Shock Me

[maximusbs]

(Cover)
2nd attempt - I reworked the vocals a little to fit my range and messed with the drums sounds too. Back-up vocals courtesy of Dave DeWhitt and Joe Mizzi - though they may wish to have their good names removed after hearing this. Oh well, I had fun messing with this. Shred as needed

 

[PoeticIntensity]

Dude... From the first 15 seconds, I already love this.. Has a Black Sabbath / Ozzy guitar tone to it, and I love that sound. Hehe... Even the vocals have a hint of that style! Nice! Wow... Great bass tone... When the bass goes really low, it almost turns me on...

Now... About the drums... They just don't fit the bill, man. I'm tempted to request to have them re-done. *ahem*

Whaddaya say? Might I have a stab at it?

(oh, and please disregard my comment to you in "Live Your Dreams" thread. 2 minutes later I saw this)

Sounds awesome, Brad.

Oh... One nit. Bring the back-up vocals up so it's more of a "wall of sound"... Those are great sounding backups... Let em' shine.

heh... more cowbell.

 

[joeym]

Gotta agree with Jason here, Brad.
The backings need to sound clearer, they're kind of detached and muffled. And some real drums would really make this shine!
Guitars and bass sound real good though and don't worry, Gene and Ace can't really sing anyway...

 

[maximusbs]

Wow, thanks Jason and Joe - yea, I totally agree about the back-ups! I had them louder and was loving it because they sound freakin' awesome and it tended to take the focus off my caterwaling - but then I thought I'd be accused of trying to hide behind the backups, so I dropped them again! Damn!

Jason, I would be honored if you'd like to take a 'stab' at the drums on this. However, be forewarned: This drum part is very precise and is as much a trademark of this song as the guitar riff is. If you just 'wing it', Greg and every other Kiss (Ace) fan will come at you with torches and pitchforks! I know the drum program I used is fairly accurate, though the sound is not great. And, I had to work my ass off to get the solo right. So, you might be in for some hard work if you are gonna do this right. No pressure.

ps. More cowbell indeed!! That precision performance with all of it's wonderful rhythmic complexity and dexterity was given to us by our very own Dave DeWhitt. And I have to say, I think he kicked it in the ass!!!!!

 

[PoeticIntensity]

Jason, I would be honored if you'd like to take a 'stab' at the drums on this. However, be forewarned: This drum part is very precise and is as much a trademark of this song as the guitar riff is. If you just 'wing it', Greg and every other Kiss (Ace) fan will come at you with torches and pitchforks! I know the drum program I used is fairly accurate, though the sound is not great. And, I had to work my ass off to get the solo right. So, you might be in for some hard work if you are gonna do this right. No pressure.

Ahh... I might get torched right here for saying this, but I didn't take note that this was a Kiss cover. Yeah, I think I might pass on doing the drums. I might give it a try, but I might pass, too. I'm gonna go listen to the original now.

(PS - Your solo kicked my teeth in. *Awesome* work, Brad.)

 

[maximusbs]

Ahh... I might get torched right here for saying this, but I didn't take note that this was a Kiss cover. Yeah, I think I might pass on doing the drums. I might give it a try, but I might pass, too. I'm gonna go listen to the original now.

(PS - Your solo kicked my teeth in. *Awesome* work, Brad.)

Thanks for the 'atta boy' on the solo. I'd like to say it was cake because I'm that good , but it took at least a week of learning and practice before I even attempted recording it. It was a personal quest for me to get this right, or at least close.

Now, regarding you 'not taking note' that this was a Kiss cover ....hmmm.....I'm tempted to jump in my truck, smuggling my record collection and a few cases of beer, drive over to Utah and give you a little schooling on the classics!
You still rock man!

 

[Greg_L]

Lol. Old make-up-era KISS is one of my guilty pleasures. I go through phases with them, but I've always liked the Ace stuff. After the Love Gun album, it all went to shit. The solo is note-for-note perfect. Good job there. The vocals are pretty rough, but it's better than your last attempt. The drums sound pretty ridiculous, but the choppy syncopated patterns are right. All of the bits and pieces are there. Pretty true to the original. If you're gonna go this true, you need to tone down the guits a little. These guitars are a little too modern and fizzy. Paul and ACE had a much more raw vintage Plexi-ish tone. Not bad though overall. It needs some real drums.

 

[Jim D]

I'm not a big Kiss fan but this is very well done. And you kicked ass on the solo.

 

[maximusbs]

Lol. Old make-up-era KISS is one of my guilty pleasures. I go through phases with them, but I've always liked the Ace stuff. After the Love Gun album, it all went to shit. The solo is note-for-note perfect. Good job there. The vocals are pretty rough, but it's better than your last attempt. The drums sound pretty ridiculous, but the choppy syncopated patterns are right. All of the bits and pieces are there. Pretty true to the original. If you're gonna go this true, you need to tone down the guits a little. These guitars are a little too modern and fizzy. Paul and ACE had a much more raw vintage Plexi-ish tone. Not bad though overall. It needs some real drums.

Thanks Greg! I guess I'll take 'pretty rough' over any day.
There's only one dude I know who could pull off this song on the drums - in fact, I think it's the only Ace/Kiss tune he hasn't recorded. Sadly though, I don't think I 'blew his skirt up' enough with my rendition to get him interested .

You are dead on about the Plexi tone...but I was just feelin' a bit mo' metal

---------- Post added at 21:47 ---------- Previous post was at 21:45 ----------

I'm not a big Kiss fan but this is very well done. And you kicked ass on the solo.

Thanks for listening Jim. I appreciate your input.

 

[Greg_L]

Thanks Greg! I guess I'll take 'pretty rough' over any day.
There's only one dude I know who could pull off this song on the drums - in fact, I think it's the only Ace/Kiss tune he hasn't recorded. Sadly though, I don't think I 'blew his skirt up' enough with my rendition to get him interested .

Haha, I guess you're talking about me? Lol. I haven't recorded a KISS song in years. I never did this one because I couldn't play the solo well enough. I don't know. I'll do you some drums for something, but I don't think I wanna do a cover.

 

[TripleM]

Not a KISS fan and I never heard the song before. I don't hate 'em, just never a big fan. yeah I didn't care for the drums either.

Loved the crunchy guitars. vocals were good. I think a double track of the lead vocal on the "Shock me's" would work well. You could probably raise the BGV's.

Didn't care for all the verb on the lead solo. Probably sounded exactly like the original though

Might be able to compress the bass more. Or might need to EQ. Notes at certain frequencies jump out just a bit.

 

[maximusbs]

Haha, I guess you're talking about me? Lol. I haven't recorded a KISS song in years. I never did this one because I couldn't play the solo well enough. I don't know. I'll do you some drums for something, but I don't think I wanna do a cover.

No problem man.

 

[maximusbs]

Not a KISS fan and I never heard the song before. I don't hate 'em, just never a big fan. yeah I didn't care for the drums either.

Loved the crunchy guitars. vocals were good. I think a double track of the lead vocal on the "Shock me's" would work well. You could probably raise the BGV's.

Didn't care for all the verb on the lead solo. Probably sounded exactly like the original though

Might be able to compress the bass more. Or might need to EQ. Notes at certain frequencies jump out just a bit.

Thanks for the detailed analysis man. You've nailed my bass struggle. I've tried to eq it out, but it starts to loose the oomph on the other notes. I have not tried additional compression other than the tube compressor from the amp - I'm gonna give it a shot!

 

[TripleM]

Thanks for the detailed analysis man. You've nailed my bass struggle. I've tried to eq it out, but it starts to loose the oomph on the other notes. I have not tried additional compression other than the tube compressor from the amp - I'm gonna give it a shot!

If the problems are frequency related, you're probably better off treating it with EQ. That's just based on my experience. I've had some mild success with very narrow, but very deep notch cuts. Like -12dbs with extremely high Q's. You might need two cuts. Find the bad frequency, cut it. Try another cut an octave above or an octave below. Listen to the mix. Did you help? Yes? - good. No? - bad, so try again.

 

[Greg_L]

If the problems are frequency related, you're probably better off treating it with EQ. That's just based on my experience. I've had some mild success with very narrow, but very deep notch cuts. Like -12dbs with extremely high Q's. You might need two cuts. Find the bad frequency, cut it. Try another cut an octave above or an octave below. Listen to the mix. Did you help? Yes? - good. No? - bad, so try again.

Yup. If it's just one note booming out, figure out which note it is, look it up on a frequency chart, and do a narrow EQ notch to tame it down. There was a thread recently about this up in the Recording Techniques or Mixing sections.

 

[maximusbs]

You guys are right- it's just a matter of me being afraid to cut too deep with the eq knife. I just need to be more precise with a freq analyzer and the Q setting to make sure im targeting only the offensive freq - then tame it hard. Do you guys think its just a cheap bass guitar problem? Do you think expensive basses do the same thing (I've never even played a bass that cost more than $250)?

 

[TripleM]

Not sure if it's a cheap bass. Even great basses can have frequencies that jump out.

You might be able to find your problem frequency on a chart. For example, if you listen to your bass track and notice that the E notes are really jumping out look up an E on a frequency chart. It think on a bass the low E is 82hz. Then test notching out 82, 164, 328, etc. Just an example.

 

[Greg_L]

I used to have a USA P-Bass and it had certain noted that would jump out too. It just happens sometimes.

 

[maximusbs]

Alright, this may bit a bit indulgent of us to carry on so about 1 bass note... but here goes anyway and perhaps it will be helpful to anyone who has yet to deal with this problem.

I reset the bass eq on this mix. I had most of the low end rolled off on the first mix. This time (per our discussion) I used a freq analyzer to really get a good look at the offending note (B on the E string). The worst was 107 hz, with a 15 Q I notched it about -10db. The next was 53 hz, with a 9 Q I notched it -11db. I hate breaking the 5db rule here, but it seemed to be warranted in this case.
Thank for the input TM and Greg. If you have time you can judge if it made a difference or not.

 

[Greg_L]

I can't listen right now, but I will say this: fuck the rules. The "no more than 5 or 6db boost or cut" rule is especially stupid. Don't limit yourself with dumb cliches perpetuated by internet honks that don't make good mixes anyway and gear manufacturers. If a 10 db narrow cut sounds good and fixes the problem, then how is that a bad thing? All that matters is sounding good. Sure, it would be nice to not have to do huge cuts or boosts, but sometimes shit happens. Do what you gotta do and don't worry about rules.