catherine Wheel, and even larger than The Smashing Pumpkins\u2019 shoegaze-esque <em>Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness<\/em>, which many consider to be one of the best-sounding rock albums of all time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/album\/55RhFRyQFihIyGf61MgcfV?si=ug7RDvL_SI63nuse7xdxfg\" width=\"100%\" height=\"80\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allow=\"encrypted-media\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>After inching toward accomplishing maximum grandness on his last three records, he decided that <em>The Great Dismal<\/em> was going to be the one that took Nothing\u2019s sound to the next level. \u201cI was like, \u2018These songs need to be as big as they possibly can be.\u2019 They should sound as crystal clear as some of the classic records that I love and take inspiration from.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To his disbelief, after listening to masters of songs like \u201cFamine Asylum\u201d in the studio and comparing them to songs on the iconically massive Mellon Collie, his songs genuinely sounded bigger. \u201cI was blown away when we were playing those two records side-by-side,\u201d Palermo says. \u201cIt kind of f****d me up a little bit to be honest. It\u2019s just technology at that point. It\u2019s technology and it\u2019s the people producing it who understand the technology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"NOTHING - Famine Asylum (Official Music Video)\" width=\"370\" height=\"208\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xSZs27QQr1k?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s where the record\u2019s producer, Will Yip comes in. The Conshohocken, Pennsylvania-based producer is well known in the modern shoegaze community for his work with bands like Nothing, Title Fight, and Pity Sex, but he\u2019s an all-around rock wiz who\u2019s produced huge-sounding records for hardcore bands (Code Orange, Turnstile), punk mainstays (The Menzingers, The Bouncing Souls), and emo-adjacent acts like Turnover, Tigers Jaw, and La Dispute. He\u2019s also worked with rap artists ranging from Ms. Lauryn Hill to Wicca Phase Springs Eternal. He used his background in hip hop to elevate <em>The Great Dismal<\/em> to places no shoegaze record has gone before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201dI grew up on hip hop, so my goal is to get rock records to smack like hip hop records,\u201d Yip says. \u201cMy goal is to get it to not just knock like that, but to have the same impact. Because that\u2019s what my ears want. So I always go into any record looking for the frequencies for it to knock and get it in your face and to get it to compete with your loudest Travis Scott record.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyone who\u2019s worked with Yip will tell you he\u2019s a drum mastermind \u2013&nbsp;if there\u2019s one common trait among all of his records, it\u2019s that the drums sound huge. While working on <em>The Great Dismal<\/em>, he went above and beyond to make them sound ginormous, evident on a song like \u201cSay Less.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"NOTHING - Say Less (Official Music Video)\" width=\"370\" height=\"208\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ezc-BxML-ZM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI even treated the drums like hip hop drums,\u201d he says. \u201cWe tracked the shells and the cymbals separately so I could make the kit \u2014 just the kick drums and the snare \u2014&nbsp;knock hard. And you can\u2019t do that as much when you\u2019re tracking with cymbals because the more you blow out the drums, the more the cymbals blow out, and people don\u2019t like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given that the washes of guitar noise are the most essential feature of shoegaze, one might think that heaping layers of guitars on top of one another would be the best way to get that huge sound. Yip says the opposite is actually true. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like a room. If you put all this shit in the room, when you open the door it\u2019s going to look smaller. But if you have an interior designer take that shit out and just put in a bed and a cool nightstand, you have minimal pieces but they all work together; you feel the space more. It feels bigger with less.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s all about finding pockets,\u201d he adds. \u201cThat\u2019s basic <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"mixing 101, (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/an-introduction-to-mixing\/\" target=\"_blank\">mixing 101,<\/a> but it\u2019s hard to execute because you want to fill it up with fuzz; you want to fill it up with whatever. But restraint allows for space, and when you have space, it feels bigger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Similarly, Diperri revealed that DIIV\u2019s <em>Deceiver<\/em>, which rivals the grandiosity of <em>The Great Dismal<\/em> at its heaviest points, doesn\u2019t have as many layers as you might think. \u201dThe heaviest, most dense moments are on maybe four tracks [of guitar],\u201d he says. Diperri\u2019s method was to record one guitar track with a more mellow overdrive tone and then stack that with another track of blistering fuzz guitar, so the sounds complement one another and fill in the gaps without competing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Yip, achieving the physical impact of Nothing\u2019s biggest moments doesn\u2019t come from smothering the mix with eight layers of fuzz guitars. Counterintuitively, fewer guitars actually allow for bigger and better guitar tones. \u201cImpact makes things big and it allows for you to hear guitars,\u201d he says. \u201cI think that&#8217;s the reason why a lot of these records, other shoegaze records, sound cool or they sound vibey, but they don\u2019t have that impact and they\u2019re not as wide.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mixing modern shoegaze records<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Blending clean and dirty guitar tones and refraining from clogging the pipeways are crucial techniques, but they\u2019re not particularly sophisticated or cutting-edge. In order for DIIV to achieve the heaviness of explosive songs like \u201cHoresehead\u201d and \u201cTaker,\u201d and to ensure they sound great at loud volumes (the way shoegaze was meant to be enjoyed), Diperri reached for modern equipment and mixing techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI listened for frequency build-up or frequency masking, some people call it. And it creates a sort of whistle that once you learn how to hear it, you can go in using very modern EQs that really only a few <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"hardware units (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.undertoneaudio.com\/products\/mpeq-1\" target=\"_blank\">hardware units<\/a> can do. You can go in and remove these very specific whistles and buildups.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201dOnce we got a balance, the band was very happy with it,\u201d Diperri says, \u201cWe spent a lot of time in the mixing stage, riding the volume and panning all the time to turn things up and down. So it sounds even and thick, but it doesn\u2019t sound compressed and squashed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another modern technique Diperri used for <em>Deceiver<\/em> was EQ-ing the breathy vocals in a way that normalized their volume and made them sound incredibly clear and audible, despite the raging guitars and crashing drums beneath them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cUsing the ability to turn EQs off, turn EQs on, switch the curves, and switch the equalization points is something that I was able to do in an afternoon,\u201d Diperri says. \u201cIf we were working in the late \u201880s &#8211; early \u201890s, it would\u2019ve been all hands on deck and people punching stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That effect really comes through on a song like \u201cBlankenship,\u201d a rollicking jam with vocals that are practically ASMR levels of closeness. \u201cYou\u2019re able to get the clarity and the diction and sit the vocal in the mix to a spot where it sounds cohesive and gelled into the music, almost on a word-by-word basis,\u201d Diperri says. \u201cIt\u2019s not like you listen to some of these older records and the vocal sort of pops out or goes away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"DIIV \/\/ Blankenship (Official Video)\" width=\"370\" height=\"208\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/YWk1v5YSGUY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For Yip, the biggest benefit of Pro Tools and digital editing, in general, isn\u2019t the unlimited track counts, but the digital plugins he can integrate into the software. \u201cYou can dissect a snare, guitar, or vocal tone endlessly,\u201d Yip says. \u201cThat\u2019s what separates a more hi-fi, big shoegaze record versus a lo-fi shoegaze record. Lo-fi records are cool, but you get hi-fi not just because it\u2019s hi-fi or perceived as hi-fi. How it gets hi-fi is that in the mix, you dissect what\u2019s wrong and what\u2019s good with every tone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, there are the plugins for replicating specific synth and processor effects, which are particularly useful for a genre like shoegaze that gets all of its signature qualities from blending various instrumental effects. At this point, the digital plugins have reached a level of quality that rivals the analog pedals themselves. Palermo shared an anecdote about his collaborator Nick Bassett (formerly of Deafheaven, Whirr, and Nothing) buying up thousands of dollars of vintage equipment in order to get hyper-specific tones, and then selling it all two years later because the plugins sounded better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere are some people who get caught up in what they\u2019re using a little bit too much just to try to stay true to the gearhead stuff,\u201d Palermo says. \u201cAnd then there are people who just do things the smart way and get things sounding as best as they possibly can, and you gotta pick and choose your battles. If you\u2019re going to use a plugin or if you\u2019re going to use the actual thing, and these days there\u2019s not much of a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The future of shoegaze<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Bobby Markos from Cloakroom firmly believes that even though many fans and bands consider the early \u201890s era to be shoegaze\u2019s apex, all of those bands were essentially scrambling to bring what they had in their heads to life with the tools they had. Today, there\u2019s much less of a discrepancy between what\u2019s creatively imaginable and technologically possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDigital recording caught up to shoegaze,\u201d Markos says. \u201cShoegaze was just beyond what was feasible and they had to figure it out and invent things to capture it. And now, with digital capabilities and how readily available it is, anybody can go and get a startup recording setup and go for it now. It\u2019s not like, \u2018Well, I have to save up ten grand and buy a board and a console, like it\u2019s this huge thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The pricing is a whole other part of the equation. Bands just don\u2019t make as much money as they did when record sales were booming before the internet, which has influenced drop-in studio rates. But even so, legend has it that <em>Loveless<\/em> cost half-a-million dollars to make and almost bankrupted My Bloody Valentine\u2019s label, Creation Records. That\u2019s obviously the most extreme example, but it\u2019s not unlikely that bands like Slowdive, Ride, and Lush were given six-figure recording budgets to make those quintessential albums. Martin revealed that <em>Time Well<\/em> cost Cloakroom just $8,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe digital age has really made it to a point where shoegaze can definitely exist on a fraction of the dollar and it can become so much more,\u201d Markos says. \u201cTo try and do everything that we did on [Time Well], it would\u2019ve been impossible. We would\u2019ve had to be on Geffen with a Geffen-sized budget to try and pull that off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Markos theorizes that such a financial and logistical hindrance to bands like his could\u2019ve been a death knell for the genre altogether. \u201cIf recording wouldn\u2019t have gone down this digital walkway and led to where we are, the genre might have very well fizzled,\u201d he says. \u201cEspecially with My Bloody Valentine breaking up and a lot of bigger bands going by the wayside, I don\u2019t know if you would\u2019ve seen a resurgence of it. It would\u2019ve been like, \u2018This is too difficult and it\u2019s really not working.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although the uniquely diligent Yip believes that he could\u2019ve gotten Nothing\u2019s <em>The Great Dismal<\/em> to sound similarly big in the \u201890s (\u201cI would\u2019ve sold an arm to do it,\u201d he jokes), Palermo doesn\u2019t think that the record would have been possible in years past without a titanic budget. He doesn\u2019t even think he could top it going forward. \u201dI honestly don\u2019t think I could ever make a record that sounds better than <em>The Great Dismal<\/em>,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen I stepped away from the studio after we finished tracking, I was embarrassed to leave Will with the amount of work that I left him with. Like, hundreds of guitar tracks. I never put this much into a record \u2013&nbsp;I\u2019ve never put this much work into anything in my life\u2026 Production-wise, I feel like it\u2019ll be a while before anyone can do anything that sounds like this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Considering that Palermo said that the Logic demos he made for <em>The Great Dismal<\/em> genuinely sounded better than 2014\u2019s <em>Guilty of Everything<\/em>, the bar might be raised another level sooner than he thinks. In fact, Markos suspects that as technology continues to advance, we\u2019ll probably hear the next <em>Loveless<\/em> sometime within the next decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere are a lot of really smart musicians out there in the genre, or at least working in the periphery of the genre, and I think that in the next ten years you\u2019ll probably see a record that\u2019s really gonna change even this conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you make shoegaze music? If so, what gear do you use? Let us know in the comments below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Join the Splice Discord to engage with a community of other music creators, participate in producer-led beat battles, and hear exclusive interviews:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-button aligncenter\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link\" href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/features\/community\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Join the Discord<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We spoke with the musicians, producers, and engineers behind Nothing, Cloakroom, DIIV, and Greet Death on the state of creating shoegaze records in 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":13927,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1693,1692],"tags":[1724,1784,1877],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Shoegaze is sounding bigger and more crushing than ever before - Blog | Splice<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We spoke with the musicians, producers, and engineers behind Nothing, Cloakroom, DIIV, and Greet Death on the state of creating shoegaze records in 2020.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shoegaze is sounding bigger and more crushing than ever before - Blog | Splice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We spoke with the musicians, producers, and engineers behind Nothing, Cloakroom, DIIV, and Greet Death on the state of creating shoegaze records in 2020.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Blog | Splice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Splice\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-17T20:20:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-14T20:06:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Shoegaze_Feature_BlogPost.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Eli Enis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@splice\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@splice\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Eli Enis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"16 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Eli Enis\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7b18f47819a92ff1bd8e8ec0195fc38f\"},\"headline\":\"Shoegaze is sounding bigger and more crushing than ever before\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-17T20:20:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-14T20:06:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/\"},\"wordCount\":3615,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Shoegaze_Feature_BlogPost.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"guitar\",\"rock\",\"shoegaze\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Features\",\"Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/\",\"name\":\"Shoegaze is sounding bigger and more crushing than ever before - Blog | Splice\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Shoegaze_Feature_BlogPost.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-17T20:20:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-14T20:06:26+00:00\",\"description\":\"We spoke with the musicians, producers, and engineers behind Nothing, Cloakroom, DIIV, and Greet Death on the state of creating shoegaze records in 2020.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Shoegaze_Feature_BlogPost.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Shoegaze_Feature_BlogPost.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1200,\"caption\":\"shoegaze-sounding-bigger-featured-image\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Shoegaze is sounding bigger and more crushing than ever before\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Splice Blog\",\"description\":\"An inside look at making music\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Splice\",\"alternateName\":\"Splice Sounds\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Splice-logo-black-background.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Splice-logo-black-background.png\",\"width\":2928,\"height\":1540,\"caption\":\"Splice\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Splice\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/splice\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/splice\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@splice\",\"https:\/\/discord.com\/invite\/splice\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7b18f47819a92ff1bd8e8ec0195fc38f\",\"name\":\"Eli Enis\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a3372a20574a9fed0a9d8bc358f98c2b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a3372a20574a9fed0a9d8bc358f98c2b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Eli Enis\"},\"description\":\"Eli Enis is a news writer at Consequence of Sound and a freelance culture journalist who mostly covers underground music and the music industry. His work can be found in Rolling Stone, Billboard, Entertainment Weekly, Vice, Splice, and elsewhere.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/author\/eli-enis\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Shoegaze is sounding bigger and more crushing than ever before - Blog | Splice","description":"We spoke with the musicians, producers, and engineers behind Nothing, Cloakroom, DIIV, and Greet Death on the state of creating shoegaze records in 2020.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Shoegaze is sounding bigger and more crushing than ever before - Blog | Splice","og_description":"We spoke with the musicians, producers, and engineers behind Nothing, Cloakroom, DIIV, and Greet Death on the state of creating shoegaze records in 2020.","og_url":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/","og_site_name":"Blog | Splice","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Splice","article_published_time":"2020-12-17T20:20:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-14T20:06:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1200,"url":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Shoegaze_Feature_BlogPost.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Eli Enis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@splice","twitter_site":"@splice","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Eli Enis","Est. reading time":"16 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/"},"author":{"name":"Eli Enis","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7b18f47819a92ff1bd8e8ec0195fc38f"},"headline":"Shoegaze is sounding bigger and more crushing than ever before","datePublished":"2020-12-17T20:20:49+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-14T20:06:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/"},"wordCount":3615,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Shoegaze_Feature_BlogPost.jpg","keywords":["guitar","rock","shoegaze"],"articleSection":["Features","Stories"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/","url":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/","name":"Shoegaze is sounding bigger and more crushing than ever before - Blog | Splice","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Shoegaze_Feature_BlogPost.jpg","datePublished":"2020-12-17T20:20:49+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-14T20:06:26+00:00","description":"We spoke with the musicians, producers, and engineers behind Nothing, Cloakroom, DIIV, and Greet Death on the state of creating shoegaze records in 2020.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Shoegaze_Feature_BlogPost.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Shoegaze_Feature_BlogPost.jpg","width":1920,"height":1200,"caption":"shoegaze-sounding-bigger-featured-image"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/shoegaze-sounding-bigger-than-ever\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Shoegaze is sounding bigger and more crushing than ever before"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/","name":"Splice Blog","description":"An inside look at making music","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Splice","alternateName":"Splice Sounds","url":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Splice-logo-black-background.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Splice-logo-black-background.png","width":2928,"height":1540,"caption":"Splice"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Splice","https:\/\/x.com\/splice","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/splice\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@splice","https:\/\/discord.com\/invite\/splice"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/7b18f47819a92ff1bd8e8ec0195fc38f","name":"Eli Enis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a3372a20574a9fed0a9d8bc358f98c2b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a3372a20574a9fed0a9d8bc358f98c2b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Eli Enis"},"description":"Eli Enis is a news writer at Consequence of Sound and a freelance culture journalist who mostly covers underground music and the music industry. His work can be found in Rolling Stone, Billboard, Entertainment Weekly, Vice, Splice, and elsewhere.","url":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/author\/eli-enis\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13925"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/99"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13925"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39107,"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13925\/revisions\/39107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}