Cowboy X - the ballad (ACM mics)

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antichef

antichef

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I was in a metal band in the '80s (weren't we all?), and we played originals and recorded some (we had a couple of names, and "Cowboy X" was one of them). I've stayed in touch with the bass player, and now we're working on re-tracking our old songs for the hell of it. This is my rough draft of our heavy metal ballad (every band had to have at least one (but not more than two or three)). Like I do mostly these days, I recorded the guitar lines dry into Logic Express, and then use amp models at first, later replacing with re-amped tracks. The bass player is busy, and so hasn't added the bass line yet. He also plans to add strings in the places where you'll here an organ and piano. And get a real live drummer, too :)



The reason I'm posting this now, even though this is far from finished, is because I just did some re-amping with the ACM-4 and ACM-2 mics, and since a bunch of folks want to hear what these sound like, I thought this would be a nice time to post. I'll link to this post from the reviews thread in the mic forum.

The intro guitar melody is a sg clone with P-94 pickups reamped through an old Epiphone 101 amp (single EL 84), miced with the ACM-4 with a Lundahl transformer -- it shows up again after the solo. The next clean guitar part is still a model. All the heavy rhythm guitar is reamped using a Marshall half stack and miced with a retensioned ACM-2 with an Edcor transformer (it's double tracked, because I'm playing the parts of both me (SG Supreme, left channel) and the rhythm guitar player (the clone, right channel)). The solos are still models, and the rhythm guitar backing the solo is still a model (oops - meant to get that one -- you can really hear the difference between the ACM-2/Marshall and the model). The very end melody bit is still a model.

The ACM-2 is doing a great job of picking up the Marshall -- unfortunately, I couldn't turn it up very loud this time (about 0.5 on the scale from 0 to 10), and so it's got more of scooped-mids sound than I'm aiming for. But that's the amp, not the mic. The mic sure does pick up the bassiness -- I don't think I could get this sound with a 57. I'll retrack later when I can turn it up.
 
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Hi Antichef!

Don´t know if you have the separated tracks ; some things (IMO) could help:

I´d go for a traditionall Bass Drum.Is kinda weak and "no usual" (I hear a stereo effect -maybe a short delay...what cause some phase issues)

Guitars starting at 0:36 are nice, good tone and stereo; a bit loud in the mix.

Main guitar starting at 1:09 sounds "mono"; even being in the center, you could use a stereo reverb (or delay) effect to match better with the other guitars.

Song has a nice vibe.

Ciro
 
Thanks CIRO - you blew my record of hundreds of view and no response :mad: - and here I thought it was because everyone was so awed :D

Great suggestions, as usual. Good excuse to pick this back up.
 
This is very good. It's very mellow and easy to listen to, would be nice movie music. The guitar at the beginning has one or two spots where its not steady but no biggie. The fadeout could be sooner around 2:53 or so.

I couls use more bass but I have the heat on in the house, and the low noise of the furnace may be interfering! Like the ending, reminds me of a RUSH ending. Kudos to CIRO for bringing this back from beyond the grave.:D
 
Hey Antichef!
Nice ideas and good guitar work here...it's hard for me to judge without vocals though (guess it's gonna have them no?). I think the different instruments need to be mixed more coherent with each other though. Drums need working on definitely, but this is still very rough anyway. I'd like to hear it finished....and if it's gonna sound 80's don't forget the reverb and the hair-spray!:D

Cheers
Joe
 
Yeah this is worth bringing back. Sorry we missed it! I get what your saying about the scooped guitars--but they sound sweet--very big and moving.

It all requires some bone crushing drums to go with the guits. Lot of different guitar tones at work here--but they're good! They create nice textures.

And Cowboy X? That sounds so familiar--where were you when you were Cowboy X?
 
I was in Omaha - it was like 1987/88.

When I first put this together, I contacted our drummer, who was very good, but he [gasp] sold his kit a long time ago. I have attempted to do the drums with sampling and a trigger pad, but, [sigh], I can't do much.

Anyone up for a collab? I'll send you the original track, which the bass player rescued from a deteriorating cassette tape - I think you can make out the drums pretty well. The actual masters are floating around somewhere, but I don't have them. I like the new guitar tracks anyway :)
 
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