Zeke cover- first recording in a while

N

NotThatBright

New member
Hello, friends and well-wishers. I am on a short vacation, and last night after a drinking session at the local scumbag watering hole I touched musical instruments for the first time in a few months. After putting my drums back together and tuning them, I needed a song to record to see where I'm at. I had been listening to Zeke earlier in the day, so I went with one of theirs. This is one of their few slow songs, but it has balls to spare. Covering Zeke usually means I have to downtune my guitar and bass which I find annoying, but hey, the heart wants what it wants.

Any feedback is swell. I am particularly interested in the sound of the drums. I am hamstrung by the fact that I am playing in a basement and there is no treatment whatsoever. The sounds die pretty quickly, and I get no "wash" from the cymbals (I am constantly hitting the crash throughout the entire song, and it would sound much cooler if it sounded like one long crash hit rather than a thousand in succession). Whenever I downtune my guitar I always get the feeling that it is slightly out of tune... I can't play for shit and playing with loose strings just makes it easier for me to pull them too hard and change the tone. And I can't hit high notes when drunk. Probably can't when sober, either... I never tried.

And having the guitars too loud in the mix is a personal preference. Even though this one has cool little bass riffs and I'm not sure I hear them.

Thanks!

UPDATE:

Shitcanned the first mix. The second (turned down overheads, vocal, and lead guitar):

https://soundcloud.com/user92696274096/ever-onward2/s-oj0Iy
 
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I'm getting a message from sound cloud "track cannot be streamed".
First time I've ever seen that one.
 
Welcome back(again)! Man I gotta tell you I loved this... Sounds dirty, gritty and straight from 70's metal. The ONLY thing I didn't like was how shrill and out front the lead was. Granted I am listening laying in bed with earbuds, but it hurt my ears lol. Tame that thing and you will be golden. As far as drums I thought they sounded good IF that's the sound you are going for. I thought your tom fill towards the end sounded great too. Vocals fit perfect too. All around great job.
 
jimistone said:
I'm getting a message from sound cloud "track cannot be streamed".
First time I've ever seen that one.
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Can't explain that. Thanks for checking it out, though. I look forward to your next Skynyrd cover on here. If you take requests, do "Down South Jukin'" or "Gimme Back My Bullets".

Bruthish said:
Welcome back(again)! Man I gotta tell you I loved this... Sounds dirty, gritty and straight from 70's metal. The ONLY thing I didn't like was how shrill and out front the lead was. Granted I am listening laying in bed with earbuds, but it hurt my ears lol. Tame that thing and you will be golden. As far as drums I thought they sounded good IF that's the sound you are going for. I thought your tom fill towards the end sounded great too. Vocals fit perfect too. All around great job.
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Thanks, good to talk to you again. I never realized it before, but there is definitely a healthy dose of Sabbath in this one. I think I may give the vocal another shot now. I can't get up that high without sounding like a girl, but I figured I'd give it a shot before dropping an octave. I also copied the vocal track, put a slight chorus effect on the copy, and went about 60% clean and 40% on the one with the effect. I'm not really going for that sound with the drums, but in this room, that's what I get unless I record them in the clipping range. Then they're louder and have some sustain, but sound like dogshit.

I have been in the Prime Time section to shoot the shit, but I haven't been in the clinic because I haven't been recording, and while I hope this doesn't make me sound like a prick, it's hard for me to get interested in something other people are doing if I'm not doing it myself. I think that's why I never got into hockey. I am going to give some reviews once I get done fucking around with this Kiss song I just did the drums for. I think you could make the argument that Peter Criss was both the luckiest AND the unluckiest man in the world.
 
Dial the noisy guitar back a bit? I'm listening on the little mono speaker, and everything's balanced except that guitar.








Okay, was persuaded to switch over to full monitors. Sounds better. I still think that mono speaker report's a reveal though.
 
dobro said:
Dial the noisy guitar back a bit? I'm listening on the little mono speaker, and everything's balanced except that guitar.








Okay, was persuaded to switch over to full monitors. Sounds better. I still think that mono speaker report's a reveal though.
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Agreed. Wah guitars are supposed to be obnoxious, but that was overboard. I changed that and a few other things. Thanks.
 
Just listened to the revised mix (didn't hear the earlier version). I agree with Bruthish - fantastic slabs of heavy 70s sludge (in a good way). The drums sound a little muffled (??) to me - like they need a bit more snap to them. I guess I'd try adding some compression to the snare track and see if that makes them pop. The vocal is pretty great - no apologies necessary.
 
It's been a while since I've heard one from you, and I think that you've come a long ways. Guitar tones all sound great to me.

Listening to the updated mix, and I think that the vocals need to come up. Be proud, you've got a good voice for this. Same deal with the wah guitar, although it sounds like you turned that down from the previous mix, based on previous comments. Oh well, you can't listen to us all. Set it where you like it :)

You mentioned a cymbal wash...maybe try out some compression on the overheads or drum bus so you can bring them up without the crash taking over? It may be a try-me, may not work.
 
Get a transient shaper on the drums, yeah. Bring the vocal up a dB or more. Then it'll be the best song you've done here.

This bit entertained me last night: "I am on a short vacation, and last night after a drinking session at the local scumbag watering hole I touched musical instruments for the first time in a few months." I thought, yeah right. But then today I thought, no he's telling the truth. lol What a doof. You make better music when you don't play regularly.
 
A good-sounding track, my friend, but I want you to push yourself. You have to step outside the comfort zone. Either covers that are presently beyond your skills at the moment, or return to your own stuff. My preference is for the latter. You were born to do your own stuff. Let's hear some real children from your fucked-up, subversive, humorous psyche. Write us some songs like you write your forum posts, and lift us out of the doldrums. :)
 
NotThatBright said:
I am constantly hitting the crash throughout the entire song, and it would sound much cooler if it sounded like one long crash hit rather than a thousand in succession
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Why would you want that?! o_O

I agree with the folks who said the snare's is muffled.
The bass and guitars have a pretty good, fat tone between them. Though, I hear what you're saying about pushing it out of tune occasionally.
 
Not familiar with the original. But man this is a low-heavy mix. The distorted guitars have a ton of low end - I think that's what I'm reacting. Like the lead/riff guitar - sounded cool.

I thought the vocal was very good. Well performed and tone was good.

Bass is getting covered by the guitars.

I agree the snare lacks a little snap. It's a bit heavy. The kick was a bit woofy. Toms sounded very nice - you should have used them more. Cymbals were a little swishy - but I'm betting that was SoundCloud mangling them.

Good energy and vibe to the song.

Good to see you recording again.
 
I love ZEKE! Great band. They sometimes walk the line as close to doom stoner slop that I can stomach, but the rest of the time they're kicking the shit out of eardrums. If any of you HR adult rock slugs can get past your obsession with estrogen music, check out some ZEKE.

anyway, the drums are buried dude. I know you wanted powerful guitars and all, but it needs more drums. Keep the overheads about the same.
 
Greg is right about the drums. I would try carving space with EQ for the drums -- but would spend hours doing it and then get something that sounds worse than what I started with.
 
dobro said:
What a doof.
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What's a doof? Is this more weird Canadian crap, like "hoser"? A hoser sounds like it'd be someone that pisses on everybody, which seems like more of a compliment than an insult.

dobro said:
You make better music when you don't play regularly.
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Strange, but apparently true. All my stuff was 3000 miles away. I got back and put the drums together, and found my timing had improved slightly for some reason. I picked up the guitar and bass and I was about the same, but we're talking power chords here, so it ain't brain surgery. And I only play/record after being out hitting the bottle with friends. The idea has always been to keep me from being behind the wheel once the sun goes down. And I have more fun doing this than striking out with bar whores... or even worse, NOT striking out with bar whores. Less self-hatred after the fact.

Tadpui

I don't compress the overheads anymore because in the past I found the cymbals sounded a little weird when I did it. I haven't done it since I used a mono overhead, though. I may try it just to see what it sounds like now. Thanks.

jm67

Compression on my snare tends to bring out a lot of hi-hat bleed... however, since I don't even use the hi-hat on this one, that actually might sound good. For just this song, I think I'll try it. Thanks for the suggestion.

Bubba

I appreciate the encouragement, but I won't be able to record anything for at least a few months. Tell you what, though. I will write a magnum opus in that time and unleash it on the 10 or so people that listen to it here once I can record again. They say you can't change the world... but who are "they", anyway? I used to ask adults that question when I was a little kid, and I never got a satisfactory answer. All they had to say was "people in general", but they always said something stupid. This is what growing up in America is like.

VHS

Why would I not want the wash? The wash is swell! I love the wash! The wash is actually a staple of many Zeke songs. They ignore the hi-hat and go straight to the crash. It works for them.

TripleM

Thanks. Yeah, I was surprised that I did a decent job tuning the toms, except for the 18", which I had choked at the time I recorded this (I hit it twice by itself just before the fast part, it sounds like I was punching a plastic trash can). I fixed it immediately after.

Greg

You know it, homeslice. Their albums from the '90s kick total ass, and then Death Alley is one of the top 5 albums I ever heard in my life. I actually picked this slow one to play because I wanted something that would give me some lead guitar to try, and something that would test my timing a bit. When I do a slow song the song tends to wind up twice the speed by the end of it. I kept it relatively close here.

And Greg is right... for those of you whose testicles haven't fully dropped, Zeke may just bring them down the rest of the way.

Obi-wan

Jesus Christ... that is exactly what always happens when I try fixing drums with EQ.

Anorton

I appreciate it.

Thanks to all you guys for your comments.
 
I thought this was great. I love the low end on the guitars. So what if it over powers the bass, like an earlier poster said. It is a powerful sound and I wouldn't high pass the guitars and weaken it. The vocal is great too, great tone and well sung. I have never heard of this band buy I really like the song and this sound in general.
great rock and roll!
 
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