Gouge Away - Pixies cover

[paulman]

Hey guys and girls. Been forever since I last recorded something, and to get back in the swing I gave myself a time limit. I would have finished this in one day, but I kept getting interrupted so it took two days from tracking to mix to master. I'm pretty sure that's the fastest I've ever done that with a full band instrumentation. After I post this I'll be putting together a video with all the parts. I didn't spend a lot of time tweaking the guitar sounds, as I was pushing myself to work quickly. I was going to use my Les Paul for the leads to be true to the Pixies, but there seem to be some issues with the electronics in it that I'll have to dig into. So it's all done on my Tele. I'm hoping I removed the wet blanket that seemed to be covering the overdriven guitars, but thanks to not stopping for two days my ears are probably shot. And since I didn't have time to get a female vocalist, I replaced Kim Deal's background vocals with a Juno synthesizer.

NEW MIX:

Gouge Away master 2.mp3

First mix:

Gouge Away master.mp3

[rayc]

You do angry Frank pretty well.
Guitars seem fine & the Juno doesn't sound out of place.

[paulman]

Thanks Ray! Dammit, I just realized the palm muted clean guitar got turned down somehow. I have to post the mix again.

[paulman]

Ok, it's fixed now.

[rayc]

Yeah Mr Palmer does fill a space well.

[vomitHatSteve]

Sounds pretty good.

The drum kit is a little narrow. It could probably stand some more panning.

[JD01]

I agree, that the drums sound narrow, they also sound quite fake. Can you humanise them a bit more? If they're real, they're played by a fucking robot!

The guitars all really sound good and you've done a great vocal!

[paulman]

I agree, that the drums sound narrow, they also sound quite fake. Can you humanise them a bit more? If they're real, they're played by a fucking robot!

The guitars all really sound good and you've done a great vocal!

Thanks JD. That's me playing drums. I posted the video in the video forum. I didn't pan any of them at all, so I could look at that.

[paulman]

Sounds pretty good.

The drum kit is a little narrow. It could probably stand some more panning.

I didn't even think about panning them at all, so I could definitely look at that.

[vomitHatSteve]

I agree, that the drums sound narrow, they also sound quite fake. Can you humanise them a bit more? If they're real, they're played by a fucking robot!

The guitars all really sound good and you've done a great vocal!

Thanks JD. That's me playing drums. I posted the video in the video forum. I didn't pan any of them at all, so I could look at that.

I saw that video. If they're sounding de-humanized, did you quantize them? If so, maybe they need to be quantized less precisely.
Those were electronic drums, right? Are they detecting velocity correctly?

[Armistice]

Sounds pretty nice - I'd probably mirror what others are saying about the drums - the snare seems a bit robotic although I'm hearing variation in note volume OK.

Great vocal!

[paulman]

Thanks JD. That's me playing drums. I posted the video in the video forum. I didn't pan any of them at all, so I could look at that.

I saw that video. If they're sounding de-humanized, did you quantize them? If so, maybe they need to be quantized less precisely.
Those were electronic drums, right? Are they detecting velocity correctly?

Yes, it's a Roland set with mesh heads. The velocity detection is phenomenal. They're quantized at 90%, except for those occasional snare fills which I left alone. I was unsure of whether I should have done it at all, because it probably didn't really need it. It was damn close to spot on already when I looked at the MIDI grid (which I was pleasantly surprised by), and between all the times I listened to it before and after quantization, I didn't hear a difference. But my insecurities as a drummer led me to go ahead and partially quantize it. But I feel like maybe what ya'll are thinking sounds dehumanized is more the drum sound than the timing. It's a very hot sounding drum patch in SD3 called Ninety-One. I did absolutely nothing to alter the sound of the patch except put a Studer tape emulator on the track with the Drum Buss preset. The original Pixies recording has unnatural sounding drums with a gated snare. I didn't do the gate, as I liked how this patch sounded somewhere in between the original and a more natural snare sound. I didn't really look at what was on the patch, but I'm guessing it's just squashed to hell with a compressor or limiter.

[vomitHatSteve]

The part that makes it sound less human to me is really the panning. Drums this clean and dry and this narrow usually sounds like a weird programming choice.

[WhiskeyJack]

The Death Star is back and fully operational. Good to see you in here and you are alive !!!

Man great cover dude. Good work on the guitars! Those expressive ring outs and trail offs on notes in the guitars are the homerun in my opinion. Also the vocals are outstanding. Good Pixies covers are hard to find.

the kick sounds woofy to me and i don't love it but it's your jam i suppose. I know i am uber late to the peer review party as i see the video is already published so it's a giant whatever. But just figured i try and get caught up here.

[Lt. Bob]

nice man ..... that you doing the vox?
They fit really well and I like the ambient sounding lead at around 1:25-ish a lot.
Nice palm muted part ..... drums sound good to me .....narrow but I'm not a fan of panning 'rules' ..... narrow is a choice ......

[paulman]

The part that makes it sound less human to me is really the panning. Drums this clean and dry and this narrow usually sounds like a weird programming choice.

Ok, good! Easy fix then. Thanks man!

[paulman]

The Death Star is back and fully operational. Good to see you in here and you are alive !!!

Man great cover dude. Good work on the guitars! Those expressive ring outs and trail offs on notes in the guitars are the homerun in my opinion. Also the vocals are outstanding. Good Pixies covers are hard to find.

the kick sounds woofy to me and i don't love it but it's your jam i suppose. I know i am uber late to the peer review party as i see the video is already published so it's a giant whatever. But just figured i try and get caught up here.

Thanks brother! Nah, the video is only up so I could post it here. It's unlisted on YouTube. I'm going to take a look at the drum panning. I was concerned about the guitar mixing at the time I posted it, but I think my ears were just fatigued because now I think they sound pretty good.

And yes, Pixies are extremely hard to cover. This might be the easiest song they have. I did the vocal for Bubba's "Debaser" cover and damn near ruined my voice. But I've been studying Mick Jagger for a couple of years now and that has helped my screaming and growling immensely. I can do it with less effort and better output than I could a couple of years ago. Maybe by the time I'm 80 I'll be the singer I want to be.

[paulman]

nice man ..... that you doing the vox?
They fit really well and I like the ambient sounding lead at around 1:25-ish a lot.
Nice palm muted part ..... drums sound good to me .....narrow but I'm not a fan of panning 'rules' ..... narrow is a choice ......

Thanks man! Yeah, that's me on vocals. Wasn't sure I could pull it off but I think it came out ok. Narrow wasn't actually a choice in this instance. I was just in a hurry because I set myself a deadline to post it on Facebook for my birthday last Sunday. I completely forgot about panning the drums.

[Lt. Bob]

Thanks man! Yeah, that's me on vocals. Wasn't sure I could pull it off but I think it came out ok.

definitely did ...

[paulman]

Sounds pretty nice - I'd probably mirror what others are saying about the drums - the snare seems a bit robotic although I'm hearing variation in note volume OK.

Great vocal!

Thanks Armi! The snare sounds even more robotic on the original. I think mine is a happy medium between that and a more natural sound. This is also a rare instance of me just simply playing the snare on 2 and 4 and not throwing in all kinds of syncopation and ghost notes.