The New Tone Thread

Hi, guys - I haven't posted any tones for ages, as I've been working on a song. JDOD has been a sounding-board for what I'm about to play you, as I've been struggling to write a solo for the bridge section. The first one I came up with was ok but didn't set the world on fire for me. The second one was better and I was just going to go with that. Then, for no good reason, I decided to enable both solos and pan them L/R. Would you guys have a listen and tell me what you think?

This is just an edit from the bridge section, if you'd like to hear the song it's in the clinic. :)

View attachment Game Over solo edit.mp3
 
Interesting Mr Harris.
One side seems dominant - was that the intention?
There are a few points where they meld which is cool but my ear/brain wants to hear more of the less dominant one. I probably, subconsciously, want to hear both equally so I can decide which should dominate at any given moment in time.
 
Thanks, Ray - yes, I think a little bit of orchestration is in order, but I think it's remarkable how the two parts play off each other without any forethought. A happy accident. :D
 
minerman said:
Ok guys, just gonna throw this up for shits-n-giggles....

Something More



Lemme know what you guys think of this....
Click to expand...
That's real good minerman. Great layers and textures and shit. I think the snare is a little bit "dull". A little more focus and crack from it would suit the song better IMO. The guitars all sound great to me. The spot at 2:47 where the dun-dun-dun build up happens needs to be edited or retracked. The timing is off right there. The guitars and drums are off. The ending build up is fantastic. You did a real nice job mixing all those layers together.

JDOD said:
Yeah, the lead is a little boring sounded, don't know why
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This is just my humble shit-lead playing opinion and I suck so take this for what it's worth. I hesitate to critique anyone's playing that's clearly better than mine, but since you don't know why, this is why I think your leads sometimes sound a little boring. You need more "feeling" in your leads. More energy. More, uh, emotion. More raw power. I think you hyper-focus on note selection and playing proficiency, which is great, but it sometimes leaves your leads a little sterile and mechanical sounding to me. They're too precise! Throw some rakes, bends, and vibratos in there. Give the leads some character beyond just hitting the right notes perfectly.

Bubba po said:
Hi, guys - I haven't posted any tones for ages, as I've been working on a song. JDOD has been a sounding-board for what I'm about to play you, as I've been struggling to write a solo for the bridge section. The first one I came up with was ok but didn't set the world on fire for me. The second one was better and I was just going to go with that. Then, for no good reason, I decided to enable both solos and pan them L/R. Would you guys have a listen and tell me what you think?

This is just an edit from the bridge section, if you'd like to hear the song it's in the clinic. :)

View attachment 97555
Click to expand...

I like it. I like dueling leads that work together. I agree with Ray that the left is a little dominant.
 
Greg, I think you're right. It's just the first thing that I made up, more as a placeholder than the riff I wanted and I just got used to hearing it. Playing less notes, which aren't all at a boring regular timing would be a good start I reckon. Hopefully I'll get chance to take a look at it over the weekend.

Can't listen at the moment Bubba cos I'm out doing fieldwork training.
 
JDOD said:
Greg, I think you're right. It's just the first thing that I made up, more as a placeholder than the riff I wanted and I just got used to hearing it. Playing less notes, which aren't all at a boring regular timing would be a good start I reckon. Hopefully I'll get chance to take a look at it over the weekend.
Click to expand...

What you do is good to me. I just think sometimes you could stand to be more aggressive, or dare I say, more sloppy! Lol. Not bad sloppy, but like on the edge of destruction sloppy. Not to get all hippie-dippy zen and shit, but like inject some human emotion into your leads. I say this because you definitely have the skills to choose good phrases and play them and all that stuff. That much is all good. You've got the composition and technical performance parts down. 2/3. That last 1/3 is make it rock.

I feel like I'm the polar opposite. I'm only good for 1/3. I feel like I can do the make it rock part. I can't do the other 2/3 which is write a good lead or play a good lead. :laughings:
 
Haha, cheers mate. There's fuck all wrong with your playing though.

I think I even said last week when I did the initial idea for the song using the Peavey amp that I thought the lead luck was shit, I just got used to hearing it by the time I got back home to my Blackstar
 
I've been MIA for a few weeks but I did want to chime in and say:

Minerman I listened to it a bunch of times and was playing some slide along with it. Really cool stuff

Bubba Love the guitar tones and the vocals seem nice and out front. Great job.

JDude I like it, especially the reggae break. Great wah throughout. Your playing is always solid. And your drums are coming along nicely.

If I missed anything, sorry. Been running around like a nut for most of the month between sound gigs and my own gigs. And I just hooked up with another guy looking to do lots of recording of his originals and he needs a guitarist. Hoping this will be fun. Especially since he's connected and is planning on using some pro studios (which my experience in is severely lacking).

Lastly, from a party back at the end of June. I was running sound and leading half of the band through this song that they had never heard. The my guitar is in the left channel so you can hear it go out while addressing issues with the sound). Here's a couple of pics of where we played (we were in a garage :laughings:)

Quick mix I haven't spent much time on. There's 2 guitars, keys/accordian. I solo last using The Fool. I'm really, really happy with my tone these days. No delay on this one either. The other guitar player plays mostly bass these days. And we were using a really shitty drum set but I brought my good cymbals. Hey Pockey Way

JoeStock002.jpgJoeStock001.jpg
 
Cheers Bill!

I just paid 4 fucking quid for a coffee. It was a nice coffee, but 4 quids worth?
 
Thanks for the listens & compliments guys, I spend a lot of time on a song, so I really appreciate all the kind words....

Is everybody ready for the bombshell???







I recorded/mixed that song 5 years ago, using Amplitube 3 on all the guitar & bass sounds....:D
 
OK, here's a revised riff which is far closer to what my original vision of it was - much less widdly. I'll need to get rid of it when I get back to my amp - this tone is using fucking GearBox! This riff is also going evolve into a longer, slower, more feedbacky solo - so even more Greg Sagey

View attachment SP2 Test Riff 2.mp3

Greg, I've updated the drums too as per your recommendation
 
Bubba po said:
Hi, guys - I haven't posted any tones for ages, as I've been working on a song. JDOD has been a sounding-board for what I'm about to play you, as I've been struggling to write a solo for the bridge section. The first one I came up with was ok but didn't set the world on fire for me. The second one was better and I was just going to go with that. Then, for no good reason, I decided to enable both solos and pan them L/R. Would you guys have a listen and tell me what you think?

This is just an edit from the bridge section, if you'd like to hear the song it's in the clinic. :)

View attachment 97555
Click to expand...

Mate, that sounds cool as fuck. I like the way, you doubled the lead section over the riff before it even goes into the bridge properly.
Was that all D Major scale in the end or did you chuck a few rouge notes in too? I did you just play whatever you felt like?
 
minerman said:
Thanks for the listens & compliments guys, I spend a lot of time on a song, so I really appreciate all the kind words....

Is everybody ready for the bombshell???







I recorded/mixed that song 5 years ago, using Amplitube 3 on all the guitar & bass sounds....:D
Click to expand...
Miner, that sounds great. I quite like your singing too, mate.
I think the tones sound good too, particularly for an old sim. Probably 'cos you've spend a bit of time mixing it quite well.

Are you going to re-track this with your latest drum techniques and real amp? Particularly the end section of this could sound properly huge with a big real amp sound.
 
JDOD said:
Mate, that sounds cool as fuck. I like the way, you doubled the lead section over the riff before it even goes into the bridge properly.
Was that all D Major scale in the end or did you chuck a few rouge notes in too? I did you just play whatever you felt like?
Click to expand...

Thanks, man! The right-hand lead is based on a plain A maj pentatonic scale strung out over the fingerboard rather than confined to the boxes. There are a few twiddles from within the A chromatic scale. The left-hand lead I took a clue from something you said about referencing the A - G - F# - G - A riff that precedes that section. I built the solo around those notes, first the high octave in the first bar with a melodic line linking it to the lower octave in the third bar. I treated it like I would a vocal melody; I heard it in my head then found the notes. :D I topped it off with the little lick that I liked out of the first solo that ends on a high note. That bit ended up doubled and I really like the soaring quality that brings it into the last chorus.
 
Cool, I think the problem with the first solo was that it had an A flat in there from the American major scale when you needed a G cos of the riff that starts the bridge off. Sounds cool now
 
Bubba po said:
Hi, guys - I haven't posted any tones for ages, as I've been working on a song. JDOD has been a sounding-board for what I'm about to play you, as I've been struggling to write a solo for the bridge section. The first one I came up with was ok but didn't set the world on fire for me. The second one was better and I was just going to go with that. Then, for no good reason, I decided to enable both solos and pan them L/R. Would you guys have a listen and tell me what you think?

This is just an edit from the bridge section, if you'd like to hear the song it's in the clinic. :)

View attachment 97555
Click to expand...

I like the dual solo stuff. I particularly like the left being dominant. It fits.

What I would like to hear, is both of them a bit thicker in tone and up in the mix more.
When that section is over and the vocal comes back in it's a bit of a 'volume shock'.

Solo should be just as loud as the vocal, or at least almost.

Granted, these are only my opinions, and others may think I'm full of shit. :D
 
minerman said:
Thanks for the listens & compliments guys, I spend a lot of time on a song, so I really appreciate all the kind words....

Is everybody ready for the bombshell???







I recorded/mixed that song 5 years ago, using Amplitube 3 on all the guitar & bass sounds....:D
Click to expand...

You're a magician with Amplitube man. You really know how to work at it until you get something really convincing. I get impatient and end up with something that sounds exactly like a sim. Instead, this sounds convincing at least as a low-volume less dynamic guitar tone.
 
Does anyone know...Whe I get an email telling me there has been an update to "tones" the link does not take me to the post indicated in the link.

E.g. I have one today about Mr Tapuis' "bombshell" . Does not go there so I still don't know what it is!

Can this thread not be broken and started afresh as say "Tones Two"?

Dave.
 
You may get some objection to that. :D
After all this is probably one of the longest running threads on this forum.
A lot of collective work went into that.
:D
 
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