Cover of "Complete Control" by the Clash.

Bubba po

Bubba po

Tiny Stonehenge Moment
I haven't recorded anything for a while, so I thought I'd chuck this rough-and-ready track together.

Now I've broken the ice I intend to start on my first original for years, which will be built up from a creative drum performance.

Thanks in advance for any listens or comments you give it. :)

Remix based on suggestions:

 
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Lol. It's almost like listening to the real thing. Seriously. Every little nuance and element is in there. I know I've heard this song ten billion times, and nothing stood out as wrong or missing to me.

As for the mix, I think it's mostly there. The levels are good. The guitars and bass don't quite have the raucous fury of the original, and the drums are a little boxy. It sounds like it could be a demo of the original. Not that this is a bad effort. I just can't help but compare it to the original, which I know from experience is very hard to match. If you wanted to work on this more, I'd say go bigger with the guitars. More volume with tracking and in the mix. These guitars are a little too timid. Deeper, rounder bass guitar. Keep the drums laid back in the mix, but make them sound fatter overall. Leave the vocals alone. They're great as-is.
 
Hiya Greg - thanks for all the comments, very useful. :D You can probably tell I haven't done a great deal with this other than level it up and whack a bit of reverb on it. Regarding the drums I agree with most of what you say about the boxiness; most of it I feel is in the toms and the kick drum, wouldn't you say?

I think I could do a fair bit to make the kick sound better as I haven't eq'd it much yet. I was trying to fuck about with it as little as possible, much as the Clash might have done back in the day, heading for that middly UK punk vibe. As you say, almost demo quality. :thumbs up:

I think it's time to get new heads for the toms as they're getting old and they're Remo pinstripes, which are too dry and over-damped for the sounds I want to capture. What do you recommend for a richer, more open sound?


I was quite pleased with the snare for once as I bought an SM57 specifically to start getting a better snare sound as the generic mics in my drum mic kit weren't doing anything useful, and noticed more crispness and a better low-end punch than I'm used to.

Regarding the guitars, it's unbelievably difficult to get "that" sound! :D Without the right amps I'm struggling. I think I got close to Joe's on the right, even without a Twin, but Mick's tone has eluded me. It has that hard, middly edge, almost like a tranny amp or a shitty cheapo distortion pedal, neither of which I have in my arsenal - the Marshall's just too rounded and cultured-sounding! He also had more distortion than I used, but turning up the crunch just smoothed the sound even more.

Ah well, as an excercise it was hugely enjoyable, even if the result isn't quite there.
 
Bubba po said:
Hiya Greg - thanks for all the comments, very useful. :D You can probably tell I haven't done a great deal with this other than level it up and whack a bit of reverb on it. Regarding the drums I agree with most of what you say about the boxiness; most of it I feel is in the toms and the kick drum, wouldn't you say?

I think I could do a fair bit to make the kick sound better as I haven't eq'd it much yet. I was trying to fuck about with it as little as possible, much as the Clash might have done back in the day, heading for that middly UK punk vibe. As you say, almost demo quality. :thumbs up:

I think it's time to get new heads for the toms as they're getting old and they're Remo pinstripes, which are too dry and over-damped for the sounds I want to capture. What do you recommend for a richer, more open sound?


I was quite pleased with the snare for once as I bought an SM57 specifically to start getting a better snare sound as the generic mics in my drum mic kit weren't doing anything useful, and noticed more crispness and a better low-end punch than I'm used to.

Regarding the guitars, it's unbelievably difficult to get "that" sound! :D Without the right amps I'm struggling. I think I got close to Joe's on the right, even without a Twin, but Mick's tone has eluded me. It has that hard, middly edge, almost like a tranny amp or a shitty cheapo distortion pedal, neither of which I have in my arsenal - the Marshall's just too rounded and cultured-sounding! He also had more distortion than I used, but turning up the crunch just smoothed the sound even more.

Ah well, as an excercise it was hugely enjoyable, even if the result isn't quite there.
Click to expand...

Mick Jones used a bunch of different amps. I almost tend to believe he'd use anything available. I do know he used Super Leads and Ampegs a bit live in the early days, but there's really no telling in the studio. I don't think he ever set on "this is my amp sound" like most guitarists tend to do. His tone never really has any tell-tale sings of what's being used. It always sounds loud to me though. You can hear his notes fade into feedback. He might have used some early days pedal for the midrange grit and loudness for the rest. And you know he used P-90 LP Jrs in those very early days. Those kind of pickups into a very loud tube amp is a foolproof recipe for punk rock guitar.

Anyway, I wouldn't worry about nailing any tones. You did good overall with the licks and getting all the bits in there. If you wanted to retry Mick's parts, I'd say go for an aggressive single-coil crunch tone and turn it up very loud.

As for the drums, go coated on the toms. If you want rich, open sounds, single-ply coated heads will do it. Remo Ambassadors are pretty much the standard for those types of heads. Very warm and open, but with good booming sustain if you want it. Coated Emperors are good too, but being two-ply they may be too flat sounding for what you want. They're flatter than pinstripes. Don't neglect the resonant heads. A nice fresh set of resos will really wake up some drums. Coated Ambassador tops, with clear Ambassador reso heads will sound pretty damn awesome.
 
This sounds very good. You really do sing like Joe Strummer. The drums lacked impact, but Greg's got that covered. There is some frequency on the bass guitar that is too dominant. Every time you get near certain notes, the bass cuts through like a foghorn. For example, early in the song, when the full band comes in around 0:35, hear how the bass takes over and pushes everything else aside? Cool cover.
 
Class selection again Bubba.
Greg's covered al angles.
This sounds raw and very like the original - yeah - monster volume may be the key to success.
I enjoyed it matey.
If you're going to tweak I look forward to the development.
 
Thanks for the suggestions, guys, I think I've incorporated them all. I didn't re-record the guitars, but I spiced them up a little with eq and shortened the reverb to give a more urgent, harder edge. I sorted the drums out by eq-ing the kick drum better, editing the tom tracks out between actual hits (this removed a lot of resonating woodiness) and raised the overheads a little. I finished off by re-eq-ing the bass guitar, paying attention to Robus's suggestion with the rogue booming frequency and some boom/sizzle to round out the overall tone.

What do you think?

 
The update is an upgrade.
I'm surprise you edited the toms rather than gating them.
They were a very, very, very good live band.
You do the semi intelligible Strummer vox really well.
 
rayc said:
The update is an upgrade.
I'm surprise you edited the toms rather than gating them.
They were a very, very, very good live band.
You do the semi intelligible Strummer vox really well.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Ray. Regarding editing the toms, gating was my first thought but when I looked at the tracks I could see there were only a half-dozen places where the toms were actually being hit, with long sequences of boingy overspill and boxiness inbetween. It was far simpler to edit those out than to set up three problematic gates with their individual triggers. I pulled down the volume on them rather than remove them altogether.
 
The drums sound much better, and the track overall. I'm still hearing that booming frequency on the bass. I hear it especially when you are playing around the low B (on a four string), so you might want to look first at the fundamental around 60Hz, then follow the harmonics up (120, 180, 240, etc.).
 
Fuckin'ell buba, if I didn't know I would have assumed it was an alternate take by The Clash or something.
 
I haven't read the other responses.
I'm not a fan of clash but I think you nailed the feel and vibe of this. it's a retro sounding mix but has plenty of clarity and definition. Vocals are hot in the mix...I like that. Good vocal performance and we'll recorded IMO. Very tight performance. Not much to criticize here.
fantastic recording all the way around Bubba Po
 
jimistone said:
I haven't read the other responses.
I'm not a fan of clash but I think you nailed the feel and vibe of this. it's a retro sounding mix but has plenty of clarity and definition. Vocals are hot in the mix...I like that. Good vocal performance and we'll recorded IMO. Very tight performance. Not much to criticize here.
fantastic recording all the way around Bubba Po
Click to expand...

Thanks for taking the time to listen Jimi. Appreciated. :)
 
ThoriumEx said:
The guitars has some very annoying high mid frequencies sticking out. Scoop it out with some narrow EQ moves.
Click to expand...

Yeah, true but that's why it sounds as good as it does. He could still bring them down and make it sound better though. :D
 
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