Saratoga - Instrumental

[Teddie]

Hey HR buds,

My son had a "Musical Parents Day" back in March for his elementary school... I signed up.

Wrote this short instrumental piece the night before and they got such a kick out of it, I recorded it and put it on the "Valley of the DogZ" CD.

I hauled a couple of amps, my pod, guit, and my drum machine into the school and jammed for the kids a bit... fun fun time for me. My son was pretty proud.

On this song, I actually finally figured out how to get my drum unit to go 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, instead of 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4. I forget what that's called 1/3 timing or something (?)

The first part of the song, the kids didn't hear... I added that for the recording because the main part of the song was too short in my opinion. The heavy second part is the part I played for the kids...

Anyway, it's called "Saratoga" and you can find it here: http://mp3.com/smartapple

Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Thanks,
Teddie (Smart Apple) http://mp3.com/smartapple

[Ray J]

This is heavy, Ted. Uhh, what grade are we talking about here? Ha, they musta loved it. I like the 'time' of the song, whatever this one actually is (1/3 etc) and the guitar is doing some interesting stuff. Which amp model from the pod do you use for the heavy rythmn in this song and is it double tracked? Also, what kind of pickups are you using? Just curious. Nice tune. Ted. I"m gonna get that package to you soon BTW.

Ray J

[jrlemonz]

Sounded great!. Did you subscirbe for MP3.com's Premium Service? I damn hope you did, with over $4000 in Payback Earnings, damn!

Jake

[TheRealWaldo]

Kick ass Teddie

Makes me want to mosh

[David]

Teddie...damn man! seeya at the mosh pit waldo. Heaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaavy. he aint heavy...he's my bruther....I like it ted.

[GONZO-X]

very cool tune. i like the avant garde intro, with the kids voices in the background..... very strange way to pick the brain, triggers old memories of what!? i don't know, but they're there......
i like this guitar sound, and i hate pod sounds. what's up with that.....? i think it's because, maybe, you crank the mix and the guitar through the monitors as you're tracking, getting it loud enough to interact with the guitar, instead of the headphone approach????!!! this is a much more organic sound, because of this quasi-interaction..... the straight pod sound is missing AIR! and this has some air-meat to it.....
i like the rhythm, it's moving and changing, very cool. the sg has a nice meaty tone to it to begin with, drop the tuning a bit and you've got an almost soundgarden/sabbath vibe to it.....
i also like the abrubt ending. it's quite appropriate.. leaves you hanging, wishing it was longer..... just right!
listening to the others as well......

on rotation......

thanks for the tunes.

check this out if you will.......

http://artists2.iuma.com/IUMA/Bands/Trouble/

[CyanJaguar]

very cool.

Very charged.

great job.

I just really like the drums.

[PeteAnon]

Jeez, Ted. Do the other parents let their kids come over to play with your kid?

[Kaputo]

Cool stuff. Are you talking about the time signature? I think its called 6/8 time. six beats in a measure. eighth note gets one beat.

[Buck62]

Teddie...

Do you ever write a bad song?

I don't think it's possible!

Once again, another great song that has it all.....
Feel, punch, and raw energy!

Don't forget us little guys when Arista comes a-knockin' at your door!

Buck

[Teddie]

Ray J, what's up, bro! He was in 6th grade this year, so they were definitely able to handle the heaviness of the tune. Man, they dug it... they really dug it. Yeah, I was really happy I figured out how to change the time signature or whatever on my drum unit... opened up some new possibilities for me... (my wife would probably say, "Why didn't you just read your instruction manual"... and of course my response would be, "Manual? I don't need no steeenkin' manual....") The amp model I used, um... I dunno... 6A was the preset... That's the one I usually use... I like the sustain of that preset. Yeah, the guits were played twice and then panned hard L and R. I actually have no idea what pickups I'm using... Yah, definitely... get that package out to me when ya can. Thanks for the ears and the comments.

jrlemonz, hey thanks for the kind words. Yah... I'm PAS. I actually joined up a long time ago before they made it mandatory to get paid. I was more concerned at the time with getting my songs approved faster...

Waldo, here we go into the pit!!! MOSH WITH ME!

David, my bud David! Good to see ya... Here comes David into the PIT!!! Hey thanks for listening... glad you like it. How are things going for you at garageband?

Gonzo, thanks for the detailed comments... Cool! My wife hates the beginning of the tune... I like it... it's interesting as I tried to make it... She says it sounds freaky-spooky... she's right, I guess, but it's interesting and I was able to play some piano in there, so I really dug doin' it. Yah... I just recently realized that the Pod sounds (in my opinion) don't sound well doing the "just plug it and play it"... I actually usually do use the headphones... at the time of finalizing the mix, I usually massage the guit tracks and kill some of the bottom end... Pod's to boomy... too much low end (at least that's what I've experienced)... When I'm doing the final mix, I'm doing it on some really crappy radioshack speakers... but I'm so used to those speakers (been using them for years) I'm afraid to by some good monitors because I don't think I can get my brain to switch over... I feel like I'll over compensate/undercompensate for things because I'm so used to these little crapbox monitors... (probably not a bad thing though)... dunno. I've really been getting back into dropped-tuning again.... I used to do it alot back when I was younger... Thanks again for the comments and for the listen.

I'll check out Trouble this weekend... Is that your band?

CyanJaguar, thanks! I think the drums on this song are one of my best ones programming wise... it's a short song, but the drums... um I dunno... I really like the way the drums turned out too...

Pete, yes. Until they see what I look like.

Kaputo, thanks... yah.. I think it's "time signature"... I think it's like 3/4 or something? Typically I use 4/4...

Buck, hey my chicago bud! You're too kind bro... Call me this weekend if you get a chance... I've got a music question.