Althea - Grateful Dead Cover by Heatmiser and Chili

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Chili

Chili

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This song has been years in the waiting.

A few years back, Heat posted a great cover of China Cat Sunflower. Blown away with it, I sent him a pm asking if he would like to do Althea with me. He responded that he only worked with a 4 track cassette recorder and couldn't do collaborations. Recently, he moved into the 20th century and asked me if I was still interested. heh, fluck yeah I am....

So, this song isn't for eveyone. It's about 7 minutes of good mellow jammin'. Gotta be a Dead Head to get it. :)

This is the first time for both of us to do a full cool-laboration like this and it was quite the learning experience. The Dead are known for their live performances and it's difficult to try and convey that feel... I think we came close.

Heat did all the guitars (2 rhythm guitars and lead solo guitar) and bass.
I did vox, piano and drums (ezdrummer, of course) and I mixed it.

Thanks for listening. All comments are welcome.

Althea192.mp3 - File Shared from Box.net - Free Online File Storage
 
Sounds really good. I'm no fan of the Dead, but this was tolerable. Lol. Yall did a really good job. I think Heatmiser is one of the hidden gems of HR.com. Super nice guy and very talented but kinda flies under the radar. The vox and instrumentation sound really clean and balanced. So much so that the drums stick out as too roomy. If you're trying to capture the "jam" feel, shouldn't the drums be in the same space as everything else? Just a thought. Other than that, I got nuthin. Great job, fellas. :)
 
Thanks for the listen, guys. As far as getting in the same space, I agree. That was one of the subtle difficulties of doing a long distance collab; trying to get it to sound like we were in the same space and same mindset. We had a few other technical difficulties to get through first, so this was basically the last thing we thought about. Adjusting it might be as easy as pulling down the room mic in ezdrummer. I pushed it up a little more than usual thinking it would add to the 'live' feel. Maybe it had the opposite effect.

Heat was really great to work with. I believe we both thoroughly enjoyed the experience, I know I did. I learned a few things just listening to his guitar tracks that I hope to incorporate in future songs.
 
I really enjoyed this, there were alot of Dead Heads in the town I grew up in. Nice drum programming, ride cymbal is something I really miss in modern music, I thought you mixed the parts just right. Nice guitar work and very pleasing tone(s). Thanks for sharing it.
 
PDP said:
ride cymbal is something I really miss in modern music, .
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It's funny you say that, I feel the same way. Closed hats are going the way of the dinosaur too. I bet I spend as much time bashing my ride as I do my hats.
 
nice clear mix, levels and performance sounded great to me...loved the keys :)


funny I dont think Ive ever liked a Grateful Dead song Ive accidentally heard, but Ive liked covers of them?? weird


good job both of you
 
Yeah, ride cymbal is like an instrument in itself, you can play on the bell, the edge, in between, they all add a different texture, (and usually sound good) I find Hats are harder to get a good sound from, whenever I solo a set of hats, I'm not quite sure what to do with em.
 
Oh Baby! Very "Dead" sounding. The guitar tone and style is spot on. The drum space thing is an issue but a VERY small one. I really like this one.
 
Mix sounds excellent. The vocals sound really good too. I am not a fan of the dead but this sounds pretty good.

Great work guys, very nice soundscape
 
Real good. I loved the guitar sounds.

Only nit is the vocal sounds much dryer than the rest of the tracks.

OK one more - the drums/cymbals seem to have a real hyped high end.
 
I don't think I've ever heard anything by Grateful Dead, but I really enjoyed listening to this. Nothing stood out to me as needing work. Drums being in a different space didn't bug me, although if I heard this with the drums in the same space, I'd probably like it more.

Kudos, guys. Sounded great!
 
Thanks eveyone for checking it out. I'm glad you seem to think the mix works as I think chili did a great job pulling it all together.

I sent him tracks that were already loaded with reverb from my amp which probably makes it hard to match up with the drums & vocals after the fact. I love his piano sound on this. I know this isn't many peoples' cup of tea or whatever, but you slogged through it anyway and I appreciate it. Chili is awesome to work with. Very patient and willing to try different stuff. Lots 'o' fun.

And Greg - you are being super nice yourself lately - what happened :) ? Seriously, that is good of you to say. There are so many helpful people here, but you probably more than any other have helped me to focus on the right things. I am far less tolerant of crap sounds in my own work as a result of your feedback to myself and to others, so thank you.
 
arcadeko said:
Mix sounds excellent. The vocals sound really good too. I am not a fan of the dead but this sounds pretty good.

Great work guys, very nice soundscape
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Thanks Man.

TripleM said:
Only nit is the vocal sounds much dryer than the rest of the tracks.

OK one more - the drums/cymbals seem to have a real hyped high end.
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Thanks much. Yeah, I spent a lot of time with the vocal track. It's got verb on it, believe it or not, that is what is pushing the sibilance to the edge of tolerance. I tried to find the best balance, but now I will go back and look at it again. I don't want to over-process it, though.

bouldersoundguy said:
Nice. Sounds like the Dead with Warren Zevon doing the vocals.
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Warren Zevon.... hmmm.... I thought about covering Werewolves of London before.... Ya game, Heat? It's frikkin simple to play, but loaded with lots of room to jam.

PoeticIntensity said:
I don't think I've ever heard anything by Grateful Dead, but I really enjoyed listening to this. Nothing stood out to me as needing work. Drums being in a different space didn't bug me, although if I heard this with the drums in the same space, I'd probably like it more.

Kudos, guys. Sounded great!
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Thanks Jason!!!

heatmiser said:
And Greg - .....There are so many helpful people here, but you probably more than any other have helped me to focus on the right things. I am far less tolerant of crap sounds in my own work as a result of your feedback to myself and to others, so thank you.
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yeah, +1 right there. Same goes for Rami. I find myself thinking 'what would Greg or Rami say?' when I'm working on a song. I had a feeling the space thing might come up with this one. lol.... :D
 
Totally great mix, guys!
Everything sounds clear an in its place. Love the guitar sounds and Heat plays them superbly. Very good singing from you, Dave.
Got nuthin' else to say except, great collab, guys!
 
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