Today's project

[Bubba]

Right. I'm sure Ray might remember this but I used to record tons of cover songs. All sorts of shit. KISS, Thin Lizzy, the Kinks, all kinds of stuff I'd never really get into but it was good to dissect that stuff and learn my chops without wasting original material with bad mixes.

I wish I'd done more covers when I started trying to record. They're a much easier way of learning stuff than fucking up your own songs.

So long as you don't blow them off in the shoddiest, simplest way possible. Finding out what makes them tick is the object of the exercise. That takes critical listening and observation.

[Greg_L]

So long as you don't blow them off in the shoddiest, simplest way possible. Finding out what makes them tick is the object of the exercise. That takes critical listening and observation.

Yup, exactly.

[Bubba]

Just had another listen to the new mix. I think the voice is at the right level now. Claps still sound good.

I have one question - when playing the guitars did you opt for power chords or proper chords with thirds in? When I'm playing the song I finger the first chord and the passing chord as majors, then the last chord as a minor. Now, I don't actually play the full minor, I'm concentrating on the bottom three strings, but the mere fact that the chord is fingered that way means that you occasionaly brush the minor third or it just vibrates with its own resonance. This adds a very, very subtle minor flavour to that chord that seems to be present in the recording. Or am I imagining it? LOL, it's hard to tell, as Sharkey sings the minor third anyway.

I just wondered, because I never, ever play a chord as a power chord, I always finger whole chords according to the key whether I play the third or not.

Wake up, Greg, I've finished boring on, now.

Anyway, it still sounds great.

[Greg_L]

I played proper barre chords on this one. The power chord shape across all strings, but with the middle finger 3rd on for major, off for minor. Unless I'm going really fast I hardly ever do the simple two-note "power chord" and even then I use the upper or lower octave too. I think this song is really in D major, but I did it in C. So the main chords were C, Am, F, and G. I used the minor for the A, everything else is major.

[Greg_L]

Here's the main rhythm track. You can hear the majors and minors and high strings ringing but it's very subtle in the beginning. It gets more sloppy and pronounced as it goes along.

R gtr.mp3

[Bubba]

Yeah, that's what I mean. Very subtle isn't it?

[Greg_L]

Yeah, that's what I mean. Very subtle isn't it?

Yup and I think if I used open chords or the tone was cleaner it'd be more noticeable. Barre chords with some crunch and it all kind of blends together. And since a Cmaj to Amin is something our ear just kind of wants to hear it just all flows together. It would sound really weird if it were reversed as a Cmin to Amaj.

[JD01]

Thanks J. No the vocal is not panned at all.

Cheers, just got back home and listened to one of my own mixes on the same headphones, it also sounds slightly lopsided to the left.

[Greg_L]

That solo'd guitar track shows another thing I've been liking to do lately - going into the lead as part of a rhythm track like it would be played live. It's fun and spontaneous and it is what it is. There is no "lead guitar" track on this mix. It's part of a rhythm track.

[rayc]

I've just listened to the raw guitar track - yep, can hear the the high notes well enough for them to alter the character and it sounds great. How loud was the amp for this Greg?

[Greg_L]

I've just listened to the raw guitar track - yep, can hear the the high notes well enough for them to alter the character and it sounds great. How loud was the amp for this Greg?

Pretty loud. Bright channel vol around 4. I did have it running through the attenuator a little just to not overload the ribbon mic. So....probably way too loud for a small gig, but not quite full power.

[WhiskeyJack]

For fuck sakes. I didn't get to hear the first one just the new mix. The tone of the solos you play is on fkn point.

And I really got nothing other than good job man. I notice your vocals sound a bit different than i am usually used to hearing them? Were you doing anything different here? mics? mixing? processing? Curious. It sounds a bit more solid and saturated to my ears maybe?

[Greg_L]

For fuck sakes. I didn't get to hear the first one just the new mix. The tone of the solos you play is on fkn point.

And I really got nothing other than good job man. I notice your vocals sound a bit different than i am usually used to hearing them? Were you doing anything different here? mics? mixing? processing? Curious. It sounds a bit more solid and saturated to my ears maybe?

Thanks man. I did use a different mic for vocals - MXL R144 ribbon mic. It's a budget ribbon that does a pretty nice job. A ribbon isn't usually my mic of choice for vocals, but I thought it'd give me a smoothed flattened vocal track, and it did. And then I compressed the snot out of it like always.

[WhiskeyJack]

For fuck sakes. I didn't get to hear the first one just the new mix. The tone of the solos you play is on fkn point.

And I really got nothing other than good job man. I notice your vocals sound a bit different than i am usually used to hearing them? Were you doing anything different here? mics? mixing? processing? Curious. It sounds a bit more solid and saturated to my ears maybe?

Thanks man. I did use a different mic for vocals - MXL R144 ribbon mic. It's a budget ribbon that does a pretty nice job. A ribbon isn't usually my mic of choice for vocals, but I thought it'd give me a smoothed flattened vocal track, and it did. And then I compressed the snot out of it like always.

I thought i heard something a little different. Good investment.

[Greg_L]

I thought i heard something a little different. Good investment.

It's on the geetar tracks too. I like it.

[WhiskeyJack]

I thought i heard something a little different. Good investment.

It's on the geetar tracks too. I like it.

I am gonna feel like a fucking tool if you said all that already. I didn't read much of the other posts.

[Greg_L]

I am gonna feel like a fucking tool if you said all that already. I didn't read much of the other posts.

Yeah it's all there but that's okay.