Llb 2013

rayc

rayc

retroreprobate
This is a track I started some time ago but had to give up on two versions due to, interestingly in both cases, drum track problems.
THIS version has a drum track care of Band in a Box. - Yeah, I know but it was a gift from the wife & I've managed to put it to use in some way.
The benefit of the drum track is that it is metronomic without being a metronome - I've tried but just can't play to a metronome I'm afraid.
a stereo drum track
a bass track
a couple of guitar tracks via mic'd cab attached to a Kustom Defender 5H
a couple of guitar tracks DI'd through a BDI21 (as was the bass)
a touch of the Tubebaby VST on one of the chorus guitars.

I'm primarily interested in your thoughts regarding the balance of guitars - there're two "riffs" played with 5ths and open chords accompanying those. The verse "Riff" is also played on the bass.
Thoughts?
HERE's the LATEST mix (24/4/13 AUS time)

And then - this is the one with revised bass line as mentioned/posted near the bottom of the page - sorry:
 
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Hey Ray, I think this sounds pretty cool...I think the way you have done the guitars givs it a real pulsing type groove...giving it some life instead of perfectly placed chord strokes on the beat, if you know what Im sayin...
 
Hello Queepy,
This was a hard one for me as most of the guitar tracks are down strokes only. I recorded it in a couple of hours as I was really into it for a change and all the gear was working. Thanks for your kind words.
 
I like the guitar sounds - kind of a CCR tone if you ask me. Bass is sitting about right.

Bass sounds OK but it's a bit indistinct - one note melting in to the next.

A couple of small tempo issues. One in the first first couple seconds of the song.
 

This is wed 24th April's remix (AUS time)
TripleM,
thanks for the detail. this mix has a rerecorded bass. I actually spent the time to do what I used to - split the signal to DI & amp then blended in the box. I added a little EQ at 1Khz on one of them to add a little more proggy growl. I'm thinking of shortening/editing the intro so may just cut that 1st flub.Again, thanks.
Fatfleet,
Thanks mate. I do have the words (well at least the words from when it was planned as a mono colossus):
Listen Like Brian.
Oh, now wouldn’t it be nice,
If you still believe in me.
I just wasn’t made for these times,
‘Cause I need your love & mercy.

Yeah now, let’s wake the world,
It can be here in the morning.
‘Cause this sound is meant for you,
If you listen like Brian.

Drop the needle in the groove,
Sleeve in sepia like cocoa.
I live in colour not black & white,
But all my pet sounds come in mono

A forty five spinning ‘round
A sad song left me crying.
Record player in my room,
I try to listen like Brian.

Keep an eye on summer,
Do you remember rockin’ bands?
Fantastic plastic on the platter,
LP cover in my hands.

You’ve been busy doin’ nothin’,
Please don’t do it again.
Now, yours is the whole wide world
If you listen like Brian.

It’s OK with me if you,
Play ev'ry song twice.
Let the music take you home
Babe, oh, wouldn’t it be nice?

Turn your head & close your eyes,
Just let the waves break now, no lying’
Feel the beauty, feel the beat,
If you listen like Brian.

With a finger in one ear,
You can listen like Brian.
 
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Awesome tune, guitars sound great to me. I look forward to hearing it with words. I was humming along to it after a couple of bars, it's got a real groove. :listeningmusic:
 

SORRY,
Here's another mix. I was listening for some flubs and decided the bass followed the verse riff a little too closely so re recorded it with a walk in the spaces to differentiate the two a little more.
fritsthegirl,
thanks for the very kind words. At some stage this 'll have the words attached as more than text I hope.
The bass needs some EQing to get rid of some mud or something. Any diagnosticians available?
 
rayc said:
Listen Like Brian.
Oh, now wouldn’t it be nice,
If you still believe in me.
I just wasn’t made for these times,
‘Cause I need your love & mercy.

Yeah now, let’s wake the world,
It can be here in the morning.
‘Cause this sound is meant for you,
If you listen like Brian.

Drop the needle in the groove,
Sleeve in sepia like cocoa.
I live in colour not black & white,
But all my pet sounds come in mono

With a single spinning ‘round
A sad song left me crying.
Record player in my room,
I try to listen like Brian.

Keep an eye on summer,
Do you remember rockin’ bands?
Fantastic plastic on the platter,
LP cover in my hands.

You’ve been busy doin’ nothin’,
Please don’t do it again.
Now, yours is the whole wide world
If you listen like Brian.

Yeah, it’s OK if you,
Play that same song twice.
Let the music take you home
Babe, oh, wouldn’t it be nice?

Turn your head & close your eyes,
Just let the waves break now, no lying’
Feel the beauty feel the beat,
If you listen like Brian.

With a finger in one ear,
You can listen like Brian.
Click to expand...

Over and over the crow cries uncover the corn field.
 
I was trying to work out a melody for this thing and decided to be slightly academic about it so went online to use a quick prog to determine what key the verse & chorus are in.
It seems that neither is in any particular key unless I break the chorus down line by line & even then I have a couple of options of key per line.
Even the verse isn't in a single key!
It just reinforces my M.O.: I do what sounds OK to me, (& since I have a tin ear that's almost anything)!
 
Hey Ray, I see the files in the box. I should be able to get on it next week. I gotta do some drums for someone else too, so I'll be all set up.
 
Hi Ray, once again I'm a tad late to the party. Work has been a real inconvenience for a few months plus I've been roped in to doing arrangements and instrument tracks for a couple of other artists who have been struggling to get songs recorded in a fully functional form, and I have someone else that I'm supposed to be collaborating with shortly, though I'm not sure how I'm currently going to fit all that in. There is certainly no mistaking one of your tracks, this one immediately delivers characteristics that would have me thinking mmm "Ray" in a split second. I think that's pretty admirable having a set of elements which give an impression of what is a person's style.

I like the track itself and the lyrics are thoughtful as always from yourself, my only real point for pondering is the far left hand guitar, you might find further down the line that the grittiness around the top end of it isn't sitting completely on the right side of making the overall mix sound polished. However that might well just be me and something to be disregarded. I've had a guitar sound sit in a track in a similar way and it annoyed the hell out of me because it made some passages of the track sound like it was clipping although it plainly wasn't almost like an unwanted kind of distortion, but like I say that could just be my own hang up. I think there are at least a couple of guitar tracks out that side, it's the one which is prominent pretty much from the outset.

The shifting key due to the chord intervals will make for interesting melody options and require a singer to vary from root, third and fifth to not have some unsettling moments while keeping the vocal melody from sounding a bit odd. The chord structure around the chorus sounds a lot like movement along the neck a fret at a time moving the the chord up and down by one string along the way while keeping to a similar or same shape. I'll be interested to see how this sounds with the vocals.

All the best

Tim
 
The guitars and bass sound good at the moment, I really like the panning of the two rhythm guitar lines - gives it some very nice rhythmic interplay. Be great to hear this once Greg's drums are in as the drum machine's not doing any favours to the overall sound though.

I listened a couple of times - first time just to the mix alone and then second time I tried to hum along a melody line based on the lyrics. I couldn't fit the meter exactly on the verses, but it seemed to sit well as is in the chorus. It struck me that it would work well with a hint of Roxy Music style on the vocals. Hope you get some of these ideas finished up soon - having a bunch of half completed songs drives me mad after a while.
 
Tim,
a couple of frets at a time but pretty accurate ears mate!
I applied the shape to different places and found some sounds that worked for me. Once the song was sorted I looked up the chords via an online chord thingo & found that had they semi reasonable names. I learn that way" I was too lazy to learn REAL chords in my 20s I'm afraid.
Thanks for the compliment - signature sound could be a car crash too - some folk around the forum will remember Jordan's signature sound! I'll listen into the guitar you've brought to my attentiopn. Thanks.
Rob,
ta mate. The lyric needs some serious work. I've fiddled a bit. It was strictly metre and syllabe count based and is slowly moving towards singable. The conceit of being paraphrased BBoy lyrics and/or Brian era related is a little less successful now that the project has moved away from being sonically mono.
 
rayc said:

SORRY,
Here's another mix. I was listening for some flubs and decided the bass followed the verse riff a little too closely so re recorded it with a walk in the spaces to differentiate the two a little more.
fritsthegirl,
thanks for the very kind words. At some stage this 'll have the words attached as more than text I hope.
The bass needs some EQing to get rid of some mud or something. Any diagnosticians available?
Click to expand...

Sounds good Ray.

I really like those lyrics to.

Regarding the bass, I usually like to add a fair amount of limiting to my bass tracks, it usually tames those boomy notes, and leaves less need for eq'ing.
I always used to scoop for mud ect before I started using the limiter, now the eq basically always left alone.
 
studiohermit,
it's never to late to say something positive - thanks!
Nakatira,
Hello Daniel. How's the preproduction going?
I'll try your suggestions re bass. What limiter do you use?
Thanks for the detail.
 
Cool. Liking the guitars so far. Yes, the bass guitar is a tad indistinct here, but I like the idea of it.

So, is Greg going to add drums? Right now it feels to me like that beat is just a little behind everything else (or, more likely that everything is a little ahead of the beat). Is that possible? Maybe just a few milliseconds?
 
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