General Music Chat

Well I finally got some new audio up on this site. Check it out the first song on my player Ive Been Shown, my attempt at a blue/soul kinda song.

I wrote this song and recorded it yesterday. I procrastinate too much when it comes to original music. I guess its best to just do it when the mood strikes.

For the gear heads on here I'll break down the recording process and gear.

I was going to just play to a click track, but just couldnt get the right feel going. Then I realized when I counted the rythym I was trying to record it in 6/2 or 12/4 timing. So I found the drum track on my drum machine, its a gospel rythym in 12/4.

The rythym guitar at the first is a Strat, middle pickup, volume on guitar around 3-4 and the tone knob rolled off to kind of dull the sound some. I ran it thru an EH Small Clone pedal with a real slow sweep to kind of stay in time to the drum feel. I then went into the old Sunn Model T head hooked to a Mesa 4x12 cab. I pushed an SM 57 into the grill of the cab and then put a condensor mic about 10 ft away for some ambience. The rythym guitar is panned left and right.

Next up was the vocals. I used a condensor mic and went thru a vocal preset in my Roland VS recorder. Its compressed, limited, a parametric eq, and a touch of reverb. Basically I had a vibe going at the time, I ran thru the vocals once to practice and then the track you hear is the first recorded take. I hate spending time fine tuning vocals, I like to catch the initial feeling.

Then I layed down the bass. Fender Precision, active EMG pickups, volume wide open, tone rolled off to give it a thud sound. I went theu a compressor straight into the mix console. What you hear is the second take, I flubbed the first one up.

Last but not least was the lead guitar. I used my trusty Sunburst Les Paul, back pickup, volume and tone controls wide open. I ran it into my Mesa Triple Rec head into the Mesa 4x12 cab. I didnt touch the amp, that is my live lead tone on the head. Channel 3 in Modern mode, and oh yeah at the end I kicked in a little Morley Bad Horsie wah wah. I moved the condensor mic farther away from the cab and panned the 2 tracks hard right and left. If Philby reads this, the solo is one of my one take Jimmy Page specials. I played thru one time with the rythym and then this was my first recorded take. So I just went for it and left the mistakes warts and all.

Live I use attenuators to tone down my live volume, but for the recording I went straight to the amps. The guitars were loud, I set the speaker cab in the front hall of my house and the room the recorder is in is down a hall 2 rooms away with the door closed. The guitars were so loud that I could feel the walls shaking while recording. In fact I had to use headphones in order to hear my rythym tracks as I was recording.

I got up early this morning and mixed it if you can call it that. Basically I just set all the tracks to unity and it came out like it is.

Why did I write all this? I guess on this site there are a lot of newbies who dont understand the process, so I thought I would just go thru it from start to finish. The inspiration for the music was a new chord book I found. As a guitarist I would normally play in A-E-or D, but this is a C-F-B flat progression in this new book I got. When I hummed over it I thought hum my voice kinda works better in C. I threw the words down in less than 5 minutes. And walla instant song.

Hey john. That song KICKS A$$.

I like the vocals alot too, I don't hear any flexibility like that in modern rock these days.

As usual, I'm a total guitar solo nut/whore, and would love a crack at laying my own down on that track. Any chance you could send me a solo-less mixdown ? That would be Über!

JW, awesome, man. That is very well done, nice vocals too. The solo is also not too bad, a bit too fast in certain parts though, and needs to be a bit clearer.

But hey, this is cool. Nice job, man, keep writing for the sake of real rock music unlike todays (I only like some songs these days, very little)!

Peace out, GuitarAnatomy.

I really don't like saying anything bout originals, because they are (and should be) the way the artist wants them to be or feels they should sound and flow. But I'll tell you what I'd try if it were mine.

I liked the intro; you started with the mellow drum beats and relaxed bass line.. and onto the guitar and vocals.
About the effects at the beginning, I would redo that first verse with less effects, because the rest of the song has just the right amount of effects (what was it? compression?). I really like the Aerosmith-kinda chilled attitude in the song. The length of the song is nice, the solo fit well and the fade out is a nice touch.
Here's something I'd do with the intro. I would try and add a Santana-ish lead at the beginning. I think it would accentuate the mellow feel of the song.
Keep it up

At first I was thinking yes I like this one. Then it went a little farther and I started to think what the heck is John doing?
Bout that time the lead came in. Yes I like it, Good job John, and did you write all that just to keep me from asking

Thanks for the replys.

Kramer I have another tune on my recorder that I need to send to you. I will try to get it on my player here next week. Its a drum,bass, guitar rythym thing in the Key of G. It might be more fun than this one.

George, yea I put it all down so you knew what was going on. My songwriting lately has taken me back to the basics. Ive been trying to simplify my life in a lot of ways and it shows on songs like this.

Andragon, I thought about putting lead guitar all over this song, but then I figured I would wait to the end and just let it go.

GA, the lead is the most distasteful playing Ive done in a while, but it just felt right doing it at the time. Im trying not to over analyze my motives and as I said above just let it go.

Thanks for listening.

No problem. I liked it

JW - I like it, man. You have this Joe Walsh kinda vocal thing going on.

Nice basic bass work. It fits perfectly. Could use some B3 strained through a Leslie, maybe?

I like the way the chunky guitar sneaks in. It might be a touch overdone with the speed, considering the overall pace of the tune, but it isn't really that noticeable. Your one-take lead is preferable to the Page-style cut & paste method, imo, JW. There aren't any jarring changes in tone that way.

I liked the fade-out, too.

Very nice song, & I always like your guitar tones. Tasteful.

On another subject, JW - do you like Slash? I'm reading his autobiography. It isn't well-written, but that isn't really to be expected from a rock artist, is it? It's just a bunch of little stories from his life, but still, interesting.

You sound so much like Led.

I do appreciate the time you put in educating me here John. You other dudes as well. I feel my overall experience is growing at a respectable rate considering the suckass day job and all. We were playing the other night and our Bassist, Eric said the monitor was crackeling some with the new instruments and all. I walked over and changed the EQ a bit and fixed it. I was amased. A little info goes a long way. Thanks!

JW,

"I've Been Shown" is a good song and nicely done.
I still like "Funky Bee" the best!

Keep on composin' as well as rockin'!

Howlin'