General Music Chat

When I left Texas and moved to Louisiana about 10 years ago I was then playing guitar for a band called Quarter Moon. We had just put together Southern Cross, by CS&N. I think we had played it onstage twice.

I'm in Texas now for a couple of weeks, they found out I was here and decided to do some recording. They wanted to do Southern Cross, they always liked that one so off we went.

Shane, (rhythym guitar, keyboards & vocals) is also a videographer and videotaped everything.

Here's the basic who did what...

Me - All guitars, lead and harmony vocals. Any time you only hear two vocals during the verses, both are me.

Shane Gordon - 12 string guitar, harmony vocals, video.

Alan Wilson - Bass guitar, harmony vocals, drum machine.

We did the harmony vocals in the choruses twice, to make it fuller, drums were done on a keyboard.

Shane contacted me today and told me he had just uploaded it to youtube so here it is.

A bit rough in places, but this is 3 guys who haven't seen each other in 10 years, and all we did was a quick run-through of the harmony parts before recording, didn't have a lot of time to actually practice. I think it's not too bad considering the situation...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKnqSKQCIs4

When I left Texas and moved to Louisiana about 10 years ago I was then playing guitar for a band called Quarter Moon. We had just put together Southern Cross, by CS&N. I think we had played it onstage twice.

I'm in Texas now for a couple of weeks, they found out I was here and decided to do some recording. They wanted to do Southern Cross, they always liked that one so off we went.

Shane, (rhythym guitar, keyboards & vocals) is also a videographer and videotaped everything.

Here's the basic who did what...

Me - All guitars, lead and harmony vocals. Any time you only hear two vocals during the verses, both are me.

Shane Gordon - 12 string guitar, harmony vocals, video.

Alan Wilson - Bass guitar, harmony vocals, drum machine.

We did the harmony vocals in the choruses twice, to make it fuller, drums were done on a keyboard.

Shane contacted me today and told me he had just uploaded it to youtube so here it is.

A bit rough in places, but this is 3 guys who haven't seen each other in 10 years, and all we did was a quick run-through of the harmony parts before recording, didn't have a lot of time to actually practice. I think it's not too bad considering the situation...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKnqSKQCIs4

Wow , Great job! You really captured that 'Stills" flow in the lyrics. A couple of observations..:

1) On the Right Ear, harmony is slight off tune... Might want to redo that take.
2) The lead solo guitar: You got the notes, just needs a lil more enunciation (aka sharp & Punch) in some of the transitions of the phrase(es).

You got an impressive studio...and the vid looked great

Thanks for the compliments.

Yeah I know a couple of things are slightly off pitch, especially noticeable in the first chorus. I didn't realize it until too late to do it again, we had been at it all day and were ready to call it a night. This took about 7 hours straight. My voice was shot, I had been doing vocals all the way through, and two different parts in the choruses, I was pretty tired and finally decided to leave it alone before I really blew it. Someone, I'm not sure who, had trouble getting the pitch in the first chorus, first time through, after that the harmony parts went fairly well. after the fact I see it was more noticeable than I thought originally. Too late now...

I've done a lot of cover tunes over the years and have managed to get the feel of the vocal style of several different musicians. Stills, Ian Anderson, Neil Young, Tom Petty, John Fogerty and a few others. Can't do it any more, my voice has lost several notes, but at one time I could peg Robert Plant too.

I wasn't happy with the lead guitar parts (either of them) but after several tries it was the best of them so I left it as it was. It sounded a bit weak to me too, and wasn't able to get it any better. I tinkered with amp settings several times, just couldn't get the presence I wanted without using effects, and I wanted clean for this song, not overdrive. Wish my Fender Champ was working, I have no doubt it would have done a better job. The Super Reverb did pretty well, but at low volume (around 3) not a lot of punch. The only effect used was a Arion Analog Delay set for a light echo. Middle pickup on the Strat, neck pickup on the Cort. Same amp settings for both guitars.

All in all, I don't think it's too bad for three guys who haven't seen each other at all in 10 years and had no chance to really practice at all. As I said earlier, we did a quick run through on the harmony parts, one practice run to let the sound guy tweak the record levels and we were off and rolling. That's when we found out the condenser mics didn't pick up the amp well so I tilted it back so it would point more toward them.

It was done in the bass player's living room, not really a studio at all, just a normal living room in a trailer. Furniture and all...

Thanks for the compliments.

Yeah I know a couple of things are slightly off pitch, especially noticeable in the first chorus. I didn't realize it until too late to do it again, we had been at it all day and were ready to call it a night. This took about 7 hours straight. My voice was shot, I had been doing vocals all the way through, and two different parts in the choruses, I was pretty tired and finally decided to leave it alone before I really blew it. Someone, I'm not sure who, had trouble getting the pitch in the first chorus, first time through, after that the harmony parts went fairly well. after the fact I see it was more noticeable than I thought originally. Too late now...

I've done a lot of cover tunes over the years and have managed to get the feel of the vocal style of several different musicians. Stills, Ian Anderson, Neil Young, Tom Petty, John Fogerty and a few others. Can't do it any more, my voice has lost several notes, but at one time I could peg Robert Plant too.

I wasn't happy with the lead guitar parts (either of them) but after several tries it was the best of them so I left it as it was. It sounded a bit weak to me too, and wasn't able to get it any better. I tinkered with amp settings several times, just couldn't get the presence I wanted without using effects, and I wanted clean for this song, not overdrive. Wish my Fender Champ was working, I have no doubt it would have done a better job. The Super Reverb did pretty well, but at low volume (around 3) not a lot of punch. The only effect used was a Arion Analog Delay set for a light echo. Middle pickup on the Strat, neck pickup on the Cort. Same amp settings for both guitars.

All in all, I don't think it's too bad for three guys who haven't seen each other at all in 10 years and had no chance to really practice at all. As I said earlier, we did a quick run through on the harmony parts, one practice run to let the sound guy tweak the record levels and we were off and rolling. That's when we found out the condenser mics didn't pick up the amp well so I tilted it back so it would point more toward them.

It was done in the bass player's living room, not really a studio at all, just a normal living room in a trailer. Furniture and all...

ALL and all Dude, it was great...! I envy anybody who can slap it down and get that close. If had been me, I'd been two weeks on it and still not sound this good

Loved this. I could not have gotten up to anything better this morning.
Cheers Billy !!

The video was great !!! I like the way he put the pic in the pic during the lead solo. I think all of you did a fantastic job !!!

Now that was dam good entertainment!

sweet man..
and well done recording dude..

Billy that was cool, Thanks for sharing that.

Thanks a lot guys, appreciate the compliments. This is after 10 years with no practice, think what we could do with a month or so of practice...it's almost scary...

Let's see...

Seven Bridges Road
I Can't Tell You Why
Life in the Fast Lane
Witchy Woman
Sultans of Swing
Running Down a Dream


Those are just a few of the songs on our list when I left, and we had just put Southern Cross on the list, and were working on Renegade (Styx) and Fat Bottom Girls (Queen) and a couple of others that were a lot more intricate to put together. We always concentrated on vocals, except for a few songs here and there so everyone could get a break now and then. Most of our list was 3 and 4 part harmonies all night.

Thanks again for the compliments, I thought a little history of this band might be in order so you guys might understand what was happening here. If we can do this just throwing it together with no notice, think what we could do with a month or so of practice...

Faithful rendition but I'd rather see/listen to an original tune. Got any?

Yeah bob, sure do. No video, but Last Train, Silhouette Of A Daydream and Desperately Electric Tea, all in my profile, are originals.

Need to redo and finish Last Train, didn't have drums and bass available so I couldn't add them. Also have some other parts in mind for it, especially flute, piano and maybe banjo if I can get my hands on one. I tried it with banjo one day at a music store and it worked really well for the part I have in mind, but I couldn't take it home and add the track I want. Banjo in a rock and roll tune may seem odd, but it sounded great along with the CD playing. I've tried to come up with something so I could use my Xylophone, but it just won't fit. Maybe it would work as an octave of the piano part, but not sure. So far it just sounds out of place.

The other two are both single guitar acoustic tunes, basically finished unless I get a better recording of either at some point. So far those are the best I've been able to get out of at least a dozen tries at each. Have a couple of other tunes I've been working on but nothing finished yet, so nothing but raw demo tracks so I don't forget the basic tunes. One I think is going to be nice if I ever figure out where else to go with it. And so far I can't even come close to any kind of lead guitar that fits...or lyrics. Lyrics are my downfall, I can rack my brain for 3 weeks and maybe think up 2 good lines...