New synth

[Bulls Hit]

I bought one of those little Korg synth/sequencers and been having some fun messing around with it, twisting the little knobs and and admiring all the blinking leds.

This is the first tune I've done with it. The synth itself doesn't really add much but it helped me to glue a bunch of disparate riffs into something more coherent. Any thoughts or suggestions greatly appreciated.

 

[ido1957]

Cool - the patches you picked/played add a whole bunch of cool sonics which give it variety which is always great. I hear you're still smokin hot on the guitar (that's a given ;0 ). What axe are you using on this one?

Are you using an arpeggiator? I'd like to play around with one to play around with that ZZTop 80's vibe. I have zero keyboard skills though - I play like an 8 year old taking his first lesson lol.

 

[andrushkiwt]

1. When the bass came in, I was expecting...."I'm the one natural one take it easy..."
2. I'd work on bringing the snare to the front of the mix.
3. All the effects are cool. Fun toy there

 

[Robus]

I've noticed those little Korg synths. Which one did you get? Interesting tune. I think your low end is out of control and there's a fair bit of muddiness.

 

[heatmiser]

Love all the tones and each section of the piece in isolation is pure awesomeness. I didn't necessarily feel like the whole thing flowed together transitionally so well, but I didn't really mind that either. It was just like, oh, here's a cool section...what? Whoa...here's something else!...now another, etc., you know?

You have my favorite drum sound I've heard in the clinic. Would love to know exactly how you get them to sound like that. In this case though, the HHs sound a bit thin and wimpy compared to the rest of the kit to me. Other cymbals sound great.

I love that I'm never 100% sure in your tracks what is a guitar and what is a synth.

 

[Bulls Hit]

ido - I'm thinking you need to check your monitoring setup because no-one has ever accused me of being hot on guitar, but thanks A lot of it isn't me though, it's the Eventide pedal and yes it does have an arpeggiator. It can make these crazy noises and it's a lot fun to play with. Guitar is an Epi SG. The synth doesn't have an arpegggiator but it's got a sequencer which lets you do similar stuff. You don't actually need to be able to play the keyboard - just push some buttons and twist the knobs until something musical starts happening. Thanks for the comments

andrushkiwt - I was actually thinking of dialling the snare back a bit. Thanks for the listen

heat - Agreed it doesn't really flow. The synth was just an excuse to try to link the different bits together. Took some liberties with the tempo as well. I got rid of my old drums around a year ago and replaced them with a set of Tama Superstars. The snare is wood and has a nice ring to it. I've always been fond of parallel compression on the drums. I've also got a limiter now that I run them through to add some distortion. Thanks for the heads up on the hats. I might have the overheads up too high. Cheers heat

 

[Bulls Hit]

Robus - Yeah I've got this weird resonance in my amp (20W Fender, with a 12" Celestion) so at real low frequencys it make a kind of wwuuummmm noise which I can eq out to some extent but not completely. The original Fender speaker did the same thing so it must be the cab, or some kind of cab/speaker interaction. I got the Volca Bass. It's got 3 oscillators which can be tuned/detuned independently and then played in unison so it can make some nice fat noises. Thanks for checking it out

 

[TripleM]

Guitars sound great as usual.

The synth started getting a little rumbly at about :34. Just a bit. Then again at 1:13.

The song moved very well from one section to the next.

Liked the use of stereo at 1:29 - the quick bouncing back and forth.

Over very well balanced.

Well done.

 

[heatmiser]

I got rid of my old drums around a year ago and replaced them with a set of Tama Superstars. The snare is wood and has a nice ring to it. I've always been fond of parallel compression on the drums. I've also got a limiter now that I run them through to add some distortion.

Cool. I'm sure if I played a track of yours from years ago side by side with this I might hear differences not the least of which being the new kit, but really, you do have a distinct drum sound that has remained identifiable over time. Big roomy sound, but still plenty of punch...plus they always sound pleasantly raw and dirty. I wish I could do that.

 

[Bulls Hit]

Trip - Thanks for the feedback. Always good to get your review.

 

[Bulls Hit]

... I wish I could do that.

You can use pretty much anything to dirty up drums - software plugins, guitar pedals, channel strips. Anything that adds distortion, compression, or harmonics can be recorded back in and blended with the original drums. Treat them with the disrespect they deserve! Just don't introduce any phase issues, or they'll start to sound like farts