Another one with a country bent. I find this one interesting in how the vocal goes from a nice, pretty straight forward melody to quirky to the lush ‘we believe’ line — which actually opens the song. I’ve been using the simulated guitar amps in Logic 9 on all of my guitar parts (aside from one of the feedback lead track in July). This was the first time I recorded all my guitar parts with a mic’d amp (Fender Prosonic mic’s with a AKG condenser).
One thing we wanted this blog to be is a place where we can post projects in process. Warts and all. So, this probably falls into that category. Think of this as an involved musical sketch. This is a song I started years ago and recorded a rough version with the band at practice. This past weekend, I picked it up again and added some new parts to it and created this new recording from scratch. It certainly isn’t done. It needs vocals (if I can ever find someone willing to contribute them), bass guitar (I think former band mate Joe Zack will do that on this one) and live drums (this one sounded like it was made for another former band mate, Robert Luna, so i sent it to him). Once the new bass and drums are in place, I’ll probably retrack some or all of the guitar parts so it flows better. These drum tracks are just loops in Logic. They feel pretty good, but the different sounds of the loops are driving me a little crazy. Oh well, after all, it is just a sketch, right?
Stew’s had some computer issues and has been working on tweaking his new Ric. I’ve been busy with work, so it’s been a while since we’ve posted a new song. So, here are three. Well, not really. It’s just three versions of a sentimental little number from Stew.
Stew doesn’t usually create final mixes, but in this case he added lots of quiet layers of guitars to build i really great version of this song that shows tasteful restraint. I wanted to rock it up a bit, so I created a version that added drums and more guitars. After completing a pretty straight forward take on the song, I stripped almost everything away but the vocals and created a remix that’s a mix of fever ray, nin and Postal Service.
Download or play Stew’s mix here.
This is the basic shell of the song. They all start out this way. This mix is just the raw tracks I recorded. There is no automation. You can even hear the phone ring in my house during the song.
Again, I was unsure what to add to this song when Stewart sent it to me. That usually happens, but this time more than usual. This song was bluegrass. Not generally my thing. Plus, he sent a tight, complete song. Drums, bass, acoustic guitar, mandolin, vocals (with some sweet harmonies) and even a tasty lead track. You can hear a mix of the original song in the post below this one. It all sounded really good to me. Well, this past Saturday and Sunday, I had some fun playing a little bluegrass inspired guitar. I added five tracks: two slide tracks, one intro/rhythm track and two lead tracks that are probably more like The Outlaws than Union Station.
Here is my latest song. This version includes my horrible guitar solo that Jeff will replace.
This song has been around for a while waiting to be worked on. Stewart sent me a sketch back in early May of this year (link below). Now it’s fully formed. I think Stew and I both pulled marathons on this one. Stew put in some long hours recording the basic tracks over the Thanksgiving holiday: drums, a killer bass line, and a plethora of vocal tracks reminiscent of the pop tunes of the 50s or 60s. After spending one evening recording guitar parts in F# minor, Stewart informed me the song is supposed to be in F# major. With just a bass line, it was hard for me to tell. If I knew my music better, I would have been able to tell by the vocal tracks. So, between a Friday night and the better part of a Saturday, I spent about eleven hours rewriting and recording new guitar parts. Somewhere They Fall has a retro vibe replete with ‘Ba Ba’ background vocals in the choruses and surf guitar lines in the verses. The retro tone of the song is slowly taken over by noisy guitars during the ending of the song.
Download or play Somewhere They Fall here.
Here’s the original sketch Stewart sent me for Somewhere They Fall. Just acoustic guitar and a vocal. There aren’t any lyrics at this point, just Stew documenting the basic melody and chord structure. I’ve been hearing these sketches from Stew for years and I love to hear his songs in this raw state. It’s always interesting to see where they go from here.
Part of the problem with mixing your your own projects is that with every playback, on every sound system, you hear something you’d like to change. Between all the individual tracks, the automation, the reverb and EQ settings, the delays, the panning and every other little adjustment, you know every detail of the mix. Having access to these mixes on that laptop that’s always with you doesn’t make matters any easier. The temptation to fix and tweak is always there.
I listened to Stewart’s clean, concise mix of Oleander with a very present bass guitar and decided I needed bring that out in my mix. As I continued listening I started thinking the strings in the chorus were too forward, the drums got buried and the vox were getting covered by the too-loud guitars (typical when a guitar player is at the board). Things weren’t finding their place in the mix. So I scrapped most of my automation, EQ and reverb settings and started over. Now there’s a new mix linked in the Oleander post. The same will happen with Count Me In–although the changes there won’t be as severe.
I wanted to post a quick guide to making a really nice tube pre-amp for about $45. The very cheapest tube pre I have ever run across is the Art Tube MP Studio.
You can find it on-line for under $30. I’m not going to lie to you. Out of the box this pre-amp is really bad. However, what I discovered is that when I replaced the super crappy Chinese tube in it with a new high end 12ax7, This pre-amp takes on a whole new sound. It’s a very easy operation. Simply remove the screws on the side of the unit, pull the top and bottom apart, and switch out the tube.
There are many on-line tube stores with a great selection. This is a gem of a pre-amp. I’m using it exclusively right now.
