Good times, bad times

  • Thread starter Thread starter ZoSo58LP
  • Start date Start date
ZoSo58LP

ZoSo58LP

rock guy
hey guys..so i've been without a laptop for 2 months now, so i have really no means of recording...so i blew the dust off my fostex MR-8, but now i realize how bad it sounds recording through it lol....i did a take of an old zeppelin song...now, i know the drums are really sloppy (i just cant get those damn triplets down!) but i'm mainly looking for ideas on the guitar tone.....i'm just having such a hard time trying to get good tones down from my JCM2000 and an SM57...but i think i did a DECENT job on this one...but of course i just can't nail the tone he gets on the solo of the song! the basslines are all improvised, or done by ear, i never learned this song on bass and realized that right before i started recording lol so i had to throw on the song and just figure the main pieces out and then improvise the rest...and the entire ending guitar is improvised...but i mean, what do you guys think of the tone? the entire mix clips because the drums clipped when recording and the kick came out like garbage....stupid FOSTEX! =)

 
Guitar tones sound good to me, but to me the guitar tones would be on the bottom of the list if you're gonna replicate this song, to me it's always been the drums and especially the bass guitar. A lot of the power and tone of Jimmy Page's guitar comes from John Paul Jones doubling up Jimmy on the riffs and then John Bonham slamming it home with the kick. That's my take on this anyways. Also on the solo I could be wrong, but I think Jimmy's playing it somewhat through a leslie, but I haven't heard this song for a while
 
Playing sounds great. I love the panning on the guitars.

Playing sounds good and tight. I'm listening on a laptop so I can't really comment on the mix, but it sounds good from what I hear.

I would put a little more space between the mics and the drums (if you trust your room enough). The drums make Zeppelin
 
steppingonmars said:
if you're gonna replicate this song, to me it's always been the drums and especially the bass guitar.
Click to expand...

....and the vocals.

But I agree 100% with mars' post.

Being a drummer, I'm going to sound overly-critical, and I aplogise in advance for that.........

If you're going to do this tune and you're trying to stay relatively true to the original, you have to get the drums right, if not perfect. If the drummer can't do Bonzo's double-bounce thing on the second vocal line in the first verse then don't even try. Coming "close" just makes it stumble. The rest of the drum parts are close, but not right. I realize it's a hard tune to play. But I think this is either a "nail it" or "change it....drastically" type song.

The guitars sound great to me.

I have to say that the overall "sound" is there, as far as ambiance is concerned. But the individual parts are just as important. This is totally my opinion, and I realize that many will disagree with me. I also realize that you can stick a killer vocal track on that and I would completely change my opinion on it.
 
ZoSo58LP said:
i know the drums are really sloppy (i just cant get those damn triplets down!)
Click to expand...

Hey man, I'm really sorry. I just caught this. I usually click a link to listen without neccassarilly reading the whole post. I guess I told you what you already know. I wouldn't have gone through all that had I read your post properly.:eek:

I thought this was a band. For one guy doing everything, it's awesome. What about vocals for this??? Do you sing, too???
 
I agree with Rami. You gotta nail the drums on a Zep tune, which is why I stay far away from them. Your drumming missed the mark mostly, but so would lots of people's drumming. They aint terrible though. It's pretty good playing for the most part. Bonham isn't regarded as a drum god for nothing.

But you wanted guitar critiques anyway. I think they sound pretty damn good. I really like the lead tone. Good playing too.
 
Also all of the electric guitar work on the first Zepplin album was done on a Telecaster and a Supro amp. The Les Paul didn't come till the 2nd album I believe-that might get you closer to the tone you are seeking, but your guitar work sounds good in my opinion!
 
hey guys, thanks for all the comments!

yeah, my mixing of drums is far from good as well as playing lol...but i was a self taught drummer for only 5 years now...my main thing for zep has always been the guitar playing and the basslines...believe me, this song isn't my best at all. being without my laptop is really killing me lol..the fostex just has such low crap quality.

RAMI, thanks for your comments as well. no biggie, i understand im a sloppy drummer lol i've got to learn to play to a click track and stuff...plus, i get all happy when i first learn a song and want to record it right away haha..ive always known the song on guitar, but i just decided 'why not learn the drums?' so i did..and like 20 minutes after playing them just recorded...so believe me, it's careless on my part lol and maybe i shouldn't have posted it, but i was really curious as to what people thought of the guitar tones more. on the drums, i used some kind of dynamic compressor dealy built into adobe audition..it was called "power drums" so that track is a little wet...plus, i cant mix EACH drum..i do that on a mixer, then one mono cable goes from the mixer to the laptop or MR-8..so once it's recorded, its done. thats what sucks about my low budgetness here lol..

and no, i can't sing for the life of me lol...if anybody thinks they could nail some Plant here, do it up lol..could make it sound great!

hopefully i'll be able to learn a SET way to setup my mic on this half stack and get a good tone from it..because man, i love how this thing sounds in my basement...but recording-wise, it's so tough to grasp the awesomeness of it

oh and as for jimmy's tone....yeah, the solo was done through a leslie. and on the first album, he did use his telecaster...so i used my '89 lace sensor equipped strat..3 singles, on the bridge position...maybe it doesnt sound so good because my strings are over a year old and have that dull sound..which i kinda like, BUT jimmy's got that real twangy tele sound on that album, especially on communication breakdown.....plus yeah, the supro amp was small wasnt it?
 
ZoSo58LP said:
maybe i shouldn't have posted it, but i was really curious as to what people thought of the guitar tones more.
Click to expand...
That's cool. I wasn't suggesting for a second that you shouldn't have posted it or recorded it. I was being critical on "your drummer". For a self-taught 5 year drummer who learned this in 20 minutes, it's good. :)
and no, i can't sing for the life of me lol...if anybody thinks they could nail some Plant here, do it up lol..could make it sound great!
Click to expand...

I might give it a shot for the hell of it. If I do the vocals, though, I might have to do the drums. :D
 
haha hey, contact me if you're down for a collaboration here lol...that would be fun! i could re-record the guitars and bass and get all out better tones on everything!
 
Here you go, its a live performance of 'Dazed and Confused' from Led Zepplin's early days, pretty cool!

 
VERY cool! does anybody have good times bad times live? i've never seen that performed :(
 
I did a cover of "Living Loving Maid" a few months ago. It's here in the clinic somewhere. :D
 
awesome! i looked it up, it sounds pretty awesome. i dig the vocals too...i wish i could sing lol the quality is awesome of the entire mix, especially those drums
 
As a guitar player, I almost get bored with guitar (listening, that is) and really groove on drums. And while I love Jimmy Page, Led Zeppelin is about drums for me too.

But you were going for guitar tone here. And while not identical to Page's tone, I think you nailed the performance. Seems like covers are either so different that they're more like "inspired by" tunes, or so alike that they're mechanical. Yours was different--the guitar performance was really true to the the original (to my memory, anyway) but still had tons of life & energy.

Great job!
 
I aint got anything to say to you, cause Im not nearly as good on drums or guitar or bass as you are.
Ive never met anyone who can do a true Zep cover, so dont be too hard on yourself.
For what its worth, I really liked it.


Mike
 
ZoSo, I'm a HUGE Zeppelin fan also. Let me know if you'd like to colab on a Zeppelin song. None of my instruments sound as good as yours in this song, but I've got a nice acoustic guitar that I could play if you want to do something like Babe I'm Gonna Leave, Rain Song, Gallows Pole, etc.

PM me if you're interested.
 
As an owner of a Fostex MR-8 I would say good job... ha ha. Especially on the drum mix, because recording drums on those is a nightmare. I have used it before, and now it just sits in a room. I'm surprised that you got the tone you did with it. Mostly because you can't eq anything after it's recorded, all you can do is pan and volume!! I just use mine for quick demo stuff, but never thought you could get a sound this good out of one.

Nice guitar playing too!

-James'
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top