Limb From Limb

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NotThatBright

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This is my favorite Motorhead song. The original is a little long for me and rife with guitar solos (a tall order for me), so this is a somewhat "abridged" version. This is the first time I covered a Motorhead song that I went for the true Motorhead bass sound... distorted, midrange-ish tone, lots of chords played, and with a pick. I love the sound on its own, but it doesn't really fill up the bottom of the mix, and I had to cut a lot of the upper-mids from it so that anything else could be heard.

I knocked this out last night... I wasn't going to post this yet since I posted a couple songs last week and I don't want to be responsible for "overkill" (get it?), but I was wondering if anyone has experience with and/or advice about using bass tones like this... are there any particular frequencies from voice, bass, or guitar that you cut or boost to make the tone work, or something else that you do so that the sounds aren't fighting each other? As I said, just from trial and error I cut some upper-mids, then boosted the hell out of the bottom end of the bass frequency to try to make the low end sound fuller, but I don't think it did much. I'd like to use this sort of tone more often in the future if I can learn a way to make it sound good in a mix.

If anyone has advice or criticism on this, I'd appreciate it. I couldn't play the solos, so I improvised my own. The first is pretty bad, the second I actually think is decent. Both are obviously simple. I got the speed of the first part of the song right, but went a little apeshit at the part where the speed changes and probably doubled the BPM of the original. At least it will be over quicker!

Thanks.

https://soundcloud.com/user92696274096/limb-from-limb/s-fLQd2

UPDATE- mix with a louder bass:

https://soundcloud.com/user92696274096/limb-from-limb3/s-DQdKU
 
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Well, I enjoyed the hell out of that. And don't worry about posting multiple songs. If you're knocking them out one after another, then put em up. It's cool.

Yeah, I haven't mixed anything heavy with guitars like this, but I've got some thoughts.

Record your guitars so they sound beautiful by themselves. Then you've got to EQ the hell out of them around the bass, drums and vocals. The guits aren't going to sound the same anymore, but they've gotta fit within the mix. So don't be shy about making deep cuts where necessary. For this, you already said you cut out the upper mids, which I'm guessing is around 500hz - 900hz. I'd say cut lower mids; 300hz to 500hz. Give more space for the bass. I can hear the low freqs of the bass, but that's it. And those are the ones you boosted. Don't be shy about changing the tone of the guitars after tracking. In the context of the mix, they're still going to sound damn good.

It might not hurt to lower the level of the guits, also. Let drums and bass drive the song.

These are just my thoughts and may or may not work. Still, enjoyed the song. Solo #2 was definitely cool.
 
Thanks for the feedback. The bass was the coolest-sounding thing in the mix and my guitar tones pretty much suck, so if you can't hear the upper part of the bass I did a shitty job mixing it. Glad you liked the song. Rock on. :)
 
I wouldn't say your guitar tones suck, I think they fit the song just right. But they are stepping on the bass. Minor tweaking. You're 95% there. :)
 
Chili said:
I wouldn't say your guitar tones suck, I think they fit the song just right. But they are stepping on the bass. Minor tweaking. You're 95% there. :)
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Think I just took care of it. Thanks again.
 
The second half of the song sounds TONS better than the first! The bass comes alive and the whole song warms up. Earlier on, you can't tell the bass from the guitar. I agree with what Chili says, by the way - the guitars could come down a bit. :)
 
Bubba po said:
The second half of the song sounds TONS better than the first! The bass comes alive and the whole song warms up. Earlier on, you can't tell the bass from the guitar. I agree with what Chili says, by the way - the guitars could come down a bit. :)
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Thanks. I've always felt that the slow part of the song was just there to build up anticipation for the fast part. Even when I was drumming the fucking thing, I couldn't wait for the part when I could finally cut loose.

I am a little disappointed, the distortion on the bass didn't come through on the recording quite as much as I could hear while playing it through the amp. I'll remember that phenomenon so I can account for it the next time I use a similar bass tone.
 
I like the spectral balance of this one - it doesn't have that midrangey thing that some other mixes have had. I can hear distortion on the bass, but you could add more with a plugin if you wanted it to sound more like that. What's holding your stuff back is the slack drumming. I don't know if you'll stick with this gaff, but if you do I can see you listening to this stuff five years from now and going 'Jesus, Jesus, why did I let that stuff get by the filter?' The filter is what doesn't let stuff get past when it shouldn't. For instance, I wrote about two dozen songs this year, maybe thirty. Over the last few months, I've been culling. I got the bunch down to about a dozen, and the other night I dumped two others. Much as I liked watching them come together and much as I enjoy playing them and much as they have some cool chord work and some clever lyrics, they just don't q-u-i-t-e make it. You'll never hear 'em. Filter.
 
Your sounds are good on this. I think that the drumming was weaker than your last track.
What happened to the metronome, man? It was working out so well.
 
dobro said:
I like the spectral balance of this one - it doesn't have that midrangey thing that some other mixes have had. I can hear distortion on the bass, but you could add more with a plugin if you wanted it to sound more like that. What's holding your stuff back is the slack drumming. I don't know if you'll stick with this gaff, but if you do I can see you listening to this stuff five years from now and going 'Jesus, Jesus, why did I let that stuff get by the filter?' The filter is what doesn't let stuff get past when it shouldn't. For instance, I wrote about two dozen songs this year, maybe thirty. Over the last few months, I've been culling. I got the bunch down to about a dozen, and the other night I dumped two others. Much as I liked watching them come together and much as I enjoy playing them and much as they have some cool chord work and some clever lyrics, they just don't q-u-i-t-e make it. You'll never hear 'em. Filter.
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Nah, I'm pretty shameless. If anything, five years from now I'd expect to listen to this crap and think, "I wish my wife would cheat on me so I can get the hell out of this marriage and still have some money." :)

I can understand what you're saying, though. And I appreciate the advice. At this point this is something I do for fun. If it becomes more of a passion, I'm sure a "filter" of sorts will develop.

I am offended that you took the Lord's name in vain.

I still haven't started using plug-ins, or even a DAW... but if I eventually do, I will look into one that can help with my tones. Thanks for the comments.
 
Schwarzenyaeger said:
Your sounds are good on this. I think that the drumming was weaker than your last track.
What happened to the metronome, man? It was working out so well.
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Yeah, there was a lot of improv with the fills, and even with the basic beat I had no plan for when and how many times to hit the kick, so there's no pattern to it. I did have the metronome going, but only for the slow part. Once it sped up I was on my own. I could have done better.

Thanks for the comments. I'LL BE BACK.
 
NotThatBright said:
Nah, I'm pretty shameless. If anything, five years from now I'd expect to listen to this crap and think, "I wish my wife would cheat on me so I can get the hell out of this marriage and still have some money." :)

I can understand what you're saying, though. And I appreciate the advice. At this point this is something I do for fun. If it becomes more of a passion, I'm sure a "filter" of sorts will develop.

I am offended that you took the Lord's name in vain.

I still haven't started using plug-ins, or even a DAW... but if I eventually do, I will look into one that can help with my tones. Thanks for the comments.
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Hi, NTB - :highfive: :complex "bro" handshake:

Start using a DAW - my recording and mixing took off vertically since getting mine up and running. You can still use your Tascam for recording the tracks (not sure what your model is or what its capabilities are) but you can dump the wav files into the computer and use Reaper. DAWS are fucking phenomenal.
 
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You do everything with a digital/analogue mixing console, NTB?
That's pretty neat. I got to mix a song on a Mackie Onyx 4 once.
I'd definitely give a DAW a try. Reaper is the go-to since it's free and quick.
 
Bubba po said:
Hi, NTB - :highfive: :complex "bro" handshake:

Start using a DAW - my recording and mixing took off vertically since getting mine up and running. You can still use your Tascam for recording the tracks (not sure what your model is or what its capabilities are) but you can dump the wav files into the computer and use Reaper. DAWS are fucking phenomenal.
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Hey buddy.

I'm pretty close to doing so. I may go on cnet later and see what is free to try.

Dog-in-door

Yeah, a Tascam DP-24. I took up playing and recording on a whim, and the DP-24 was the last part of the whim. After that it was an established hobby for me. While I've upgraded a lot of stuff since the beginning, the means for recording/processing the sounds has remained the same.

I don't know what a Mackie Onyx is. Is it a black tractor-trailer? A black pimp? Funny stuff, right? :)

Chili

I just blew $60 in 3 hours at the bar. I guess I'll check out Reaper. Thanks!
 
NotThatBright said:
Hey buddy.

I'm pretty close to doing so. I may go on cnet later and see what is free to try.

Dog-in-door

Yeah, a Tascam DP-24. I took up playing and recording on a whim, and the DP-24 was the last part of the whim. After that it was an established hobby for me. While I've upgraded a lot of stuff since the beginning, the means for recording/processing the sounds has remained the same.

I don't know what a Mackie Onyx is. Is it a black tractor-trailer? A black pimp? Funny stuff, right? :)

Chili

I just blew $60 in 3 hours at the bar. I guess I'll check out Reaper. Thanks!
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Reaper isn't free. But you can continue to use it past the 60-day trial period without paying 1 pfennig. They are relying on your conscience.
 
dobro said:
No, no - I was quoting you. In the future.
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Now that's a bit presumptuous, isn't it?

dobro said:
No DAW? How do you record and mix stuff?
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I have a Tascam DP-24 and do everything on it. I probably misspoke before... I just learned what DAW meant a few months ago, and I associated the acronym with computer software in my brain (like Pro Tools). However, I'm sure the DP-24 would qualify as a "digital audio workstation".
 
It's digital, it's audio, it's a workstation. You probably even use it for talking to me on the internet.
 
dobro said:
It's digital, it's audio, it's a workstation.
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Yes, that was pretty much the thought process I went through when I said it would qualify as a DAW.

dobro said:
You probably even use it for talking to me on the internet.
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Are you coming on to me?
 
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