New Smart Apple tune... Need some input... Sorry I've been away guys - Injury.

[Teddie]

Hey, guys, sorry I've been away... I had injured my fret-hand and I've been wallowing in my pity-party cuz I couldn't play my guitars at all without screaming bloody murder from pain.

Anyways, my hand felt a little better last week so I put together another tune... it's kinda ska-ish/reggae-ish.

My wife bought me a Line6 Bass Pod a few weeks back but was unable to use it because of my hand... Used it for the first time in this song (I sold my SansAmp Bass DI). Gimme some input on the bass if anything.

The song is called "I Drank Alot Today" and you can find it here: http://mp3.com/smartapple.

Hope you folks like it... it's nice to be back playing music again.

Your H/R bud,
Teddie (Smart Apple) http://mp3.com/smartapple

 

[drstawl]

Nice job! Crisp my man!
The vocals were masterly recorded.
The lead guitar almost had it incredibly nailed.
Man you got it so close i was SHAKIN!
Do it again. It'll be worth it, I promise!!!
You know what I mean.....

 

[Teddie]

Hiya Doc,

Hey, I'm glad you liked it.

Originally posted by drstawl
The vocals were masterly recorded.

I actually used a little less compression on the quieter "oh I drank alot..." vocals... I think I might be using that compression setting alot in the future... it's more subtle...

The lead guitar almost had it incredibly nailed.
Man you got it so close i was SHAKIN!

Hey, cool... Yeah, I actually had to make up a solo that I only needed three of my fingers... I can't throw my pinky finger around because that was the finger that I screwed up when I fell. But it turned out to be a simple decent solo that I think fit the song's mood.

Do it again. It'll be worth it, I promise!!!
You know what I mean.....

Was there a part of the song that you think I need to redo? Sorry, that last part confused me.

Thanks again for listening.

 

[drstawl]

I think you could've gotten that guitar solo a little closer to perfect but it was pretty nice where it was anyway.

 

[GT]

Hey Teddie,

Great to have you back! Sorry to hear about your hand, no more hand feeding sharks for you!

Song sounds great, I would go for a little more bite on the bass, I hope you know what I mean. I think you are the first bass pod owner on this site. You will be the test monkey.

You know what would be great on this song? Give up?

HORNS!! Yes, a big ass horn section, especially trumpets, I expect you to get right on it.

Keep up the great work!!

GT

 

[LI Slim]

Great tune. I just loved listening to this. You are really communicating heart to heart.

Maybe, just maybe, syncopate the lead guitar a little more at times.

I would bring the lead vocal up just a little and the rhythm guitar down just a little.

No horns, please.

 

[Ray J]

The Bass POD sounded fine, I liked the background vocals a bunch, nice one Ted.

Ray J

 

[Teddie]

drstawl, thanks man... I actually can hear where I'm a little off on the lead (I'm hearing a timing issue). It's probably because of my hand being so stiff from the injury. I might rework that solo at a later date (I've done that on other songs for sure). I've been trying to re-habilitate my hand by running progressions up the fretboard. I scream like a woman by the end of the excerise, but I think it's giving my hand back it's dexterity and flexibility. Thanks again for listening to the tunage and for the feedback.

GT, I know exactly what you mean about the bass, bro. I'm going to try and "dial-in" this BassPod a little tighter on my next song. I'm still experimenting with it. I don't know that much about bass as much as I know about guitar, so it's harder for me to figure how this bass is supposed to sound like for a particular song - that's where you guys come in to help Regarding the horns, dude, I was going to put horns in the song... I really was, but I couldn't find a good horn(s) sound on my keyboard. Maybe someone would like to try and put a horns section in this song and run it by me? How bout you, GT, you horny enough to do it?

LI Slim, thanks much for listening. Like I was telling drstawl, I might rework that lead at a later date (issue with stiff hand) and I'll keep the syncopation in mind for sure. Out of curiousity, did you listen to the lo-fi or the hi-fi version of the "I Drank Alot Today"? -- Regarding the horns, I hear what you're saying... but... I gotta hear it with horns just so I know... I'm trying to see if someone will horn-in and make this thing all horned-up for me. Thanks for listening to it.

Ray J, what's up bro! Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you liked it.

 

[Eddie N]

kinda sublimish... i likes it.. i thought brad was dead?

- eddie -

 

[Teddie]

Eddie, thanks for listening, man. Yeah, Brad's dead... which sucks.

I was listening to "Badfish" alot the last few months... that Sublime vibe probably seeped into my subconcious when I was writing "I Drank Alot Today"...

Glad ya liked it!

 

[GT]

Sorry Teddie,

Mama don't allow no horn playing round here.

The only woodwind I ever played was the Bass clarinet in school, it was my last choice, I wanted to play drums.

Now I seem to be stuck on guitars. Just gotta love em!!

There has to be someone here that plays horns, just got to wait for them to surface. Hope so anyway!

GT

 

[LI Slim]

Teddie, I'm a hi-fi guy..........

 

[Teddie]

GT, I actually remembered (I blocked this horrid memory out) but I used to play trumpet in elementary school. My dad wanted to throw it out the window (me too actually), but my mom wanted me to stick it out... which was fine... until for some reason, I swear I'm not really sure why, but I told my band teacher to "f*ck-off"... what kind of language is that for a 5th grader? Horrible "me". But that's my trumpet story... My father-in-law has a bugle, so I thought since I played a little trumpet back when I was a kid, that I could pick this thing up and play a little something... Ended up sounding like a dying whale... I ramble. By the way, I've actually started to get some folks that might be interested in doing the horns for a horns version of "I Drank Alot Today" - here's the thread: https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?threadid=18828

LI Slim, what mp3 player are you using?

 

[LI Slim]

Teddie, I'm using the Music Match Jukebox. If this matters, I have a T1 line........

 

[Bow]

Hey Teddie...

Very Cool tune....
It sounds great...

Can I ask a couple questions?

What are you using to record with?

What effects unit are you using for the lead guitar?

It really sounds good!

 

[Teddie]

Bow, thanks for listening and for the kind words.

What are you using to record with?

I record everything "direct" into my sound card of my computer. I use a multitracker called PowerTracks Pro 6 (which can be found here: http://pgmusic.com). I record and also master using this multitracker. Cheap as hell - only $29 bucks or something like that if I remember correctly.

What effects unit are you using for the lead guitar?

For the lead guitar I'm recording direct using a Line6 Pod using the preset "6A" with the verb turned all the way down/off.

Thanks again for listening!

 

[flattop]

hello teddie, great stuff, listened to yer tune!!! felt like i shoulda been drivin down the road in a long red convertable!!!! yer vocals r really really kewl, the bass sounds great punchy but with that real bass sound phatt but not synthetic,,,,,,man it's sure nice to know that there is kewl tunez out there without all that hollywood crap pushin it around,,,yers is just as good if not a lot better than a lot of those guys out there in the lime.....i'd like to put u on my mp3 station if u don't mind, thought i'd ask first,,,,,,,,,hey and by the way,,,tell yer girl, that she's the best,,,,,,man what musician wouldn't thank his lucky stars when his gal shows up and says, hey honey, here's a musical gadget for ya!!!!!! right on thumbs up!!!

 

[Teddie]

flattop, thanks for listening and for the kind words, bro. Means a lot to me.

Yeah, my wife is supportive as hell. I've been through a lot of relationships in my life and I've never had someone that supported my music as much as she. I lucked out...

Oh, and she loves playing PC games and Nintendo games - Damn!

 

[flattop]

smiling,, hey thumbs up to the both of ya!!!!!! well, i can't wait till one day i can have the same kinda quality recording teddie, i love this place man, i have found my new home that's for sure, we get to learn soo much from these forums, it really humbles me, i know that for sure!,,,,i have been listening to "artists of the fame" and am starting to realize through actively listening to everyone's recordings, advice, and feedback, that a lot of those guys don't sound much diferent than a lot of you guys here at homerecording or at other music sites,,,man i have been outta the music loop for so long, i had forgotten the importance of just hanging out with other musicians, 2 thumbs up to homerecording.com, all the other places, and two u guys, thanx fer being here.............peace

 

[David]

Woowie!

Man-O-Man that was great! The Pod sounds fantastic too! I really like what you did with this tune Teddie, I listened to the lo fi version and it sounded so clean all I can say is WOW! Your lead vox was clean and crisp as were your back-ups could hear every single word. Would of liked to heard the lead guitar without any or as much distortion but thats just my nit-pickin. But it sounds really great just like it is, Great one ole boy!