Nerves: Remake of an older '89 metal tune

I

incursio

New member
Hiya gang. Been a while since I've been able to post any production work - glad to be partially back in the saddle at least. :)

This is a remake of a tune we recorded back in 1989 - from our first and only vinyl LP release. The song is called "Nerves" and is essentially about stage fright. The tune was originally recorded as a metal piece, but we've been going back and redoing our old originals as acoustic rock arrangements - a bit of fun, really. :)

On bass is Lance Morrison (Don Henley, Rick Springfield, Alanis Morrisette, Rod Stewart, Simple Minds, etc). On drums is my good pal Ron Wikso (Foreigner, Cher, David Lee Roth, Richie Sambora). Tony Thornton is on lead guitar - he was the original guitarist back in '89 - now with Mighty Big Finger. And my crusty non-singin' ass is back on vocal duty and strumming a bit here or there.

Unfortunately, that son-of-a-bitch Uncle Sam didn't fully stress the importance of proper ear protection as I sat 12 inches away from the 120mm main gun on an M1 Abrams tank back in the 80s, so sometimes I really struggle to get a clean mix void of any mud.



As simple as this damn song sounds, there are like 20 tracks (mostly drums) ... lol. Am contemplating maybe doing a PMC with this tune, or one of the others we are working on still.

Cheers.
 
Ok, the direct guitars sound like ass. The rythym of the guitars aint always on...it's sloppy from left to right.
The vocal is airy and wispy where it should have meat.

There is honestly nothing redeeming about the mix to my ears. The song may not be that bad but it's hard to tell from this.

I would retrack it.

The lead tone is distant and meatless, awesome playing but it aint pulling the tune along on it's own.
 
Hi there, Jake - thanks for the feedback. Oddly enough, the guitars aren't direct. A bit of a long story, but in this particular mix I was playing around with running the various guitar tracks through an amp sim to get a little harder of a feel (as they were recorded on an acoustic electric, mic'd).

I see your point though ... definitely giving me some things to think about.

Cheers.
 
Ah, I see.

I think the problem here is that you aren't really commiting to which direction you want to take the song in. You are making comprimises that aren't flattering to the song itself in my opinion.

Good attitude, keep it up.
 
Yeah, probably. :) I thought it would be neat to try and bring some of that "hard edge" of the original over (for nostalgia) ... may not be a good marriage, though. Dunno, I still think its possible ... just may need to retrack, or try a different approach on the effects side.

Cheers.
 
Maybe so, the thing about stuff like that is you have to choose what sound to 'feature'. Otherwise it becomes a mishmash. You could get a killer acoustic sound and add a dull grungy electric well behind to back that up or vise versa.
First thing though, you should have a rockin tune with NO effects or it aint going anywhere.

It can be done well for sure, I bet some others will have great suggestions.
 
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