My new setup

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37point5

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Hey all,

Here's the first song I've done with my new 24 bit soundcard (the Delta 66). It's also the first song with my new Oktava MC-012 small diaphragm condenser. My mixer is a Behringer 602A; the preamps are fairly decent. I used Cakewalk Pro Audio 9.2 for recording, and various plugins, but mostly the Waves Rennaisance EQ and compressor, and the DSP-FX Studioverb.

The guitar parts were all done with a Lace Sensor-outfitted Strat copy and a Jay Turser archtop semi-hollow body (with flatwound strings). Some of the guitars were run through a Crate G60XL (with a Celestion speaker) and miked with the Oktava, some were run straight into the mixer and processed with the Cakewalk Amp Sim. The bass and flute are from the Roland GR-30 guitar synth. The drum track is just a one-shot scratch track recorded with the Oktava for the overhead and an EV 257 on the bass drum. Unfortunately, I'm still saving up to buy an ART Dual MP and a Rode NT-1; when that happens I'll be able to record a real drum track.

Anyway, the song is at

Let me know what you guys think. I know it's a bit odd and out there at times, but hopefully you'll enjoy it!

Ryan
(37point5)
 
Listened to this one twice so I could get a feel for the dissonance and it worked...I liked the synth bass lines too, but I hardly heard the flute...all those layers of guitars worked for me too...gibs
 
Gibs,

Yeah, dissonance is a good word for the screwy guitar in the middle. Actually, almost all of the notes I'm playing are in the right key (except for the occasional flat 5ths), but I'm just playing a lot of weird intervals within the scale. I'm also playing off the beat (Zappa and Vai use both of these techniques a bunch).

I can't hear the flute much either, but mostly I was just putting it in there to kinda subliminally highlight the melody (to add some frequency range to it) and to please my fiance, for whom the song was written (she's a flute fanatic).

Thanks for the compliment on the guitar layering; it's much easier to do so now that I have a good mic and a better soundcard. Somehow the MC-012 picks up much more spatial detail, and the soundcard preserves that detail, so things don't sound as flat as they used to. It's easier to get instruments to stick out spatially in the mix.

Ryan
(37point5)

P.S. I forgot to mention that the lead guitar melody (played by the Jay Turser archtop) is doubled by a nylon guitar patch from the GR-30.

P.P.S. A low-res version of this can now be found on my MP3.com site at http://mp3.com/37point5/
 
This is a really pretty song, first of all because of the song, and second because of the sound - is that the MC012 at work do you think? However, have you ever listened to the basswork on the Sonusman's postings on this site, or for that matter, Phil Lesh on pre-1975 Grateful Dead material? The bass stands out on the stuff I'm referring to, as bass should. On a liquid tune like your own, the bass could easily stand out similarly, loping along and counterpointing with the guitars. Which brings me to questions two and three: who played on this track, and do you have more material in this vein? I keep listening to it. :)
 
Dobro,

Thanks for the compliments! I'm pretty much a tone freak when it comes to guitars, so the sound is mostly because of my amp/pickup/effects configurations, but I have to say that the Oktava captures the sound I want better and more easily than any other mic I have. And like I said, it gives the sounds a lot of depth.

As far as the bassline goes, I agree with you that it would sound really cool with that sort of interweaving line. I played all the instruments on this, and the bass is the one I'm weakest at; not technique-wise, but just coming up with cool lines that don't detract from the rest of the song. So, when in doubt, I usually keep it simpler rather than more complex. I'll try messing with it though and see if I can come up with anything more interesting.

Finally, yeah I do have more songs like this, but I haven't recorded them yet. There are some others vaguely like it at http://mp3.com/37point5/, but they're a little heavier.

Ryan
(37point5)
 
Yeah, it's not just the tone of the guitars I like (what do they call it - timbre?) although I really like that liquid sound you get, but it's the clarity that you got on that tone that impresses also, and I think it's the mics.

And I think that's what the bass could use - a bit more hearable, a bit more upfront.
 
Great sounding tune. It's a weird one. It must be all that 'music theory' stuff ;)

As everyone else said, it could use a little more bass guitar, but everything else sounds good.
 
Thats pretty cool 37point5. I thought it was really unpredicable, meaning that I was surprised and pleased at many points and it kept my attention. It made me feel good. Thanks.
bobbo
 
Hey guys, thanks a bunch for the support. I enjoy the unpredictable aspect of the song, too; it's a big part of my songwriting style. I always have a horrible inclination to change perfectly normal radio-friendly songs into strange songs. Yeah, I guess it must be all that music theory stuff trying to worm its way out of my subconscious ;)

Dobro, I thought of another possible contribution to that sound that I hadn't mentioned: Monster Cables. I don't use the most expensive ones, but the ones that I have sound quite a bit better than the old generic cables I had. It'll be interesting to see how much the sound improves once I get some better preamps (although I still think the Behringers are fairly good). Oh, and I've decided to run the bass through the Cakewalk Amp Simulator to see if that makes it sound better. If not, I may just redo the bassline altogether by running the guitar synth through the amp and micing it.

Thanks again all,
Ryan
(37point5)
 
Allow me to encourage you in your "horrible inclination to change perfectly normal radio-friendly songs into strange songs".

"The trouble with normal is that it always gets worse."
Bruce Cockburn
 
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